"Truth or dare."

The three words that changed it all.

"Um... truth?"

Jordan snorted. "Declan, you might look really tough but you're a pussycat, you know that?"

"He's a pansycake," I said.

"Yeah! He's a pansycake! Like Tris!" Jordan cried. "Exactly!"

Bennett and Declan just watched in confusion as we gushed over our Divergent references. Declan still looked nervous, but I didn't blame him.

Jordan was the master of this game.

Bennett and I were sharing a couch, Jordan was perching on the armrest of the couch, and Declan was sitting cross-legged on an ottoman. We had only just finished the first round, where Declan had chugged an entire can of pineapple juice, I had told everyone that I used to have a crush on Zac Efron, Jordan had hung by his index fingers from a moving ceiling fan, and Bennett had passed.

Of course he had.

"Enough Divergent references," said Bennett, interrupting our conversation. "I want to hear Declan spill his secrets."

"Okay, then," Jordan announced, turning back to Declan. "Remember that game you and Naomi went to? Remember? Well... did you actually kiss her for the Kiss Cam?"

Declan blushed, and Bennett, who had been carelessly half-listening to everyone else's turn the entire time, suddenly looked interested.

"Of course I didn't. I just had to act like I did on the Kiss Cam."

Jordan hopped off of his perch and kneeled down next to Declan, shoving his face next to Declan and looking deep into his eyes. "Hmm... are you suuuure?"

"Positive," Declan affirmed. Jordan gripped Declan's shoulders and shook him so hard that he nearly fell off of the ottoman. "Are you sure you're suuuuuure?"

"Jordan," I put in. "We didn't kiss."

Looking faintly disappointed, Jordan returned to his post on the couch and Declan, looking very dizzy, flopped down on the ottoman again.

Now I was scared. It was my turn.

"Truth," I answered before Jordan could even ask. I knew how Jordan was with dares.

His eyes lit up. "Um... what's the best flavor of ice cream: chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla?"

"That's not fair!" I cried. "Picking an ice cream flavor would be like picking one of you guys! That would be controversial!"

He smirked. "I know. That's why I said it."

"They're all great!" I exclaimed.

"Well then, do this the right way," Bennett told me. "Describe everything you like about each flavor."

"Well," I began. "I like them all. I'll start with strawberry. It's really potent and has a very strong flavor on the outside, but once you really get into it, it's sweet and mellow." I glanced at Declan.

"And then there's vanilla. It might be colorless at first notice, but once you really taste it you find out that there's a whole world of flavor and color there." I looked at Jordan.

"And then... there's chocolate. It's the richest flavor, but from the outside you'd never be able to tell. It's smooth and creamy, and you just feel that whenever you see it, every single one of your problems will go away." I stared at Bennett, and he stared back at me for a second before we both quickly looked away.

The guys all looked at each other and then Jordan spoke. "It sounds like chocolate has the edge here," he quipped.

I dug my fingernails into my forearm to stop myself from blushing. "It was the first flavor I ever tried as a kid, so I might be a little biased towards it," I admitted. "But Neapolitan is still my favorite. It's a tie."

"Now it's your turn," I told Jordan, turning to face him on the couch. "Truth or dare."

"Dare."

"I dare you to do a handstand and drink a glass of milk at the same time," Declan spat for me, his eyes glittering with need for revenge.

Jordan paled, but the color immediately returned to his face, his acid-colored eyes sparkling. "It's on."

Bennett retrieved a glass of milk from the kitchen and Jordan got into position, leaning upside-down against the wall of the base. When everything was ready, Bennett took out his phone and started to record.

For the first half of the drink, Jordan was going pretty strong, sipping through a twisty straw that Declan had scrounged from somewhere. However, he was sputtering towards the end, and it was almost painful to watch as he choked down the final sip.

He flipped out of his handstand and into a fetal position on the carpet, clutching his stomach. He looked sick for a moment before rushing out of the living room, covering his mouth.

When he returned, he instantly perked up, not showing any signs of someone who had just violently vomited his insides out.

Why?

Because it was Bennett's turn.

"Truth or dare."

Bennett had now returned to his spot beside me on the couch, looking slightly bored. "Can I pass again?"

Jordan shook his head firmly. "You only get one pass per game."

"Who came up with that rule?"

Jordan raised an eyebrow. "Bennett, who do you think?"

Bennett sighed. "Fine. Let me think."

Jordan and Declan were whispering. "I already know exactly what I'm going to ask him if he picks truth," Jordan hissed under his breath.

"Tell me," Declan hissed back.

Jordan shook his head. "Can't. He might pick dare if I do."

"Aw, c'mon."

Jordan reached over and poked Bennett. "Bent, come on!"

"I'm thinking."

"Think faster."

"Fine! I pick dare!"

Jordan practically took a flying leap and landed next to Declan on the ottoman, whispering into Declan's ear.

"That's just mean," Declan said. "We can't do that."

Jordan paused, and whispered something else.

"Not good enough," Declan insisted.

"How come I don't get to help decide?" I butted in, trying to hear what they were whispering.

Jordan stopped whispering to look at me. "It's because you're too nice. Your dares aren't hard enough."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Yes."

Jordan paused again, for a longer period of time, and then he broke into an enormous grin. Again he whispered into Declan's ear.

"Now that I want to see," Declan remarked, also grinning. "But isn't that break—"

"We can make some...exceptions," Jordan told him.

"Exceptions? Exceptions to what?" Bennett interrupted. "What exceptions?"

Jordan spun around, shooting me a glance before facing Bennett with an evil smirk.

