The Bright Side of Darkness

Seven (Part 2)

"Hey, I've got a game to play," one girl around us says before I can say anything to Tay. She walks up to Parker and wraps an arm around him. "Got an empty bottle? I wanna play Truth or Dare."

"What are we, twelve?" Tay rolls his eyes. "Darcie, why do you want to bring that game back so bad?"

I balk at his sudden change in tone, staring wide-eyed at him as he scowls at nothing in particular.

Darcie shrugs, picking at her nails. "It's fun and I'm bored." She doesn't strike me as the type to get bored easily, but the look in her eyes concerns me. Truth or Dare is fun and all, but mix in a group of drunk teenagers, and things can escalate quickly.

"I'm down." I step forward reluctantly. As afraid as I was of how this will turn out, I'm interested. This is my first party. Might as well go all-in.

"Thank you, Emori." Darcie sticks her tongue out at Tay, even though he can't see her.

The other guys agree. "So, it's settled, then. Now we just need a bottle," Darcy says.

"Here." Tay hands her his bottle. "I'm finished with it, anyway."

I watch him out of the corner of my eye. I've only seen him take one drink of the beer, and that was when we first got here. There's no way he could have finished it. The way his lips turn down slightly at the corners gives away his anger, too, and I frown.

While Darcie gathers a few more people to play, I turn to Tay. "Hey, we don't have to stay here if you don't want to. Let's get away." As much as I want to experience a real party, I can't forgive myself if I ignore Tay like that.

"No, I'm fine. Let's stay for now."

"Emori, come here." Travis goes to sit in a circle with everyone, dragging me with him. Once Darcie gets a few more people to play, she goes first. The bottle lands on a blonde girl I don't know.

"Truth or Dare, Trina?" Darcie sends the other girl a sinister smile. I shrink a little in my seat.

From the look on Trina's face, I'm not the only one that's put off by Darcie's stare. "Dare."

"I dare you to..." Darcie brings a hand to her face and taps her index finger on her cheek. "Kiss Bain."

Trina's face turns bright red. Bain, however, stands up and strides over to her. Right as he's about to lean down and plant a quick kiss on her lips, Darcie holds up a hand. "Wait."

Bain stops and stares at Darcie, waiting to hear what she has to say. And, by the silence hanging in the air of our large circle, so is everyone else. A small smirk plays at the corner of Bain's lips.

She points a long finger at a distant patch of bushes. "Over there, actually. Y'all get five minutes."

Bain raises an eyebrow at her before chuckling and straightening back up. "Whatever you say, Darcie." He holds out a hand to Trina, who takes it with a hesitant smile. She follows him to the bushes and Darcie starts a timer.

This is already hitting borderline-preteen Truth or Dare, and I start to regret agreeing to this. I glance over at Tay to gauge his reaction, but he's still sitting on the tailgate of the truck, listening to the game.

Darcie twiddles her fingers in excitement as she watches the timer in her phone tick the time down. When it goes off, her eyes land on me. "Would you care to go get them?"

I care. A lot. If they're doing something... a little more than kissing, I don't want to be the person who stumbles upon them like that. But, instead of telling Darcie this, I nod. "I've got it."

When I reach the bushes, I push a branch away from my face, and though it's still more than I want to see, Bain and Trina are only kissing. Bain notices my appearance now and sends me a sideways glance as if daring me to interrupt him. The intensity of how he looks at me makes my stomach roil.