The Dating Dare Read online

  Lily chewed on her lower lip for a few seconds before groaning and giving in with a nod. She leveled a glare in my direction. “But, I’m only going because Madison needs me. Don’t get any sick and twisted ideas about this being a date.”

  “First of all—” I took a step toward her “—I would never take a girl on a date to Dick’s. I’m classier than that. And second—” I pushed the boundaries of her personal space catching her off guard and allowing myself time to sink my hand in her purse to retrieve her car keys. “I’m driving.” I shook her keys in the air, narrowly missing her grabbing hand.

  “Give me my keys, Parker. I’ve seen you drive and I would prefer not to die in a car accident.”

  “I got a perfect score on my driving test, thank you very much. And I don’t know how much of that punch you ingested, so I’d rather drive us home.”

  “You drank it too!” She pointed a long delicate finger in my face and once again made a grab for the keys.

  “It was just a Coke. I have to help my dad with something tomorrow morning and I didn’t want to be hungover.”

  “So why did you bum a ride off me then?” she whined and stuck her bottom lip out in the most adorable pout I had ever seen.

  “Because Madison was with you.” I decided to go with a lie instead of laying all my cards out on the table and telling her it was because I wanted to spend the extra few minutes with her.

  “I hate you,” she growled and stalked over to her car.

  I hate to see you go, but I love to see you walk away in that skirt.

  “I’ll turn that hate into love by the end of the summer, Holladay.”

  Madison crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at me. “You better try a hell of a lot harder than that. If you think irritating her into submission will work, you might as well go and down that whole bottle of Everclear. It will be an easier death than what she’ll have in store for you.”

  I smiled and draped my arm across her shoulders. “All I heard is that I have a chance.”

  “You’re an idiot.” Madison shoved me off and stumbled toward the car.

  Fifteen minutes later we sat in Lily’s car, enjoying our food. Well, Madison and I did. Lily sulked in the back seat, picking the smallest bites off the patty and sipping on her shake every now and then.

  She hadn’t said a word since I got in the car. Not even to tell me what she wanted to eat. At least the menu wasn’t extensive. But I had to think back really hard to remember what her favorite shake was. My dad had taken us here at least once a month when we were kids. Back when we were friends. Lily always ordered the strawberry shake and proceeded to dip her fries into it before eating them.

  I’ve tried it and it’s disgusting.

  I glance in the rearview mirror and caught her popping a fry into her mouth sans shake.

  Guess she grew out of that.

  “This isn’t awkward at all,” Madison mumbled before taking a huge bite of her burger.

  I laughed because it was true. Normally I’d be all over Lily, making her as uncomfortable as possible because at least it was some kind of reaction. But Madison’s words kept coming back. I wouldn’t get Lily to like me by irritating her into submission. Digging myself out of the hole I created would require some effort to not be a dick.

  Dick.

  Dick’s.

  This was the perfect place for me.

  I laughed and took a sip of my shake.

  “What’s so funny?” Lily demanded from behind me.

  “Nothing.” I bit into my burger. I could have told her she was right about that comment, but that’s not the impression I wanted to leave her with. I could be more than a dick. Sure, it was my reining personality trait, but deep down there’s more.

  There had to be, right?

  “Can we go home now?” Lily tossed her food into the bag before setting it down on the floorboard.

  “I’m still drunk,” Madison complained from the passenger seat. The alcohol seemed to hit her full force on the drive over.

  “You can sleep over,” Lily offered and pulled out her phone. “My mom won’t be home for another hour. Which is good because I’m still wearing your damn clothes.”

  “And looking smoking hot might I add.” Madison sent her an over-the-top wink then turned to me. “Tell your girlfriend she looks hot.”

  Lily groaned.

  I liked drunk Madison. With her as my cheerleader, I might actually have a shot.

  “Lily, you look smoking hot in that skirt.”

  “Bite me, asshole.”

