Bruises (BWWM)

5

5

Tamra

It was Saturday and over midnight, and we were all sitting down inside of Faye's bedroom.

"I dare you to drink a full glass of pickle juice," said Kassi, pointing her long nude-colored fingernail towards Amber whose face contortioned itself into an expression of horror.

I rolled my eyes. Sleepovers at Faye's with Kassi and Amber were the actual worst. We somehow always ended up playing truth or dare -mostly dares- at 2:00AM, when the house was completely silent, the Andersons being gone for the week-end, except for a few occasional giggles and our loud whispers.

Alex was probably trying to ignore our chat, that we were hoping was subtle, inside his room next door, blasting music from his headphones. I understood him. Even I found the four of us girls annoying.

We had been doing these sleepovers since the four of us first met and I came to each and every one of them more by obligation than voluntarly.

Amber tiptoed downstairs, grabbed a glass, poured pickle juice into it and came back inside Faye's room.

"I can't believe you're doing it," said Faye, her blue eyes eyeing Amber's in the dark.

I dreadfully watched as the blonde beauty reluctantly gulped down all of the content of her glass, almost throwing up at least seven times. She placed the cup on the carpeted floor and pulled a reverse grin.

"Now it's your turn," she let out, looking at me intensely.

"Oh, I have a good one!" Kassi murmured, flipping her long jet black hair back. "So, Tammy, you'll have to go into Alex's room, give him a kiss, and then pretend you have no recollection of it the next day."

It was Faye's turn to roll her eyes. Although it seemed as if everyone thought her brother kind of liked me -even though he was hooking up with every single pretty thing out there except me- she still didn't come to terms with it.

I was her best friend. Not just her brother's crush, another one of his conquests.

"That's a great one," Amber chimed in, unexpectedly.

"Come on, as if pickle juice and toying with my brother's feelings were on the same level," Faye sighed, looking at her friend in disbelief.

"A dare is a dare," enonciated Kassi, "You know the rules Tam. Don't you dare ruining the fun for us one more time..."

You know what? The odd thing was that Kassi was right. I didn't know what sprung me -maybe it was the two shots of liquor we drunk earlier- but I loudly sighed and got up from the small purple pillow I was reclining onto. My heart was beating as fast as the pounding sounds echoing in my head and my hands were slightly trembling; the pressure was on.

Amongst my group of friends, I was always the pessimist, the party-pooper, the vibe-killer, the not fun one. Kassi, Amber and Faye were all outgoing, energetic and cool to be around. Their lives were perfect for all I knew, and I was the only thing keeping their high down.

They said it was probably because of my mom, that she was the reason why I wasn't like them. So naturally I believed them, and that if my mother was normal again, then maybe my personnality would flip too.

But what if I had to make the switch myself? What if the change had to come from within?

I didn't want to let them down another time. I was going to take this dare, do it and make them laugh. I was going to prove them that I wasn't boring.

I exhaled and closed the door behind me. I knew they'd rush to press themselves onto the wall to spy on my conversation with Alex.

"I didn't think she'd actually do it," I heard Kassi mumble to the others.

I rolled my eyes, a small triumphant smile on my face.

I had proven her wrong.

I shyly knocked three times onto Alex's door and my confidence instantly vanished. What the hell was I doing? Yeah, the two shots were definitely the reason why I had previously mustered the courage to come up to Faye's brother's door, because now, it was gone. All of it.

I wanted to crawl back into Faye's room and hide in there forever instead of facing my dare.

"What do your friends want now Faye?" Alex had muttered, swinging the door open. He locked eyes with me and his cheeks turned into a soft shade of pink. I tried my best not to gape at his naked abdomen and simply uttered :

"Could we talk?"

He nodded, letting me in. He sat down onto his bed as I joined him.

Surprisingly, his room was particularly neat and organized for someone as messy as him. The library placed onto the furthest wall was impeccable, no clothes were thrown out on the ground, and I had to admit that his bed smelled nice and cozy.

As if he had expected one of us to come in here.

I took a huge breath before staring at him. I knew the girls were listening from the other side of the wall, so I grabbed his remote, opened his TV and put the volume up.

I looked into his eyes before blinking and looking at the ground. I couldn't bring myself to do this. I got up from the bed, but Alex grabbed my hand, pulling me down next to him.

"Tam, what's wrong?"

"It was just a stupid dare," I finally let out, avoiding to look into his eyes, "I basically had to betray and hurt your feelings."

He furrowed his brows. He didn't understand. I didn't want him to understand either.

"By doing what?"

I took a breath in, deciding to tell him the truth.

"By kissing you... And then having to act as if I had forgotten about it," I replied, staring intently at my toes. I could feel his soft and warm hand on my cheek as he said to me :

"Don't worry, you won't have to forget this anytime soon."

He roughly pressed his lips against mine and I now understood why I once overheard someone calling him a divine kisser. When Alex let go of my mouth, I must've looked desesperate, craving for his touch again.

He chuckled and winked at me.

"Go tell your friends you succeeded your dare."

He simply leaned back onto his bed, closed the TV and his eyes, grabbing his iPod, a sly smile drawn onto his lips as if nothing had happened. This felt just too casual on his part. Did he do this often, kissing girls and then pretending it was nothing?

"Or don't," he added, almost inaudibly, as I lunged for the doorknob of his room.