Strawberries and Cigarettes

Nope. Not doing that. No way.

Well, actually...

No. No, no, no. I'll take the punishment.

The moment Katie had unfrozen and processed her dare, she had immediately begun arguing with herself. But, it wasn't her fault. No one saw that coming.

Fun, Katie thought. Running down the street in the dark, blindfolded. Just what I need. Katie would actually take doing that stupid punishment over her dare.

There was no point in complaining. That was just how the game works: you pick truth or dare, and if you chicken out, the person who asked you chooses your punishment. And Jamie always picked the same humiliating, dangerous penalty---run down the busiest street in the neighborhood, blindfolded, while everyone screams directions at you and you tried not to get killed. Katie had been best friends with Jamie since eighth grade, but that wasn't enough to save her from his wrath.

Still, she never thought Jamie would do this to her. He knows how much Katie despises that dumbass---hell, she talks about it all the time. The stupid smirk stuck on her lips, how she's never had a bad hair day even though hell, they're seniors, who even has time to do their hair anymore? And how she walks around all confident and self-assured, a badass who does what she wants, where she wants, and when she wants.

Screw her.

Katie was still contemplating her equally painful options when Jamie broke her out of her trance impatiently.

"Well, are you gonna do it?" He began to smile wickedly. "Or do I need to get the blindfold?"

The evil spark in his eye made Katie shiver. Sure, she trusted Jamie with her life, but he wouldn't make an exception, even for her, when it came to truth or dare. Katie still was never sure why he took the game so seriously, but after an... interesting night in junior year, she decided she was better off not knowing.

Katie looked across the circle of more-than-slightly tipsy teenagers and met a pair of cold blue eyes. A tingle ran up her spine. She couldn't help but wonder if Raven was wearing colored contacts---weren't those same eyes a soft brown last week? When she passed her outside the library? Their eyes met as Katie ran to claim a table to finish her report, and Raven was walking away from the building, and their shoulders brushed against each other slightly, and---wait, why was she thinking about that? Who cares what color Raven's eyes were. She was a stupid, arrogant asshole. Even now, she was staring at Katie with that persistent smirk, and now her plump lips were moving, and---wait, what did she just say?

"Well, Kat? Are you going to come over here, or just keep staring at me? I know I'm hot, but give it a rest," A purple lock of hair rested on her shoulder as Raven tilted her head, teasing.

Katie blushed. "It's Katie," she murmured for the millionth time. Gosh, this girl still couldn't even get her name right. "No way am I running into traffic," she began, louder. "But..." she sighed. "Do I really have to?" The last bit came out whinier than she meant for it to be and Katie knew she was screwed.

Jamie looked her up and down like she was the dumbest person ever. "Do you not remember how this works, Katie? Because yes,  you have to. This isn't, 'Truth or Dare or Maybe I Just Won't'."

Katie kind of wished that it was.

"But..." Katie faltered. "But..." She began again, gesturing encompassingly to Raven as if it would somehow explain to Jamie just how repulsive his proposition was, and why it so obviously couldn't be carried out.

"'But, but,'" Raven mocked, and Katie blushed again and looked down, embarrassed at how childish she sounded. "Oh, for Christ's sake," Raven rolled her eyes.

Before Kaite could respond, Raven slid off the table where she sat and crossed the room, over to where Katie had claimed the softest chair in Jamie's house for herself at the beginning of the party. Raven swung a leg over both of Kaite's, straddling her. Raven's face was an inch away from Katie's and, before Katie could react or protest or breathe, she smashed their lips together.

Katie was shocked, stuck still, but closed her eyes and kissed back after a moment. Raven's lips were a lot softer than Katie had ever imagined---not that she had thought about kissing her before---and as those plump lips moved against hers, suddenly every annoying or immature thing that Raven had said or done seemed purely endearing. As Raven increased the speed of the kiss, Katie's hand instinctively flew up to run through the soft dark purple locks, gripping harder than she should've. Raven let out a small, almost indiscernible breath when that hand tugged a bit; Katie loved that sound more than anything and reveled in the feeling of the gentle air that blew across her lips in that millisecond.

Raven's tongue ran across Katie's bottom lip, asking for access. Katie granted it to her, the intoxication of both the alcohol and the kiss making her submit easily.

Katie had never kissed like this. Anyone she'd ever kissed had been like her: smart, organized, maybe somewhat of a goody-two-shoes, but what did popularity matter when you've got your whole life planned out ahead of you?

As Raven's tongue began exploring her mouth and Katie could taste both the beers Raven had been drinking and whatever sweet strawberry snack she'd had earlier and the vague yet familiar cigarette essence, Katie felt a hesitant tap on her shoulder.

"Um," she heard Jamie say, but it was faint, as if he was on a different planet, and as far as Katie was concerned, the only thing she wanted in her solar system at the moment was Raven in her lap and Katie's lips on hers.

The next thing Jamie said was something about the time for the "One-Minute-Kiss" dare being over.

Katie felt Raven's eyes flutter open, and only then did she pull away and open her own.

Raven was breathing heavily, chest heaving up and down slightly. Her face was flushed, and as she stared back, Katie realized that Raven didn't have that stupid smirk on for once. Instead, her mouth was a perfect 'O' shape, lips shining with Katie's spit. Her hair wasn't perfect; it had been messed up by Katie's hand, and Katie thought it had never looked better.

Katie looked past Raven's head. Twenty-something sets of eyes were locked on her and the girl in her lap, all equally shocked. Twenty-something teenagers frozen in their tracks---not drinking or screaming or fighting or kissing---by something they'd never expected to see between the two greatest rival stereotypes in their school.

"Woah," Raven breathed out. "Katie,"

So she could get her name right.