Page 57 of Game Night: Truth or Dare

“Hey…”

He paused, cocking his head toward me.

“I don’t suppose a big, butch army guy like you has concealer.”

“Has what now?”

“Concealer? Like…makeup? For your... To cover the…” I tapped my own neck in the same place his hickey rested.

“Heh. I guess I don’t.”

“I could lend you some.” I swallowed, then blurted out, “I have some in my makeup kit. My stage makeup kit. You know…for plays.” Painted nails were one thing, but even if I was trying to let go of my stereotypes, I didn’t want him thinking I went out with a full face of cosmetics. I mean…hardly ever.

“Is that cheating?” He touched the hickey gently. I noticed how jagged his nails were, like he bit them. “I earned this fair and square.”

“The dare was for me to give you one. Not for you to walk around with it.”

He nodded, considering, then finally said, “Sure. But you’ll have to show me how to put it on. I’m new to this…this decadent world.”

“Yeah. Duh. Of course. Happy to.”

“Great.”

“Maybe tomorrow? So you don’t have to flash it all weekend?”

“Sure. Sounds good.”

“Cool.” I pulled out my phone and unlocked it, then held it toward him. “Give me your number?”

He smiled, and when he took the phone our fingers brushed, and it felt like maybe he meant them to. “Can do,” he said, and started typing. “But you know I live in your dorm, right?”

“You do?”

“Carney Hall.”

“No way!”

“Second floor.”

“I thought you lived off campus. Being…”

“Being that I’m old?” He grinned and passed the phone back. There it was…ten little digits, and above them the words Ben Quinn. Who’d have guessed this when the night began?

“I was going to say ‘mature.’ Doesn’t life in the hall drive you crazy?”

He shrugged. “I always wanted to go to college. Now that I finally am, I thought I’d get the full experience. And I have a single, so it’s not that bad.”

“Oh, man. I guess not. I’d kill for a single.”

A big, bright smile broke across his face. “It’s pretty great. In the army, I lived in this little dorm unit with four beds when I was stateside, and in a barracks when I was overseas. When school’s not in session, I stay with my grandparents. This is the first time…mature as I am…that I’ve really been able to stretch out.”

“So no one will think it’s weird if I show up with my makeup kit?” I teased.

“No one will even know,” he said, and there was something playful in his voice, too. “Unless we tell them.”

“Your secret’s safe with me.”

And then he kissed me. Or maybe I kissed him. I don’t know who moved first. What I do know is that I no longer hated him. Not hating him made it easier to appreciate just how expressive his eyes were, and how young he looked when he smiled. Now, when I noticed the muscles under his clothes, they didn’t seem bulky or too much. I could admit that I liked how they moved, and how they stretched the fabric a little.

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