A smirk hooked up the corner of my mouth as I strode toward the table and plucked a beer out of a large bucket of ice Max had cast earlier. The white tablecloth was filthy from drinks that had been spilled all over it, but the rest of the place was still pretty well intact, twinkling Faelights strung all across the ceiling and beautiful ice and flower decorations everywhere. It was so pretty it made me wanna puke. In a good way though.
Orion grabbed a seat next to Darius, pulling Darcy onto his lap as Tory climbed over Darius to hug her sister, looking drunk as hell as she nuzzled her like a cat. She sure wasn’t huggy when she was sober. She’d throat punched me the last time I tried to snuggle her, but I wondered if now was a good time to try and get that snuggle…
“Well, what’s it to be, Capella?” Geraldine demanded and I sucked on my lower lip as I looked up at Caleb, taking a moment to sip some of my beer as I decided on the dare. Cal seemed happy to remain up there as Max flicked a finger and let the empty beer bottles plonk down onto the table behind him. My mind raced as I tried to come up with a dare that might help me figure out if Cal was into me or not. And my little drunk mind had just the idea.
“Alright, I dare everyone to sink a bottle of beer. The last one to finish has to kiss me.” I grinned widely, looking Caleb right in the eye as his lips parted for a second then he shrugged like it meant nothing. And maybe it did, but also, maybe it didn’t.
“Roxy isn’t playing,” Darius announced with a growl in the back of his Dragony throat.
“Or Darcy,” Orion chimed in and I looked over at them with a chuckle.
“You guys just want me all to yourselves, huh?” I taunted and Darius flipped me the finger while Orion gave me a hollow look, though I could tell the bourbon was having an effect on him now, his angry little eyes not quite as bloodthirsty as usual.
“Gerry can’t play either,” Max said, but Geraldine conjured a turnip in her hand and whacked him round the ear with it.
“Nonsense, Maxy boy!” she cried. “I will not be excused from a game of daring and wit. I shall beat this beast head on.”
Max shot me a look that said if I dared lay my mouth on her he’d cut my tongue out, but Geraldine Grus was definitely not my target in this game.
“Come on then,” Caleb said, jumping down from the table and landing in front of me with a sideways grin. He plucked a bottle of beer from the ice cooler and clinked it against mine, never breaking eye contact with me and my heart raced to a dangerous, hungry tune. “Game on.”
Max, Geraldine, Darius, Xavier and Orion grabbed fresh beers and I smiled around at them, my heart thumping harder as I wondered how this was gonna play out. If Cal secretly wanted me, surely he’d drink slow and lose the game, right? This had to work.
“Ready…set…go!” I cried and they all started drinking their beers as fast as they could.
Max kept side-eyeing Geraldine, drinking slower so he was always a bit behind her, and my jaw ground as I prayed I wasn’t gonna have to kiss him just so he could save Gerry from my edible lips. I mean, he was hot and I’d definitely get off on it a little, but his wasn’t the mouth I wanted to claim that kiss from.
Orion and Darius raced through their drinks in two seconds flat and Xavier seemed well on his way through his too as I let my eyes slide to Cal. He had at least half the bottle left and as his eyes met mine, my pulse drummed to a furious tune, hope filling me up and calling me lucky.
Geraldine finished hers with a gasp for air and Max followed her, leaving it down to Xavier and Caleb.
“Wow, how bad would it be if we had to kiss, right?” I said to Caleb, chuckling nervously. “So bad, right?”
“Done!” Xavier announced and my heart took off and flew to the moon, doing fifty cartwheels around it before crashing into a crater to make a home there.
It’s happening.
It’s on.
It’s going down to Tucana town.
Caleb finished his drink half a second later, lowering the bottle from his wet lips and our friends started laughing and cheering us on like this was one big, fat joke. But it secretly wasn’t a joke. It was what I’d wanted for so fucking long and now he was stepping closer to me with his eyes on my mouth and I couldn’t breathe as I stepped toward him too.
“Come on then, sweetheart. Gimme a kiss,” Caleb said cockily, fisting a hand in my shirt and drawing me so close to him that I could taste the beer on his lips already.
His smile was for the game, but his navy eyes were deadly serious and they were devouring me just like I was aching to devour him. Or at least, that’s what I wanted to believe. That there was a deeper reason for him finishing last and surely once we’d kissed, I’d know for certain. I’d be able to feel it without ever having to ask him. And he’d feel it too and then, and then-