Page 28 of The Beach House
Hunter scowled at Lee. “What the hell’s it got to do with you, huh? It’s no big deal. Everyone does it.”
Lee shook his head. “Wow,” he scoffed. “You’re actually an evenbiggeridiot than I had you pinned for.”
Hunter shot to his feet.
Lee was standing in a split second.
The two of them just stood there, glaring at each other.
“Hey—you don’t have to be a substitute Noah,” I muttered, but loud enough that Lee heard me, since the rest of our little circle was so hushed. “One is enough.”
I saw something flash across my best friend’s face. It was somewhere between amusement and wanting to roll his eyes at me. But he fought hard to keep on glaring at Hunter.
“Fine,” Hunter snapped, sitting back down. “You can do the forfeit.”
“I’ll do the forfeit,” I said.
“You guys have to make out, that’s the forfeit,” Jess said hastily, before Hunter had a chance to open his mouth.
“What?”I exclaimed, whipping my head round to look at Hunter. “You’re joking. Absolutely no way in hell that’s happening.”
“Not Hunter,” Jess clarified, grinning. “You and Lee.”
“What?”Lee and I both cried. I added, “Now I know you’re joking.”
“Nuh-uh.” Nathan shook his head, his smile growing a little. “Your forfeit is to kiss Lee.”
“Why am I involved in this?” Lee demanded.
“You were fine with getting involved a minute ago,” Hunter muttered at him.
“Yeah, but—” I started.
Lee said, “I have a girlfriend, though. I can’t—”
“And I have a boyfriend.”
“So what?” Kory shrugged. “Neither of them is here, right? And it’s just one harmless dare. Nobody even has to know.”
“Did he really just say that?” Lee asked nobody in particular.
“Did you have to?” I whined, turning to Jess. “Really?”
She arched an eyebrow at me. “Would you have preferred Hunter to give you a forfeit?”
“I guess not,” I mumbled back. “But—”
“You two look so close. I mean, seriously. Tell me. Have you ever even tried it?”
“No, because—”
“Well, now you’ll know. If it is true love, you can thank me later.” Then, loud enough that the others could hear her, she said, “Come on, you two, don’t chicken out on us. Suspense is building. Tension is high. All that jazz.”
I turned to look at Lee.
“Um,” he said.
“Um,” I replied.
