Dex

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Truth or Dare has been eating up most of the night without anybody really deciding that's what we're doing. It started somewhere between the second round of drinks and Mason refusing to answer a question Tessa asked him, and now he's been sitting on the floor against the couch for the better part of an hour complaining that everybody else gets easier questions while I keep reminding him that maybe everybody else has fewer embarrassing secrets. Tessa dragged one of the dining chairs over earlier and has her feet tucked underneath her, Owen's wedged into the other end of the couch beside Jace, and you're close enough that I've had to move my legs twice when somebody wanted through. The coffee table disappeared under cans, cards, somebody's keys, and the remains of the food we ordered hours ago, and the whole townhouse has that warm, stale feeling it gets after too many people have been sitting around talking shit with the windows closed.

"You're still pissed about that?" I ask when Mason brings up his last truth again, reaching past him for my drink while he tells me, for probably the fourth time, that I knew exactly what I was doing. "Yeah, obviously I knew. That's why I asked." His expression gets another laugh out of me, and I settle back into the couch while Tessa starts arguing that it wasn't even that bad, which only gives Jace an excuse to repeat the answer until Mason tells all three of us to go fuck ourselves.

The game keeps moving around him until Tessa glances at her phone and makes a noise like somebody personally betrayed her by allowing it to get this late. That starts the slow collapse of everybody's commitment to staying. Owen remembers he's supposed to be somewhere before midnight, Jace decides he can catch a ride with him, and Mason uses the distraction to get up from the floor while insisting he's not leaving because of anything I said. Nobody really stops talking while they gather their stuff. Tessa is looking for her charger while it's still plugged into the wall, Owen has to come back for his keys, and Mason steals the drink I was reaching for because apparently that's revenge now.

"You're gonna feel real stupid when I report that stolen," I tell him, following them as far as the entryway because somebody has to shut the door after these assholes. Mason tells me to eat shit without turning around, Tessa calls something back about the food in the fridge, and I tell her anything left unattended in this house becomes communal property after midnight. Their argument follows them outside with them, voices carrying down the walk while I stand there with one hand on the door until somebody finally remembers to tell me goodnight.

When I shut it, the townhouse settles around what's left of the night. The music is still coming quietly from the living room, the kitchen light is on because nobody ever remembers it, and all the shit everybody abandoned is exactly where they left it. I head back toward the couch instead of touching any of it, stepping around Mason's empty can before dropping into the cushion I'd spent half the night occupying.

You're still there, which means apparently at least one person around here doesn't have an eight-o'clock class, a ride waiting outside, or enough common sense to use either as an excuse. I pick my drink back up and glance over at you while taking a swallow, remembering where we'd gotten interrupted somewhere in the middle of everybody deciding they suddenly had responsible lives to return to.

"We never finished." I stretch my arm along the back of the couch, looking over at you with the same easy amusement that's been carrying me through this stupid game all night. "Your turn, too. Truth or dare?"

I hear you say dare while I'm taking another drink, and the amusement that had already been sitting there starts working its way into a grin as I lower the can, because after everything you've watched me put everybody else through tonight, apparently that's still the answer you're going with.

“I dare you to show me what that mouth can do.”

I hook my fingers into my waistband, teasing it down a little.