Shut Up And Kiss Me (gxg)

18. F*cking Tongue-Tied

       THE NEXT WEEK PASSED without any incident.

       Considering Aaron and I were now dating, we were exempted from the Kiss a stranger goal. 

       "But don't think you get a free pass from October," Cody warned. "Scaring the shit out of someone is going to be epic."

       "What do you have in mind?" I asked.

       Cody scoffed. All four of us were in Aaron's basement; Skylar swiveled around on a desk chair, waiting for her nail polish to dry, Cody laid upside down on the white couch, Aaron practiced pull-ups over the doorframe, and I was hunched over a stupid fucking math question.

       After you wake up, blinking your blue orbs and putting your brunette hair into a messy bun, your mom comes into the room and tells you she sold you to Harry Styles. What is the cost of Satan's soul and how many celery sticks can you eat without throwing up?

       "Like I'm going to tell you!" Cody's face had reddened, probably thanks to the blood rush of hanging upside-down. "No, no, you're going to find out. When you're scared shitless."

       "You're bluffing," I said.

       Skylar rolled her eyes skyward, swiping her toenail with a stroke of black polish. "Tal, let's be honest here. We all know who sleeps with the light on after she watches a horror movie."

      "Okay, I was ten."

      "What about when we watched Saw III this past summer?"

      "Come on, that'd give anyone nightmares."

      "And Escape Room?  That wasn't even scary, and you still refused to leave my side all night."

      "Scary is subjective," I argued. "All those people were getting killed one by one!"

       "You refused to let go of my hand even to go to the bathroom."

       "I'm not going to be the idiot who breaks off from the group. That's the person who always gets killed first."

       "Talia, we don't live in a horror movie."

       "And," Cody added, "it's the diverse character who always gets killed first. That's basically movie law."

       "Okay, so I'd be the idiot who got killed second," I said. "I still don't want to get killed! And you never know what psychopath in a chain mask is hiding in the closet with an axe."

       "I was in the closet for fifteen years," Cody said. "I never saw a psychopath in a chain mask."

       Skylar snickered. "Well, I was in the closet with you. Maybe I'm secretly the psychopath."

       "I hate both of you," I said. Glancing at Aaron―who was still doing push-ups, veins roping his forearms―I added, "Aaron, back me up!"

       "Yeah, lover boy, back her up," Cody said.

       "You know what? I've had enough of this slander." I stood up, setting down my broken pencil. "I'm going to get you back for this, Cody Marcus Beckham. I vow to scare the shit out of you and Skylar Janice Tori."

       Aaron whistled, exhaling heavily as he dropped down from the frame. "She just pulled out the middle names. It's serious." 

       "Damn right it's serious," I said. "I'm going to scare all of you motherfuckers. That's right."