I Dare You

Chapter 17

We walked away from the harbor, towards the shop. He opened the door for me as I gust of warm air hit me, warming instantly. It was a lot warmer inside than it was outside, and I was very grateful for it.

"Wanna grab a seat?" Marcel asked. He was rubbing his hands together to warm them up faster.

"Yeah, sure." I scanned the small shoppe looking for a place to sit. There was a woman and two small children sitting in the back corner in large sofa chairs. There was a man reading the paper at a table in the center while he sipped from his mug. And there were two more women sitting near the window, talking and laughing. I sat in the cold, metal chair that was seated behind the two women in front of the shoppe.

I looked outside, while I waited for Marcel, but there was nothing to be seen. Just the small peaceful town on the lake. The still water, eventually the tide coming up on the shore gently and slowly. I turned my head away from the window before I started wondering in my daydream. I rubbed my hands together under the table to warm them up faster. "Here you go." He sets down two steaming mugs on the table, one in front of me and one across the table.

"So, I have another surprise for you that should be coming soon."

"But I-"

"I know, you hate surprises." He sat down on the chair in front of his mug and continued speaking to me. "But, this will be the last one. I promise."

"Thank god."

"For tonight," he adds quietly. But just loud enough for me to hear. "Marcel!" The waitress behind the counter calls. She wipes her hand on her apron as Marcel stands up to receive the item that he ordered. The lady smiled at him when she hands him two small sized boxes, similar looking to the one Marcel had earlier. I take a drink of my steaming mug, not knowing what it was. As I tipped the cup forward the hot mug made contact with my lips, allowing the liquid to enter my mouth. As I did it burnt my tongue so I couldn't taste what it was that I was supposed to drink, but my tongue now had a rough texture making my mouth feel strange. "You alright?" Marcel sat cross from me and placed one of the boxes in front of me. I nodded my head trying to ease the pain without opening my mouth.

"This is the final surprise!" He said proudly gesturing to the boxes.

"A box?" He laughed at my idiotic question and shook his head. "

It's what's in the box. So this is a competition."

"Good! I'm very compet-." He held up his hand to shush me so he can finish the instructions. "These are some of the worst flavored sweets they have here. Whoever eats the most wins." He said, making it sound simple. I narrowed my eyes at him looking for any sign of trickery on his face, but he looked very serious.

"Fine. But what does the winner get?" He looked to the top of his head trying to think of an answer to my question that he didn't think I would ask. "Maybe.....no,no" he talked to himself. "How bout.... How bout the winner has the loser do their calculus homework for three days." He told me very satisfied with his deal.

"A week." I countered.

"No!" He shouted, getting a few looks from people around us. I raised my eyebrows at him, silently telling him that a week was all I was taking.

"Fine," he said much quieter. "But I'm gonna win."

"Oh please," I told him flicking my hand.

He laughed at me,"You really think you can beat me? Of all people, me?" He asked shockingly.

"Can we just start now so you can lose?" I whine.

"Fine, fine. Ready?" I hovered my hands over the dark brown cover of the box with a white, printed, bow sitting on top and the store's name engraved on it. It was cardboard and looked very elegant, but I needed to focus. "3.2.1 Go!"

We both threw the covers of the box to the side and I observed the items inside. There were three things that looked similar to a cupcake, a few truffles, and some candy that looked like taffy and some hard candy too. It was a weird assortment, but I didn't know what to choose. I chose the first cupcake looking one, to try and get one of the larger items out of the way. It had a white, flaky bottom and and brown, melted cream on top. It actually looked pretty good, but Marcel said these were the worst tasting things here. I sunk my teeth into the cake and actually found it quite tasty. That is until the after taste kicked in. As I swallowed the cake a strong vanilla flavor was left in my mouth. It was too sweet and way too strong. I wanted to give up already and we just started. If only one tasted this horrible, how would the others taste? I looked at Marcel who had a sour expression on his face, scrunching up his nose and chewing quickly. I probably looked just as ridiculous. But there was no turning back now. I quickly swallowed the rest as a whole, which was a huge mistake. It took way too much effort to swallow it and I needed a drink. I reached to grab my mug to down the cake and get rid of the horrible flavor. "Addy, I wouldn't do that," Marcel warned with a mouth full of food, but I didn't listen. I quickly brought the mug to my lips and set it down two times faster. The liquid burned my mouth again and it mixed with the disgusting vanilla flavor in my mouth. I watched as Marcel laughed at me popping another candy in his mouth. I have a dreadful feeling that he has done this before and that he will win.