Silently the bottle spun across the polished wood surface as if twisting through space

Truth or Dare

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, someone else does

Chapter one…The Dare

Silently the bottle spun across the polished wood surface as if twisting through space. Air whistled in the tapered rim on each rotation until it finally slowed, coming to an abrupt halt in from of Hamilton.

"Hey you guys! That's not fair, you're fixing this!"

"How could we fix it?" Will asked gently, his voice showing that kind of smug satisfaction that he was famous for

 "Well, I don't know, but its landed on me for the past three goes in a row"

"It just has taste honey," Jake said in a sickly sweet sarcastic voice as she snuggled up beside him. He smiled slowly, leaning down to kiss her and I averted my eyes slightly, not wanting to remind myself of what I didn't have –a relationship

"Okay then, so what are my choices?" He asked, finally breaking away from his girlfriend who was neatly nestled under his arm, still in full guy gear, which was extremely unnerving during their extensive make-out sessions

"The truth was, what's the kinkiest thing you've ever done…" Will replied

"And the dare?"

"Streak…down the hall" He said it with a smile, knowing full well which one Hamilton was going to pick

For a long moment Hamilton looked at Jake, considering his options before sighing and jumping up, tugging off his T-shirt as he did so.

"You're not…!" Will was amazed; obviously his earlier guess as to his friend's choice had been incorrect

"Of course. My kinkiest moment is very precious to me…" he said unbuckling his belt and sliding down his jeans "…and…" he said ducking out of the doorway and throwing us back a rumpled pair of boxers "…extremely embarrassing"

For a moment the five of us sat in silence, astounded by our friends decision and the speed of its undertaking.

Bella and Sean, who'd been previously making out furiously in the corner, finally came up for air and stared at the door through which a naked Hamilton had recently passed

"Did he just do what I think he did?" Sean asked pensively without letting go of his girlfriend, the one girl I'd ever loved, my sister.

"Sure looks like it" Will said in a matching state of shock.

"Good luck to the guy is all I say" I said slowly, looking back towards Jake who could only sit and gape, her delicate features a startling contrast to the rough guy-like exterior, she swallowed.

"He's dead"

We all agreed.

Five seconds later a panting Hamilton finally made it back through the doorway, wearing nothing but an excited smile.

"Wow that was mad" He puffed, slipping inside with only his hands to cover himself and quickly ducking to pick up the underwear he had so recently discarded on the floor.

"We thought you were a gonna" Will said a matter-of-factly from his place next to mine, his legs extended out in front of him, towards me, lightly touching the small of my back.

"I take it no one saw you?" I asked

"No one about, lucky for me" Hastily he pulled on his jeans and took his seat back beside Jake, kissing her deeply as he sat down "Right, where were we…"

No one replied

"I-I can't believe you just did that!" Jake said finally with a laugh "My God, if anyone had seen you…"

"…they would have got a lot more than they bargained for" He smiled, tugging his T-shirt back on "So who's doing it next…?" He asked jokingly, looking round the circle, we all averted our eyes and he laughed again, obviously high on his experience.

For a long moment no one moved, or spoke. Sean and Bella were busy making out again in the corner I noticed idly, but choose to ignore them. It was Hamilton that finally snapped us out of our amazement.

"Right, are we doing this or sitting here like a load of dummies?" We sat, like a load of dummies. He laughed once again. "I'm picking this time, the truth is: what is your deepest sexual fantasy?" he smiled with his own mischievousness " and the dare is…" he paused, enjoying his power "…kiss the person on your left, properly" He looked toward Jake as he said it, who just happened to be seated on his left.

We all did the same and my stomach flipped when I realised I'd have to kiss Hamilton. However a second before I could voice my objection Hamilton's hand shot out and spun the bottle once again. Silently the four of us watched as it glided across the floor, slowing gently before finally coming to rest on Will.

Who happened to be seated on my right.

My stomach did a triple flip with turn, pushing upwards against my lungs and forcing all the air out of my chest.

Hamilton was loving it, laughing hysterically at my terror from his vantage point across from me; while Jake and Will exchanged a look I couldn't read.

For a long moment we all sat in suspense as Will made his decision. It took him a while, which puzzled me slightly; surely he would take the truth… he would never…

My thoughts were cut off abruptly as a strong pair of lips came down on mine.

