Page 57 of One More Dare
I hesitate, chewing my lip, eyes flicking between the water and him as he takes off running and dives under the water.
“Holy shit,” he yells through chattering teeth once he comes up again. “Okay, yeah, oh fuck, this was a terrible idea. Fuck, this is so cold!”
I burst out laughing, warm and dry from the shore. “I told you!”
He splashes in my direction. “Get in here! It’s getting better.”
“You’re out of your mind! There’s no way I believe that.”
He wades a little deeper, arms crossed over his broad chest. “Come on! Five seconds. That’s it. Pleeease, P. It’d make me so happy.”
I watch him for another second, shaking my head. But fuck, I can’t stop laughing, and as dumb as it is, I kind of want to join him. Want to share this moment with him. Want to do anything he asks if it’ll make him smile.
The promise of his arms around me when we get out is also very appealing.
“Fuck it.”
“Fuck yes!”
I strip quickly down to my briefs and run toward the water, I knew it would be cold but holy shit. The second I’m actually in, I take a sharp inhale that knocks the air out of my lungs. “Nope, nope, nope,” I shout when I figure out how to breathe again, laughing and swearing all at once. “This is awful! You’re insane!”
But then he’s moving toward me, and I forget about how cold I am as he closes the distance between us to wrap his arms around me, holding me tight to him.
I shriek in surprise as I grab his arms, my fingers digging in like he might drop me if I don’t hold on as tightly as I can. I laugh as our freezing bodies are pressed together, soaked and shaking. “Inside,” I finally manage, pulling back just enough to hold eye contact. “Right now. Before I die.”
“Come on. Let’s go.”
We bolt for the shore, dripping and shaking, grabbing our clothes and heading straight through the door as we collapse near the fireplace. Will grabs a blanket from the couch and wraps it around both of us. We’re sitting so close, soaking wet, in our underwear. Our skin is flushed red all over, and when I look at him again, I burst out laughing. Like, full-on, can’t-catch-my-breath laughing.
“Oh my god,” I finally get out when I calm down, wiping water from my eyes. “That was the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.”
“The dares were your idea,” he reminds me, pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders.
I shrug. “I don’t think we’ll ever forget it, so I guess it served its purpose. Plus it was good practice. Who knows what else we’ll convince each other to do someday.”
24
WILL
The fire crackles, heat blasting in front of us as we warm up from the lake. I love that we did that. That we bonded over our futures and made promises to look out for each other even after school ends.
Hanging out with Porter is always a great time, but something about being alone here with him feels really special, as though maybe things are changing between us. I’m not sure how they’re changing exactly, and maybe it’s all in my head, but I know I haven’t been able to stop thinking about being attracted to him.
Now I just need to figure out what to do about it.
“You okay?” I ask Porter, checking in now that we’re regulating back to our normal temperatures.
“Yeah, you?”
I nod, and his gaze drops to my mouth for half a second before snapping back up, as if he didn’t mean to let me catch that. My heart kicks hard against my ribs once again because that one look is making my thoughts spin… What would it be like to kiss him? Is he attracted to me, too? Does he want to kiss me?
I clear my throat and sit back a little, breaking whatever spell was forming before I get carried away.
“We should probably… shower,” I suggest, gesturing vaguely at our still-damp bodies.
Porter laughs. “Yeah, but there’s only one bathroom. You can go first. I’m not ready to leave this fireplace yet.”
“Are you sure?”
