“What do you have in mind?” Reese asks him.
“How about some truth or dare?” Hank rubs his hands together in childish glee.
“Sure. I’m in,” Reese agrees easily.
“Me too,” Tessa says.
“Why not?” I say, tossing my agreement out there. We played this once last year, and there were more dares than truths. We ended it after Samson, a senior who has now graduated, took the dare to drink a gallon of milk in an hour and keep it down. He failed, and he was up all-night puking. I was never so glad to escape to my dorm room.
“I’ll go first,” Hank says. His eyes skim over each of us, looking for his first victim. “Levi.”
“Dare,” Levi answers immediately.
“I dare you to drink an entire jar of pickle juice.”
“Do we even have pickles?” Nixon asks.
Hank shrugs. “Don’t know, but if not, I’ll think of something else.”
“I got you,” Trey says, jogging off to the house to see if we do, in fact, have a jar of pickles. “Score!” he yells a few minutes later, stepping out onto the back deck and holding a jar of pickles in the air.
“Are they cold?” Levi asks.
“Yep.”
“Are they expired?” Reese laughs.
“Does juice expire?” Trey asks, squinting to look at the jar by the light of the fire.
“The contents in the juice does. Let me see.” Reese holds her hand out, and he gives her the jar. She examines, turning it in her hands. “You’re good. They don’t expire until December.”
“Bottoms up!” Hank cheers.
Levi reaches over and takes the jar from Reese, twists off the lid, and kills it. He downs the jar without stopping. When it’s empty, he wipes his mouth on his arm, twists the lid back on it, and places it on the ground next to him. “Let’s see.” His eyes scan us until he stops on Tessa and Nixon. “Tessa. Truth or dare?”
“Hmm, let’s go with dare.”
“Babe, you sure about that?” Nixon asks.
She shrugs. “Can’t be that bad.”
“Tessa, I dare you to… kiss Reese.”
“What kind of kiss are we talking? Tongue?” Tessa inquires easily.
“N-No.” He chokes with laughter. “Just a kiss. A peck on the lips.”
“Reese?”
“Don’t keep a girl waiting,” Reese quips, making us all laugh.
Tessa stands from her seat on Nixon’s lap and saunters over to Reese. She exaggerates the sway of her hips and flips her dark hair over her shoulder. “Ready, gorgeous?” she asks in a low, deep voice that’s not even remotely sexy. Reese stands from her chair and clasps her hands behind her back. Leaning forward, sticking out her ass, she puckers her lips and closes her eyes.
We’re guys, so we all watch with rapt attention, regardless of the spectacle they're making out of it as Tessa’s lips press against Reese’s. It’s hot as fuck. It happens fast, and when they pull apart, Reese plops down in her chair, tilting her head back and resting her arm across her forehead.
“I’ll never wash these lips again,” she says dramatically.
Tessa cackles with laughter as she makes her way back to Nixon, where he opens his arms for her, and she once again settles on his lap. “Now, who’s my next victim.” She taps her index finger to her lips as she ponders who to call on. “Cooper.”
“Truth.”
“Oh, our boy’s feeling like sharing tonight,” Trey comments.
“Truth. Okay. Do you masturbate?” Tessa asks with glee.
“Yep,” I answer automatically. “There is no shame in a little self-love.”
Everyone cracks up at my answer, but I’m being real. A man has needs.
“You’re up,” Hank reminds me.
“Dustin.”
“I’m going dare.”
“I dare you to… eat a raw egg.”
“Do we have eggs?” Nixon asks.
“Dude? You do live here,” Trey reminds him. Nixon shrugs, not the least bit upset that he has no idea what food we have in our kitchen.
“You have eggs,” Reese tells him. “We used them for the cookies Tessa and I made yesterday.”
“Cookies? What cookies?” Hank asks.
“You missed out,” Reese tells him. “They were gone in no time. I think they lasted maybe ten minutes, and it was a double batch.”
“Damn it,” Hank mutters under his breath.
“You need me to go get the egg for you?” I ask Dustin.
“Nah. Hop up.” He taps the girl sitting on his lap on the leg, and she whines but stands. He stands too and heads toward the house.
“Dustin, where are you going?” she calls after him.
“He’s just going to the house to get an egg,” Reese explains politely.
The girl pulls her eyes from Dustin’s retreating form and glares at Reese. “Did I ask you?”
Reese raises her hands in the air. “Hey, I was just trying to help.”
“Right.” The girl laughs humorlessly. “You can’t even nail down your own man.” She points at me. “Don’t you be worrying about mine.”
“Leave.” My tone is ice cold. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let her talk to Reese that way. Not in my house.