The Game of Truth or Dare

"It's Tay's turn!" Jess squealed as the bottle in the middle of the circle swung around directly opposite from her to point at her best friend.

Taylor inwardly groaned. She hated party games like these, they always panicked her. But ever since her friend Cameron had gotten the house to himself due to his parents being on a cruise and his sister off on holiday with her boyfriend, he'd been throwing parties and game nights and get-togethers every single night. Taylor had attended them all, especially because Cameron always invited Jack Barakat too.

Tay had an extremely embarrassing crush on the lanky boy.

Ever since they'd been paired together in music class, they had grown close, and Tay couldn't get Jack off her mind.

Little did she know, Jack felt the same. The short girl made his stomach turn in the really, really good way but he had no idea how to go about asking her out. He'd only ever had one other girlfriend, when he was thirteen, who he asked out over text across the playground. That relationship had lasted four months, which seemed like a proud achievement in Jack's book. However, apparently asking a girl out over text at aged seventeen was lame, so he wasn't going to do that. Besides, he had no idea if Tay even liked him back.

The game of Truth Or Dare that he'd gotten involved in, with Taylor playing too and sitting three people away from him in the circle, seemed like a great way to find stuff out about her, private stuff. Like who she wanted to date. Although Jack wasn't mean enough or brave enough to ask something like that if he got the chance so he was going to have to wait until someone else did. And it was Tay's turn.

After a long thirty seconds of thinking, she finally muttered out, "Dare."

A dare seemed worse than a truth but if she picked truth, Jess would no doubt ask who she had a crush on even though Jess already knew. And Tay would mumble and lie and say no-one and then Jess, being already tipsy, would likely blurt out who it actually was and then Tay would die of embarrassment.

"Okay," Jess grinned, tapping her chin in thought. "I dare you... to... make out with Barakat!"

Tay wasn't sure she'd heard right at first, but after looking up and staring at Jess for a moment, she realised that yes, that is exactly what she said. And it sent Tay into a minor panic.

It would be okay. It would be fine. Unless he thought she was a bad kisser... but it wasn't like she'd never kissed anybody before. Unless the boyfriend she'd had for two weeks at aged fourteen didn't count. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't sure their sloppy messy gross kissing should count, actually.

Maybe she could just back out and do the forfeit punishment instead. But then again, the forfeit would probably be much, much worse, like streaking down the length of the street completely naked. It would be a lot simpler just to go through with the kiss. What if Jack didn't want to kiss her though? Oh, God, what if he really didn't? His expression right then was unreadable so Taylor couldn't be sure.
Okay, there was no way she wanted to do the forfeit, so it looked like she was stuck with the dare. What if saying yes to it made her look like she was desperate to kiss him and everyone realised she had a crush on him? Saying no might hurt Jack's feelings and make him feel like he was too gross to kiss though, and there was no way she could ever bear with the thought of hurting his feelings... this was such a dilemma.

In the end, she mumbled out, "Alright," and looked Jack in the eye. He nodded and gave a little shrug before smiling slightly. Phew, okay, that made her feel a tiny bit reassured that he wasn't totally disgusted by the idea.

Jack was far from disgusted by it, that was for sure. When the words came out of Jess' mouth for the dare, he could've kissed her right there and then for being such a star. He was going to have to give her a big hug later. His stomach was doing somersaults when Tay nervously agreed, heart feeling like it was jumping up into his mouth. He was too excited to be nervous about this.

Taylor crawled across the circle on her hands and knees, meeting him halfway. Now they just had to kiss, with everyone around them cheering on. Even people that weren't involved in the game had filed on through from other rooms to see what all the racket was about, and that just made Tay even worse, what with the huge audience. Her face was probably glowing with a blush. But there was just the little issue about actually getting started.

