Temptation

-6-

            "Listen, Andy, I don't know about this," I said, looking up from the paper and grimacing.

"You'll be fine. Besides, I'll be there with you the entire time," He coaxed.

"You'll be there to laugh at me."

"I'll be there to film you. There's a difference."

"You're only filming me so you can put it on the internet for even more people to laugh at me!"

"This one can be just between us, if you want." He shrugged.

"I bet you 20 pounds that you'll laugh." I debated with him.

"I don't know about that...I don't even know if I have 20 pounds." He turned his pockets inside out as if to push his point forward. I leaned back, aiming a superior smirk at him.

"First off: That isn't where you keep your money. Seconds, you pretty much just proved to me that you're going to laugh, and you know it!"

"I did nothing of the sort. I proved to you that I'm poor-" I rolled my eyes at that – "And, besides, that's not the argument anyways. It should be, are you going to do it?"

"What if I don't?" I asked, curious as to what his answer would be.

"Then, by proxy, you give up the dares entirely and live a sad and lonely life because you decided to sit and sulk instead of moving onwards, purely to avoid some temporary embarrassment."

"I hate you, you know that?" I grumbled, and his face lit up because he knew that he had pulled me over.

"I love you too, man." He leaned forward and quickly pecked me on the lips. I pushed him away, sputtering and laughing, even though I sort of liked it when he kissed me. I would never admit it, not to Andy or anyone. The feeling wasn't something that I liked to think about.

"How'd you think of this, anyways?" I asked as he began to attempt to drag me out of the room by pure force. The many hours that I spent at the gym allowed me to stay exactly where I was.

Leaning back on his heels and pulling me with both of his hands, Andy said, "It's crazy, the things that you can find on the internet, but useable dares are not really one of them. They're all either impossible or meant for six year olds having a sleepover. It was either this, or imitating a zebra and a donkey at the same time." I stumbled forward as he did a particularly good yank.

"I'd rather do that then ask our neighbors for a toilet brush!" I called out as he pushed me forward and out the door.

"Well, too bad, it's not a choice."

"You do know I have to see these people every day?" I whined.

"Yup." He smiled gleefully.

"I don't think this is a good idea," I said, standing outside of the closed door.

"You'll be okay. Hey, where's your sense of adventure? You've done a lot worse than this voluntarily, and it only goes downhill from here."

"The old Rye died when the old Sophie did. I don't look forward to it."

"Ah, that's the spirit! We're here to revive him." He cajoled, as if I'd actually said something that he wanted to hear. Still grumbling about it, I walked up to the door, knocking hesitantly as Andy scurried back to partially hide himself whilst he filmed. There was a muffled shout inside before, a few seconds later, the door was tugged open, with a frustrated-looking-girl with her hair piled up high in a towel glaring at me on the other side. I was blushing before I even got out the words.

"Um, may I borrow your toilet brush?" She looked curious but still annoyed as she spun back around on her heel and disappeared into the room, presumably to get the desired item – At least she didn't slam the door in my face. I looked back at Andy uneasily and he gave me a thumbs-up as she appeared back in the doorway, toilet brush in hand.

"Thanks." I took it from her and then got out of there as quickly as I possibly could without seeming suspicious. Once we were safely back in our own room, we both burst into laughter, the tension and nerves deflating from me in the form of giggles. I had to catch my breath before I could speak again.

"What are we even going to do with this?" I asked, shoving it towards Andy.

"Ew! One of the bristles brushed my face!" He squealed and jumped away. "And, I dunno, clean the toilet?"

"Payback." I grinned, creeping towards him to jab him with it again as he scrabbled backwards.

"What are you two mangers doing?" Mikey asked from his perch on the bunk.

"Oh, nothing," Andy said casually before swiftly leaping to the side to avoid my blow. "Just two bros cleaning a toilet, but ten feet apart 'cuz we aren't gay." He studied my face for a moment after that, as if searching for something, but I didn't know what he was looking for, so I just laughed. He grinned at the momentary joy that I was diving into and then took the distraction as an opportunity to lean forward and whisper, "You might want to have the toilet clean for one of the other dares."

"Wait, what?" I asked, holding the brush as a weapon once again. I scanned his bed, looking for the book, but he followed my trail of eyesight and dived for it, curling into a ball and clutching it against his chest.

"Gimme that!" I exclaimed, smacking him on the butt before tossing the brush aside and leaping into the bed with him. I lay on the other side of him and wrapped my arms around him, trying to strangle it out of his grip by pure force. I lightly hit his arm and he laughed, tossing the book onto the floor and turning to face me instead.

His face was read and he was breathing hard, probably a mirror image of me, and, for a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me, a proper one this time, but he didn't. Instead, he just rolled out of bed and grabbed the book, and this time, I didn't chase after him. I just lay there, wondering what had just happened.