Muriel nodded, but I could see she was trying not to smile.
“Okay, your loss. How about...”
I looked through the pile of games the resort provided, stacked up next to the TV. Most were the typical boring games; Monopoly, Scrabble, chess. Hugh would probably love that. Although, would strip chess work? No, Cameron, I told myself, leave the whole ‘Strip’ genre alone, for now at least. I’d almost given up when I spotted the perfect game at the bottom of the pile.
“Truth or Dare.”
I looked around; Muriel appeared interested, but Hugh wore a disdainful expression.
“Sure, why not?” Muriel said, which prompted Hugh to shrug his acceptance.
Perfect.
“Right, we all take turns drawing a card and ask the person clockwise to us whether they want a truth or a dare. So, Muriel, what’ll it be,” I asked as I shook the contents from the box.
“I’ll go dare, please.”
I shuffled the cards before turning the top one over.
“Call up a Chinese restaurant and order a pizza.”
“Um, no,” she replied, to my relief. “Isn’t that a bit mean? Wasting their time and all.”
“That is... the right answer.” I adopted my game-show host voice. “So, truth then?”
She waved her hand for me to proceed and took a big gulp of wine.
“What is your biggest fantasy?” Oh, nice one; this was truly the perfect game.
Muriel’s cheeks reddened slightly, but she was determined not to bow out of the game at the first question, so she scratched her chin thoughtfully. “I’d like to... have sex in Paris.”
“That’s not a fantasy,” Hugh said. “That’s just a thing French people do.”
“Well, I’m not French, am I?” she pointed out. “It was a question for me, and I’m not using phone-a-friend, so you can shut your yap.”
Wow, things were getting spicy already. Hugh tried to appear offended, but I knew full well he liked being put in his place by a strong woman.
“Paris it is, then,” Hugh said. “Right, you pull a card for Cameron now.”
“Okay. Cameron, truth or dare?”
“Given the quality of the last dare, I think we’ll make this game truth or truth. So, truth, please.”
“What’s something you’re glad your dad doesn’t know about you?”
I didn’t even have to think about my answer. “Nothing. I’m an open book, he already knows everything.”
“Seriously, everything?” Hugh asked. “I didn’t know that.”
“We can’t all be an international man of mystery, you know.” I knew he told his parents as little as possible about his life.
“I think that’s admirable,” Muriel said, and I nodded my appreciation. “Absolutely nutso, but admirable.”
“I’ve got a truth for you, Muriel,” Hugh said, and while she gestured for him to go ahead, I eyed him warily. He’d been in a weird mood ever since Muriel invited us over, and I couldn’t trust him not to ruin the mood. Was he going to ask her for her views on Ukraine? Or where she was on her menstrual cycle?
“Why did you ghost us?”
Oh.
That.
I’d have taken Ukraine over that.
It took every ounce of strength in me to resist literally facepalming. You can always trust a journalist to suck the fun out of a party. Although I couldn’t deny that I was interested to hear the answer to his question. But his timing was terrible; he really didn’t need to do it when things were just getting flirty.
Chapter Four
Muriel Tennyson
Fairy lights adorned the walls of the bungalow living room, giving a soft, radiant glow. I’d put some smooth lo-fi hip hop on, lit a sandalwood candle, and generally made the place as relaxing and low-key sexy as I could.
Truth or Dare, or Truth or Truth as it turned out, was fun.
And then Hugh rolled in with the one question guaranteed to kill the mood.
“Why did you ghost us?”
I was on the spot, no time to make anything up. Assuming the game portion of the evening was over, I busied myself putting the cards away, giving my eyes something to focus on other than their faces.
“I was scared.”
“Scared of what?” Cameron asked, more gently than Hugh’s probing question. But he was clearly very interested, and as he leaned forward, his robe rode up his leg, revealing a muscular thigh. I swallowed hard.
“I was a virgin, for crying out loud.” I threw my hands in the air in a mock-dramatic move. “Nobody expects their first time to be a threesome, do they?”
Hugh nodded and wagged his finger enthusiastically as if he finally got it. “She has a point.”
“Damn right, I have a point,” I said, slightly annoyed that it hadn’t occurred to them before now. “So I ran away. I was ashamed of how I felt. And I blocked you on my social media because...”
“Because you didn’t want to see us with other women.” Hugh’s assessment was accurate, but I didn’t want them to know that.
“Hah. Don’t flatter yourselves. I wanted a fresh start, that’s all, away from this place and everyone I knew. Jasmine, Poppy, and I all agreed that we’d become new people in college, and that’s what we did.”