Shane and our friend Sparky came into the room. They sat down and Shane grinned at all of us, pulling beer out from under his bed.
“How about a little truth or dare?” he offered, waggling his eyebrows.
Mitch made a face, running his tongue over his chipped tooth. “No.”
“Oh, come on Mitch. Don’t be a little bitch,” Shane said, laughing.
“You’re paying for any dental damages that come out of this,” Mitch said, snatching a beer from Shane.
“Deal,” Shane said with a nod. “Everyone up for this?”
Jake, Sparky, and I nodded at him. We all grabbed beer and settled into comfortable positions.
“Mitch, truth or dare?” Shane asked.
“Dare,” Mitch said, apparently not having learned his lesson.
“I dare you to go lick mom’s cheek,” Shane said.
Mitch sighed in annoyance and stood up. We watched as he left the room and listened eagerly.
“MITCHELL!”
We all exploded into laughter at Carol’s angry voice. Mitch darted into the room a few seconds later, slamming and door and spitting on Shane’s floor.
“Don’t spit on my floor!” Shane snapped, chucking a tissue box at Mitch’s head.
Mitch ducked to avoid it and casually went back over to where he had been sitting. “I’ll do what I want,” he said, drinking more of his beer. “Jake, truth or dare?”
“Truth,” Jake said.
“Pussy. Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever had sex?” Mitch asked.
“A church pew,” Jake said.
“Oh, that is wrong on so many levels,” Sparky said.
“That’s just not okay,” I said, shaking my head.
“What? I showed her heaven,” he said with a shrug.
“There are just some things you never do,” I said with a sigh.
“In my defense, I was severely intoxicated,” Jake said. “Now, Shane, truth or dare?”
“Truth,” Shane said.
“Hm…weirdest thing you’ve ever done drunk?” he asked.
“Felt up Jace,” Shane said, laughing.
“Oh, that was definitely weird,” I said with a sigh. “There are places I don’t want my best friend’s hands.”
“You had your clothes on. It wasn’t that bad,” Shane said.
“Still,” I said, shaking my head. “Keep your hands to yourself, children.”
“Truth or dare, Jace?” Shane asked.
“Dare, because I’m not a little bitch like you and Jake,” I said, grinning.
“Well, since you insist on keeping your hands to yourself…I dare you to make out with Mitch. And I mean make out with him,” he said, a smug look on his face.
“Wait, how did I get dragged into this?” Mitch asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Just do it midget,” Shane said.
I sighed and moved over to Mitch, my heart slamming violently. I had made out with plenty of people before as a dare. God only knows how many videos there were of me and Shane getting intense together.
I had even kissed Mitch on a few dares before. But I had never made out with him. And I had certainly never made out with him while I had romantic feelings towards him.
“Stop raising the suspense and let’s get this over with,” Mitch said to me.
He wasn’t panicking about it because he figured it was all in good fun. Just another stupid dare from his brother.
“Uh…right,” I said, trying to pull myself together and through up a joking attitude about the situation. “You’re about to find out why I turn armies of men gay.”
“Yea, yea, yea. Let’s get this over with,” he said, straightening up.
I pulled Mitch closer and crashed my lips against his. He opened his mouth for me and I let my tongue slide in, eagerly exploring around.
Shane, Jake, and Sparky were cheering and whistling at us. I pulled Mitch closer to myself, enjoying every second of this.
“Come on, you can do better than that!” Shane called, laughing hysterically.
I flipped him off and pushed Mitch against the wall, sliding my hands up his chest over his shirt. He wrapped his arms around me, figuring that he was just playing along with the dare.
Mitch winced and pulled away from me, carefully rubbing his shoulder. My eyes widened at the blood soaking through the shirt he was wearing.
“Mitch!” Shane said in shock, jumping up. “What the hell happened to your shoulder?”
“I hurt it earlier,” he said. “I must have moved wrong and reopened the cut.”
“How did you hurt your shoulder?” Shane asked, sitting back down slowly.
“Biking accident with my friends earlier,” he lied easily.
