It Started With a Dare
"I'm bored,"
"You look bored,"
"That's because I am bored," I said dryly.
"What do you have in mind?" Sarah replied, ignoring my acerbic drawling, before taking a sip of her hot chocolate. We were now loafing around in the coffee shop that was built inside a bookstore. Books and coffee? The perfect hang out spot, if you asked me.
"Um…" I said, thinking of something outrageous and fun to do. "How about truth or dare?" Wow. That was the best that I could come up with?
"Sure…" Sarah said mockingly. "Let's play that,"
"Oh, come on… I'll choose dare," I sang, grinning from ear to ear. Whenever Sarah and I were together, especially when we were bored, something juvenile gaiety was sure to ensue. Mostly harmless pranks, but some of them landed us in a mess. But all in all, it was always loads of fun.
"Oh, all right. Since you said dare…" she crooned back, and then averted her eyes over my shoulder to delve into the bookstore, unquestionably searching for a victim for my dare.
After much scanning, her eyes landed on something and a mischievous smile broke onto her lips.
"Are you ready for it?" she asked me impishly, an amused glint in her eye.
"Bring it on," I said, leaning over my chair to listen to what deranged dare she had concocted up for me this time.
"You see those two guys over there?" she said, nodding her head in the direction of the bookstore. I turned my head slightly to the right and from the corner of my eye, I did see two guys, one blonde while the other had dark brown hair, talking to each other by the CD racks. The blonde hair one was talking animatedly to the other guy who laughed heartedly.
I smiled lopsidedly and turned back to Sarah. "Yeah," I said, referring to my notice of the boys.
"Well," she said, leaning over her seat as well, "I want you to go up to either one of them, and use the lamest, cheesiest pick up line that you have ever heard,"
I raised a derisive eyebrow to her. "That's all?"
Her smirk grew wider and her eyebrows shot up for a second. "If it's so easy for you, go for it," she laughed, thinking that she had managed to use reverse psychology on me to make me not go for the dare. Oh, I was going to prove her cynical thinking of me wrong.
"I will," I said as I stood up and took a confident stride headed for the boys. I could still hear her laughing as I approached the guys.
"Hi," I said, flashing them my most radiant smile.
"Hey," the blonde guy said, giving me an equally radiant smile. The dark-haired guy raised an amused eyebrow at him and turns to me to say, "Hey," smiling crookedly.
I decided to go for the dark-hair guy.
I shifted my body so that I was facing him. "I'm sorry but I think you owe me a drink," I said flirtatiously, trying to keep a straight-face while fighting back my hysterics over the whole absurdity of this challenge.
"What for?" he said, closing a book he was looking through, which happened to be Thoreau.
"I looked at you and dropped mine," I replied, biting my lower lip in an attempt to be seductive and to not laugh my head off.
The blonde guy started to cough, bursting into laughter in between, and rested one arm on the shelf of CDs to support his weight. I turned my attention back to the dark-hair guy.
His eyebrow shot up, clearly taken aback by my sudden audacity. I continued to smile brightly, waiting for an answer.
He shook his head slightly in bewilderment, a very amused smile showing on his lips. He ran his hair through his ruffled dark brown hair, and a roguish smile slowly formed.
"Damn, Sugar, settle down. I'm diabetic," he retorted, decidedly playing along with my eccentricity.
His friend let out another chortle and my grin grew wider. This is turning out to be far more interesting than I expected.
"The only thing your eyes haven't told me is your name," I said, gazing into his violet eyes. I've never met anyone with such purplish-blue eyes, and I was captivated. But that was not the point of the dare.
He smirked luminously and turned to his blonde friend with his palm faced up. I looked at him in perplexity. The blonde dude let out a soft sigh and dug into the pocket of his pants, with a smile tugging at his mouth. He pulled out a fifty dollar bill and handed it over to his dark-hair friend.
"You were right. Those are the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen." he said, and walked away without another word. I stared at him with wide eyes.
"If I'm not mistaken, I still owe you a drink?" he said, casting me stunning smile. I couldn't help but smile back my self and went, "Yeah," with a shrug.
We walked to the coffee shop and pass Sarah. Her eyebrows were raised unfeasibly high and her grin ever so wide. I stuck out my tongue at her and smiled smugly, mouthing 'In your face' to her.
"You don't seem like a girl to use cheesy pick-up lines," he said to me when we were standing in line at the counter. I looked up at him – he was really tall, a good 8 inches taller than me, and I'm 5'4" – and it was then that I took a really good look at him. He had a really well defined jaw, unbelievably dazzling indigo eyes and a heart-melting smile. I suddenly felt too aware off the fact that he was standing so close to me, almost touching. My shyness and self-consciousness had to kick in at that exact moment. Great.
