The television was playing quietly as Dan and Phil sat next to each other on the couch. Some vapid romcom was casting a dim glow over over the two boys. On screen, the female lead just spilled a plate of spaghetti all over the hot waiter who would end up being her husband. Phil was relatively entertained by the movie, but Dan was about to lose his mind.
"I can literally feel my brain cells dying." Dan complained, rubbing his temples. "Can we do, like, anything else?"
Phil glanced at Dan out of the corner of his eye.
"Anything, you say?" The tone of his voice made Dan uncomfortable.
"I mean, I gues-"
"Let's play Bet." Phil had pulled his knees onto the couch and was propped up on all fours, facing Dan. His eyes glinted.
"No." Dan said firmly, quickly rising from his seat and walking to the other side of the room. "You know what happened the last time we did this." Phil rose from his position and strode toward his friend.
"Just because we were injured doesn't mean it wasn't fun."
"I swear to god I am never going to play that game again." Dan looked genuinely upset. Bet is a game the two boys had made up about two years back. The premise is fairly simple: one person says 'I bet you can't …', the other person does the bet, then they switch places. If you physically can't do the challenge or just don't want to, then you have to accept a penalty chosen by the other player. It always starts off innocent enough. Things like 'I bet you can't touch the ceiling' and 'I bet you can't fit under your bed'. But as time went on, the bets would get more intense. 'I bet you can't jump down an entire flight of stairs' was one of Phil's favorites. That gem had given Dan a twisted ankle and one week without wifi. Dan had retaliated in a later game with 'I bet you can't fry an egg while blindfolded'. Considering that Phil couldn't fry an egg with his eyes open, the poor boy got first degree burns on his hands and had to buy Dan a bomber jacket. Bet was no laughing matter.
"C'mon." Phil pleaded. "Just one round. First failure ends the game." Dan bit his left thumbnail. He really, really didn't want to play. On the other hand, if he won, he could get Phil to buy that pair of yeezys he'd been looking at.
"Fine." Dan grasped his friend's hand in a firm handshake with one hand and help up his pointer finger on the other. "One round."
"Yes!" Phil did a little arm pump and rushed to his place on the couch, turning off the movie as he went. Slowly, Dan made his way over and plopped down opposite Phil.
"So who's going first?" Asked Dan. Phil took out his phone and went to one of those random decision websites. After putting in their names, the little arrow spun until it landed on Dan's part of the circle. The younger boy smirked. Maybe luck would be on his side after all.
"I bet you can't…" Dan looked around the room, trying to find something he knew Phil couldn't do. "I bet you can't do a backflip."
"What?" Phil was surprised. Normally they would start off smaller. A backflip right off the bat? Dan ment business.
"What?" Dan replied in a mocking tone. "You think you can't do it?" Phil narrowed his eyes and sneered at his friend.
"I know I can do it."
"Prove it." With much pride, Phil picked himself up off the couch and stood in the center of the room. After some deep breaths, he finally got the nerve up to jump. "Holy shit" Dan whispered as Phil executed a perfect backflip with six rotations. "I didn't know that was physically possible." Phil landed smoothly and shot his friend a look.
"I bet you can't do 100 pushups." Phil was being mean and he knew it. This game did things to him.
"If you insist." Dan said, getting into position. He then proceeded to do all 100 pushups in under ten seconds while screaming the chorus to Toxic. The song gave him power.
"Very nice." Phil admired. With nary a sweat drop on his head, Dan jumped to his feet and pointed at Phil.
"I bet you can't eat a rock." Phil scoffed at this. His arm extended to the other side of the room where a pink geode was conveniently waiting on their mantelpiece. In one swift motion, the older boy detached his jaw and shoved the rock into his mouth, swallowing it whole. He then proceeded to raise an eyebrow at his friend.
"I bet you can't speak fluent Spanish."
"Pruébame azada." Dan said, never breaking eye contact. The brown haired boy went over to the tv and pointed at it.
"I bet you can't turn on the television with your mind." What? That wasn't even a thing humans could do. Thinking on his feet, Phil pointed a finger just behind Dan.
"Holy shit it's a bird." As Dan turned to see the animal, Phil discreetly grabbed a chair and threw it at the coffee table where the remote lay. The table smashed in half and Sports Center blared from the speakers.
"Well played." Dan mused. He wondered how Phil had managed to turn on the television and throw a chair with only his mind. The world was a crazy place.
"This is getting too easy." Phil said, inching towards Dan. "We should take this outside."
"Agreed." Dan said through a pinched smile. Tension was forming between the two boys. I may have not started this, Dan thought, holding the door open for his friend, but I'm damn well gonna finish it.
To be continued