Chapter 2: Dare

"Rest in peace, Fortwatch. We hardly knew thee."

"Jude, the game isn't dead," Wyatt said. "It just got taken from us."

"Taken from us too soon!" Jude countered. "Isn't that like being dead?"

"Dude's got a point," Jonesy said. He sighed long and hard. "This bites. I've been looking forward to this game all summer, and I can't even take it back from my wack-ass brothers or else they're gonna snitch on me. Great."

Wyatt sighed, too. "I guess it's not meant to be."

"Can we at least find something else to play instead?" Jude whined. "My hands are begging me to let 'em hold a controller. They're suffering from game deprivation 'n' stuff."

"I guess I can try to find something." Jonesy got off his bed and searched the shelf beneath his television that held his game collection. He pulled out a few options for them to choose from. "Okay: Assassin's Creed, GTA, Call of Duty, or Overnite?"

Jude and Wyatt glanced at each other. "Call of Duty," they chorused.

"Bet," Jonesy said.

He went ahead and set everything up, putting the disk in his game console and giving the controllers to his friends.

"You know what, guys?" he asked after a few minutes of them playing, feeling a swell of determination in his chest. "I think we can make the most of this. Maybe we can finesse this into being even more fun than Fortwatch."


Later, Jonesy sighed as he put their game on pause. "This just doesn't feel the same, especially when I know what we could be playing."

"Yeah," Jude said, "it's really not as fun."

"So, should we stop playing?" Wyatt asked.

"Hell no—I'm kicking both your asses right now," Jonesy said.


After closing Jen's bedroom door, Nikki stood in the middle of the hallway, looking across at Jonesy's bedroom door. As she inched closer, she ran through all the points she planned on making to him in her head, feeling assured when she put her hand on the doorknob. She opened the bedroom door to find her boyfriend, Wyatt, and Jude playing a video game.

"Oh, look, am I interrupting boys night in?" she asked in a dry tone as she walked to Jonesy's bed.

Without looking up from the game, Jonesy replied, "Nope. Make yourself comfortable, though; we're gonna be at this for a while."

"Oh, really? 'Cause I was in the mood to make out with you, but if you wanna go ahead and play your stupid game—"

"Wyatt, Jude—out."

"But, dude," Jude exclaimed, flabbergasted by Jonesy hitting pause, "what are me and Wyatt gonna do instead?"

"I don't care; you'll figure it out. Now get out of here so I can make out with my girlfriend!"

Wyatt sighed. "Fine."

Once the boys left, Jonesy got off the floor and led Nikki to his bed. After they sat next to each other, he wagged his eyebrows up and down at her. "So, you wanted to make out with me, huh?"

A smirk overtook her lips. "Nah, I just needed to get those two out of the room so we could talk."

His shoulders slumped. "Oh."

"Yeah. So… what happened by the pool last night—"

"—was really, really, really fun," he said as he cozied against her.

"True, but now we really need to talk about it."

He stroked her cheek. "Can I at least kiss you a little bit before we talk, babe? You did say you came in here to make out with me."

"And you know why I said it."

"C'mon, babe." His voice was low and, despite his words, lacked a childish inflection. "Let's just make out and then I'll hear you out."

"You're gonna hear me out first." Pause. "Then we'll make out."

"Deal," he said with a sly grin. "So, what are we talking about?"

"I just think after last night, we need to talk about—you know—sex."

Given that they'd been together for five months now, it would be ridiculous to assume that they had never discussed sex. Initially, upon realizing they couldn't go another cinematic sex scene without pretending the other wasn't in the room, they discussed the topic a bit and agreed to some boundaries. Though neither of them were virgins, they'd agreed to keep things tame enough by groping, French kissing, making out half-naked, and doing other things. However, last night's poolside encounter—wherein kissing turned into some scantily clad dry humping—meant revisiting this conversation. Boundaries needed reassessment.

"What about it?" he asked.

"For starters, as turned on as I am by you," she said, eliciting a suggestive grin from him, "I'm not ready to have sex with you yet."

"Oh." His lips fell into a frown. "I see."

"Don't sound so defeated. I didn't say you'll never have sex with me."

"Yeah, but it felt like we were gonna do it last night, y'know? We were all up on each other and grinding and, shit, I was hard as hell and I know you were wet."

"I was. Thanks for that riveting summary, by the way."

"You're welcome," he said, not feeding into her sarcasm. "Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but why don't you wanna sleep with me?"

