Chapter 16
"Since this party was my idea, I'm going first," Zeke says. He slides his eyes around the room until they land on his first victim. "Four, my man, Candor or Dauntless?" Of course he starts with Tobias but then again he always starts with him. I can only imagine what torture he has in store for my husband.
"Dauntless," Tobias says.
"I dare you to take Tris out to the middle of the Pit and make out with her for two minutes," he says. Great! He brought me into it. "This should be easy for you." Tobias looks my way and I shrug. It's not like we haven't kissed in front of people before.
"Fine," Tobias says sounding more like Four. We get off the couch and walk to the center of the Pit floor, followed by all our friends. We stand awkwardly staring at each other before I finally stand on my tiptoes and bring his mouth to mine. The kiss starts out slow and timid because we can feel eyes boring holes into us but soon the desire we feel for each other takes over and everyone and everything around us melts away. The kiss deepens, and I have to fight the urge to take things further. He runs his tongue along my bottom lip, and I open my mouth to him. He thrusts his tongue deep into my mouth to find mine eagerly waiting to play. They collide, dance, dip, and twirl as I feel his hands moving over my back drawing me as close to him as my belly will allow. I keep my fingers stitched in his hair so that I'm not tempted to try to remove his shirt, which is becoming harder by the moment.
"Oh, for crying out loud," an unfamiliar voice says from about 10-15 feet away. I can actually picture the eye roll that goes along with the sigh. "Will you two get a room?"
"Time!" Shauna yells, further breaking our spell. He slowly drags his lips from mine, and we gaze into each other's eyes while trying to catch our breath. Knowing that there are dozens of eyes on me right now makes me blush, and Tobias draws me into his arms and kisses the top of my head. He keeps an arm around me as we walk back into the auditorium.
"Good job," Zeke says, patting Tobias on the back. "Who knew you could do it in public ... make out, I mean." Every one laughs, except for Christina who I see narrow her eyes at Zeke. If he doesn't quit it, I'm going to be forced to relive my nightmare by giving her an explanation of his, in my opinion, not very funny jokes.
"Uriah, Candor or Dauntless?" Tobias asks.
"Did you honestly just ask me that, Four?" he asks with a roll of the eyes.
"Yeah, I did, pip squeak," Four says with a slightly menacing grin. Uriah's face falls.
"Don't call me that, man. You know I hate that," he says, pouting like someone just took the last slice of cake in the cafeteria. "You know my answer. Dauntless."
"I dare you to go to the Pit floor and do the hokey pokey and not just one verse either, the entire song." Everyone starts laughing.
"Alright," he says. He finishes whatever beverage he has in his hand then moves Marlene off his lap and gets up. He heads toward the door with us faithfully following close behind like little puppy dogs wanting to see the show he puts on. I notice that the Pit is more crowded than it usually is. I think the members want to see what we're up to. I watch as Marlene holds up her phone so she can tape the dare. He finds a spot where he has a little room and begins.
"You put your right foot in, you put you right foot out, you put your right foot in, and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey, and you turn yourself around. That's what it's all about. Left foot," he sings as he acts out each of the movements. We all stand back and watch as some people join him while others applaud and give cat calls but everyone laughs throughout the 12 versus that Uriah sings. I had no idea there were that many. When he finishes his final hokey pokey he does a deep bow to a rousing round of applause then we all return to our seats laughing heartily along the way. I see Uriah's eyes sweeping the room looking for his victim. "Ciara, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Dauntless, Uriah," she says.
"Hhm. I dare you to wear your bra on your head for the rest of this round," he says with a smirk on his face. She sighs loudly then shrugs. She reaches around under her shirt then with a couple more moves, pulls her bra out the armhole of her shirt.
"Ta-da!" she says with a giggle. She puts it on her head and ties it back under her ponytail then takes a bow.
"That was impressive," Uriah says. "I have to admit, I didn't think you would do that."
