Truth or Dare (2 page)

“Are you going to Lippy’s?” The blonde asks in a voice that rivals Minnie Mouse in tone. “I heard her roommate already moved out, so there’s a spare bedroom now.”

The scent of desperation with just a hint of skank fills the air as I walk up behind the pair. Seriously, what does Colby see in these women, other than their loose lips? And I’m not talking about the ones on their faces.

“Uh, Colby,” I interrupt, wishing I didn’t feel the need to let him know where I was going. The more I watch him with happy hour Barbie, the more I wonder if he would even notice my absence. I’ve grown accustomed to the possessive, bitchy looks most girls wear when they have Colby in their presence, but the one I’m getting from Cricket, at least I think that’s her name, is different. When I glance over at her, I see pity, likely for the pathetic girl who will never stand a chance with Colby. “I’m going to ride over to Lippy’s with Amanda. I’ll see you there if you’re still going.”

I turn to make my escape before he can say anything, knowing that he’s about two seconds away from asking me to wait up for him. He’ll tell me he’s only going to be a few minutes, but then someone else will want to talk to him and it’ll wind up being at least an hour before we leave. An hour that would be better spent drinking just enough that I will forget about how hung up I am on Colby so that, just maybe, I won’t come across as the ice queen when another guy wants to talk to me.

“CB, wait up,” I hear him call after me. Not tonight. After four years as his sidekick, I’m marking this date on the calendar as the day I let Colby go. Unfortunately, Colby’s long legs allow him to ascend the hill much quicker than I can, and he catches up to me about thirty feet from Amanda’s car. He wraps a hand around my upper arm, spinning me around to face him. “What’s your problem tonight?”

“Let it go, Colby.” I avert my light blue eyes to the ground, praying that I won’t allow my conflicting emotions to get the best of me. “I’ll see you at the party.”

The more I try to get away, the tighter Colby’s fingers wrap around my arm. If it was anyone else doing this, I would be pissed, but with Colby, I know it’s because he understands me. He knows me well enough to get that I’m trying to avoid a confrontation that has been ready to happen for a long time. I’ve spent most of the summer getting pissed off when he’s around other girls, dodging him when he tries to confront me about it. All because I know that everything will change the moment I tell him that he’s the man I think of every night when I close my eyes.

The dam behind my eyes threatens to burst when I feel his arms slide around my waist. Why does he do this to me? Am I really so good at hiding my feelings that he doesn’t realize he might as well be twisting a knife into my heart with every embrace?

“Look, I’m not going to push you while we’re up here because I’m sure you feel everyone watching us the same way I do.” He reaches up, brushing a bright red curl away from my face, his fingers trailing down my jaw slowly as he looks at me. “But we need to talk. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I feel like I’m losing my best friend, and I’m not okay with that.”

After gently kissing my forehead, Colby releases me. True to his word, he doesn’t demand anything of me, but I know he’ll push for answers the next time we’re both at the apartment.

Amanda’s staring at me through the windshield of her Pontiac as I make my way up the hill. When I’m close enough that I can see her face, she shakes her head disapprovingly. Great, it looks like I’m going to get a lecture from her on the drive over to Lippy’s.

Chapter 2

Colby

That girl is going to be the death of me. If I thought it would do a damn bit of good, I would chase her tight little ass up the hill and crush my mouth against hers. She thinks I’m clueless about how she feels about me, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Not only do I know that she’s in love with me, the feeling is mutual.

I’ll never forget the night Amanda first brought Lea up to the park. She was this mousy girl with zero self-esteem, but I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Amanda tried repeatedly to bring Lea over to the group so she could meet all of us, but Lea seemed more comfortable sitting off to the side. I watched them go back and forth for almost an hour before taking the initiative to introduce myself. We spent three nights walking around the park, talking about absolutely nothing before I reached for her hand and pulled her into the fray. My buddies gave me shit for ditching them to spend time with the new girl, but I didn’t care.

