The band trip was coming up, and Kristan realized that this was the last opportunity she would ever have to talk to Tate. When they loaded the bus early that May morning, she saw Tate looking for a seat. Pushing her bag to the floor she said, "Hey Tate! Sit here. I've got the sacred three- seater in the back, and there is plenty of room for you." Tate gave her a bewildered look but sat down quickly enough. "Hey guys!" Kristan's best friend Ava popped her head over the seat in front of them. "Want some sour worms?" "Yeah, God I love these!" "Uh, yeah." Tate and Kristan spoke at the same time. The looked at each other and laughed. "Great minds think alike," Kristan quipped. As the miles to Daytona Beach rolled by, Tate and Kristan talked about everything under the sun. They realized that they had a lot in common, and shared the same sense of offbeat humor. "Hey, you know, you should hang out with me when we get to the beach," Kristan told Tate. "Yeah, none of my friends came on this trip and I was really bummed out because I thought I would have no one to talk to. I'm glad you got me to sit with you." When the bus pulled up to the hotel, Tate and Kristan loaded out of the bus. The room assignments were handed out and they went their separate ways to throw all of their luggage in their rooms before getting some dinner. Kristan and her friends decided that they would go across the street with some of the more laid back chaperones to the Ruby Tuesday's to get something to eat. She invited Tate along, secretly hoping that she would find a way to sit next to him. She might even steal a chance to "accidentally" play a bit of footsie with him. She was excited because Tate really seemed interested in talking to her. Maybe her years long band crush would transfer from a flirtation into a real life relationship. After dinner, they walked back to the hotel. "Oooo. A hot tub. We should check that out," Kristan winked at her two best friends, Ava and Lynn. "Tate, wanna join us? Three girls and a guy in a hot tub." Tate laughed. "Sure," he answered. "Let me change."
A while later they were all soaking in the hot tub. Kristan looked over at Tate and thought to herself that he did look alright in his bathing suit. She wondered if she was imagining him locking her over in her navy blue bikini.
Ehh. He's probably looking to see if I have any weird moles or extra body parts he can snicker at later in his room. Kristan thought to herself.
"Let's play Truth or Dare!" Lynn exclaimed.
"Oh, hell, Lynn," Ava replied, "You know that this is just going to turn into Dare. We already know every dirty thing about each other."
"True, true, my dear, but we don't know everything about Tate."
They began their game. At first they began asking silly questions that they already knew the answers to just so that they could have a good laugh. It was like a warm up for what was to come.
"Kristan." Lynn grinned, "What is the dirtiest thing you ever did with your ex?"
"Well, I would prefer not to answer that question since I am trying to block his existence out of my memory. Plus I would be so embarrassed to talk about it. I think I would like to change my choice to dare," Kristan replied.
"Hrmm.I think that you should.give Tate here a nice souvenir of the band trip: a hickey," Lynn smirked.
"Oh, Gawd.that is so trashy!" Kristan shrieked. How could she kiss the neck of her crush object and not let on that she wanted him in a bad way? On the other hand, opportunities like this don't come along every day.