Page 44 of My Favorite Bad Decision
“Never have I ever given a blow job,” says Maddie.
Everyone drinks, indicating theyhavegiven a blow job, aside from Miller.
“What?” Maddie gasps at her brother.
He shrugs. “I’m open to experimenting.”
“Never have I ever cheated on someone,” I say.
Once again, Miller is the only one who doesn’t drink, and I’m a little surprised by that—not that I necessarily thought he was a cheater, but I guess that the speed with which he dumped Maren always led me to believe that he thought women were expendable once upon a time.
“Never have I ever received or given anal sex,” says Leah, keeping it classy as always. She then drinks and all of the rest of us drink as well. When my flask lowers, Miller is watching me, and he appears unhappy with my answer, which is ridiculous. He drank too.
“Never have I ever dumped someone by text,” I say, annoyed that he was judging me.
Miller frowns at me and drinks. Everyone else drinks as well, so I guess that it wasn’t quite as unusual and terrible as I’d thought it was at the time.
“Never have I ever been with two people at once,” says Maddie.
Leah drinks. Alex drinks and then, with a shrug, Miller drinks, and a fiery pulse of irritation flares in my chest, though I have no idea why.
“Never have I ever wanted somebody that I was not supposed to want,” Miller says, his gaze holding mine.
I hesitate. I amnotgoing to drink. But there’s a challenge in his eyes, daring me to tell the truth for once. And the truth is that I have never, in my entire life, wanted someone quite this much. That just his gaze on me now is enough to make my every muscle tighten, to send a rush of heat between my legs. He could make me come in two seconds flat if I let him try tonight. He wouldn’t even have to remove the base layer. He could probably just roll on top of me and kiss my neck and I’d go off like a nuclear explosion.
I pick up my flask and take a sip. He picks up his, too, and drinks, holding my eye the entire time.
The game ends relatively quickly because we run out of things everyone has done, aside from Leah, who’s apparently done everything and everyone, and wants to add Miller to that list, judging by the way she kept eye-fucking him during the game.
“Hey, thanks for helping Gerald,” she says as we walk to the bathroom. It’s a weird thing to bring up, several days after the fact.
I shrug. “I didn’t do much.”
“We aren’t really a couple,” she says. “He offered to pay for the trip if I came with him. It was just kind of, you know, a trade.”
I am tempted to point out that this is essentially prostitution, but I don’t care enough to bother.
“Well, now you get the trip and a tent to yourself without putting up with him,” I reply.
“Yeah,” she says, looking at the ground and scuffing her foot. “That’s sort of why I stopped you. I just thought that since you and Miller are always bickering and it seemed like you guys were a little pissed at each other tonight, we could switch? I don’t mind sharing a tent with him if that works better for you.”
Holy shit. This girl’s “boyfriend” just got carried down the side of a mountain, and she’s already looking to fuck someone else. If I were a better person, I wouldn’t fault her for it, but I am not a better person and therefore, I do. “We’re good,” I reply somewhat coolly. “Thanks anyway.”
It comes out sounding an awful lot like “Nice try.”
She gives me a small, tight smile. “Well, maybe I should check with him.”
“Knock yourself out,” I snap, walking into the bathroom. It’s just an expression obviously, but I am literally hoping she somehow gets knocked out before she gets a chance to ask. Because she’s a pretty girl and he’s apparently somewhat single...so why wouldn’t he go for it?
I return to the tent, pull off everything but my base layer, and slide into the sleeping bag. This time tomorrow I’ll have a shower and a soft bed and cell service. I’d thought those things would matter more than they do.
“Is it safe to come in?” Miller asks from outside.
“Suddenly, you care about that,” I reply acidly.
He unzips the tent, and I brace myself to watch him packing up his gear, explaining the situation. Instead, he removes his boots and his pants and then his jacket until he is stripped down to his base layer. And then he removes his shirt entirely.
Damn.