Unlike most of the girls out here, Lea doesn’t have go out of her way to make the guys see her. She’s funny and sarcastic as all hell. At first, most of the guys didn’t see her as anything more than a friend because she wasn’t the prettiest girl up here. She dressed in baggy t-shirts and jeans, trying to hide the extra weight that she thought made her ugly. Trust me, the girl was never hideous, she had just enough meat on her bones to give her smokin’ hot curves that I’m man enough to admit fueled more than a few late night jerk-off sessions.

“Was that your girlfriend?” the whiny blonde asks as I watch Amanda and Lea drive away. I shake my head, wishing life was different so I could tell her what she means to me. “Because she was seriously pissed that you’re talking to me.”

Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I kick at a crumpled soda bottle on the ground. Fucking pigs are going to get us kicked out of here if they don’t learn to pick up after themselves. As it is, the cops are dying for a reason to give us a hard time. They always have been, but the fact that our group takes care of any issues before it gets deep enough that the cops would get involved has kept us out of hot water for years.

“Nah, CB is just a friend.” Just a fucking friend. The words are like acid on my tongue. Yeah she was pissed, the same way she gets riled up every weekend when she sees me flirting. Call me a dick, but I’m hoping that she’ll give up and move on if I keep up this act long enough. In just over a year, she’ll have a degree and be on her way to a good life. She doesn’t need a flake like me holding her back.

“You sure she knows that?” This bitch is starting to annoy me. I’ve seen her around, but I have no clue who she is or which pack she normally runs with. Don’t care either, if I’m being honest. When she moves to slide her bony arms around me, I back away, no longer interested in whatever it is she’s offering. And given the fact that her clothes barely cover areas that no one but her partner should see, I can imagine she’s offering quite a bit. “Aww, c’mon Colby! I didn’t mean to upset you,” she whines, stumbling as I jerk away from her.

I should have known better than to come over here when Cricket called. The girl is relentless and thinks she knows everything about everyone. She was fun for a while, but she’s the type of girl who ruins everything the moment she opens her mouth. 

I have to get out of here. It’s too soon for me to head to Lippy’s without making it look like I’m following Lea around like a little puppy, but maybe a long drive out in the country is just what I need right now. After excusing myself and telling the blonde I’ll catch up with her at the party, I jog up the hill, ignoring Dave hollering at me to come over and look at something on his truck. Granted, it’s a nice truck, but I really don’t care to see what he got his dad to pay for this time. The guy is almost twenty-three, it’s time to grow up and stop expecting mommy and daddy to funnel money his direction. I might not have much to my name, but at least I’ve busted my ass for every little thing I do have.

My 1985 Olds Cutlass might not be sexy, but she’s my pride and joy. I bought the car for three-hundred dollars on my sixteenth birthday and spent the entire winter in the garage with my dad fixing it up. Once it was running like a champ, he called some of his friends and had them teach me how to do all of the body work. I probably know more than half the grease monkeys out there, but I can’t bring myself to turn wrenches for a living like my dad did.

The crowd gathered on the hill parts to either side of the street as I pull away from the curb, waving as I ease my way to the stop sign. The engine rumbles, easily shifting through every gear as I sail down the straight country road. Out here, it’s just me and Ivy and the open road. She doesn’t judge me for being too much of a chicken to go after the one girl who truly means something to me. There’s no criticism that I’m pissing my life away. My car is my true companion.

As I round a curve, my cellphone buzzes in my pocket. I pull the phone out, tossing it on the passenger’s seat when I see it’s Robby. He and I have been friends since the fifth grade, when we got into a fist fight on the playground over Rachel Jenkins. As it turned out, we got lucky that she hated both of us because she grew up to be a world-class bitch with a serious princess complex, but that altercation made us fast friends. He was pulling up the hill as I was leaving, so I can imagine he’s calling to find out what bug I have up my ass tonight because most of the time I would turn around and hang with him.

**

Ivy and I ride to the county line before turning around. I’m being a moody little bitch tonight, and it’s time to get out of this funk. By the time I arrive at Lippy’s place, there are cars lining both sides of the street, and I have to park around the corner. It’s a good thing she lives in a laid-back area filled with starving artists and hippies because her house has become party central this summer.