"What? Do you think I'm a pansycake?" she says, still giggling. He just rolls his eyes at her. "Stella, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Um, I'm going to go with Candor," she says. Uriah rolls his eyes. He loves a good dare.
"Who was your first love?" Ciara asks. Stella looks at Zander and blushes. Could her first love possibly be someone other than her husband?
"This is so embarrassing," she says. "But my first love was ... Santa Claus." Everyone starts laughing. I see Avery roll her eyes at her mother's confession but laugh, too. "I thought I was going to marry him, and we'd live happily ever after. We would have all the toys we could want and live off milk and cookies."
"It's a good thing you met Dad," Avery says laughing, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"You have no idea how right you are," she says as she gives Zander a tender kiss. Avery covers her eyes and groans. "Tris, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Dauntless," I say. Uriah cheers a little too loudly, and I scowl at him.
"Go to the Pit and kiss the first person you see," she says. I think my mouth falls open. Wow! I wasn't expecting that from her. I look at Tobias and his expression is guarded.
"Out of respect for my husband," I say as I get up off the love seat, I slip the denim vest off and dramatically drop it to the floor.
"That's right," Tobias says as he pulls me down onto his lap. "These lips belong to me." He kisses me passionately but swiftly then lets me slide off his lap to sit next to him again.
"You know there are children in the room, you two," Zeke says with a grin on his face. Tobias narrows his eyes at his best friend as all the 16 year olds present scoff at being called children.
"Will, Candor or Dauntless?" I ask, my face still flush but whether it's from Tobias' kiss or Zeke's remark I don't know.
"I'm going with Dauntless," he says.
"I want you to prance around the Pit saying 'The leprechauns are coming, the leprechauns are coming,'" I say smiling brightly at him as the others snicker.
"Prance?" he says with a sigh. "Fine." He gives Christina a quick kiss then heads toward the doors, shoulders sagging. When he walks out onto the Pit floor his whole demeanor changes. He carries himself proudly and starts skipping through the throng of people, waving his hands back and forth.
"The leprechauns are coming, the leprechauns are coming," he says in a singsong voice over and over again. People are looking at him shaking their heads. I start laughing so hard tears roll uncontrollably down my cheeks. After he makes a couple rounds, he comes flying into the auditorium, and the doors are quickly closed behind him. He points at me and says, "I'll never do anything like that again. Shauna, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Dauntless," she says. He walks over to the snack table and picks up a banana. He tosses it to her before sitting down next to Christina. Everyone holds their breath in anticipation of what he's going to ask her to do, including me.
"Peel that without using your hands," he says. She looks at it for a moment then sighs. She unzip her jacket to revel a low cut V-neck t-shirt, and we think she's refusing the dare but she's not. She sticks the banana in her cleavage and takes ahold of the stem with her teeth. She squeezes her breasts together holding the fruit in place and tries to peel it but the skin's not budging. Finally, she bites down on the top of it, and every man in the room grimaces causing every woman to roll their eyes. She gets ahold of the stem again and this time easily peels the skin down. She repeats this three times revealing the flesh, which she then takes a big bite of. Zeke stares at her with darkening eyes.
"I love bananas," she says, taking another bite.
"Seriously, Shauna, you can take it out of your shirt now," Zeke says. She takes it out of her shirt and continues to eat it.
"Uh, Christina," Shauna says around a mouthful of banana after she looks around the room. "Candor or Dauntless?"
"I'll go with Candor," she says. "You know I'll tell it like it is."
"How many times have you checked in on Liam tonight?" she asks with a smirk.
"Seven," Christina says matter-of-factly. "He's okay by the way." This elicits another round of laughter from the room. "Lynn, you know the question."
"Candor," Lynn says.
"Pansycake!" Uriah yells at the top of his lungs and she glares at him.
"Have you ever loved someone who didn't love you back?" she asks. I hear Lynn's sharp intake of breath and know her answer.