“I’ll go wrap your cut again,” I said, helping Mitch up.
Mitch shook his head. “Nah, I’ve got it. Thanks,” he said. “Sorry I got blood on your shirt. I’ll go through it in the washing machine before it stains.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, sitting down and watching him as he left the room. I nervously took a swing of beer.
“Dumbass is so accident prone,” Shane said, shaking his head.
“That was hot,” Sparky said, winking and nudging me. Jake snickered and nodded.
“I’ve had better,” I said, smirking at them.
In truth, my heart was beating wildly and my lips were tingling. Mitch clearly had experience with making out, because the boy was quite talented at it.
“Well that make out was so intense that it made my brother bleed,” Shane said. “So maybe we should stop with truth or dare for right now. Before Jace pleasures anyone else into injury.”
“Fuck you,” I said, throwing my shoe at him.
“I don’t want your shoe. Your feet stink,” he said, catching it and throwing it back at me.
“Good. I hope the scent kills you,” I said.
Mitch came back into the room a few minute later with a new shirt on. He sat down next to me casually, as if nothing had happened.
One of the things I was quickly coming to love about Mitch was the fact that he preferred to wear tank tops. Mitch had a very well toned body, and his chest was a gift from god.
“Are you done bleeding to death?” Shane asked.
“For now,” Mitch said. I could see the medical tape wrapped securely around his wound.
“So now what do we do?” Jake asked.
“We could raise hell in town,” Shane offered.
“Sounds good to me,” Sparky said, jumping up.
We all stood up. Mitch pulled a jacket on since it was chilly out tonight. We left the house, claiming to Shane’s parents that we were going to get food.
“So what do we want to do?” Sparky asked as we walked down the streets. It was getting dark out.
“We could go to the bar,” Shane said.
“Yea!” Jake said eagerly.
“I don’t have a fake,” Mitch said. “I can’t get in.”
“Well that sucks little brother,” Shane said, ruffling his hair.
Mitch ducked away from him, glaring. “Don’t touch me.”
“Head on home midget. I’ll get you a fake soon,” Shane said.
“I’ll go back with you, Mitch. I don’t feel like drinking,” I said.
“Are you sure Jace?” Shane asked in surprise. I usually loved going out to the bar with my friends.
“Yea, I’m sure. I’m just not in a drinking mood tonight Shane,” I said.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yep. Maybe another night,” I said, pulling the hood of my vest up. “I’m just going to head back with Mitch.”
“Alright then. Text me if you change your mind,” Shane said. Him, Jake, and Sparky waved to us as we went in opposite directions.
“There is something seriously wrong with you lately Jace,” Mitch said as we walked.
I shook my head. “Nah, just not feeling the bars tonight.”
“I can’t remember the last time you actually turned down going to a bar,” he said.
“Look Mitch, I’m just not feeling the bars tonight, okay? There’s no deep reason behind it,” I said.
The scent of cigarette smoke hit us as we walked by a group of smoking teenagers. I breathed in the scent. I knew most people hated the smell of cigarette smoke, but I found it comforting.
“I’m surprised you don’t smoke,” Mitch said once we had passed by.
“I just like the smell. I’d rather not kill my lungs,” I said. “Besides, my mom would kill me. She’s a huge anti-smoker.”
“Well, that’s ironic,” he said. “I mean, your dad was a smoker, wasn’t he?”
“She tried to get him to quit. He never cared to,” I said, trying to think of a way to change the topic.
“I’m surprised she didn’t kill him for smoking around you,” he said.
“Mitch, I know what you’re thinking. I know I’ve been acting weird lately. But I swear it has nothing to do with my dad,” I said, hooking my thumbs in my pockets.
“I kind of figured that out already. I was just being sure,” he said.
“You figured that out?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He nodded. “Sure. I think I know why you’ve been acting so weird all of a sudden,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t have anything to do with my mom, either.”
“I know that too,” he said.
I looked at him curiously. “Oh?”
He glanced at me and that crooked smile appeared on his face. “Yea. You’ve been acting weird lately because you like me.”