 I have no recollection of him getting up, or even moving towards me, he was simply there, eyes closed, lips searching, mouth against mine, sweet to the taste and soft, so incredibly soft.

Without my minds consent my mouth responded to his, tentatively at first before coming more passionate. Hamilton's dare was defiantly being fulfilled, this was a proper kiss, the most proper kiss I'd felt I'd ever experienced in my life.

And it was Hamilton who had started it all.

And it was Hamilton who broke it apart.

A hoot and a cheer from behind us suddenly snapped us back into reality. Our lips flying apart, our faces flushed, eyes wide, breath short. For a long moment all I could do was stare at him, into that face, so sweet, so angelic, so perfect…

"What the hell did you do that for!?"  Like a bullet I was on my feet, terrified, shocked, repulsed. One hundred thoughts flashed through my mind, things I should have felt and didn't, things I shouldn't have felt and did.

Finally I turned and fled, out of the room, out of the dorms, out of the building. Stopping only when my feet hurt and my lungs ached for air and then slowly lowering myself onto the dew-drenched lawn, a bundle of confusion, with the taste of my best friend on my lips.

The night was warm, a soft breeze cutting gently through the quiet of the evening. An owl hooted far off to my right, startling me, causing me to realise where I was, bringing my thoughts back into the present, rather than a few minutes before.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid" I mumbled to myself, over and over

 "Why the dare?" I asked myself out loud "Why not just answer the question?" It was simple enough, he needn't have told the truth, just made something up, keep Hamilton happy, keep him quiet…now what was he going to think.

But what worried me most was not Will's decision but my own reaction to that decision, the movement of my lips on his when he so wanted them to. The reply to his touch, the feelings that coursed through my body as I felt his breath on my face, that sweet breath, those soft lips…

I shook my head hard, these weren't the types of thoughts I should be having. I'm straight for gods' sake! No red-blooded male should be thinking these thoughts about another guy, his best mate no less. Suddenly my mind switched over to Will: Was he…? Surely he couldn't be… I'd have worked it out. It would have been obvious…wouldn't it? And if he is…what am I?

My head started to spin, like the bottle which had started all this mess, that damn bottle, so simple in design, that frazzled the very framework of my life, my thoughts, my mind.

There was a noise behind me and I spun round, catlike, on edge from the wars I was having with myself inside my head. There was nothing there, only the gentle swish of the grass in the wind and the occasional song of a cricket calling into the short summer night.

Trying desperately to relax I laid myself out along the grass, staring up at the stars as they twinkled down at me, dazzlingly bright against the midnight blue of the sky. More like 2am blue, I thought to myself idly, I shouldn't be out here, we have crew practise in the morning, I was trying to be practical, running my thoughts across more manageable subjects, ones I could rely on to be menial. I should go back to bed…back to the dorm…which I share with… I hit a flaw in my logic, or, more specifically, a brick wall.

Slowly I closed my eyes, slitting them against the stars, hoping to tear my thoughts away from this, this which I couldn't accept and didn't want to.

I could feel his presence before I heard it

"Scout…" It was a simple enough word, tentatively spoken. Terrifyingly my heart did a series of somersaults inside my chest. I didn't reply

"Scout, I don't know what to say…" There was a thump as he sat down beside me, presumably watching me, but I didn't open my eyes to find out, I couldn't, couldn't face him, couldn't be sure that the moment I set eyes on him those feelings would return.

"I…" He started once again, this time reaching out and laying a hand on my arm. I flinched

"Don't touch me…!" I spat in his direction, eyes flying open, scrambling away from him as I had done just a few minutes before. He admitted defeat, sitting perfectly still, evading my gaze.

I had been right; once my eyes were open I couldn't take them from him. The guy that until about half an hour ago I'd considered my best friend in the world, we understood everything about each other, and although we were utterly different, we were perfectly the same.

I couldn't help but notice his profile as he looked down at the grass, his face lit up by the lights of the school behind him, far over the rise in the lawn. How desperately I wanted to touch that smooth skin, those perfect lips, those long, feminine eyelashes…

I snapped my eyes shut

"This wasn't supposed to happen…" He said slowly, quietly, as if admitting his deepest and darkest secret

"What wasn't…?" My voice was hoarse, low, confused

"Your reaction…"

"What do you mean?"

"You weren't supposed to act this way," My eyes flew open, astonished

"You mean this was planned?"

