Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Imogen

Well, I hadn't thought this through, had I? But in my defence it'd been a long time since I had people over for dinner, hung out with anyone other than Mike and his buddies, or played truth or dare for that matter. I was also just a little distracted by Kyle's very big, very muscly forearms as they landed on the table. He had biceps as big as my head, I knew this because I spent a moment visually measuring them.

"Um…" I looked behind me, seeing the open pantry when an idea struck. We had a shitty game we used to play when still teens and that had me getting to my feet. The guys watched, slightly confused, as I opened a packet of Weet-Bix and placed one of the very dry, very dense biscuits of compressed wheat on a plate. Usually served with tons of milk and sugar to make it palatable, I carried it over to the table and set it before Kyle.

"Um… maybe I shoulda chosen truth." His strange gold eyes rolled up to meet mine. "Is it too late to change?"

"Chow down." Lucas pushed the plate closer to Kyle.

"Eating dry Weet-Bix?" Kyle grumbled. "I thought I'd just have to streak up and down the stairs or something stupid."

"You'd rather introduce yourself to my neighbours naked?" I asked, tilting my head to one side.

"No, I?—"

"Eat up or admit defeat." Asher's responses always sounded like they were being torn out of him, but his tiny smile caught me by surprise.

"What happens if I don't eat this arid wasteland of breakfast biscuit?" Kyle poked it with his finger.

"Then you're out." I declared that confidently, remembering the rules now. "You don't get to ask or dare us to do anything." I nodded to the couch. "You get to sit there and watch, bored."

"Hmm…" He looked at the Weet-Bix, then me, and back again before grabbing it in those massive hands.

Weet-Bix was made of lots of grains of wheat that had every drop of moisture dried out of them, then they were hammered flat before being sandwiched together into a kind of biscuit. No fat, no sugar was added, just dry, dry wheat. It meant they were high in fibre and absolutely disgusting to eat dry, unless you slathered it with butter and a little Vegemite. I offered Kyle no such relief now. He stared at the biscuit mournfully before picking it up. Smiles broke out around the table, right as he took his first bite.

That god-awful crunch made clear just how dry this was, and then he tried to chew. The no-milk biscuit would be soaking up all of the saliva in his mouth, making it almost impossible to chew. His eyes screwed up, his jaw working frantically, but by the chuckles around the table, we all knew what he was going through. Mashing the wheat up into particles small enough to swallow needed moisture to help the process.

"Mph?"

Kyle tried to indicate something, spraying half chewed wheat flakes everywhere, then stabbed his finger in the direction of the fridge.

"No milk," I said, shaking my head, because this brought me back. Instead, I swiped the wine bottle from the counter and filled his glass. "Eating a bowl of milk and cereal is no dare."

I watched him swallow that bite down, his eyes watering as he gulped a mouthful of wine.

"Holy fucking shit…"

"Only about five more bites to go," Asher observed dryly.

"Why didn't I pick truth?" Kyle muttered over and over again to himself, right before he took another bite.

This took me back to a time before Mike, where me and my friends would sit around doing something dumb, sometimes with a bottle of wine stolen from our parents' stash. Kyle seemed to sense he had an audience, now exaggerating the difficulty he was having with the dare. The moans, the groans, the rolled eyes, they had me cackling, right up until he finished the last bite, even sweeping his finger across the plate to eat the last few crumbs.

"Right." Those eyes were molten gold right now and bore straight into me. "Your turn. Please say dare. Please say dare."

"Truth," I replied, taking a sip of my drink. "I'm not stupid. There's a whole box of Weet-Bix there your boss paid for, and I only want to eat it the nice way."

"How did you and Mike meet?"

My smile faded, and right then I wished like hell I'd chosen dare. My mouth would've been just as dry, and I'd have something to shove in it instead of it hanging slightly open.

"Jesus, Kyle—" Lucas hissed, but I shook my head.

"No, its fine." I stared into each one of their eyes, daring them to look away. "You'd have to be wondering how I ended up in this situation."

"Less than you'd think," Asher told me, but didn't explain further.