"Because… even though my body's giving you all the signs that I'm ready to go, I'm still not there mentally." She paused to gather her thoughts as he peered at her, waiting for further explanation. "Jonesy, if I slept with you right now, you'd be my second, but you might as well be my first because that's how important you are to me."

He didn't know what he expected hear from her, but he knew he wasn't anticipating that. "Whoa, really?"

She nodded her head. "Yes, really… For the record, when we were messing around last night, I was… close."

He furrowed his brow. "You almost came?"

"Uh huh," she said. "That would've been my first orgasm with a guy."

"Wait, Stone never made you…?"

"I mean, we only hooked up one time, but it didn't happen for me. I didn't even try to fake it; it wasn't worth it."

"Wow, I knew that guy was a loser, but damn." He suddenly felt smug for not only winning Nikki back, but also for outdoing her shitty ex.

"Yeah, he's definitely trash. Plus, he ended up getting back together with his ex within a week of me losing my virginity to him."

Jonesy sobered up. "Oh shit, Nik. I never knew that."

"Yep," she said as she looked away. "So, that's one reason why I want to take things slower with you. Not that I think you'll dump me as soon as you sleep with me, but because I have a lot of history with you and I don't want to throw that out of the window for sex. I just want you to take the time to get to know my body and for me to do the same for you."

He appeared cocky again. "I must be getting to know your body pretty well since I almost made you come last night."

"Almost doesn't count. Besides, I can make myself actually come."

"Well, if you give me the chance to touch you, I'll make you come for the first time and every time."

"Someone's confident."

"Totally," he said, "because I'm gonna learn what gets you off." He tapped her on the nose, making her chuckle. "So, since you wanna take things slow, what things are you comfortable with?"

"I mean, I'm fine with anything that doesn't involve actually having sex. Making out, dry humping… touching below the waist."

"Sooooo anywhere between first and third base is fair game?"

"Why do you still use a baseball analogy to refer to sex? Besides, haven't the meanings behind the terms changed by now?"

"Isn't it still making out, groping, oral, and then having sex?"

Her expression and her tone went deadpan. "You're asking the wrong person."

"Well, whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm fine as long as I get to be with my babe."

"The feeling's mutual, Casanova." She felt a smile tug at the corner of her lips, but it dissipated at the thought of another issue. "But, since we're bound to do more than just touching… I think we should get tested first."

He furrowed his brow. "Are you trying to say that I have something?"

"No, Jonesy, I just—"

"Because I don't have anything."

She crossed her arms. "And how do you know that?"

"Because…" He finished that sentence by scratching the top of his head.

"Yeah, I thought so." She put her hand on his thigh. "Listen, I'm not insisting on getting tested to accuse you of anything. This is for my health and it's for yours. If I'm gonna be messing around with you, I'm not gonna do it blindly. I've had sex before, and you've probably had sex a million times already."

He cleared his throat and averted his eyes. "…My body count's only three."

She appeared amused. "Wow, that's lower than I was expecting. I thought you were such a player, Jonesmeister."

"Technically, I'm more of a player at heart than in real life… That never leaves this room, by the way."

She winked. "Your secret's safe with me."

"But, I mean, just because I've only had sex with three chicks doesn't mean I haven't done other stuff."

"See, this is what I mean. We've obviously been involved with other people, so I just wanna make sure that, when we get involved, we're safe." She shrugged. "Just know that if you still don't want to get tested, then the most we'll ever do together is kiss and touch. No oral. No sex."

"Oh, I'm definitely gonna get it done then—not like I wasn't when you mentioned it, but now I totally am." As he thought about the testing process itself, his fears set in and his voice went hush. "T-There's no blood or needles involved… right?"

She hated to be the bearer of bad news. "I looked into it recently and some tests do involve getting blood drawn, but that's only to screen for certain STDs."

He gulped hard, blanching at the thought of getting his blood drawn.

Her hand rubbed against his thigh to ease him. She hoped to bring him back to a less-frightening reality. "Jones, don't worry," she told him in a calm voice. "We can go get tested together. I'll be there for you the whole time, okay?"

She stared at him, waiting for his petrified expression to change.

Though terrified at the prospect of getting stuck with a needle and seeing his own blood, his lips curled into a tiny smile. He couldn't count on himself to put his own mind at ease when it came to his hemophobia (and his claustrophobia), but he could always count on her to do so. Despite her clowning him for some of his actions or thoughts, she never made fun of his fears. Not once.

She stroked the side of his face, asking, "Are we good now?"

Her touch made him melt. "I think we're pretty great."

A warm chuckle escaped her lips.

