Rachel Dyken - The Dare

A throat cleared. I looked up. Beth stood wrapped in a fluffy white towel, her dark wet hair clinging to her neck and shoulders.

Scratch that. Not every girl within a ten-mile radius. Her. Just her.

"What's your last name?" I asked, needing the distraction as she shifted from one toned leg to the next.

"You're kidding, right?" Beth's eyes narrowed.

"Yes?"

Yeah. It was definitely a day of firsts. For example, not only was I the first person in my family to make it into politics, but I was going to be the first male of the family to die before the age of thirty.

How would she do It, I wondered? Suffocation? Push me out the window?

"Why are you so pale?" Beth slowly walked toward me.

"I, uh…" Damn. I had nothing. My entire career was spent talking, and I had absolutely nothing. Words escaped me. My focus was on her lips as they moved. Fantastic. First I want to actually be the cookie she bites into, and now I'm obsessing over her lips.

But they had this naturally pink tint to them.

Which reminded me of bubblegum.

I had a thing for gum. It kept me from getting nervous during speeches.

I had a feeling Beth would do the same thing, if only I was given the chance for one, small taste.

One night stand. One night stand. Maybe if I kept repeating it to myself, my body would catch up. Getting lost in those gorgeous green eyes or looking at that amazing ass was going to get me nowhere in life. I needed a solid, committed relationship where both parties equally benefited from said partnership. Not a fiery green-eyed temptress who ate cookies at 3:00 a.m. and cried into a box of them when she discovered they were peanut butter instead of chocolate.

"Jace?" Beth reached out and cupped my chin with her hand, peering into my eyes.

"What are you doing?" I stepped back.

"I'm a doctor." Beth rolled her eyes.

Doctor my ass. I distinctly remember hearing she played with diseases for a living; no way did I want her hands anywhere near my face. Then again, they'd probably been on other parts all night.

Mental note: Scrub harder in shower.

"You're a chemist. Big difference." I swatted her hand away.

"So you know I'm a chemist, but you don't know my last name?"

"You were doing the periodic table of elements in your sleep and were talking about curing cancer? Remember? Doesn't take much math to add that one together, sunshine."

Besides, part of my homework given by the lovely Grandma Nadine was to do a background check on Char and her family. That woman was insane; she wanted no stone unturned. In the end, I'd broken at least four laws to get the information she'd needed. But I owed her. She'd pulled me out of my slump. I remembered Char from high school since we were closer in age, and Beth? I remembered her for entirely different reasons…

"Are you okay?" I asked, approaching the pretty girl in the white dress. Normally I wasn't so brave at another school's functions. After all, I played for their rival team, and I was quarterback. I kept a low profile. My cousin, however, had needed a date for prom, and I couldn't say no.

"Yeah," she sniffed and then looked down at her hands, "thanks."

That moment defined me, not because of anything special happening like fireworks lighting up the sky or romantic music floating through the air. It defined me because it was the first time in my life that a girl's tears had actually cut me to the core. I wanted to fix it, and I didn't even know her. It pissed me off that she was crying, and it pissed me off that I cared so much.

"Want to dance?" I held out my hand.

She looked at my hand like I'd just offered her pot.

"Just one dance," I urged. Why did I care?

"Sure," she stood, "just one dance."

I hadn't known that my one good deed would come back to bite me in the ass. How could I know that, even then? Grandma's watchful eyes were on me like the damn Lord of the Rings Eye of Sauron.

"Damn Grandma," I said aloud. I'd done my good deed for the year; I was ready to be finished with the entire Titus family and their insane shenanigans. The sooner I left, the easier it will be to walk away. Sound logic, I was aware.

"If you keep talking to me like I'm a child, you'll have a reason to call me sunshine because I'll be putting my foot where the sun don't shine, got it?"

"Are you always this pleasant in the mornings?" I stepped away from the beast. Yes, we were back to name calling. "Or is that reserved especially for me?"

"Just you," she stomped over to her discarded bridesmaid dress and snatched it off the chair, "and politicians I don't vote for."

"You didn't vote for me?" It was out of my mouth before I could stop it. Deflated, I waited for her answer.

"Nope." Beth grinned, seemingly enjoying my shock. "Then again, I don't live in Oregon."

Idiot. Last words said. Gauntlet fallen. Game set. I watched her disappear yet again into the bathroom.

"Ma'am, with all due respect. You've committed a federal crime. I don't believe a breath mint is going to solve that problem, and for the last time, no. Your dog may not serve as a character witness."

"It's because he's French, isn't it?" Grandma nodded knowingly.

Beth

I needed a paper bag and a do-over Back-to-the-Future-style. I leaned against the door and took a few deep breaths before opening my eyes.

Jace.

It had to be Jace. Out of every damn single man at the wedding, my ovaries had decided to jump into his pants? Really? Was I that desperate? It didn't make sense! I spent the better part of my shower trying to figure out the equation with logic.

Was it because he saved me before? Was I still holding onto the one that got away? To be fair, had he not run away like a scared child, I probably would have run myself. It terrified me, made me feel things that an eighteen year old shouldn't. I spent the better part of my freshman year of college thinking about that kiss. Thinking about the way his lips felt against mine and wondering what would have happened had he stayed instead of run.

