Truth or Dare - Part 2: Round One

Jack dug out an empty shoebox from somewhere deep in his cupboards, because Jack had way more pairs of shoes than any sensible human being needed, while she wrote out the options on six small pieces of paper at Caleb’s writing desk.

Truth. Dare. Double-dare. Torture. Kiss. Promise.

She folded them up under Caleb’s supervising eye, because their games always required at least one to witness any definitive action, and put them in the shoe-box. They would play by the old rules, the ones remembered from an adolescence that seemed long ago and just yesterday, all at once. Each taking turns to think up challenges for the other two, who’d pick from the box to determine the type of challenge to be faced.

First one to fail or refuse to meet a challenge would lose the game.

Game Over.

The rain pelted down hard against the windows. They sat in a loose circle on the thick, brown-wool rug before the fire, pushing back the furniture to make space. The shoebox with its six folded bits of paper inside sat between them. Jack piled more logs onto the fire, scoring prime position in front of it in doing so, while Caleb leaned back against one of the armchairs, so she did the same against the couch across from him. Beers in their hands, close warmth inside the room. Friendship she’d always been able to count on, even when she and Caleb were sniping at each other.

They cut cards to see...