Second Chances

Chapter Thirty One

When they entered the lounge, they were greeted by a crowd of people. Some of them were seated on the couches, some leaned against the window ledges, and others stood in the corners of the room. The couches were shoved against the walls, and created a big, empty space in the middle of the room. A beer pong table was set up toward the window and had a few guys playing against a set of girls.

As they stepped further into the room, a girl with long brunette hair and an outfit consisting of a bed sheet wrapped around her body, came up to Caroline. "Hey! You made it!" She wrapped Caroline into a hug.

The girl then turned toward Evelyn. "Hi, I'm Nat!" She stuck out her hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Evelyn" She returned the handshake.

"Isn't this exciting?" Nat said. She looked at Caroline first and then Evelyn.

"Yeah, I guess!" Caroline exclaimed. She passed one of the bottles to Evelyn and then unscrewed the cap on hers. She took a sip.

"So what program are you studying?" Nat asked Evelyn.

"I–" Evelyn started speaking.

"She's in the same program as me," Caroline interjected. She screwed the lid back on her bottle.

"That's awesome. Do you live here too Evelyn? I haven't really seen you around." Nat asked Evelyn the question, but once again Caroline answered, "No, she lives in Dickinson Hall. It's the one across from here."

Natalie gasped. "Ohhh, so you're crashing the party?" She winked at Evelyn.

Before Evelyn could respond, a girl wearing a cardboard box as a dress shouted from the center of the room. "Everybody get your asses over here! It's time for a game!"

Nat looked over at the girl and then at Caroline and Evelyn. "I'm going to freshen up my drink first, but I'll see you guys over there."

Caroline looked at Evelyn. "Do you want to go over there or chill here?"

Evelyn watched as the others gravitated toward the center of the room. "I feel like we should join them?"

Caroline nodded and then pivoted toward the group. She took a few steps forward and then looked over her shoulder to make sure Evelyn followed closely behind.

A circle formed in the center of the room. Are we going to play duck duck goose or something? Evelyn thought. Caroline sat down on the carpet and folded her legs neatly so that her knees pointed outward. Evelyn sat down to the left of Caroline. Their knees touched when Evelyn made space for others to join the circle. Natalie came from the other side of the room with a drink in her hand. She sat down on the circle to the right of Caroline. With minimal space left, she tucked her legs underneath her and perched on her ankles.

"So here's the deal," the girl shouted as people settled around her in the circle. "It's a game of truth or dare. While I'm sure you're all familiar with a regular game of truth or dare, the rules for this game are a bit different," she paused. " We'll first need to break into teams."

The girl walked and stopped beside Caroline. She pointed at Natalie and then motioned clockwise to the other half of the group. "This half of the circle will be team one." She then pointed at Caroline and swung her finger counter clockwise to the other half of the circle. "Naturally, that makes all of you team two."

Thank god I sat on the right side, Evelyn thought.

"Ok, listen up," she shushed the room. "The objective is to score the most points. Dares are worth five points, whereas truths cost you 3 points."

"No one on my team can pick truth," a boy wearing caution tape as shorts shouted.

She laughed. "AND there's another catch!"

Others in the circle looked at each other as she built the anticipation.

"The team that selected the dare will get five points for completion, however, if the opposing team also wants to participate in the dare, then they get two points," she finished.

She set down two buckets with papers inside. "This bucket is the dares." She pointed to the bucket on the left. "This bucket is the truth." She pointed to the bucket on the right. She then clapped her hands. "Let the games begin!"

She stepped away from the center and sat between a girl and a boy on the second team. She then pointed at Evelyn. "We'll start with you."

Evelyn's heart rapidly beated in her chest. Fuck me. She leaned over to the middle of the circle and picked up a piece of paper from the dare bowl.

"Oh, and you need to read the dare outloud," the girl added.

Evelyn cleared her throat. "Ok, so it says to kiss someone from the opposing team that you just met." Her thumb rubbed the edge of the piece of paper.

"So that would be..." Caroline scanned the opposing team.

"Me," Nat said with a smile.

"Is it too late to choose a truth paper?" Evelyn whispered to Caroline.

"It's ok, you can kiss me," Nat said.

Fuck fuck fuck. Evelyn took a deep breath. Ok, I got this. Evelyn grabbed her alcohol filled water bottle off the floor and uncapped it. She took a few swigs from the bottle and then set it down.

"You don't have to do it," Caroline whispered.

The crowd watched as Nat crawled around Caroline and settled in front of Evelyn.

"Are we actually doing this?" Evelyn asked her.

"I'm good with it if you are?" Nat winked at Evelyn.

Evelyn leaned forward and placed her lips gently against Nat's. She pulled back almost immediately after their lips touched.

"That was barely a kiss," Nat said. She grabbed the back of Evelyn's neck and pushed her lips into hers. When they drew apart, Evelyn tasted cherry on her lips.

Nat winked at Evelyn and then made her way back to her seat in the circle. Evelyn turned to talk to Caroline, but she was no longer beside her. She scanned the room and saw Caroline at the door.

Evelyn got up and followed Caroline out into the hallway. "You ok?"

"No, I'm not feeling well," she lied.

"Ok, I don't know anyone here so I'll leave too then. We can watch a movie or something in your room?" Evelyn asked.

Caroline turned around. "I feel like I need to sleep this off or something. I'll see you tomorrow or something." She turned back around and walked toward her room.

"Oh, ok." Evelyn stood in the hallway and watched as Caroline walked away. She expected her to turn around and wave or something before heading inside her room, but she didn't look back.