Crowded Room

13. Truth or Dare

Camila is seated on the kitchen counter of Shawn’s apartment in a cute yellow sundress, one leg crossed over the other as she watches him and Niall prepare them drinks. It was supposed to be a party, but there were only around fifteen people at Shawn’s place, most of them singing karaoke because Taylor insisted.

 “ I thought this was a party.” Camila says. “ Why aren’t more people here?”

 “ Ask Shawn that.” Niall says in a mocking tone of voice. “ The official party pooper.”

 “ I don’t want my apartment to look like shit in the morning.” Shawn defends himself. “ You know that’s the part I hate the most about parties.”

 Niall rolls his eyes and grabs the tray with everybody’s drinks, walking out of the kitchen. Shawn hands Camila her glass and he rests his back against the counter across from her, taking a long gulp of his drink as he looks at her. She could have sworn he was staring at her bare legs, but she might as well be going crazy and imagining things at this point.

 “ I can help you clean in the morning if you want.” Camila says, making Shawn quickly stare at her like she just offered to give him a lap dance or something. She feels her face flush as she realizes it sounded like she was offering to sleep in his apartment, but to be fair she did spend the night there after his last party.

 “ I don’t think we’ll have much to clean this time.” Shawn smiles at her, referring to the number of people in his living room right now. “ But you can stay the night if you want to.”

 Camila was taking a sip of her drink and almost choked when she heard his words, placing her still full glass next to her on the counter. Was he asking her to stay the night?

 “ I would stay on the couch again, of course.” He quickly corrects himself, but it’s too late.

 Both of them burst into laughter because of the awkwardness between them and Camila accidently bumps her hand on her glass, making it fall to the floor. Suddenly there’s glass shards all over the floor and Camila gasps in shock.

 “ I’m so sorry.” She quickly says, looking at him before trying to get off the counter.

 “ It’s okay.” Shawn says, placing a hand on her waits and stopping her. “ You should stay up there, you don’t have your shoes on.”

 Camila nods her head and watches as he finds a broom and swipes the glass, throwing it into the trash can. She can still feel her skin on fire where his hand touched her waist and it only gets worse when he stops in front of her with his back facing her, her eyes landing on his defined back muscles visible through his white t-shirt.

 “ Come on.” Shawn says.

 “ What?”

 “ There might still be some glass on the floor.” He tells her. “ I’ll carry you to the living room.”

 “ Okay.” Camila says quietly, trying to process what he just said.

 She places a hand on his arm and pulls him closer to her, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and jumping on his back as he holds the back of her bare thighs. She tries to breathe properly and not give away what his touch is doing to her as he carries her out of the kitchen. She thought he would let her go when they stepped into the living room, but instead he takes her to an empty spot on the huge couch filled by their friends, who are now staring at them. Shawn places Camila down on the couch and walks back to the kitchen, coming back a minute later with new drinks for the both of them. He takes a seat next to her, a lot closer than she’s used to having him, and she can see Taylor smirking at her from where she’s seated.

 “ We should play a game!” Niall announces, making two girls who are singing karaoke protest.

 “ Not another one of your stupid games, Niall.” Charli says, annoyed when he’s already standing up.

 “ Come on, we should all seat down on the carpet for this.” He says, dragging Hailee with him as he grabbed an empty bottle of beer and placed it in the middle.

 “ That’s a great idea!” Taylor says excitedly.

 “ Spin the bottle? Are we twelve again?” Shawn complains, but pulls Camila with him as they take a seat down on the carpet.

 “ It’s actually truth or dare.” Niall says. “ I don’t have to explain. You all know how this works.”

 In a few seconds everyone in the room is seated in a circle on the carpet and Camila is a little surprised how everyone joined the game. She never played anything like this, parties weren't really her thing back in high school. She watched as Niall spun the bottle and it stopped pointing at Joe and a girl Camila didn’t know. He chose truth and she asked him a random question that made everyone boo her for not being bolder.

 Camila watched rounds and rounds of the game, the bottle never pointing at her or Shawn. There were a few dares involving drinks and a lot of truth questions involving sex and she was glad it didn’t stop on her because she would have embarrassed herself in front of everyone by her lack of experience on the subject. After a few more rounds, the bottle finally pointed at Shawn and Niall was the one to ask the question. Shawn chooses a dare though, like she thought he would, but the words that come out of Niall’s lips make Camila freeze on her spot.

 “ I dare you to kiss Camila.” Niall says out loud, making some of their friends laugh and others gasp.

 “ Come on, are we in sixth grade again?” Someone laughs, making Camila blush even more.

 “ You chose dare.” Taylor says. “ You have to do it.”

 Shawn is looking at his two friends like he’s about to kill them and Camila can tell they planned this. They were waiting for the bottle to stop on either her or Shawn to be able to do this. Camila is suddenly scared not of kissing him in front of all these people, but of him denying it and rejecting her, so she acts without giving it much thought.

 Camila lifts one hand and turns Shawn’s head to her, connecting their lips before he can protest. He smells like vodka, but his lips are so soft against hers. She’s about to pull away when she feels his hand on the back of her head, holding her and kissing her harder until she opens her lips to him. It’s been so long since she kissed anyone, but the second their tongues meet, it’s like she knows exactly what to do. Their movements are synched and her heart is pounding as her hand goes to his curls. She completely forgets they’re in a room filled with people until they hear their friends cheering.

 “ Yes, Camila!” Hailee’s voice is loud from across the room.

 “ Oh my god!” She hears Charli screaming, making them finally pull away slowly, their eyes meeting for a second before clearing their throats and looking away like nothing happened.