The others laughed as Victor pulled away and my cheeks were still red. Victor shared a secret smile with me.
“Your turn to choose, Victor,” Kota said.
“Sang,” Victor said.
I rolled my eyes. “I just had a turn.”
“I get to pick whoever I want,” Victor said. “Pick one.”
“Truth.”
Groans.
Victor was quiet for a moment as if considering his question carefully. “Why did your parents name you Sang?”
This perked everyone up. Again eyes fell on me.
“My grandmother’s name was Sangrida. My mom shortened it to Sang.”
“Which grandmother?” he asked.
“My dad’s mother. She died when I was eight, I think. I don’t really remember her. Marie was named after my mom’s mother.”
“That was two questions,” Gabriel said. “Pick someone, Sang.”
“Your turn, Gabriel,” I said defiantly.
He smirked. “Dare.”
“Crap,” I said. Not that I had a truth picked out but I wasn’t sure what to dare him to do. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to...”
“Anything,” he said. His crystal eyes sparkled. “Just don’t make me burn the house down.”
“Make him kiss something,” Luke said.
“Make him drink from the toilet,” Victor said.
I thought about it. “You know the lip gloss in your bag?” I asked him.
“Uh huh,” he said, his eyebrow lifting.
I nodded toward his bag. “Go get it for me and I get to put it on you.”
The others roared with laughter. Kota had to ask them twice to calm down.
“God damn it,” Gabriel said. He stood up, ran over to his bag and dug through it for the tube of gloss. He brought it back and knelt next to me, smacking the tube into my open palm. “You’re so fucking mean.”
“You said anything,” I said. I pulled the brush from the tube and held it out toward him. “Pucker up, sweetie.”
He made a kissy face at me, smacking his lips as he kissed the air. I handed the bottom part off to Nathan to hold. I grabbed Gabriel’s cheeks and made him do a fish face like he had me do. I got the brush close to his lips and he made some strange face and poked his tongue out at me that I stopped, turning my head to laugh.
“Don’t mess up,” Gabriel said through his squished lips.
“Then stop making faces,” I said. I swiped the brush across his lips. I smeared it pretty well, marking up part of his upper lip just under his nose.
“Hey,” he said. He pulled back his head and reached with his palm to rub it off.
“No. You have to leave it on.”
“For how long?”
“Forever.”
He grunted.
I shrugged. “Until the end of the game.”
He growled. A flash went off. We both turned and there was another flash. Luke had his cell phone out, pointing it at us.
“Oh my fucking god,” Gabriel said and he lunged after Luke. Luke ducked out of the way, shifting to hide behind North. North took the phone from his brother and sat on it, giving Gabriel a look as if daring him to come get it.
I was leaning against Nathan, laughing way too hard. Nathan wrapped a hand around my waist to hold me up, pressing his cheek to the top of my head.
“Fine, fine,” Gabriel said, going back to sit cross-legged in his spot. “Sang’s turn.”
I was going to say truth again but everyone was looking and waiting for it. I relented. “Dare,” I said in a small voice.
Gabriel beamed, his shiny pink lips glinting in the light. “I should make you kiss a toilet.”
“Please don’t,” I begged.
He smiled and curled his fingers at me. “Alright, come here. You have to sit on my lap until the end of the game.”
My mouth popped open but what could I say? I sat on laps all night. No one argued his dare. I smirked, crawling over to him. He opened his arms and pulled me in to sit in the middle of his crossed legs, my back pressed to his chest. He put his cheek next to the side of my head. His arms threaded around my waist.
“Nathan?” I said, hoping he might be able to save me.
“Dare,” he said.
Gabriel’s lips traced my ear as he whispered. I started repeating it. “You have to... get three pieces of ice... and... oh man that’s so mean!” I said to Gabriel.
“You aren’t supposed to help her,” Nathan said.
“She wants you to put ice in your underwear,” he said. “That’s tame shit. I just did you a favor.”
Nathan turned to me. “Is that what you want?”
I blushed, putting my fingers to my lips but I couldn’t hide my smile. I didn’t have a better idea and Gabriel’s suggestion was funny.
“Fuck,” he said and he got up to go to the kitchen. He came back with three pieces of ice which he held out to me so I could see. He sat down in his spot, yanked out the elastic to his shorts and dropped the ice inside. “Christ,” he barked, and he closed up his legs, shoving his face into his knees. “Sang!”
“Dare!” I called out, still hoping he’d have pity on me.
“Bite Gabe,” he said through his teeth, seething. “Hard enough to leave a mark.”
“Hey,” Gabriel said.
I started a giggle fit. Gabriel shifted his legs so I bounced in his lap. I grabbed his arm, brought it to my mouth, and stopped short to laugh again.
Nathan’s head lifted. They all stared in silence as I opened my mouth and sank my teeth into Gabriel’s skin. I tasted salt, felt the hair on the back of his arm tickle my tongue.
“Good girl,” Gabriel said, nearly purring.
“I said hard, Sang,” Nathan said.
I bit down.
“Ow, fuck,” he said, yanking his arm from my mouth. His forearm had my teeth marks indented into his skin.
“Silas?” I asked.
“Truth.”
I knew exactly what I wanted to ask him. “What did you say...”
“You have a beautiful laugh,” he said. His brown eyes zeroed in on me. “That’s what I said to you outside of class in the hallway. I’m not ashamed to say it out loud.”
The others giggled.
“He’s right about that,” Gabriel whispered in my ear. He bounced me on his lap again.
“Sang,” Silas said.
“Dare,” I said.
He was quiet for a minute, looking at my face as if weighing in on what he could ask me. “I want another hug.”
The guys laughed again. I crawled out of Gabriel’s lap and knee walked over. Silas held open his arms for me, catching me. He wrapped his strong arms around me and squeezed me against his chest. My cheek pressed against his bare shoulder and chest. His nose pressed to my neck, and he inhaled deeply. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers curled into his hair, breathing in his ocean scent.
When he let go, Gabriel called out to me, “Get back here.”
“Luke,” I said as I crawled back into Gabriel’s lap.
“Dare,” he said.
“I want the damn photo deleted,” Gabriel said.
“That’s not what I want,” I said, laughing. “I want... um...”
North caught my eye. He made a kissing motion with his lips.
“I want you to kiss...” I started to say.
North wiggled his toes.
“My foot,” I said, getting another round of giggle fits.
“I said no kiss dares,” Nathan growled.
“It’s her foot. That doesn’t mean anything,” North said, shrugging. “I actually meant to get her to say her shoe but close enough.”
Luke laughed, pushing blond hair away from his face. “I’ve got the easy one.” He crawled over. I held out a leg. He grabbed at it, and puckered, pressing his lips against the top of my toes.
A spark slipped from my foot to my stomach.
The others were laughing.
Luke gazed up at me and we locked
eyes. He winked. “Sang,” he said.
“Tru...,” I said, but I got a jab in the ribs from Gabriel. “Ugh, dare.”