Page 9 of Wildfire
The game continues, around and around, shots are taken, dares done, insults flung in the direction of Robbie and JJ. Nate ends uphaving to send his sister money for not kissing the person to his left: Robbie. Bobby sends an “I miss you” text to Faulkner, Henry has to shotgun a beer, and I end up shirtless for not kissing the nearest redhead, who happens to be Lola. Kissing the girlfriend of my roommate and coach doesn’t feel like the best way to make it through the rest of my college career.
Emilia leans across to the tower, which is looking significantly more unstable than earlier. A grin spreads across her face as she reads from the block. “Nominate two people to kiss. You guys are so childish,” she mumbles, turning the block around to face us, lips tugging into a mischievous grin. “Well, since they’re the only people I know… I suppose… I’ll just have to choose Aurora and Russ.”
“What am I? A ghost?” JJ shouts from the other side of the table, throwing his arms up dramatically. “Our friendship is clearly a joke to you.”
I hear her say something, but it doesn’t immediately register that she’s said my name until I sense Aurora looking up at me. She really is gorgeous, Jesus.
The only person who knows you’re not confident is you.
Her cheeks are more flushed than earlier, eyes glossy. “Are you sober enough to be okay with this?”
She nods, grinning. “Are you?” I gently slip my hand beneath her hair to cup the back of her neck, rubbing my thumb beneath her jaw as her pulse hammers against my palm.
“Yep.” She stretches up on tiptoes as my head lowers, her hands finding their place on my neck, and then my mouth meets hers. Soft at first, hesitant, until she moans softly and for a minute, I forget that we have an audience.
The audience doesn’t forget us, though, and when I pull her body closer to mine, they whoop, bringing us both back down to earth with a crash. She takes a step back, hand shooting to her lips as she turns to Emilia and mutters something that makes her grin.
Fake it until you make it.
The game moves on, blank block after blank block around the whole table, making people question if Robbie and JJ just gave up writing dares, to which they’re incredibly insulted. Aurora pulls another blank block and a disappointed groan from the table follows.
“This tower is holding it together better than I can,” Aurora mumbles, putting the block on the top of the wobbling structure.
I pull mine and immediately spot Robbie’s untidy scrawl on the wood.
CHANGE DIRECTION
“Change direction?” I read out loud. “I don’t get it.”
“It means it’s my go again,” Aurora says from beside me, and Robbie nods to confirm.
She picks her block, which—speaking strictly from an engineering standpoint—is one of the worst ones she could’ve chosen if she wants the tower to stay upright. It occurs to me that she might just want to see it fall over, but the thought stops there when she starts to laugh. And it’s fucking magical.
She spins the block to face the group.
GIVE YOUR NEAREST HOCKEY PLAYER A LAP DANCE FOR 2 MINUTES
“That was the one I wrote!” Lola shouts happily. “You’re welcome, muffin.”
If looks could kill, I’d be dead. Every player is looking at me with pure jealousy after appraising Aurora for a little too long. I clear my throat loudly and they all snap out of it.
Oh, man. I’m going to get a boner in front of all my friends.
Bobby rushes off to find one of the chairs we stored earlier as Anastasia asks Aurora her musical preferences. I know it isn’t a big deal, but it low-key feels like a big deal. I’m pretty sure my face is bright red. How the fuck am I supposed to fake confidence through this?
Bending to her height, I move close to her ear so only she can hear me. “You don’t have to do this. Don’t let them pressure you.”
“It’s a silly dance,” she says, squeezing my arm. “But thank you. If you’re not good with it, I’ll just do the shots.”
“I’m good with it.” I’m so fucking good with it.
“Anything you don’t want me to do?”
“You can do anything.”
There’s something about already being shirtless that makes this whole thing feel more intimate. Thankfully, having multiple people staring right at you while you sit in a dining room chair is enough to wipe that feeling away.
Nice to know this is what I’ll think of next time I sit to eat.
