Cessnock

Chloe

This is all Liam McCall's fault.

I had everything under control. I was going to complete the task with no issues, was totally on course to do it, then that bloody prick Alex flummoxed me with his fake flirting . . . And then Liam threw me off balance further when I realised precisely why the fake flirting was happening.

For some reason, whether true or not, Alex thinks Liam fancies me.

And judging by Liam's reaction, it seems it is in fact accurate.

Stupid fucking Liam and his rubbish pretty eyes with his apparently ridiculous unrequited crush on me has just landed us both with a one way ticket to Dare Central. I honestly feel like I could puke right now.

"Woohoo!!!!" Lola breaks what was maybe a tense silence of about 2 seconds but it felt like far longer to me. I'm starting to feel hot and sweaty. "Are you two ready for a dare?"

"No," both myself and Liam say at the same time. Lola laughs delightedly. In her world, Lola-land, she can't understand why people wouldn't embrace challenges like this with the gusto she does. Lola however does not seem to have a self conscious bone in her body. She's not just the heroine in her own story, she's the main character in everyone else's too.

She leaps to her feet and skips around to me, diving into my "goody" bag and retrieving my bingo card before I can even stop her. "Let's see," she murmurs, eyes tracing the different dares. I can practically see the cogs spinning in her brain. "I think that Chloe should . . . Kiss a stranger."

That's it. I think I'm about to die. Can you expire from being terrified at the very idea of carrying out a dare? I might be the first victim of such a death. I take no pleasure in that.

"Lola . . ." Becky starts, looking worried. But Lola doesn't let her continue.

"Come on Chloe, it's about time you got back on the horse, this would be a great start."

Not a great figure of speech to use - Lola however is unlikely to know that I actually fell off a horse when I was younger. And  I most certainly did not climb back on it. The memory sparked by her words does not dilute my panic.

"There's not exactly a lot of eligible strangers in here for Chloe to kiss," Claire points out; I think she senses my panic too. "Maybe she should wait until another pub for someone a bit less . . . Old, drunk and ugly?" She flashes me a smile, like she's found me my solution.

It's full of good intentions but the dread of having to get the dare done at all would just hang over me.

I want to say no, but I can't find the words. I'm terrified of being the party pooper, especially as I failed this particular challenge due to my own stupidity.

Becky looks around the pub. "There's not one stranger here I'll allow Chloe to kiss," she announces. Becky to the rescue.

I might - might -  just get away with this.

"Well, how about she kisses Liam?" Oh look, my new favourite person Alex has piped up again. "I know he's not a stranger, but I'm sure we can all agree he's strange."

He smiles again at both of us. The smile is pure unadulterated evil. Alex would be the villain in everyone else's show. Not the one you feel sorry for, the one you would cheer for joy when he was eventually dropped from a great height and squished.

That's how strongly I feel about Alex right now.

Lola brightens further. "That could work! Kill two birds with one stone and all that."

I wait for Liam to object. He was very adamant he wouldn't be taking part in any of the dares so I doubt he'll agree to this.

Even though he fancies you, a little voice in my brain says. I shush the words as I haven't had time to come to terms with that particular realisation yet.

"Okay."

I was not expecting Liam to say that. My eyes must be shooting laser beams of rage at him right now. So much for protecting each other.

Before anyone can say anything else, he puts up a hand in warning. "We'll do it. On one condition."

"What?" Lola asks eagerly.

"If me and Chloe kiss right now, neither of us need to do any more dares," he says firmly. Lola is clearly about to protest but he shakes his head. "No. We do this and we're allowed to chuck our bingo cards away."

Okay, this would be kind of genius if it wasn't for the fact I still need to kiss him. But . . . A minute of discomfort in order to avoid the possibility of any dares for the rest of the day? I suppose I can manage that.

Liam hasn't looked in my direction once since this particular little drama started unfolding. "So what do you say?" He prompts Lola. "Deal?"

"Sounds like a good compromise to me." Becky is actually smiling as she interjects. Traitor.

Lola nods, albeit reluctantly. "Alright," she replies. "But," she adds. "In order to make it worth our while, you need to kiss for at least a minute. You're not getting away with a quick peck, not on my watch."

Luckily I had assumed that would be the case. Lola, chaos creator, would never settle for anything less than a full-on snog. She's already finding the timer on her phone. I'm actually surprised she's not manually counting it down.

My mouth suddenly feels ridiculously dry as I consider the practicalities of the actual kiss now. I haven't kissed anyone since Michael, and hadn't locked lips with many folk before him. I'm hopelessly out of practice at kissing.

I have watched a lot of romcoms recently though so hopefully that might stand me in good stead?

"I feel like you should probably both stand up for this," our puppet-master Lola decides, pulling me to my feet and indicating towards Liam that he should do the same. He does so, reluctantly.

We're finally looking at each other again. He's tall, but so am I, so I don't have to tilt my face up much to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry," he mouths at me, his face serious. My gaze drifts towards his lips, noting that they're full and soft looking. Actually very appealing. I just really hope he's not one of those slobbery kissers.

"And . . . Go!" Lola shouts as if she's starting a race at the Olympic Games.

Our eyes clash again briefly, a look passing between us that says "let's just get this over with". I'm not sure whether he leans in first or I do but in the space of a second or two, our lips meet and my hand slides around to the back of his neck, pulling him closer.

My intention was to try and keep the kiss as chaste as possible but as soon as our mouths touch it's like something crumbles within me. Lola and Alex want a show, I think to myself, let's give them one. I raise myself higher so I'm on my toes and bring my other hand up to his scruffy cheek, cupping it firmly as I slide my tongue into his mouth.

He moans lightly as I do this and suddenly I find myself forgetting what my original goal was. Because this is too good. His lips are as soft as I thought, his tongue is effortlessly tangling with mine, his hands are burning against my hips. This is actually really, really . . .

"Hoy, lovebirds!" Lola hollers, breaking the spell, ruining the kiss. "The timer went off ten seconds ago."

We pull apart and I drop back down onto my chair. I feel . . . stunned. I wasn't expecting that at all. Wasn't expecting to feel anything like that. I glance quickly around the table, not meeting anyone's eyes. Everyone, bar Alex of course, is grinning.

"So we can consider our dare debt paid up, I assume?" Liam asks Lola. I'm deliberately not looking at him but I just know he'll have that pierced eyebrow raised in a challenge.

"Oh yes," she sighs. "That was everything we could ever have dreamed of." The girl is lit up like a Christmas tree, love hearts bursting out of her big blue eyes.

You'd think it was her who'd been on the receiving end of that kiss.

As things start to settle back down, I finally chance a glance at my kissing partner. Liam looks as confused as I feel right now. He's running a hand through his hair again and chewing on his lower lip (stop looking at his lips, Chloe!). Suddenly he's looking right at me and I feel my breath catch in my throat. I'm inexplicably nervous.

"Are you okay?" he says quietly, finally, after a moment of weirdly intense eye contact that I find I can't look away from. "I'm really sorry I pretty much took over and agreed to do the dare without asking you if it was okay . . . It just seemed the best way to get out of doing any others."

"That's alright," I manage, my voice coming out slightly weak. "It . . . It worked so that's the important thing. It's taken the pressure off the day a bit now so I guess I can only thank you for that."

He smiles and I'm sure I can see at least one dimple forming under all that stubble. "Glad I could do my bit." His voice is even softer than usual. He pushes his chair back and stands again. "Let me get you a celebratory drink. Gin and tonic, right?"

"Yeah. Thanks," I reply faintly.

At least I might be able to enjoy this one - especially as I can use whatever bloody hand I want to drink it with.

What did you think of the kiss???

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