Summary: High-school wallflower Felicity decides to participate in an online game that involves completing challenges and dares throughout Starling City. Although she is initially thrilled by the game's antics - and the fact that it asks her to partner with a handsome stranger for some of the tasks - the experience eventually escalates into a life-or-death struggle.
Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Nerve, or any of its characters. This is an adaptation of the movie with the same name.
A/N: Hi guys! It's been amazing to get all those emails with the feedback of the first chapter. I really enjoy writing this, but at the same time, it feels like a challenge, because in movies you can see too many things to describe, but in writing you can use the character's thoughts more. Anyways, hope you guys like the way this one turned out, and that you leave a beautiful review! Seriously, there's no better feeling that when you get reviews on a story and people express how they feel about our writing skills. Now to the fun part! Nerve has officially started.
"John!"
"Hey, I'm pulling up outside. What the hell's so urgent?" said Digg through the phone. Felicity was running down the stairs so fast she almost broke an ankle.
"We have to go to Big Belly Burger, we have 15 minutes," she almost reached the door to where she knew his car would be.
"Why, what's going on?" he asked a little bit worried.
"I signed up for Nerve and that's where my first dare is," she opened the emergency door just in time to see John's disbelieving face.
"What do you mean, you signed up as a Player?" on those last words he hung up his phone and looked at her with wide eyes. She ignored him and got on the passenger seat. "Oh men…"
"What, is it so hard to believe?" he directed his brown eyes with exasperation, letting out a groan and throwing his hands to the sky.
John started the car and took the main street to direct them to the famous Big Belly Burger, Felicity's favorite place to hang out and read some of her books, but also the best place to eat burgers, fries and milkshakes. It brought her some sense of peace, in the middle of her nervousness, to do this dare in a place she was familiar in. Familiarity helped. At least, that was what she told herself over and over until John spoke out again.
"You know that some kid supposedly died in Seattle playing Nerve?" he told her, clearly trying to change her mind about what she was getting herself into.
She just shrugged. "Oh, I don't buy that. If kids were dying, the game would be shut down."
"No, they can't shut it down. There's not a single server," he fought, which left Felicity feeling a little bit more apprehensive.
"What does that mean?" she asked. Even though John wasn't such a big fan of IT like her, he spent almost all his free time in a hackers' club in Starling City.
"Everybody that logs onto the game becomes a new server. So it's impossible to turn the game off."
"How do you even know so much about this game? You've never even played."
"Look, I spend a lot of time on the dark web, alright?" John said cockily.
"Oh, a lot of time on the dark web, is that right, hacker boy?" she teased him.
"Yes, that is right. You're only accessing ten percent of the internet, you know," Felicity rolled her eyes at that, because she did know all of that, "Why are you even doing this? Seriously, it's dangerous. Is it because of Sara?"
"This is not about Sara. I'm-"
"It's just not like you," Digg's dark eyebrows furrowed in a frown full of worry. He turned one last time to get to Big Belly's when she answered.
"That's the point."
As soon as they crossed the threshold, her cellphone beeped in a similar way to Sara's had been doing for the entire day. It was time for her first dare. With her stomach heavy with growing knots, she lifted the screen.
"Kiss a stranger for five seconds?"
"A stranger? Liz, I'll give you a hundred dollars." John said carefully.
Felicity ignored him and sighed. She looked around the place, to the booths and tables and the games and a jukebox. The whole space was lighten in blue and purple, giving a smoky atmosphere but at the same time comforting. She spotted a guy that had to be in his late twenties and resolved herself. She slid her finger through the screen to accept. Okay, okay, you can do this, she thought to herself.
"You're just gonna kiss some random person." John muttered, like he was just processing what was about to happen. She approached the guy with an awkward smile but passed by when she saw another head in the booth in front of him.
"He has a girlfriend…" she whispered, her nervousness threatening to consume her.
The continued walking to another section of the building, crossing a wooden arch that had the refreshments. There was a guy refilling his cup that let out a deep, loud belch. Disgusted, both teenagers continued their way to the back. Then a message showed on her screen.
HURRY UP!
A bit frustrated, she dropped the phone at the same time that her number of watchers started to gradually increase. Then John pointed a fat, old man with a dirty hat and an equally dirty looking beard. He must have been on his fifties or something.
"Just kiss that guy," said John.
"Okay, I'm gonna kiss that guy."
"Yeah, that's what I'm saying."
She inhaled deeply and almost choked she said, "I'm gonna do it."
With a clear of her throat, she was about to take a step towards the man, when he rose up from his booth and walked past them, letting them see the guy who was behind him, his face covered by a book, but not any book, but her favorite book.
"Or that guy. He reads." John rolled his eyes at his friend's hesitance.
"Well, make a choice, clock's ticking," he reminded her. She let out a long sigh and nodded to herself.
"I'm kissing that guy. Okay, you sit here, tell me when you're rolling, okay?" she started speaking faster than normal and straightened her football-like jacket.
