The Runt of the Litter

Truth or Dare

Note: This ones short and sweet. I'd forgotten about it but rediscovered it just now. Anna is nineteen.

Truth or Dare

"The name of the game is Truth or Dare, Jack. You can't just opt out."

"But I don't like that question."

Anna smirked. "I know. That's the point. Shoulda chosen dare."

"But, the dares are always uncomfortable."

"That's the point, Jack," Anna said again, rolling her eyes. "What do you want me to do? Be nice about it? That's not how the game works. Answer the question."

Jack frowned. "I would rather take a dare," he said carefully after a moment's pause.

Anna grinned, "You want it, you got it." She picked up her beer off the table. "I dare you to drink this upside down."

Jack looked completely and utterly confused. "How?"

Anna shook her head and snorted a laugh. "Get upside down."

Jack leaned back on the bench so his top half hung down and he was indeed upside down. "Now what?" he asked as the blood began rushing to his face.

"Drink," Anna said, and handed him the beer with a smirk still on her face. "And don't spill it."

Jack looked concerned at the prospect of going through with this, but he started drinking it anyway. Beer dripped out of his nose and he began to cough.

"Well, crap, don't choke on it, Jack," Anna said and pulled him up by the arm.

"That was... weird," Jack commented after he'd stopped coughing.

"You're supposed to do it like this," Anna told him and positioned herself correctly before drinking three gulps of beer upside down. She swung back up and set the beer down on the table again. "See how I did that without choking and snotting all over the place?" she asked him teasingly and laughed at the face he made.

Jack smiled. "You're happy," he observed as if it was surprising.

Anna stopped laughing at him and sobered. "Well, yeah," she said with a strange expression on her face. "Why shouldn't I be?"

Jack shook his head. "No, I know, but-"

"But, there are a million other things right now to cry about, right?"

Jack thought for a second but then agreed. "Right."

"Jack, I've never not had something to cry about," Anna pointed out and picked her beer back up to take a few sips. "Does that mean I should cry all the time?"

Jack looked at her intensely. "No."

"Good answer," Anna cheered and punched him on the arm. "Now, young nephilim, it's your turn. Truth or dare me."

"Truth or dare?" Jack asked with a grin, and she knew he had something in mind already.

"Dare," Anna said. Always dare.

"I dare you to sing a Michael Jackson song," Jack told me.

Anna was shocked. "You... you know who Michael Jackson is?" she asked him. Yeah, she hadn't seen that coming at all.

"Of course," Jack said. "He is the King of Pop, after all."

Anna shook her head slowly. "Ok. Ok, whatever, uh..." She thought for a second before she landed on a song to which she knew at least a sizeable chunk of the lyrics. "Full song? Verse and Chorus? Just the chorus?"