"We went to high school together." I stared at the plate, taking in each crumb left. "He was one of the bad boys, and I was this geeky girl who spent her time in the library or the art room. Guys didn't notice me, not until he did."

My finger traced the graceful line of the wine glass' stem.

"He was my first kiss, my first…" I looked up then, remembering I had an audience. "My first everything. Love bombing, the first time I read an article about that I recognised what he'd done. Treated me like I was the most important person in the entire world, which was seductive enough in itself. People thought we were the perfect couple until…"

Until the charade became too hard to maintain and the cracks started to form. Until I was forced to confront the fact the guy I'd given my heart to wasn't who I thought he was. The cruelty, the neglect, the disinterest coupled with intense affection when I started to pull away, all had my head spinning, losing all sense of up, down, right and… wrong. I said something to that effect and then came back to the present, letting go of the past for now.

Fuck, this was way more embarrassing than I remember this game being as kids. I think the worst thing I'd been dared to do was wear some guy's shirt, not confess my tragic relationship woes. I forced myself to smile, sitting up straighter.

"Well, you've heard my tales of misery. What about you guys?" I scanned the table, taking in the way each one of them sprawled in their chairs. "Any crazy ex's in your history? No bunny boilers?"

"No," Asher replied for all of them, so definitively I thought he killed the topic dead, but I was determined to revive it.

"No one ever slashed your tyres? Tried to turn a hookup into marriage?" I persisted.

"No, there have been no women in my life."

"Oh. Ohh…" I glanced at all three of them, thinking I saw them more clearly now. "So you're…?" The three of them as a gay throuple was a possibility, but how did that explain Lucas' response last night? Bisexual, my mind supplied helpfully. He could be bi, but that meant I was grinding on… "Oh shit, you're together?"

"What?" Lucas frowned then looked at the others. "We're a sl— team, but?—"

"You think we're gay?" The long, slow inspection Kyle made of me had me abandoning that theory as soon as it was formulated. "No, not that there's anything wrong with being gay, but no. We work together. We've been close friends since high school. Also, if I was going to do dick, it wouldn't be Lucas'. He snores."

"And the toxic gas that escapes your arse every time you eat eggs is enough to make sure I'd never want to go near yours," Lucas shot back.

"You think I'd be bottoming for you?" Kyle asked. "Fuck you. I give off distinct top energy."

He reached over and ruffled Lucas' hair, something that earned him an elbow to the ribs. When Lucas raked his fingers through it to settle his hair back down, he met my eyes.

"Me either." His confidence seemed to be evaporating by the second. "Girlfriends I mean. I haven't…" My eyes widened, remembering last night, the way it'd felt straddling his hips. I'd never felt like he was anything other than completely in control. He shot me a sheepish smile as if in response to that. "Never even kissed anyone before."

Jesus. I stared openly, a small shrieking voice inside told me to look the hell away, but I didn't. I caught the vulnerability and the strength in those golden eyes, right before Kyle interrupted.

"So truth or dare, Imogen?"

"Dare…"

Why the hell had I said that? I was determined not to. Sad stories, embarrassing questions, I could deal with all of them, but putting myself into a stranger's control, letting them tell me what to do? I was not keen on that at all, something confirmed by Kyle's sly smile.

"I dare you to kiss Lucas."

It was a challenge fit for teenagers. We'd used the game as kids to ‘make' someone do the thing they really wanted to do, just like spin the bottle, but I wasn't a child anymore. I saw the look in Lucas' eyes and knew what I had to do.

"I can't." I met the gaze of everyone here steadily and then repeated what I was saying. "Someone's first kiss shouldn't be from a dare. I?—"

"I don't mind." Lucas said that too quickly, with too much emphasis, and he pushed his glasses up his nose. "I mean… It's OK, Imogen."

"It's not." I got up abruptly, downing the rest of my drink before moving over to the stove to stir the potatoes. Piercing them with a fork, I saw they still had a way to go to boil, but I wasn't the only one who entered the kitchen. The shy guy with the blushes wasn't here as Lucas joined me. He sat his butt against the kitchen counter, watching me the entire time, forcing me to turn and face him. "What did you say last night?"