"Okay, it's Mission Impossible now?" he asked and won a smack on his arm on response. "Just go."
There were thousands of emotions and feelings and sensations going through her in that very moment. There was anticipation, hope, hesitance, anxiety, excitement… she couldn't name them all, because there were things that she didn't even know what they were. She clenched her fists a couple of times and turned in front of the table in front of him. The guy had a black leather jacket on with a couple of patches on his arm. She could do it. It was just a kiss, right?
"To- To the Lighthouse, that's my favorite book." Felicity stuttered. The guy slowly put the book down and she had to blink twice as fast to get over the surprise of how gorgeous this man was. He swiped his eyes over her with a small smile.
"Really?" his voice was deep, rough, like it was coming straight from his chest; it was like a growl, one that left her speechless for a couple more seconds than necessary. His hair was cut really short, kind of military style, he had thick dark blonde eyebrows, and below them were the most haunting eyes she had ever seen; they were blue, dark on the edges of the iris and getting clearer to the pupil. They were like that moment of sunset where half of the sky was dark and then slowly became to a lighter shade of blue, the one after all the orange and purple tones. He had a slight stubble, but that couldn't hide the fact that he had a square jaw.
She looked at John for a second, and he urged her to go on.
"Please tell me they get to the lighthouse in the end," he continued and Felicity directed her eyes to his face again. She hummed but he spoke again. "Actually, don't tell me… Uh, okay, just tell me real quick."
She literally shook her head before responding to him. "Yeah, they do, but that's not really what it's about. The lighthouse means something different for each of the characters…" he started smiling to her with his eyebrows raised, and her heart felt like exploding with anticipation, so she started rambling. "It basically represents what they want most in life, and I'm sorry that I'm totally geeking out and ruining the story."
She wanted to smack her head to the table. Or one of the windows.
"No, I was the one who asked," he assured her charmingly. She looked at John one more time, and he did a five seconds sign with the hand that was not holding her cellphone. And that guy just sat there smiling and giving her a so deep stare that she felt almost naked. The dare, she needed to do the dare and get it over with.
Here goes nothing.
She took a fast breath and leaned over, slumping on the booth the guy was seated in, gently grabbing his neck and crashing her lips to his. She was barely aware of his eyelashes brushing against her cheeks, an indication of him closing his eyes. In the background, she could hear John counting to five Mississippi's and a slow old song that reminded her of Frank Sinatra. She felt him push himself into her, returning the kiss. Oh dear, she thought with her hands still on the line where his neck and his back separated.
"Done…" she heard John repeat for like fourth time. She separated herself from no-name guy and opened her eyes just in time to see him do the same.
He smiled widely again. "Okay…"
"Okay, bye," she let out a breathy laugh and got up. She could feel his stare on his back as she stomped away towards where John was with her phone, which beeped indicating her success on the dare. She let herself fall on the booth in front of her friend sensing that her face must have been completely red of embarrassment. Her words came out at the same fast beating of her heart. "Oh my God, I can't believe I just did that."
John hid too, blocking both of them from stares of the other people in the room. "Oh gosh, why am I embarrassed?"
"Did you get it?" Felicity asked him with worry.
"Yeah, it was a miniseries, I got all six episodes." John tossed her the phone with a serious, bothered face.
She lifted herself and looked back, only to find the booth empty. "Where did he go?"
"I have no clue."
Covering her face with her hands, she sighed for like the thousands of times. She could still feel her heart beating a hundred miles per hour, and her lips tingled with the remaining sensation of the kiss. Her phone beeped with the cash register sound and she took it just in time to see the message on the screen.
"Felicity, a hundred dollars has been wired to your account…" she read. "Should I check?"
"You should totally check." John said mocking her with wide eyes. She was about to answer him in a no-very-nice way, when a ding ding ding ding came from the main room.
It was the guy, beating a fork against a glass to capture everyone's attention. Then he started singing and dancing.
"Every time I look into your lovely eyes…" he started, lifting some sunglasses of a man that was watching him.
"What is he doing?" she whispered dumbfounded.
John shared the same expression on his face. "I have no clue."
"I see a love that money just can't buy…" twirling and moving, he looked straight to a phone camera that was recording him. Then he directed to the small hallway where they were seating. "One look from you!" he pointed straight at her and she felt her face grow red. He stepped on the top of a table as he continued his path to them. "I drift away and I pray that you are here to stay."
"He's singing to me!" she realized.
"No, it's a dare," said her friend pointing behind him to a waitress holding a phone. "It's a dare."
"Anything you want, you've got it, anything you need, you've got it…" she smiled at him as he got closer and closer to her, balancing through the tables while people sang along with him. "Anything at all, you got it, baby!" Felicity laughed as the song ended and he jumped and landed in front of her. "You got it."
Clapping was coming for everywhere, and the waitress went to him to congratulate him and give him his phone back.