“Cowboy! Wait up!” I turn around and see Amanda jogging up from behind me. My first instinct is to ask why she’s just getting here and where Lea’s at, but I know better. If Amanda knows how I feel about Lea, she’ll rat me out and play matchmaker. It wouldn’t be the first time. She hated me for some of the shit that I said and did, but I managed to get her to stop trying to push me to ask Lea on a date.

“Hey, Snuggles. Where did you get lost? I thought you were headed this way over an hour ago.” She holds up a brown paper bag in answer.

“You know I hate that name,” she scolds me, falling in step beside me. “Made a quick run before the store closed. Things are just starting to heat up in there, and I don’t want to run out.”

“If you hate that name so much, maybe you should lay off the booze tonight. The only way it’s going to go away is if you quit acting like a clingy monkey, cuddling up to the nearest guy when you get buzzed.” I bump into her shoulder playfully so she’ll know I’m not trying to be a prick. Yeah, I’m calling her out, but she’s so fucking adorable when she’s drunk that I think we’d all miss it if she stayed sober.

“Not happening tonight, Damien showed up.” Fuck. I’ve wanted to pummel that fucker since he pushed Amanda into the dirt when they were together. The only thing that kept me from doing just that was the fact that I was reminded that he would press charges in a heartbeat and no one had bail money for me.

“You stick by me, okay?” I say as I open the door. It might have sounded like a question, but we both know better. Damien doesn’t fuck with me because he knows I’m itching for a reason to go after him. “Where’s he at?”

“When I left, he was out back. Come on, I didn’t tell you to put you in a shitty mood.” She pulls on my arm, keeping a connection between the two of us as we snake our way through the wall of people.

My feet are cemented to the ground the moment I walk into the kitchen. That’s a good thing, because the alternative is me rushing at Bowie, who has his hands all over Lea right now. Sure, I want her to be happy, and I want that with anyone but me but sure as fuck not him. Lea has so much going for her, and Bowie will drag her down. Something slices through me when she turns into him, placing one delicate hand on the center of his chest.

“Be careful, someone might start to think you care,” Amanda whispers loudly. I turn to tell her where to stick it and see her glaring at me, one hand perched on her cocked hip, the paper bag tucked carefully under her other arm. “Don’t even try to deny it, Cowboy. You have it bad for her, no matter what bullshit lie you try to feed me, yourself and the rest of the world.”

“Don’t start with me,” I warn her, grabbing a bottle of beer from someone passing by. He doesn’t say a word as he turns around to get himself another bottle. I shake my head, knowing he would have gotten in anyone else’s face but mine. I’m nothing special, but for whatever fucked up reason, people treat me like I’m royalty up here. Probably because I was close to Paulie, and he was king of the hill until he got stupid and drove drunk one night.

Looking around, I wonder how many of these assholes have forgotten all about him in the past eleven months. For a while, everyone was so diligent about not drinking if they were going to be driving, but I’d lay money that there will be at least three fights over keys tonight. Everyone thinks they’re okay to drive, right up until they realize they aren’t. That’s what happened to Paulie. He swore he was fine and we all believed him. A few hours later, the phone calls started coming in, telling us that he was in a coma until his parents could get there and tell the docs what to do. If it hadn’t been for one of the girls working in the emergency room that night breaking a few rules, I doubt any of us would have gotten there in time to say goodbye.

I shake those thoughts from my head, promising to not let his memory pull me under tonight. That’s not what he would want from any of us. Yeah, he would want to know that we learned from his mistakes, but he’d be pissed as hell if we let our loss kill an opportunity to have a good time.

“Whatever you say, Cowboy. But if you’re not going to make your move, you have to let her live her life.” Out of all the times Amanda and I have talked about Lea, this is the first time I don’t feel like she’s criticizing me. She sounds almost sad and I wonder if Lea has said something to her. “As the saying goes, it’s time for you to shit or get off the pot.”

Chapter 3

Lea

You see me every day, but will there ever be a day when you truly see me? When you see everything I can’t bring myself to say to you? Maybe it’s for the best this way, with my journal as my confidant…