"Yes," she quietly says but doesn't elaborate. "Zekey, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Dauntless," he says. An evil grin slowly forms on Lynn's face, and I wonder what she has in store for Zekey.
"I dare you to let Shauna shave your head completely bald," she says. A startled gasp settles over the group.
"If you ever want sex from me again, Ezekiel, I suggest you take your shirt off," Shauna says crossing her arms over her chest in a huff. Hana puts her hands over her ears and starts humming.
"What are you doing, Mom?" Uriah asks, pulling her hands away from her ears.
"Call me old fashioned but I don't want to hear about either of my boys having sex," she says putting her hands back.
"Fine!" Zeke mutters as he rips his shirt off over his head. He never wears layers so his naked chest is on display for all to see. Lynn stands up and takes a bow, being one of only two people to ever get him to take something off. "Four, you know the question." Again!
"Candor," he says. I see Uriah biting his lip to keep from calling out, and he frowns deeply.
"Where's the craziest place you've ever had sex?" Zeke asks. I cannot believe he asked that. Hana puts her hands back over her ears and everyone laughs. Tobias looks at me, and I blush bright red. There's no way that I'm allowing him to answer this. We would shock everyone in here with the answer including Zeke even though I'm confident he thinks he already knows the answer to his own question. He untangles himself from my arms, stands up, and takes his lightweight sweatshirt off and unceremoniously tosses it to the ground. I can tell that Zeke is dying to say something but he refrains himself. "Avery, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Dauntless!" It's nice to see her having a good time.
"Go to the cafeteria and sweet talk the chefs into letting you have three cakes: One chocolate, one vanilla, and one strawberry."
"Okay," she says. "Afton, come on. I'll need help carrying them." The petite red head with striking green eyes who's been sitting next to her nods and gets to her feet. We watch as they walk out the door.
"What happens when she comes back empty handed?" James asks. "You know those damn chefs don't like giving up the cake." Uriah nods in agreement.
"Give her time," Tobias says. "Who knows how this will play out?" Within five minutes the girls walk back in carrying the three cakes between them. James is speechless.
"Did you have to steal those?" he asks, finally finding his voice.
"Um, no," Avery says, obviously confused. "I just did what Four said and flirted with the chefs a little bit. They were really nice about giving me the cakes." Everyone laughs at the expression on James' face.
"You mean I could have just asked for the cake instead of stealing it all this time. No security chasing me? No fear of becoming factionless? You guys knew this, didn't you? That's why I always got that damn dare? I hate you." He collapses onto the couch next to Ciara who is trying very hard not to laugh.
"It took you long enough to figure it out," Zeke says. "Okay, Avery, keep this party going."
"Mr. Wright? Candor or Dauntless?" she says to my Uncle Nathan.
"Dauntless, Avery, and you can call me Nathan," he says.
"Go to the Pit and sing Happy Birthday at the top of your lungs," she says.
"That's a good one," Callen says. "Are you going to do it, Dad?" I think that's one of the longest sentences I've heard come out of Callen's mouth.
"Of course, son," he says. Once aging we all get up and hover by the door and watch as this time Nathan goes to the middle of the Pit floor. I hear him clear his throat clear over there, and then he starts to sing.
"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, happy birthday. Happy birthday to you," he screeches at the top of his lungs. All eyes are on him and more than half the people are covering their ears, probably to keep them from bleeding. He's an absolutely horrible singer. He's smiling widely as he walks back into the auditorium.
"That was terrible," I say.
"I know," he says with a satisfied grin. "Zander, Candor or Dauntless?" Zander has to stop laughing so he can answer.
"That was awesome, Nate!" he says. My uncle stands and takes a bow, and we give him a round of applause. "Candor."
"Have you ever gone the whole entire day commando?" Nathan asks like he knows the answer. Sometimes I forget they were really good friends at one time. Zander looks like he's conflicted as to whether he wants to answer or not.
"Yes, I have but I'm not telling anyone why," he says. "Abigail, Candor or Dauntless?"
