"I don't know about truth or dare," I said quietly, hoping that we would not have to play the awful game.

"It's always so much fun," Carson exclaims, giving me a confused look as to why I don't want to be playing it.

"Yeah we had a bad experience with it a few years ago," Brice added, joining into the conversation. "But any other year, we have all had fun with it."

I notice that Carson tenses up next to me, probably remembering that night when he was crying in my arms. "We haven't played it since that incident though," I pointed out.

"Look," Brice says, putting his hands out in front of him. "We all agree not to do anything like that again. No skinny dipping, no stripping, an nothing that will cause tension between any of us."

"Then maybe you should quit drinking if you don't any tension between any of us," Carson mumbles, and then looks up at Brice.

I look between both of the brothers, and if looks could kill, Brice would have killed Carson on the spot. The dead, cold, hard expression was written across Brice's face, and I had realized that there was going to be even more tension than there was before.

A long moment of silence passed as they both stared at each other, neither one of them daring to look away first. I was wondering how much longer this was going to last until my mom came out onto the porch to join us.

"Doesn't this food just look amazing!" my mom exclaimed as she took a seat next to Brice. Carson cleared his throat and then leaned back into his chair and looked down at the food on his plate.

"It looks really good," I answered, realizing that neither one of the guys were going to answer. My mom gave me a questioning look about the silence from the boys, but I looked down at my phone and texted Carson.

Lauren: meet me in my room at 10

I sent the text and heard Carson's phone vibrate, and he just stuffed his phone into his pocket without responding back. Usually when Carson gets frustrated, he needs to vent out with someone, and that someone is usually me.

The door to the house opens once again, and this time April comes walking out with her plate of food and a rolling cooler trailing behind her. She stops the cooler at the head of the table and sets her plate down in front of the open seat next to me.

"What do you troublemakers want to drink?" April asks us, as she rummages through the cooler.

"Do you have any mud sodas?" I asked, praying that she would have her famous drink. She gives me a nod of her head and takes out a big pitcher full of the soda, and three tall glasses.

"You two want some too, don't you?" she asked her two sons, and they both nodded their heads in agreement.

Mud soda is a combination of milk, root beer, and ice cream. It might sound really disgusting, but it is the most wonderful tasting drink I have ever had in my mouth before. April makes the texture perfect, so when I come down here for the summer, I drink at least three a day.

April starts pouring until all three of the glasses are full, and then gives one to each of us. Then she pulls out a tall dark blue glass, full of alcohol for my mom and her.

"Can I have some of that instead?" Carson asked, as he took a sip from his mud soda.

"You try every year," my mom said shaking her head, but there was a smile across her face.

"It's worth a try," Carson replied, shrugging his shoulders. I know the only reason he asks every year is because it makes my mom smile, and to Carson, making someone smile means the world to him.

"Alright, so dig in everyone!" April exclaims, and within seconds we are all stuffing the wonderful food into our mouths.

"Mm," we all hummed in unison as we relished in the taste of April's wonderful cooking. Her cooking was something that I looked forward to having every single summer. It was never good for my weight, but it sure tasted like heaven.
______________
"Alright Laur, truth or dare?" Carson asked, resting his chin on his palms. We were both lying in his room, and we're just hanging out.

"Carson..." I groaned, throwing my head in my hands. I was hoping that we would not have to end up playing this game.

"Just do truth then," he told me, his eyebrows furrowing.

"No, because you are just going to ask some embarrassing question," I told him, shaking my head.

"Well you have to make it interesting, I can't just ask you what your favorite color is," he tells me as he throws his body onto the bed so that he is looking up at the ceiling.

I groaned, and was hoping that Carson would drop the stupid subject of the game and we could get back to talking. Brice was somewhere outside, walking along the beach that was rested in front of the house. He never was a big part of just hanging out and talking, like Carson and I do a lot.

Stuffing my face  into the carpet as I laid down on the ground, I breathed in deeply. The aroma of the salt water kicked in and I closed my eyes to relish the sweet smell. Something about the smell of the beach was soothing for me and it brought back so many good memories for me, mainly involving the boys. 

"Lauren..." Carson moaned, as I heard him shaking the bed as he moved to the ground to lay next to me on the soft carpet. "I won't do anything like I did that one night, I promise."

"I know," I reassured him. "I just don't want to play right now."

"Then what do you want to do?" he asked me, letting out a frustrated groan. 

"I don't know," I answered him, my face still stuffed into the carpet. His arm was brushing against mine as he laid down on the ground next to me. "Why don't you tell me about what happened this school year?"

"Well, my team won the state championship this year," he told me. Carson was a really talented soccer player. I knew for a fact that one day he was going to be a professional, just like the ones you see on TV. He was so good that a lot of colleges were giving him scholarships, and he was only a junior in high school. 

"I was also chosen for prom king this year," he also adds on.

"Oh really?" I asked surprised, even though I really wasn't. I lifted my face up from the carpet to look at him. "Who was your queen?"

His face turns into a tint of pink and he clears his throat, and starts scratching the back of his neck. It was a common Caroson move when he got nervous. "Well, you remember Lacey?"

My jaw tightened, and I looked at him with my eyes narrowed. "How could I forget?"

"Haha, I thought you did..." he comments nervously.