The Darings

“That was slick, you know,” Niall murmured. He was standing next to Finn in the kitchen, grabbing another bottle from his fridge. They had all gone through a single wine bottle together. Niall bumped his hip against Finn’s, making her smile as she grabbed a bag of chips from his cupboard, trying to sate her drunk hunger. “Making them snog and all. How long have you been planning that one?”

Finn shrugged, bumping his hip back. “Not long.”

“And you didn’t let me in on it?”

“Ah, a wise lady never let’s other’s in on her secrets, Horan.”

“Yeah, because that’s you.” Finn cocked her head, her eyebrows pulling together as she looked at him in confusion. Niall closed the fridge, uncorking the next bottle of wine. His arms flexed with the motion of it. “You, you’re one big secret all the time. Trying to understand you is fucking impossible.”
“Well I don’t do that on purpose.”

“That’s what makes it so damn interesting.”

Finn didn’t respond. Instead, she shrugged her shoulders, swaying as she turned around to go back into the living area, Niall following her. No one had ever called her interesting before, at least in the way he said it. She never thought being interesting was a good thing until Niall had said it.

Sitting down on the floor next to Ash, she smiled slightly. Her head was swimming with the alcohol and the success she had gotten from watching Ash and Harry kiss. However brief it was, for that moment when she watched two of her mates lips meet, she felt like she had something worth being a bit proud about.

Niall sat down next to Harry passing him the bottle. They were beyond using cups now. There was something to be said about people who were close enough to share a bottle without wiping the lip of it first. Finn never shared drinks, but now she saw nothing wrong with it.

“Alright,” Finn said, calling the chatter to a null. She let her eyes scan over them. Ash’s cheeks were rosy and the tilt to her head gave away her drunkenness. Most people looked overly red when they drank- Ash had the right amount of heat in her cheeks. “By my calculations we’re all tied.”

“What?” Harry demanded, passing the bottle to Ash, who took it delicately. Harry was frowning, not impressed that there was such thing as a tie. “Rubbish. Have you even been keeping score?”

Finn pulled out a small notebook. It was floral in design. The pages were line in black, and neatly on those pages in her neat handwriting, were the list of dares and points that had been issued. “Just because I’m drunk does not mean I’m inept.”

“Who do you owe money to?” Niall wondered out loud, a dazed look on his face.

Finn shook her head. “What? Not ‘in debt’. Inept. Unable.”

“That makes more sense. Although I do think you owe me five dollars?”

“Complete bullshit.” She waved off his statement with a flick of her hair. “Now, can we all agree that these dares we’ve been doing are hardly worth of feeling like we’re doing something different here?”

Ash cocked her head curiously. “What do you mean?”

“She means,” Harry said slowly, “That these are grade school dares. Things everyone does. We need to do something different, something bigger than what we’re already doing. Do something different.”

“Like what?” Niall demanded. “How different?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know! I just said we needed to do something different. Not saying I have any clue, mate.”

Collectively, everyone started thinking hard. Finn pursed her lips, tapping on the wine bottle and lifting it to her lips. It was a few moments before Ash stirred next to her slightly. Finn glanced at Ash. There seemed to be a light in the other girl’s eyes, Ash biting her lip slightly.

Finn leaned over, bumping Ash with her arm slightly. Ash looked at her, eyes going wide with questioning. Finn gestured with her head slightly, telling Ash to say whatever it was on her mind. Somehow, Finn knew that Ash had an idea, or some basis for a plan. Ash was smart. Sometimes she needed encouragement to share her ideas, but they were always startlingly wonderful.

Niall and Harry were conversing when Ash cleared her throat to tell them. When the two started getting into an argument about Derbyshire and Manchester United, Finn put the bottle down on the coffee table firmly. They looked at her. “Ash has something she would like to say. Put a sock in it or I will personally do it for you.”

“I like it when you get rough,” Harry joked, earning a harsh glare from Finn. He coughed awkwardly. “Sorry, go ahead, Ash.”

The other girl smiled gratefully. “What if we did something campus wide? Something that can’t go unnoticed, like the things we have been doing. Something like with the fountains, or the statues.”