  “Ouch.” Madison reached for the bag that Lily threw her food in and tossed her wrappers in. “That’s no way to talk to your boyfriend.”

  “Keep it up and I’ll send your drunk ass home to be grounded.”

  “Okay. Fine. Whatever.” Madison held her hands up in defeat but not before sending me a wink.

  “I saw that,” Lily grumbled from behind me.

  I chucked my wrappers into the bag then started the car. Looked like I might have to rely heavily on Madison to turn Lily around. If that was the case, I couldn’t have her grounded for the whole summer.

  I-5 was relatively clear for a Friday night and I pulled up into Lily’s driveway within twenty minutes. Just in time for Madison to gag and thrust open the door to spew her burger and God knows what else all over the pavement.

  Great.

  Lily wasted no time jumping out of the car to help her friend. I hopped out and rounded the back of the car. We needed to get her inside pronto before Lily’s mom got home or my dad looked outside to check on the commotion. He was a known night owl and I could just imagine how well it would go over with all of our parents that we arrived home with a very intoxicated Madison.

  I lifted Madison up into my arms and nodded toward the door. “Get the door, I’ve got her.”

  Lily blinked at me a few times as if she couldn’t believe I was helping before letting go of her friend’s hand and making her way to the front steps.

  The house was dark and dead quiet as we entered. It was a good thing, I guessed. At least that meant her mom wasn’t home yet.

  Lily pointed to the stairs as she simultaneously set her purse down and flicked on the entryway light. I didn’t need her direction. I had been in her house plenty of times when we were younger. Unless she moved her bedroom, I knew exactly where it was. First door on the right at the top of the stairs. Coincidently, it happened to face my bedroom.

  Madison groaned in my arms, letting her head loll to the side. I really hoped she didn’t barf on me. That would be a little harder to sneak past my dad. And the last thing I needed was to get grounded.

  I set Madison down on Lily’s bed and took a cursory glance around the room looking for a trash can or something I could leave by the bed in case she hurled again. I couldn’t help but notice that Lily’s room looked nothing like it did when we were kids. Of course, I hadn’t been in her room for at least four years, but I remembered it being a lot more pink.

  The pink was gone though. The walls had been painted off-white with a teal accent wall behind her bed. Her comforter matched with a teal-and-white paisley print. All of her stuffed animals and Barbies were gone. There were no unicorn or boy band posters. Those had been replaced by hanging shelves lined with books and picture frames devoted to her and Madison.

  The only thing she seemed to have kept from her childhood was a pair of beaded curtains that separated her closet from the room. Their neon flowers were tied off to the side and out of the way of the door. I smirked as I took them in. I bought those for her ninth birthday. I couldn’t believe she kept them.

  Lily stormed into the room carrying a pan and a glass of water. “My mom just pulled in. You should go.”

  I gave her a nod as she set the glass on the nightstand and the bucket on the floor. I really wanted to stay and badger her about the fact that she kept one of my gifts. But, I didn’t need Ms. Holladay coming in and seeing me in a room with a scantily dressed Lily and a drunk M
adison. We’d all get grounded then and it would ruin the entire summer.

  And that would just ruin all of my plans.

  The air mattress squeaked under me as I rolled over. The light was muted outside my window, just past dawn, which meant I had slept maybe three hours.

  Parker’s sudden appearance at the bottom of my stairs had stalled my mom enough to cover up Madison and gave me time to change out of her clothes. I didn’t think my mom believed for one second that Madison had eaten something bad at the restaurant we “went to”. But she seemed way more interested in discussing why Parker was in our house to press too hard.

  That was a delightful conversation. My one semester of theater really helped sell the idea that I didn’t absolutely loathe Parker and that he was just so helpful when Madison fell ill in the driveway. The combo lie would make it a total of seven lies I had told my mom in my seventeen years on Earth. The first one had been about the piece of candy I had stolen from a gas station when I was six. My latest before the whole Madison ordeal was that my father leaving didn’t bother me.