"Um, well, it was actually more of a dare that made me do it," I told him truthfully, no point in lying now.
"I'm glad that you did," he said, casting me another one of his gorgeous smiles.
"You weren't pretty bad yourself. Pretty cheesy too." I said, ignoring the flush that had just burned my cheeks.
"So, was it that girl over there," he nodded towards Sarah who was absorbed in a magazine, "that put you up to it?" he asked.
"How did you know?" I said, amazed by how this guy was full of surprises.
"I saw you talking to her before you came up to me," he answered nonchalantly.
We reached the front of the line and he ordered us drinks after asking me what I would like. After that we took a seat at one of those long lounge chairs.
"So, what's your name?" he said, shifting in his sit to face me. I did the same and took a drink from my mocha latte.
"Taylor," I said. I didn't know what came over me, I know you're not suppose to tell details about yourself and chat so freely to total and complete strangers, but I had a gut feeling that he probably wouldn't try to slit my throat in a deserted, dark alley somewhere.
"I'm Chace." he said.
We talked about what movies we liked and hated and so why we did, music, everything. The more we conversed the more I felt like… like I really liked Chace. We shared some common interests, even opinions and he did have a great sense of humor. What's not to like?
My phone beeped in my pocket all of a sudden and I was jolted by it unexpectedly. I mumbled a sorry to him and took my phone out, flipping it open to reveal a text message from Sarah.
Hey, lover girl. Aren't you forgetting something?
I looked up from the phone and seek for her out of the increasingly large crowd gathering in the place. She wasn't that hard to spot, she had black hair with striking red streaks in it. I pressed the keypads of my phone, sending her a reply.
Er… no?
My phone beeped immediately after.
You're my ride home, you fool. Get your ass back here or I will do it for you.
I typed back a reply before flipping my phone close and promptly standing up.
"I'm sorry, but I have to get going. My friend's foreboding texts are pretty intimidating." I said, smiling sheepishly. He got up too.
"In that case, could I have your number?" he said, grinning like a toddler.
"What, no pick-up line this time?"
He shrugged. "There's no need when the most beautiful girl I ever met is already speaking to me," he said, returning to the game of lame one-liners.
I rolled my eyes dismissively at him.
"If it was meant to be, you don't need it," I said, and walked back to meet Sarah.
"Had your fun?" she said a little tetchily, forcing back a smile. She never could stay angry at me for long.
My answer to her question was just a huge grin.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It has been almost a month now since the last time that I saw Chace. After that day I thought about him a few times, mainly because Sarah had been constantly reproaching me for not giving him my number when he asked for it. Her exact words were, 'You are such an idiot, Taylor. If I were you I would have jumped him already instead of prevaricating like what you guys are doing.'
Today I decided to take a trip down to the local music store to get Sarah a gift; she was celebrating her one week abstemiousness from getting herself into trouble at school. And for her, one week was a world record.
I went through the doors and headed for the rock section, and traced my finger over the titles of the artists' names.
A tall figure was blocking my way, so I looked up and was about to rebuke, but a familiar face stopped my chastise before it rolled off my tongue.
"God, you're so beautiful you made me forget my pick-up line," he said, slapping his palm onto his forehead in mock frustration.
"Guess what?" I said cheerily, might as well have some fun while he's at it.
"What?" Chace said and leaned against the wall casually.
"It's my birthday! How about a birthday kiss?" I took a step towards him, leaving practically no space between us and batted my eyelashes teasingly at him.
"Is it really your birthday?" he asked; feign disbelief clear in his deep, husky tone. He grinned crookedly with amusement dancing in his breathtaking eyes that made my heart flutter at full tilt.
"No, but how about a kiss anyway?" I said, marveling at his violet eyes again. I was so lost in them, amazed by how the blue and purple seem to twist around each other in a circle endlessly, his eyes having so much depth in them under this light.
I wasn't really thinking, just gazing into his eyes, my mind void of any insignificant thought. The only thing on my mind was how his breathe tickled my cheeks, his eyes getting more intense and how his smell was so incredibly, bloody irresistible.
While I was completely distracted by his good looks, his arm curled around my waist, pulling me into him, and his free hand cupping my cheek, he lowered his lips to meet mine.
Instead of breaking off the kiss, or pounding him to a bloody pulp for his act of spontaneity, or think of another violent threat or act I could impose on him…
I kissed him back.
And I was, well, to encapsulate the artlessness of the whole thing…
Swept off my feet.
And I am glad. Happier than I ever could be that this very handsome sort-of stranger was kissing me.
And it all started with a dare.