He leaned in, pressing his mouth against hers. He kissed her slowly, not focusing on the intensity of the kiss or shoving his tongue in her mouth. He just wanted to make her feel special and appreciated.

"You're the best, baby."

"I can say the same about you, Casanova."

She pressed her lips against his again and again, finding herself unable to break the spell that was his kiss. They only parted to make themselves comfortable on his bed. She rested beneath him, with her head against his pillows.

He smiled down at her. "Looks like someone can't get enough of the Jonesmeister."

"Nope," she said with a knowing grin. "I just can't leave you alone." She pulled him close, initiating a deep kiss with him, hoping to feel like lightning again.

After parting, he asked in a gentle voice, "You wanna see where this goes?"

"Yeah," she said, keeping her voice soft, too. "I'd like that."


After getting kicked out of Jonesy's room, Wyatt and Jude stood in the hallway, trying to evaluate their other options for the night.

"Should we go in Jen's room?" Jude asked.

Wyatt shook his head. "As much as I like hanging with the girls, I don't wanna be around them right now. They're probably in there giving each other manicures or something; I'm not trying to get in on that."

"I dunno, bro—I wouldn't mind a clear coat on my nails."

Jude's unabashed approach to femininity always amused Wyatt (except for when he braided Wyatt's locs at one of their sleepovers). If Wyatt didn't know him any better, he'd mistake Jude for being the one with three older sisters and not himself. However, after inspecting his own nails, he said, "I guess a clear coat wouldn't hurt, but we'll talk to the girls about that later. I'm sure they're trying to do girly stuff to cheer Caitlin up."

"So, what're we gonna do for now?"

Wyatt shrugged. "We can always go downstairs and watch TV."

"That's cool with me."

As the two of them walked down the steps, Jude said, "I was so looking forward to that one mission on Fortwatch where you're in that jungle and you gotta fight all those aliens with nothin' but a pickaxe and a bottle of hairspray."

"I'm pretty sure whoever put that up was either trolling or modified the game."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Darn."

When they reached the bottom of the steps, Wyatt asked, "So, what should we watch?"

"Gameplay videos of Fortwatch."

He sighed. As much as he had looked forward to playing that video game, Jude had looked forward to it times one hundred. It didn't help that Jude had addictive tendencies. If it wasn't weed, it was energy drinks. If it wasn't energy drinks, it was coffee. If it wasn't coffee, it was fries from Burger McFlipster's. If it wasn't fries from Burger McFlipster's, it was the damn game. "How about we watch something to take our minds off of Fortwatch?"

Jude slumped (more than usual). "Fine." However, he stopped in his tracks as they made their way into the living room. His eyes lit up and his voice hovered above a whisper, trapped in a place of awe. "Dude, those are the super-sweet, super-unmistakable, super-HD graphics of Fortwatch." If he could, he would have teared up. "It's so beautiful."

Wyatt forgot his temporary annoyance with Jude's fixation on the game. He could only gaze at the television screen in admiration. "It really is."

"So," Jude started, "still think we should take our minds off the game?"

He eyed Robbie and Diego as they played the game, with their backs facing him and Jude, oblivious to their presence nearby. He then looked at Jude. "Hmm…"

"WWJD, man: What would Jonesy do?"

Jude was right: the graphics were phenomenal, the plot sounded amazing, the multiplayer features seemed dope, etc. Though he was more of a pacifist than a fighter, perhaps the game was worth fighting for. Wyatt took a deep breath, hoping he wouldn't regret getting into a brawl with Jonesy's brothers. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but let's reclaim our game."

Jude chuckled. "Wicked."


So Caitlin gets her heart broken and I finally get a text back—life is freaking swell.

She sighed to herself after reading the message she got from Alejandro. It was nothing more than a simple hey, but it was enough to leave a bittersweet taste in her mouth. She remembered the backflip her stomach did after getting his number yesterday. She remembered the way the butterflies fluttered throughout her abdomen, the fluttering of their wings reminding her of applause. She remembered the summer heat that overcame her brown cheeks. Then she remembered the way her heart had ached for Caitlin.

Her heart especially ached now, seeing that her own victory with the guy she liked stemmed from Caitlin's loss. Now that she thought about it: Was it even a victory if a friend was wounded in the process?

Sydni's fingers hovered over her touchscreen keyboard, wondering if she should even reply to Alejandro. She looked up, sparing a glance at Caitlin and Jen, still contained within their own bubble. She then looked down at the simple hey that felt too complicated, too messy, too much.

She decided it would be best to turn off her read receipts and not reply to him right now. Texting him in the company of a casualty didn't feel right.