  There was a high chance the lies would continue to accumulate as I attempted to hide the fact that Parker and I would be fake dating the entire summer thanks to Miss Pukes-a-lot.

  Speaking of Madison, she better be one good liar or her moms would have her doing community service at the local animal shelter instead of spending lazy days with me.

  And judging by the way Parker acted after that stupid dare, I would need her as a buffer. Even my own damn mom was salivating over the prospect of us spending time together. She’d practically had our wedding mapped out since we were kids. I’d burst that bubble long ago when we stopped hanging out every day, but seeing him in our house might have ignited a new fire. Or threw accelerant on the old smoldering one.

  I draped an arm over my eyes in an attempt to block out the light. He was the real reason I couldn’t sleep. I’d been ready to wring his stupid neck after the whole night, but then he went and did something weirdly nice and helped me put Madison to bed. I hadn’t seen him do anything remotely selfless, in like, forever. So with that kind gesture my foolish brain slid down a rabbit hole, most of which revolved around him. Him and all the fun times we had together before he decided I was no longer worth his time. Then, when I finally fell asleep, I had a nightmare where his full and infuriatingly dreamy lips were all over mine. And in my twisted head, I liked it. Okay, more than liked it.

  So all night I tossed and turned with Parker dominating both my waking and sleeping thoughts. Round and round in a circle until I wanted to cry because awake me still hated him but dream me seemed to have other ideas…

  Yeah, I was never going back to sleep. Maybe never again.

  What I really needed was a long hot shower and an extra large almond milk caramel macchiato from my favorite coffee joint. It was this tiny little shack in a parking lot that housed mostly home improvement stores, but it was the best coffee I’d ever had. Something about pulling their own shots and then smothering it all in ooey-gooey caramel. Seriously, angels sang every time I took a sip. Rainbows appeared. My general hatred for everyone lessened. Believe it or not that was the biggest miracle out of the three.

  With a sigh I rolled off the side of the mattress and attempted not to take the blankets with me. I despised the blow-up bed. Next time Madison got trashed beyond belief, I was making her sleep on it.

  The house was quiet as I made my way across the hall to the bathroom. I had about an hour of peace before my mom woke up to get ready for work. The company she worked for had been hosting an event twice a month on Saturdays for local kids. It was meant to get them into science and technology industries at a young age. They geared it toward girls, but everyone brought their kids. With lectures and structure, it pretty much meant parents could dump them there for a couple of hours and have a free Saturday.

  Don’t ask me how a Realtor office got involved in science. I never understood it. But it worked.

  I cranked the water up as high as I could handle and stripped as it warmed up. As I got undressed my mind drifted to Parker. Again. I had to come up with a way out of the dare or he would spend the whole summer break torturing me. The logical answer was to find him an easy, gullible girl to distract him—kind of like a laser pointer with a cat—but I shot myself in the foot when I banned him from dating other girls.

  I was just trying to piss him off, but instead I shoved myself into a corner.

  The hot water rolled down my back as I stepped into the shower.

  God it felt good.

  It was difficult to stay pissy at the situation as the steam swirled around me and the heat loosened my stiff muscles. I was never sleeping on that blow-up bed again. I was pretty sure my mom bought it sometime in the 90s. There were several glue-on patches that did little to stop the slow loss of air. I was amazed I didn’t end up on the floor in a heap of deflated plastic in the middle of the night.

  Thirty minutes later. Scrubbed clean. Sorta awake. And I still had no answer about Parker.

  Stupid Parker. He had made torturing me his favorite pastime over the past four years. Impeccable timing too. The summer my dad walked out on my mom and me. Great friend, right? I kind of thought since he had been my friend since we were two he would be there for me, but no, he decided that was the best time to drop me and move on to cooler friends all while doing his damnedest to make sure I remained in my dark hole of sadness.