But he'd left, and I never saw him again.

It wasn't until a year later that I realized he hadn't even gone to my school.

I self-consciously tucked my hair behind my ear. Did he even recognize me?

Know who I was?

Why couldn't I have done something normal? Any other guy I could have forgotten — not him.

My eyes burned, my body hurt, I was starving my ass off, and I looked like I'd just gotten run over by a chicken truck. Taking a deep soothing breath, I focused on the previous night.

We were both at the wedding.

We both drank.

Did he remember anything? Or was I the only cookie-eating loser who had blacked out partway through our night of fun?

I would not freak out. I couldn't freak out. Ha, Ha, I was officially losing my damn mind. Calling my sister was out of the question. Not only would she be massively disappointed in me, but she was supposed to be packing for her honeymoon.

Stepping away from the door, I placed the dress gently on the toilet and stared at it.

That dress had betrayed me.

Grandma Nadine had promised it would be magical. She'd said, and I quote, "Beth, you just trust Grandma. She has everything figured out for you."

Figured out. My. Ass.

I should have figured Grandma Nadine would have something up her sleeve. After all, the woman meddled in everyone's lives, thinking she knew what was best. She was like a freaking cupid, only she wore leopards instead of hearts, and even on her worst day she could still outsmart the CIA.

The dress glared at me.

I made a face.

The white sparkles on the dress reminded me of my senior prom. It was white and looked like something a princess would wear. My stomach clenched at the memory…

"Will you dance with me?" Brett held out his hand.

Once I picked my jaw off the floor and my breathing returned to normal, I grasped his hand and leaned against his chest as KC and JoJo's "Crazy" came on the loudspeaker.

I couldn't believe I was actually dancing with Brett Xander. I tried to appear calm, but my heart was beating erratically against my chest. I pulled back and smiled. "Thanks for doing this for all us girls."

"No sweat," he responded, seeming to genuinely mean it. "I mean, it would have sucked to not graduate."

"Not graduate?"

"Right." He rolled his eyes. "My penance for being a jack-off for the last four years came in the form of my idiotic teacher saying I needed to learn how to be less self-absorbed. Unfortunately, my parents agreed. So not only did I have a shitload of homework to do to get my grade up, but I had to do community service."

"Which was what? Taking out all the AP girls in biology?"

"Hell no." He laughed.

I instantly relaxed.

"It was to pick girls who I knew wouldn't get dates and take them with me to prom. I mean, no offense, Beth. You're kinda hot in a nerdy, pent-up-sexually-frustrating librarian-type way, but you're much too smart and intimidating for a guy to actually date."

"I'm too smart?" I repeated, stunned. I mean, I knew he was an ass for doing what he did and not realizing how much it affected the rest of the girls, but still? To call me out? On a special night?

"Well, yeah." Brett nodded and pulled me close. "Maybe if you dumbed yourself down a bit, people would like you."

"People?"

"Yeah." He actually looked embarrassed. "I mean, it's not just dudes that walk the other way when you stroll down the hall. People think you're like one science experiment away from pulling a Carrie on the entire school."

"Right." My lower lip trembled. "Anything else?"

He squinted. "Wow, you're taking this really good."

"Yup." Lies. All lies.

"It wouldn't hurt to get a better rack. Then again, you probably haven't grown into your body yet. It happens."

The song ended. Brett leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Hey you're pretty cool for a nerd. Thanks for the dance."

I stood motionless in the middle of the dance floor, unable to cry, unable to feel, really unable to do anything except look down at the white dress and wish for once I was the princess instead of the ugly duckling.

"Beth!" Jace knocked on the door. "If you're done freaking out, we need to go."

"Right." I wiped my wet cheeks and clenched the dress in my hands. It wasn't magic. If anything, it was just a reminder that I was exactly where I'd been when I'd graduated in 2000. A loser. A loser with a small rack who preferred math and science to Facebook.

"Beth, I'm serious. It's not looking good."

"Keep your pants on!" I yelled, irritated that he was making me hurry. With a curse, I pulled on the dress, put my wet hair in a quick pony tail, and opened the bathroom door. "What's the big hurry?"

Jace held up his phone. It said Grandma Nadine.

"Hello!" a loud voice yelled. "Jace! Beth! Hurry! Grandma has this all figured out."

"Famous last words." Jace nodded. "But we have no choice."

"No choice?" I repeated. "What? Is the mafia after us or something?"

"Worse."

"I highly doubt that."

"Look." He pointed to the TV. Reporters were in front of a hotel, looking excited as hell.

"The news?" I asked. "Why is that worse than—"

"Special reports say the senator took a prostitute back to his room at midnight last night and has yet to check out! Which raises the question, has the senator truly put his murky past behind him? Sources close to the senator's ex-fiancée say the cheating scandal from two years ago nearly destroyed him. One more scandal won't bode well for the youngest senator in state history. After all, how can we trust a man who can't even keep a fiancée?"

"That's enough." I grabbed the remote from Jace's frozen hand and threw it onto the bed. Great. So not only did I lose my virginity to a politician, but now I was a prostitute. I reached for his cell phone and growled into it. "We'll have words later."