"You won your dare, congratulations." Felicity said with a small laugh.
"Back at you," he answered with that husky voice.
"Mine was totally embarrassing but at least I got a hundred bucks, right?"
"I'm sorry, I promise I didn't know what was coming. Do you mind?" he directed that question to John and took a seat beside him on the booth.
"Sorry, I'm sitting here…" John started to say but cut himself short when the guy seated anyways.
"They just told me to sit in that booth and… sorry…" he lifted his body up a little bit so John could get part of his long coat that got trapped under him. "Some kid came by and gave me that book."
"To the Lighthouse, yeah. My favorite."
"Exactly because it's on your Facebook page." John interrupted. "They know all the information about you, Liz."
"Your name is Liz?" the guy asked. Her eyes involuntarily went to his throat where his Adam's apple moved.
"Short for Felicity," she explained. He nodded slowly.
"I like that."
"Her parents named her after the Latin meaning, happiness and good fortune." John said again. Felicity looked at him with wide eyes, surprised at his behavior towards the situation.
"Yeah, I guess my mom was expecting somebody else," she tried to offer a small smile that she felt fake.
"I don't know about that…" the guy said and a slight dimple marked his cheek. "I'm feeling quite fortunate today… that was some kiss." Felicity felt her face lit up for the thousandth time and she felt a tingle of pride at his words. "Well, I got a game to play but good night to you guys," he took one of the fries that was on the table before they got there and tossed it into his mouth. He was about to leave when both his and her phones beeped at the same time.
They looked at each other after reading the screens. He swallowed soundly.
"What?" asked John taking her phone from her hands.
"Apparently, the Watchers like us together," said the guy.
GO TO THE CITY WITH HIM / $200 /
"I mean, you can't even go to the city, right?" refuted John looking straight to her eyes. She saw worry and warning in his eyes; he clearly didn't trust this guy at all.
"Yeah, no, I can't go to the city, yeah." Felicity said. "I'm not even playing, I was just doing one dare."
"Are you sure? It's two hundred bucks."
"She's pretty sure, man," insisted John with a hard voice. Felicity was surprised that he was adopting that attitude, even if it was just because he was worried, he had no right to act like her boss.
"He always tells you what to do?" he smiled at her knowingly, almost as if he could read her angered thoughts.
"No," she stated with a strength in her voice that she usually didn't use, the one Sara called her loud voice. "No, he doesn't."
John rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else, while the other guy stood there with the same smile on his face. "I'm gonna be outside if you change your mind. It's nice to meet you, Felicity. See you, man."
He disappeared through the doors and looked one more time over his shoulder, catching her staring at his back. He smiled one more time and then turned where she couldn't see him anymore.
"He thought that those were our fries." John laughed trying to relieve the air.
"I could use two hundred bucks," she blurted instead. Her friend let an exasperated sigh out.
"Liz, you're not going to the city. You said one dare."
She stared at him with serious face for a couple of seconds. She did say that she was only doing one dare, but the excitement was already coursing through her veins. One crazy night doing dares with a handsome stranger wouldn't hurt, right? Especially if the Watchers planned on partnering them up. Felicity let the tug on her cheeks curl her lips and she bit her bottom lip.
"I'm sorry," she slid out of the booth and stood up to go in the guy's direction.
"You know what, Charles Manson was a singer."
Ignoring him, she crossed the building, greeting a couple of familiar people, and towards the parking lot. She found him touching some things on a motorcycle, helmet on his lap and a small frown on his eyebrows. As soon as he heard her footsteps, he straightened with grace.
"I was hoping you'd come," he said with his chin up high. She stopped a couple of feet away from him.
"I'm just warning you, I don't think I'd make a very good partner. I'm not the daredevil type. You should team up with my friend Sara actually, she's obsessed with playing Nerve." Felicity argued, wanting to go but at the same time taking some precaution, part of it because of John and part of it because of herself.
"But the Watchers want me to team up with you," said the guy reaching behind him to take another helmet, one much more comfortable looking that the one he had on his lap. He offered it to her with what could only be described as a begging face, but it did the trick.
She took a step forward, hesitating once again. She needed to get things solved out, and now. It was dangerous and reckless, but also, it was what she wanted to do when she signed up for the game. It wasn't going to last forever, and she could bail whenever she wanted to.
"The second I feel uncomfortable, I'm out." Felicity warned and he nodded in understanding.
"That's fair," he stretched his hand for her to take the helmet, his eyes boring into her just like they did when she leaned over to kiss him. She took the helmet with determination, and when she did, he gave her the cutest smile so far.
"Okay…" she hopped on the bike and put the helmet on. On the back of his jacket, there was a smiley face patch, and she stared at it when she heard the distinct sound of a Nerve dare being accepted. When she slipped her arms around his waist, the engine came to life, roaring in the parking lot.
"I'm Oliver, by the way."
That was the last thing he said before he drove out of the parking lot and towards the rest of what seemed to be a promising night.