"No, of course it wasn't" Fleetingly he looked up and caught my gaze, before dropping his eyes once again "I just…" He paused "I guess I'd always had this schoolboy fantasy that if this… ever… that you'd…" He stopped,

"I'd what?"

There was a long silence, punctuated only with the quiet whisper of the wind through the stillness of the night.

"…understand"

It was an ordinary word, but I'll remember how he said it for the rest of my life. It was said with a sigh, long and drawn out like air whistling through his teeth, those perfect teeth. I swallowed hard, not understanding, wishing I did.

"Oh God Will…" To use his name felt alien to me, it rolled off my tongue in a way I found unfamiliar, strange. "…I don't understand," I admitted quietly, staring at the top of his head, willing him to look at me, into my eyes. Just moments before I had been the one evading his gaze, but now I found myself desperately seeking it out.

Finally, he looked up, catching me watching him, holding my stare

"I don't think I understand either" There was a smile playing on his lips, a quiet one, subtle but there. "When Ham said… and the bottle landed on me… I just… I didn't know what to do"

Unable to finish his sentences he threw a few beginnings my way, hoping I would understand. This was so unlike Will, the man with the prodigal vocabulary, even he was lost in a situation like this.

"But why…?" I matched his inability to string sentences together.

There was a long silence before Will dropped his gaze again, I could tell something big was coming, a confession, and my stomach tied itself in knots about it

"Because you are the answer to both of the questions"

In a flash I was on my feet, awestruck, astonished, amazed by the declaration. Unable to speak I began to pace, terrified steps, trying to piece together what was going on

"You mean… you've… felt this way for a while" He nodded slowly, eyes closed, almost ashamed, hurt by my reaction. "How long? How long have you wanted to do to me what you did back there?" I was getting angry now; it was a mask for what I was really feeling, not because I couldn't express it, but because I didn't understand it.

"Since I met you Scout" He was on the defensive now, on his feet, matching my gaze, daring me to comment, to become upset, to get angry with him

"Shit Will!" I spun away for him, resuming my pace, unable to take anything in "I really can't handle this…this is so…fast"

"Fast? Fast is one thing this hasn't been." His voice was strong, not loud, but angry, he punctuated his words with his hands, animated, giving them impact "You have no idea what its been like, to be there for you for this past term, to listen to you go on and on about Bella and how you can never be together. That's what I can't handle Scout, I can't handle lying there in my own bed and listening to you drone on about how I could never understand how you feel because I've never experienced a love that could never be…" He paused, breath coming fast, the anger apparent. During the course of his speech I'd stopped dead in my tracks, turning to face him as he yelled, astonished to see yet another side of my mild-mannered friend which I had never witnessed before "…and you know what the hardest part was Scout?" I shook my head slowly "Biting my tongue, not telling you how I felt because I knew you'd react this way. When I said before that you weren't supposed to react like this, that I'd always had some warped schoolboy fantasy that you'd just fall into my arms and this would all be over, I was telling the truth Scout, that was what I wanted, but I knew it would never happen. I know you too well Scout, and that's why this hurts so much…it was inevitable"

There was a long moment where we simply stood and stared at each other, his chest rising and falling heavily, but slowing, anger gently subsiding, his voice was much quieter when he spoke again, more reasonable

"Scout, I know I was stupid to take the dare, I should have just told some half-assed lie about my deepest sexual fantasy. But I was tired Scout, tried of lying all the time, to you and to my friends and even myself. These past few weeks have been nothing but a lie Scout, trying to pretend that it wasn't you that I thought of when I closed my eyes at night, using Caroline to prove I was straight when it was you I wanted all along. I apologise for putting you through this Scout and I thought I'd feel better when all this was out in the open but I was wrong, I feel worse, because you're hurting about it too…" There was a short silence before he finished quietly "…I think I've said everything I have to say…"

Silently he turned and started back towards the school, head held high, pride not allowing him to show the hurt inside.

There were tears in my eyes as I grabbed for his arm, twisting him round to face me and offering him a wan smile.

"Shit Will, I can't believe I'm doing this"

"Doing what?" he asked pensively

And running my hand up to the back of his neck I pulled the slightly taller boy (…my best friend, the person I cared about most in the world, the best friend of a girl I thought I had once loved…) down towards me, and kissed him deeply.

Chapter Two…The Truth

Coming soon