Page 74 of Darkness Defined

Chapter 22

Truth or Dare

A

Sittingupsidedownonthe couch was undoubtedly odd, but it was what I usually did when left to my own devices. Plus, it made for some pretty hilarious views. Like Matt standing on the ceiling when he was actually standing in the doorway. I smiled at him, echoing the grin on his face. “I take it you got the grades?”

“Yep.” He waltzed into the room with a box under one arm and a couple of papers poking out.

“Well, how did you do?”

He pulled out the papers, and they floated down onto my stomach. “See for yourself.”

I picked them up and read over the first page. “These are mine.” I wasn’t too surprised at the final grades, though I certainly hadn’t expected to get an ‘A’ in Battle Tactics.

“The other one, Alex.”

I switched the pages and immediately spun so I was right side up again. The move was far too fast, and my head swam for a moment. “Matt, this is amazing! I knew you could do it. I told you you’d knock out the Demonic History final.”

He zipped around the couch holding a bottle and two glasses, as well as a few beers. “Which is why we’re celebrating.” He set the items down and started filling the shot glasses.

All of my happy, relaxed feelings vanished. “This didn’t go so well last time.”

He passed me the shot anyway. “Drink,” he ordered.

“But, Matt…”

“Drink.”

I did as I was told, and he refilled the short glass. “I’m serious, Matt, we can’t just sit around and drink,” I argued even as I knocked back what turned out to be tequila.

“You’re right.” He passed me a third shot. He held up his glass, and we downed them at the same time. “We’ll just have to make sure we’re doing something this time.”

“Like what?” I scoffed, accepting the beer he passed me.

“We could play a game,” he suggested before taking an additional shot and sitting on the couch.

“What sort of game? I swear if you say drinking, then I’m out.”

“Okay, fine.” He laughed. “What would you prefer?” He leaned into the cushions, looking completely relaxed, his dark hair fanning over his eyes.

“How should I know? It’s not exactly like we have anything lying around.” I scanned the room for the games we definitely didn’t have. “I’m not really a fan of cards, not that I have any. That doesn’t really leave much. I suppose there’s always truth or dare.” I chuckled, because no way were we playing that.

Matt leaned forward with a gleam in his eye. “Okay.”

I did a double take. “Wait. What?”

“I said, okay. We can play truth or dare. You can go first.”

My mouth opened and closed uselessly. He was serious. I noticed another shot sitting patiently on the coffee table. I tossed it back and shook off the burn. “All right, but rules.” My tongue was already feeling a little fuzzy. There was also a noticeable lack of snacks by the alcohol, which was odd, considering Matt seemed perpetually hungry. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear he was intentionally trying to get me drunk.

“Rules,” he mimicked, giggling.

Great, he’s already tipsy.

Then I realized I was giggling, too.

“Enough. Focus, Matt.” He put on an air of intense concentration and it took me a moment to pull it together enough to continue. “Okay, we can play, but you can’t choose the same thing more than twice in a row. The third automatically has to be the other.”