“Fountains,” Niall murmured. “Fountains.”

“Yes,” Finn agreed. “Fountains, the giant pieces in the school that spout water in an artistic and intrinsic way.”

He threw a chip from the bag at her. She let it hit her in the nose, blinking lazily. “I know what a fountain is. What I was going to say, is that I’ve got loads of dish soap.”

“You may want to tell your dishes that.”

“My dishes are fine. But what if we put dish soap in the fountains? You’ve seen what happens when you put that stuff in a dishwasher, haven’t you?”

“No,” Ash answered, “Because we read the instructions.”

Finn gave her a wide smile. Niall gave her a narrowed-eyed expression. “Regardless, Rocky and Bullwinkle- teaming up on me- if we put dish soap in the fountains, there will be loads of bubbles. So much that it’ll be difficult if not impossible to get out before classes start in the morning.”

“And how to we give out points?” Harry crossed his arms over his chest. He was competitive. Finn knew that he was not going to let anyone get a one up over him or let anyone have an unfair advantage. “Clearly we can’t all get tied again?”

“Simple.” All eyes were on Ash. “We divide up the soap, and whoever hits the most fountains gets the most points.”

Finn stood, teetering slightly. “Let’s get bubbling.”

*

Campus was black as pitch. The buildings all had theirs lights out, the occasional light post near the walkways glowing like small, dying suns in the night. The group of four stood together in a line in the middle of campus, bouncing up and down in anticipation.

Finn and Ash both borrowed black clothes from Niall and Harry, dressing to blend in with the night. Finn was stood in a shirt of Harry’s that fit her frame better, Niall’s shorts because he was roughly the same thinness, and black paint on her face for fun. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harry place his beanie on Ash’s head, snugly fitting it.

Each of them held a single, plastic cup filled evenly with purple soap. Niall received endless jokes about the lavender soap that he had purchased, to which is only defense was that he liked his dishes to smell clean.

“Watz the matter with you?” Niall joked. They all felt the need to whisper, as if a word said at normal volume would send the school in a frenzy. “Scared?”

“Oh yes. The dark is terrifying.”

“Want me to hold your hand?”

“In your dreams, Horan.” Finn took a breath. “Alright, there are five fountains on campus. Whoever get’s the most gets five points. Second place gets four, everyone under that get’s two. Deal?”

“On your marks,” Harry began, leaning forward. “Get set.”

“Wait, when do we-"

Niall was interrupted by Harry shouting, “Go!”

Everyone but Niall split and ran separate ways like a bursting firework in the sky. Drunk Niall hesitated as Finn ran north, laughing loudly as the air filled her lungs and her legs pumped faster. Poor, drunk Niall was confused, while poor, drunk Finn was having a very hard time finding which way was straight.

It took her a few minutes, but Finn found the fountain she was looking for, jumping over the concrete barrier around it. Her feet hit the water and she instantly slipped on the slick tile underneath the water, causing her to lose her balance and squeak as she went crashing into the cold water.

Sputtering in water, she managed to keep her hand with her cup of soap raised. Getting up, she looked at her drenched frame, cursing and pouring some of her soap into the mouth of the fountain where most of the water came from. She watched as it began forming soap, eliciting a giggle.

After her first fountain, she bolted to the next. Even with alcohol in her system, she was very thankful for her habit of running every single day. It gave her an advantage when she came barreling past Harry, and throwing almost her entire cup of soap into the fountain on the west end.

“Tosser!” he yelled, laughter in his voice. No one was worried about being quiet, after all.

When it seemed all the fountains were done, the panting students gathered where they had started. Finn was not the only one who seemed to take a tumble; Harry was drenched, curls pressed against his forehead. The only one who was completely dry was Niall.

It turned out Niall was too drunk to run anywhere but in circles, trying to remember where the fountains were, which resulted in him getting no fountains. Harry had gotten one fountain, while Ash and Finn had come out on top with getting two fountains. Harry attributed his loss to the fact that he, ‘absolutely had to take a piss.’

“Girls are tied,” Finn announced, clapping hands with Ash. “And boys suck.”

It seemed boys really did go to Jupiter to get ‘more stupider.’