"I'll go with ... Candor," she says. Hana's friend is Abigail.
"You're all a bunch of pansycakes," Uriah mumbles but we just ignore him.
"How long have you and Hana been friends?" Zander asks.
"Since the first day of lower levels," Abigail says. Wow, that's a long time. I hope my kids can make lifelong friendships. "Kirsten, Candor or Dauntless?"
"My peeps know me! They expect Dauntless," she says and the room cheers.
"I want you to go to the Pit and lick the face of a random stranger," she says. Ew! But knowing Kirsten like I do, she's going to do it.
"Okie dokie," Kirsten says. "Who wants to watch?" Once again we go to the auditorium entrance to watch. She walks around the Pit floor like nothing's up then grabs ahold of a 20ish looking guy with neon blue dreadlocks and licks the side of his face. The look that crosses his face is priceless. She pats his cheek then saunters back to us leaving him frozen in place. "Stefan, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Candor," he nervously says.
"What did you think when you first saw Ella?" Kirsten asks. I see a subtle flush settle on Stefan's cheeks. Yeah, he's definitely shy.
"I thought she was a beautiful woman but her attraction increased twofold when we had our first conversation," he quietly says. "She's more than beautiful, she's the most exquisite woman I've ever known." Ella leans over and gives him a soft kiss.
"Awe," comes out of my mouth just like it does with every woman in the room. I think we're all natural born romantics. That's probably one of the reasons why we're all such good friends.
"James, Candor or Dauntless?" Stefan says.
"Dauntless," he says.
"I dare you to read out loud your last text message," he says. He looks at Ciara who gives him a big grin. He takes his phone out of his pocket and scrolls through his texts.
"'Jamey, please pick up ginger ale and saltines on your way home'," he reads."'Bunny is making me nauseous. Love you, Cici.''" The meaning of the message hits me like a ton of bricks, and I jump to my feet.
"No!" I say excitedly. Half the people in the room seem to realize what the text means while the other half are sitting around looking lost.
"I'm not dumb," Will says. "I was born in Erudite, remember, but I have no idea what's going on right now."
"Think about it, Will," Christina says, a huge smile on her face. "Why did I need ginger ale and saltines?" I see the moment understanding lights his eyes.
"That's right folks, we're having a baby," James declares. "Thank you, Stefan, for your assistance. We thought tonight was the perfect time to make our big announcement. She's 12 weeks along." I cross the floor and give my friends each a huge hug and a quiet congratulations.
"Do you want another apple juice?" Tobias asks after he congratulates our friends also.
"Please," I say handing him my glass, which is still in my hand. "I'd also like some snacks. I'm hungry again or maybe I should say Peanut is."
"Okay," he says. He gives me a quick peck before I go back to my seat. I pull my phone out and send a text to Mom asking how Tessa is doing but she doesn't respond so I put it away when Tobias hands me a plate with veggies, chips, and chunked fruit with various dips, meatballs, and cheese slices.
"Thank you so much," I say. I take a large piece of cauliflower and dunk it in the dill dip and savor it. Tobias smiles as I thoroughly enjoy my snack. "Oh, I love you."
"Love you, too," he says as he steals a slice of cheese off the plate.
"Ella, Candor or Dauntless?" James asks when we all take our seats again.
"Dauntless," she says.
"I dare you to call the first person on your contacts list who isn't in this room and ask them 'When a cow laughs, does milk come out its nose?'" he asks with a smirk.
"Seriously?" she asks. She gets her phone out of her pocket and looks at it. "Okay, here goes nothing. I'm calling Bailey. She works at the store with me."
"Put it on speaker," James says. She dials the number, and on the second ring, a groggy-sounding woman's voice says hello.
"Hi, Bailey. It's Ella," she says. "I have a question for you. When a cow laughs, does milk come out its nose?" There's silence on the other end of the line.
"What?" she says, confused and still more than half asleep.
"When a cow laughs, does milk come out its nose?" Ella repeats.
