Page 4 of Pick Me Up On Tuesdays

I finally landed a shot, and Max grinned like he'd been waiting for this moment. The floating parchment shimmered, revealing my fate.

DARE: KISS ETHAN.

Joy choked on her drink. Shun covered her mouth, eyes wide with glee. Someone whistled.

I, meanwhile, considered throwing myself off the balcony.

Ethan—golden-boy demon, insufferable flirt, and my mortal nemesis, the one person I despised more than this party combined.

I glared at him a smirk already forming on his stupidly perfect face.

Chapter 2: Clark’s Descent into Madness (ft Vodka and a Demon Chauffeur)

The tension in the air thickened as Ethan's grin spread, as if he knew the universe had just handed him the perfect opportunity to torture a nerd. I almost heard the music in the background sway toward inevitable disaster.

I blinked, and in that split second, I realized my palms were already sweaty, and my stomach twisting. Every fiber in my being yelled at me to refuse—to walk away and pretend I wasn't here—but Joy was already laughing, the green in her eyes sparkling mischievously.

"You know," she said, heavy with sarcasm, "this is the kind of dare that makes all the awkward moments worth it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I muttered, but I didn't move.

Ethan stepped forward, hands sliding casually into the pockets of his leather jacket. He looked so at ease, so damn sure of himself, and I hated it. There was amusement in his ocean-blue eyes, but underneath that, something else—something challenging. He thrived off this, off the way the room was waiting for me to react.

"Don't worry, Clark," he said smoothly, his voice low. "I'll make it quick. Wouldn't want you to suffer more than you have to."

"Trust me, you're not doing me any favors," I shot back.

But he wasn't listening. He was already too close, barely a foot between us. The air shifted, and suddenly, the whole room felt smaller, the space between us buzzing with something I refused to name. For one long second, I swore time itself held its breath.

Then he leaned in.

Nope. Nope. Absolutely not. ABORT MISSION.

I jerked back so fast I nearly knocked over the table. "Nope!"

Silence.

Painful, suffocating silence.

Joy froze, mid-sip of her drink, eyes wide. Shun's eyebrows shot up so high they almost left her face. Max looked personally offended.

Ethan blinked, tilting his head. "No?"

"No!" I repeated, probably too loudly. "Not doing it. Pick another dare. Or better yet, let's just forget this ever happened and scrub it from existence."

Joy choked on her laughter. "Clark, are you serious right now?"

"Dead serious. More serious than I've ever been in my whole life."

Max groaned. "Dude, every chick in this school would die to have this dare, and you're declining?"

"Yes, because I have something called self-respect," I snapped, crossing my arms despite my face being on fire.

Ethan just exhaled, slow and dramatic, like he was dealing with a particularly difficult child. "Wow. And here I was, ready to be generous."

"Generous?" I scoffed. "What, like charity?"

His smirk deepened. "I mean… if the shoe fits."

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