The pair had their faces very close, and they both chuckled nervously as it sunk in - they were about to make out at a party in a room full of people all staring at them. Jess in particular was nearly squealing after having staggered to her feet and got to Cameron in the door way, whispering everything that was going down. If she told Cam that Tay liked Jack, she was a dead girl. Even though, Cam had probably already assumed that for himself.

Jack cleared his throat slightly to get Tay's attention again, and she managed to drag her eyes away from where her two friends were talking in hushed tones and giggling at the circle.

"Um," the small girl mumbled.

Just tilt your head and get on with it, she instructed herself silently.

However, she wasn't anticipating for Jack to tilt his head the same way. Both tried to correct themselves but made the same mistake again, and it went on like this a few times, the pair of them bobbing their heads back and forth like pigeons. It got less funny as time went on and the giggles of all the party-goers died down at around about the same time awkwardness sky-rocketed. In the end, Tay couldn't take it any more, and grabbed the back of Jack's head with one hand, pulling him against her mouth. She practically heard everyone breathing out in an, "Oh thank God," kind of way.

It wasn't so bad, kissing him. Not as nerve-wracking as it had been leading up to the experience, certainly, so she let herself enjoy it. She was getting to kiss the boy she liked. It made her smile a little. There was no tongues, even though Jess had specified making out, but neither teen seemed to mind. And Tay didn't move her hand from Jack's hair. She kind of liked holding him in place. And hell, Jack was having the time of his life. The grip on his head, the warmth of Taylor's mouth... he just hoped he was doing everything right. Luckily, after a couple of minutes when he felt like he'd turned to water and was about to collapse, Jess pulled them apart. Jack wiped his mouth and gave Tay a beaming smile, his cheeks flushing. She returned it and ducked her head, shuffling back into place in the circle.

The game continued for a few more turns, but Jess had been the glue holding it all together, and she'd run off somewhere else to do God knows what. Slowly, people started to get up and wander away, and in the end, there were only a few stragglers left sitting including Tay and Jack. The game had ended. No clear winner, not exactly.

Jack decided now was his chance, maybe his only chance. He got up on shaking legs and walked over to Tay, holding out his hand.

"Hey, Taylor, d'you wanna go somewhere else? This room's dead," he smiled nervously, breath hitching when she took his hand and stood up too.

He led her away, into the hall, and found a quiet spot at the bottom of the stairs. Nobody was hanging around so at least they didn't have an audience this time.

"There's something I've been wanting to ask you for a few months now," he blurted, deciding just to get it over with.

If she rejected him... well, he'd cross that sorry bridge when he came to it. Her brown eyes were shining, a curious look on her sweet face as she silently encouraged him to continue.

"And, well, that kiss just really sealed the deal for me, and, I, well... do you want to be my girlfriend?"

He felt his skin prickle as soon as he'd said it, head ducking to hide the blush. His words hadn't come out quite as confidently as he would've liked. God fucking damn. She was going to say no.

Taylor had to admit she hadn't been expecting that. Not one bit. Nope. But that's not to say she wasn't over the moon about it. She was trying really hard not to just leap for joy, actually. And it was even cuter that he seemed so nervous. He wasn't even looking at her, he was staring at his shoes. She tipped his chin up with her forefinger and gave him a quick little kiss, pulling away only to grin widely at him. Jack had the most adorable hopeful puppy face. "I think you'll find that was the kiss that really seals the deal," she whispered.

"Oh my God, oh my God, you're the best," he grinned, throwing his arms around her and picking her up in a tight hug.

Tay squealed and giggled, clinging to him as she felt her feet leave the ground.

"Oh! That reminds me! I gotta go hug Jess!" Jack burst out suddenly, placing Taylor back on the floor.

"Why?" she chuckled, frowning in confusion.

"For daring you to make out with me! It was the best moment of my whole life!" Jack called back, already running off to the kitchen to find the dark-haired girl and thank her a million times over.

Taylor stood there on the bottom stair, laughing to herself a little and biting at the tip of her thumb. Perhaps, just perhaps, she didn't hate playing Truth Or Dare quite so much.