"This is a joke, right?" she says sounding somewhat more alert. "You're at a Candor or Dauntless party, aren't you?"
"Yeah, sorry, Bailey," she says. "Go back to sleep. I'll see you Monday." She hangs up before she wakes her coworker up further. "Alright, it's my turn to torture someone. Trevor, Candor or Dauntless."
"Um, Candor," he says.
"Have you ever kissed a dude?" she asks. His eyes widen at the question.
"Well I've kissed my dad and my gramps but no I've never locked lips with another guy," he says. "I prefer woman. Marlene, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Nice to see you still remember my name, Trevor," Marlene says. "Trevor and Stefan's older sister used to babysit me. Let's see, Candor."
"Uh, you too, babe," Uriah says, completely disappointed in his girlfriend. She just rolls her eyes at him.
"What's the first thing you notice about a man when you find him attractive?" he asks.
"Easy, their eyes," she says, looking into Uriah's eyes. "Hana, Candor or Dauntless."
"Candor," she says.
"What's the craziest thing you've ever done while you were drunk?" she asks.
"Oh, that's easy, honey, I conceived your boyfriend," Hana says saluting the room with her half-empty wine glass. A look of utter horror crosses Zeke's face, and Uriah covers his ears, starts humming, and rocking back and forth. I think the Pedrad boys just learned more from their mother than they ever wanted to know. "And that's what you get for talking about sex in front of your mother. Callen? As my boys say, you know the question." He looks like a deer caught in the headlights listening to Hana.
"Dauntless," he says, finally recovering his voice.
"I want you to kiss the Pit floor for 15 seconds," she says. His eyes widen at the dare. He looks like he wants to refuse but I can see he doesn't want to appear to be, in Uriah's words, a pansycake. I think I now know where Zeke and Uriah get their ruthlessness when it comes to this game.
"The Pit floor is right outside the door," I remind him. "You don't have to go too far." He gives me a small gracious smile then gets up. He opens both doors, props them open, and lies down on the floor. He puckers up and kisses the floor. Hana counts out loud to 15 then he gets up and brushes himself off. Everyone laughs when he goes to the beverage table and downs an orange juice, sparkling cider, and a grape juice. "Murphy," he says to the tall, blonde curly-haired girl on the other side of Avery after he feels that he's washed the Pit floor out of his mouth, "Candor or Dauntless?"
"Candor," she says. He smirks at her.
"Who do you think is the hottest teacher at upper levels?" he asks. She grins as she looks at Avery and Afton.
"That would be Mr. Hankins," Murphy says confidently. Oh, I remember Mr. Hankins and the girl definitely has good taste. He is very good looking. I look around and Christina, Marlene, and Lynn are all nodding in agreement. "Afton?"
"Candor," she says not giving her friend a chance to ask the question.
"Who was your first crush?" Murphy asks. Afton takes her lightweight jacket off and puts it beside her. "Rhys, Candor or Dauntless?"
"Dauntless," says the very big yet quiet 16-year-old who is beside Callen.
"I dare you to lick a toilet," she says.
"No way and I'm not a pansycake either, Uriah," he says as he takes a t-shirt off over his head. Uriah grins.
"Galen, Candor or Dauntless?" he asks the brown-haired boy sitting on the other side of Callen.
"Dauntless," he says.
"Put an ice cube down your pants and let it melt," Rhys says. Galen rolls his eyes at his friend and goes to the beverage table and takes a piece of ice out of the bucket holding bottles of beer. He comes to the center of the room, holds up the rather large cube so everyone can see it, then he puts it down his pants. Everyone whoops and hollers while he stands there shivering. I pull out my phone to check if I've received any news from Mom but there isn't any so I start to relax. I've always been told that no news is good news.
"That was awesome, Galen," Zeke says. "Not a lot of us have the balls to do that." He laughs loudly at his inappropriate joke as Galen flushes candy apple red. "Come on, let's keep this party going!"