An Unlikely Reunion

Eight

"All right, then. I'm going to go with the safe option here and choose truth," Ian said as he walked up to the baskets. After unfolding the piece of paper he'd retrieved from one of them, he read, "Why did you break up with your last girlfriend or boyfriend?"

He shot me a quick glance that I couldn't quite read before saying, "I caught feelings for someone else and she found out about it."

My heart fluttered as Ian sat back down next to me. Had he meant me? The way he'd looked at me should've made it clear, but... I simply couldn't believe he hadn't had a girlfriend since he met me -- five years ago! Then again, I didn't know when exactly that break-up occurred...

I almost expected to be the next person to go, but luckily the person to his right -- Jennifer -- decided we'd go the other direction. I didn't mind. She picked dare and had to lick the floor. 

Neither that first dare nor that first truth seemed particularly bad, so I was starting to believe that this game wouldn't be as terrible as I'd originally thought.

"What is the most embarrassing thing your parents have ever caught you doing?" Lucas read from another piece of paper after Jennifer had completed her dare. He grinned. "Do I really have to say it?"

The tasks and questions that followed were all similar -- fit for a high school party. It wasn't particularly interesting. We found out some embarrassing things about some of the other contestants, but nothing too special. Make-out related dares didn't cause any drama as no one was really invested in their 'relationship' yet. Until it was my turn.

My hands were shaking a little as I walked up to the basket labelled dares. I reached inside and unfolded the piece of paper.

Kiss the person you find most attractive.

Of fucking course. Why couldn't I just have to put ice cubes in my pants or kiss a person that was specified, like Kylie had to kiss the person on her left? No, of course, I would have to reveal something I most certainly didn't want to reveal.

"What is it?" Anastasia asked. I'd clearly been staring at it for too long.

I read my dare and looked up. Both Martin and Ian were smirking. They were both so certain they knew who I'd choose.

If I knew for sure Ian would choose me today, I'd kiss him. But what if he wasn't going to choose me? I would reveal to Martin that he wasn't the one I wanted to be with. And, come the recoupling, he could choose someone else. After all, I hadn't been the only one who stepped forward for him. And neither of the other two who had were particularly happy with their partners.

On the other hand, if I kissed Martin, I would lose any chance I might have had at Ian choosing me. There was just no easy way out of this.