  I had sworn that summer that I never wanted him in my life ever again. And there he was, four years later trying to reinsert himself like a puzzle piece that had been trimmed to fit instead of the piece that belonged there. The saddest part about the whole thing was our friendship ended the summer I planned on telling him I was in love with him.

  Gag me, right?

  But it was the truth.

  Dumb, naive me had once been in love with the jerk.

  Good thing I saved myself the embarrassment and kept that to myself.

  Madison groaned and gave me a small wave as I entered my bedroom. Her messy bed head poked out from under my pillow, squinting at her cell.

  “Parentals?” I asked as I reached for my brush.

  “Five missed calls and twenty texts between the both of them. Remind me to thank your mom later.”

  “Do they at least believe you were sick?”

  “Judging from the start of the chain, yes. Toward the end, not so much.”

  I set the brush down and plopped on the edge of the bed causing Madison to groan again. Served her right for getting so wasted. “How can they show up for this when they couldn’t care less how you dress or where you go?”

  “Drinking is a big deal in my family. It’s like their one rule.”

  I slid my hand under the covers and popped one of her toes. She squealed and tucked her feet up. “Think you’ll get grounded?”

  “They can’t ground me if I avoid them until all traces of alcohol are gone.”

  “I think you managed that last night in my driveway.”

  “Oh, God.” Madison lifted the pillow to peek at me. “Please tell me I didn’t throw up all over Parker.”

  I wrinkled my nose in disgust. “You’re worried about Parker? What about my shoes? I have bits of hamburger plastered all over the fabric.”

  “Shut up, you do not!” She threw the pillow at me, which I caught and tucked under my forearms on my lap.

  “I expect you to get them cleaned. They’re my favorite pair.”

  “I’m never going to a party again.”

  “Not until the next one, right?”

  She grinned then sat up slowly, gripping my arm and wincing. “Is your mom up yet? Maybe a shower will help this pounding headache.”

  “You have like twenty minutes.”

  “Perfect.” She threw her legs over the side of the bed and wobbled slightly once they touched the floor. “Can I live here if my moms find out what really happened last tonight?”

  “No, not a chance.”

  Madison gi
ggled as she stumbled out of the bedroom. I breathed out a sigh of relief. She seemed more like herself. I’ve seen her drink before, but I’ve never seen her puking her guts out because of it. If Parker hadn’t been so calm about the whole thing I might have been tempted to call 911 and have her taken in for alcohol poisoning.

  Parker.

  Why couldn’t I get him out of my head? I threw my pillow against the wall then grabbed a pair of jeans and a hoodie. I figured I would have time to go run and pick up coffee before my mom left and I took Madison home. Maybe I could order her a tea instead of coffee. I wasn’t sure, but judging from her reaction to simply walking, her stomach might not be up for the whole milk and sugar thing.

  I snagged my purse from the floor and made my way outside. Mr. Jones across the street was already deep into his Saturday morning yardwork ritual. He had the best lawn on the block, something he took a lot of pride in. If it meant getting up at the crack of dawn and staying out there sweating and laboring for most of the day, I would settle for Astroturf or just throw a bunch of bark down and call it a day.

  I was so busy admiring his hard work that I didn’t notice the person leaning up against my car until I almost bumped into them.

  “Sorry I—” My eyes narrowed on Parker and I had the sudden urge to punch him square in the gut. All the nice things I thought about him helping Madison evaporated the second I was faced with this cocky smirk. “What do you want?”

  He grabbed a drink carrier off the roof of the car that housed three beverages including one that looked suspiciously like my favorite coffee. I read the label on the cup and my eyes narrowed farther.

  “What is this?”

  “Coffee. Well, coffee for you and your mom and a tea for Madison. Judging from her gastrointestinal acrobatics, I didn’t think milk would settle too well.”

  I stared at him in disbelief. Those were my exact thoughts. “I was just headed to get coffee.”

  “Now you don’t have to.” He held the carrier out in the space between us as I continued to stare at him.