"I dare you to kiss Naomi."

"WHAT!" he yelled. "I can't do that! That's breaking the contract on a crazy level!"

"I'm making an exception." Jordan cleared his throat importantly. "I, Jordan, hereby declare that upon the terms or conditions of any sort of dare, challenge, provocation, or summons, we can alter Section Fifteen, Article Five, to allow minimal physical affection towards Naomi."

"Who gives you permission to do that? Last time I checked, I was the leader here."

"Well last time I checked, the truth or dare rules say that you have to do whatever I dare you to do or else you're a coward."

"Fine. I'll do it. I'm not a coward."

"And you can't pull a Declan."

Declan raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, pull a Declan?"

"I mean, you can't pretend to kiss Naomi and just lean in."

"Is it my fault that the Kiss Cam landed right on us?" Declan growled.

"Well, I don't know, I'm not the one who was running the Kiss Cam, am I?"

"You know it wasn't my fault!"

"Enough changing the subject!" Jordan loudly declared. "This could have been over already."

Bennett opened his mouth to defend himself but Jordan interrupted. "I'm changing it to French because this is taking too long."

"You can't do th—"

"I just did. Now kiss."

"But you're the one who just said that only minimal displays of affection are allowed, and you're over here telling me to French kiss her?"

Jordan just nodded. "It could have been worse, Bennett. I could have... upped the ante, you know—"

"That's enough!" Bennett hissed. "And you would never dare me to do that."

Jordan smirked. "Keep procrastinating, and maybe you'll find out."

"Jordan—"

"Seriously, Bennett, I'm starting to get bored," Jordan informed him, picking at the leather of the ottoman.

"Then don't watch," Bennett retorted.

Jordan stepped off of the ottoman. "Is Bennett blushing? Is the great Bennett Richard Frazier actually blushing? Mr. Cool Cucumber is really blushing? This is a new phenomenon—"

Bennett stuck out a leg and kicked him hard in the groin, and he fell back, shrieking in pain. Declan rushed to his side.

"Let's just do it while they're distracted."

I didn't have time to argue, because he cupped my face and crashed his lips against mine. We closed our eyes and sank into a sort of rhythm. He moved one hand from my jawline to my hair. Soon, I could feel the tip of his tongue flicking at the seam of my lips, and I suddenly remembered the dare. I opened up to him, and when I did, it felt like his tongue was stroking mine. He tasted like darkness and ice and most of all chocolate, smooth and rich. I knew that one of us should have ended this by now, as we were probably rounding the minute mark, but I knew that neither of us really wanted to. My hand went up to his hair, black and silky, and if possible, I pulled him closer.

Finally, we both seemed to remember that not only were the other two probably watching right now, that this was a dare between two friends, and we finally broke apart.

When we did, we found Jordan and Declan were staring at us from the floor, openmouthed and shocked. We slumped back against the couch and caught our breath, waiting for one of them to speak.

"What did I just watch?" Declan nearly yelled.

"If I had known that was going to happen, I would have brought popcorn."

"Well," Bennett said. "I'm not a coward."

Jordan grinned. "If I said you were, would you do that again?"

"No, Jordan. We're just friends doing what another friend dared them to do. That should have proved it."

"Yeah, because watching two of my best friends that have been previously accused of liking each other passionately make out on the couch just proves that they're friends."

"We did not make out."

"Yeah, you kind of totally did," Declan pointed out.

"I just did what you dared me to do!" Bennett cried.

"Prove it."

"How do you want me to prove it? Go up there and kiss you?"

They thought about this for a moment, and then Declan had an idea. "What if one of us kissed Naomi. Would you be jealous?"

"No," he answered immediately.

Jordan raised an eyebrow, and turned to Declan. "It's your turn, so I dare you to French kiss Naomi, then."

"You never asked me truth or dare."

"Fine. Truth or dare."

Bennett mimed a violent death at Declan from behind Jordan's back.

"Truth," Declan stutters.

"Why? Don't you want to find out?" Jordan asked, exasperated.

"Because Bennett is miming how he's going to violently murder me behind your back if I pick dare."

"Is he?"

Jordan spun around to look at Bennett. "Okay. I'm calling the game off." He turned to Declan. "Declan, go kiss Naomi. I challenge you."

Declan, looking tentatively at Bennett's fists, meandered over to me. "Let's just do this."

He sat down on the other side of me and slowly we leaned into each other. It was awkward, even more awkward then before because I could physically feel Bennett's presence beside me and his eyes trained on the back of my neck. We didn't French kiss, we just kind of kissed real quick, before Declan broke off and hopped up.

Bennett was in total cool-cucumber mode. He looked completely indifferent to the fact that I had just kissed his best friend.

"See. I told you I didn't care."

Jordan, however, was determined to find some drama. "Well, you seemed like you enjoyed Bennett's kiss more than you enjoyed Declan's kiss."

"Maybe I'm just the better kisser," Bennett pointed out. "That has nothing to do with Naomi liking me."

"I say that Naomi should be off-limits again, because that was just seriously weird," Declan advised.

"Okay, she's off-limits again," Jordan declared. He gave Bennett a sly look. "For everyone."

Bennett didn't reply, he just sat there brooding, his ice-blue eyes glinting with silent thoughts.

Yeah, I was off-limits.

But for how long?

-------------------------------------------------------

Well. That was fun.

I really liked comparing the guys to ice cream flavors. I didn't realize how like their flavors the guys were until I did it.

And I didn't realize how much I sucked at writing kiss scenes until I did that, either...