"You were upset, hurting. I didn't want to kiss you like that," he told me. Small sounds from the others made clear they were unaware of this situation.

"But a dare is better?" I set the fork down deliberately, feeling a terrible kind of tension inside me. It was the one that rose every time I was about to do something dumb. I moved then, closing the gap between us, setting one hand, then the other on either side of him. "It should be an amazing thing, beautiful."

"Like it was with Mike?"

In a way, that was true. I'd felt like I was teetering on the edge of something, ready to jump off. Into adulthood, becoming a woman, everything, and Mike was right there with me.

Sort of.

His eyes were hazy, blinded by intoxication, making me wonder if it was me he was lurching towards or just any girl-shaped figure. Right then, it hadn't mattered. I just wanted to jump, to get swept up in something bigger than me, a passion I read about in books but never saw in real life. Would I find it if I kissed him? I had to know, and so I had pressed my lips to his, trying to ignore the bitter taste of beer, the sloppy feel of his slack lips moving against mine. We'd kissed and kissed, and then we'd?—

"Not really," I admitted to Lucas. That was so much easier to admit now. "That's why you want to wait, until it's with someone who actually means something to you. You'll see some girl someday, and as soon as you lock eyes with her, you'll know she's the one. It'll be amazing, and you'll?—"

I had this whole speech inside my head, promising Lucas something I never received. But I wanted to. I'd wanted love at first sight and something overwhelming and amazing all at the same time. A storm that would tear me from all of the never-ending greyness of life, infusing it with passion. My speech died in my throat, not because I didn't have the words, but because Lucas stepped in right then.

"Luc…" Asher growled, my first and only warning, because Lucas' hands went to my jaw, tilting my head upwards so my eyes met his.

"And what if I found her?"

He didn't wait for an answer, because apparently this dare was for him, not me. He swept in, smelling of pine trees and sea breeze, my tongue almost able to taste the salt, right before his mouth brushed against mine. His perfectly sensible advice from last night was shoved aside as I felt this.

This was the kiss I was supposed to have. Gentle at first, just a brush of his lips against mine, and when I didn't pull away, he went in for more. Firm and growing with confidence, I wondered at his words. This couldn't be the first time he kissed someone, not as his hands went around my waist, tugging me close. Someone was saying something, calling his name and mine, but I couldn't hear it, not when there was this.

My hands went around his neck, holding him right where he was. One kiss bled into another. Was this what other people felt? How could all the grumpy, tired couples I saw come through my checkout treat each other like that when they had this magic at their fingertips? Every fibre of my being came alive, not just my lips as his parted mine, his tongue searching. The moment it touched, something would happen, my heart knew. The spark he'd struck would roar to life, burning me up. Perhaps that's why the sounds grew louder, Asher forcing himself between us.

"Imogen." His eyes burned with blue fire as he stared at me, making me shamefully aware of the way I was sucking in breaths, my lips throbbing in time with my heart. "The potatoes are about to boil over."

I knew exactly how they felt, but there was no dial to turn down inside my body, so I was left to move blindly, finding my new colander and setting it in the sink. I dumped the potatoes into it, draining them before going to the fridge, only to find Lucas already there. He pulled it open and handed me butter and some milk with a small smile.

"Thank you," we both said at the same time, forced to snort in response.

"As first kisses go, that was pretty damn perfect," Lucas said finally.

"I… Ah…" I fought to put a sentence together, to say something, but my brain was offline as my body took control. My feet wanted to move, stepping closer to him. All good things in life were there, I just knew it, if I could just… The chill of the open fridge door finally filtered through. "I'm glad."

God, that was lame.

"So, is everyone good with stew and mashed potato?" I asked, finally bringing my attention back to the room, and with it came a rush of shame. These guys had to have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars helping me and I'd… I'd pashed one of their friends with little care for the display I was making. Kyle stepped forward and I anticipated a look of disgust or irritation, only to see him smirk.

"We're good with whatever you feel comfortable with, Imogen."