Truth or Dare (boyxboy)

Chapter 19 - Little Drop Down

"So..." said Spizzo, unsure what to do now. He'd obviously touched a nerve, much more than he'd done before. He should've felt bad, in some sort of way, but... he didn't. Oops. "Did y—"

But before the teen could finish his question, Jacob raised a finger to stop him. "Hold on one second," he said before rising to his seat. He slowly walked from their place by the outdoor lounges over to the edge of the patio. He looked out into the distance, not seeing very much in the pale moonlight that covered the brush behind the house. Jacob felt the breeze against his hot face, as if nature was feebly trying to calm him down (without much success). Jacob reached and gripped the railing in from of him, knuckles white as he felt the bubbles within him burst over.

And that's how Jacob Patterson ended up screaming his lungs out in the middle of the night on James Spizzinelli's patio.

Spizzo froze as the loud sound ripped through the silent neighbourhood, causing a couple of dogs to begin barking. He wondered if he should be preparing for a police visit, his neighbours certain that someone in his house had just killed someone. With his family's reputation, it was possible.

The neighbourhood didn't like them much.

Once Jacob felt he'd let all the screams out that he needed to, he stopped. He wasn't entirely sure where the impulse had come from, he wasn't a stranger to bottling up his feelings — if anything, he was a champion at it. But he'd be lying if he didn't feel better now.

Maybe he should do it more often.

As he took a big breath to recompose himself and refill his lungs with air after screaming it all out, Jacob looked down to the area below them. The cogs began to turn as he spun around to face the other teen. "Dare or dare?" he asked.

"Dare or dare?" echoed Spizzo, utterly confused by the current turn of events.

"Dare or dare?" Jacob repeated plainly.

"... dare?" the other teen agreed, not sure if he had any other option.

"Oh great," Jacob grinned, happy that Spizzo agreed. Or fell into his trap. Either or. "I dare you to jump into the pool... from up here."

The other teen sputtered at the dare. Of all the things his ex-best friend could remember about him and their childhood, he remembered this. "I can't do that, Jacob, you know that," Spizzo protested, his extreme fear of heights still holding on strong.

"Oh come on, James, I thought you were a big strong man now?" teased Jacob. If he had to opportunity to turn the tables on the other teen after his torturous question, he was going to take it. "It's only a little drop down, I'm sure you can do it," he continued on, his tone sickly sweet.

The pallid complexion that had come over Spizzo's face said otherwise. "I-I-I... uh-I..."

Jacob watched the other teen stammer in fear a couple seconds longer before deciding that he'd been tortured enough. "Alright ya big baby, what if I... chose double dog dare next round and we'll both do it together?"

Spizzo blinked at him, seemingly still entranced by the mere thought of jumping down that it took him a bit longer to process the offer. His heart had been beating hard in his chest and the blood was rushing in his ears. It was hard to hear over that.

"Oh uh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah," Spizzo agreed once he'd processed what Jacob had said. "I-uh, yeah, let's go with that."

Jacob knew that he should have felt bad for putting the other teen through that, but... he didn't. Oops.

Seems he and his ex-best friend still had something in common. 

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A/N: The upside to this whole self-isolating is I have more time to write! Hope you enjoyed, I have something fun tucked up my sleeve for the next chapter ;)