Cessnock

Liam

The next hour or so passes relatively uneventfully. Alex pipes down a bit, Lola calls a halt to any games for now, and no dares have been mentioned. We've finished the three prescribed rounds in the pub at Kinning Park and made it to the next stop at Cessnock.

Chloe and I have also managed to coexist peacefully so far which is a record for us. Just need to remind myself not to mention Ferris Bueller, whatever I do.

I'm actually starting to think that Lola has forgotten about the dares but as soon as we have drinks in front of us in the next pub, she stands up and blows her blasted whistle to get our attention.

"Okay everyone, very important task for you all!" She announces self-importantly. "While we are in this pub, you can only pick up your drink with your left hand. If you forget, and we notice, you will have to do one of the dares from the bingo card . . . And we will choose which one."

That sounds very ominous.

I immediately focus all my attention on my glass, using my left hand to nudge it to the left of me. I am not doing any bloody dares. Call me a killjoy all you want, but I'm point blank refusing.

That being said, I'm not risking myself being put in that position so I'll be doing my best to obey instructions for now.

Chloe is sitting beside me again and I shoot her a glance. She meets my gaze, smirks, lifts up her right hand deliberately as if to show me . . . Then sits on it. I stifle a laugh.

That's my girl.

Well, she's not my girl but you know what I mean. I'm quietly impressed. I'm tempted to do the same thing myself.

She picks up her gin and tonic and takes a sip. I do the same with my drink - I decided Jack Daniels and Coke would be my choice of drink today, remembering from my experience of previous subcrawls that pints at every pub get a bit much after a while. I'm relieved it's a shorter drink too as I can finish it quicker and get this ridiculous left-handed task out of the way.

"This is shit," Chloe says to me in a low voice after a couple of minutes. "I just want to enjoy my drink and not worry about what fucking hand I'm holding the glass with." She winces. "And my right hand is starting to go numb." I can't help but laugh at this.

"Have you had to do this before?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "No, thank god! I just don't trust myself to not use the wrong hand unless I take it completely out of the equation."

Alex settles himself opposite us then and I feel myself tense up immediately. I had really hoped he wasn't going to show up today. But not only has he shown up, it feels like he's going out of his way to try to wind me up.

I hadn't been around him since the stag night which was when we'd ran into Kirsty, the girl I'd mentioned to Chloe earlier. Alex knew Kirsty from uni, and clearly was wanting to get into her knickers . . . But Kirsty for some reason had decided that she liked me. God knows why, it wasn't like I was flirting with her, and I hadn't even made an effort with my appearance as I was running late as usual.

But I guess the heart or whatever organ running the show on any given day wants what it wants, and I had no control over the fact she wanted me and not Alex.

However, he seems to have taken it very personally. I do definitely suspect that it's more to do with my previous relationship with his sister but he's tried to make me out as the villain in that more times than I can remember since we broke up years ago.

"So, Chloe," he says now, smiling at her. He's turning up the charm - although it's more like smarm - and I immediately see right through him like he's taken some sort of transparency potion. "How are you enjoying the subcrawl?"

Chloe takes another sip of her drink. "It's alright," she says softly. She looks unenthusiastic; whether that's about the subcrawl itself, Alex trying to chat her up, or both those factors, is unclear. I hope at least a bit of the lack of enthusiasm is aimed at Alex though.

I think back to any group activities or events where Alex and Chloe have both been present, and I can't even remember Alex ever even interacting with her before. Obviously the ex would always have been there but I'm pretty sure Alex's sudden interest is less to do with the fact Chloe is single now and more to do with the idea that he suspects I like her.

She's clearly feeling uncomfortable though as within a few minutes of his attention she's excusing herself to go to the bathroom. Actually, she blurts out "sorry, need to go before I piss myself," before blushing at her own words and rushing away. Alex smirks at me before standing up and walking to the other end of the table, proving once and for all he was using Chloe to get to me.

"You okay?" I ask her when she sits back down.

She frowns. "I'm not really comfortable with being flirted with," she says, her cheeks reddening again. "I think that's what he was doing anyway. I obviously don't have much experience of it." She rolls her eyes.

"He was," I confirm. Although I refuse to believe she's rarely flirted with. She's way too hot.

"It's weird though," she muses. "He's never been interested before. So after your little altercation earlier, it feels like he was actually trying to noise you up." Her nose wrinkles. "I just can't figure out why he would think flirting with me would make a difference though."

I stiffen. Looking away from her, almost feeling like I'm interrupting a conversation she's having with herself, voicing her thoughts out loud. Worried about how close she's veering towards the truth.

Her eyes snap up sharply all of a sudden and look at me, as if she's seeing me for the first time. There's confusion in the depths of her hazel gaze which slowly, unwillingly, seems to morph into understanding. "Oh," she whispers.

Shit.

"Yeah, I'm not sure either," I say quickly, but I know it's too late. I know I've been rumbled.

She knows I like her.

I take a cleansing gulp of the remainder of my drink, as does she. I don't think either of us know what to say next. It's awkward. So bloody awkward.

But it's about to get so much worse.

"Hey guys," Alex announces from his new chair, addressing the whole group but grinning evilly at me. "Looks like we've found our first two right handed losers."

Chloe and I look at our drinks then at each other in horror . In the chaos and confusion of the last minute or two, we both picked up our drinks in our right hands. We're both going to have to do a dare.

"Fuck," Chloe whispers under her breath.

Fuck indeed.

Uh-oh! But what will the dare be?

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