Page 16 of Kiss and Tell
“What’s up with me and Natalie is that I love this girl,” Ben said, “and I thought she should hear it from me before you did.”
We erupted in cheers, and my heart squeezed at the look they exchanged, full of happiness and promise. I’d have to get the rest of the story from her tonight in our cabin.
“A Camp Oak Crest love match,” Merrilee called. “We’ve had a few marriages come out of here, you know.”
It was true. I could remember two different sets of counselors from when I was a kid who were married now. Maybe that was why I was skittish about camp romances. My mom had fallen in love at twenty and never let us forget that she should have waited.
“Whoa.” Natalie held her hand up in a “simmer down” gesture. “Getting ahead of yourselves there.”
But I studied her smile, and I wasn’t so sure. These two were gone on each other.
“Your turn, Sawyer,” Ben said.
The circle broke into a chant. “Dare, dare, dare, dare!”
I didn’t think Sawyer would go for it. He wasn’t the kind of guy who cared much about peer pressure, always keeping his own steady course. But he cracked a smile and said, “Fine. Dare.”
Maybe in stronger light, I would have noticed an evil gleam in Ben’s eye. Maybe I could have done something to derail him. But I was waiting for him to dare Sawyer to jump in the lake fully clothed or something, so I wasn’t at all prepared to hear him say, “I dare you to kiss Tabitha.”
My eyes flew to Natalie first. Did she have something to do with this? But her eyes were wide too. Then I looked at Sawyer. His expression hadn’t changed at all. Sometimes, if he was embarrassed, the tips of his ears went red, but in the firelight, I couldn’t tell if they were or not.
“You don’t have to do it,” he said, quietly. “Ben’s being…”
What? A jerk? That wasn’t usually Ben’s thing. But Sawyer didn’t finish the sentence. Instead, he cleared his throat, and I had a feeling he was about to tell Ben to shove it.
I didn’t know what came over me. Last night of camp magic? The same vibe that had caught me off guard when I’d seen him at the airport? Whatever it was, it took over now.
“It’s okay. I’ll do it,” I said before he could speak. Sawyer’s eyes widened as everyone hooted and whistled.
“Yesssh,” Brinley cheered, and I hoped someone had taken away her bottle.
“You sure?” Sawyer asked.
“Why not? It’s just a stupid game, right?”
“Right, yeah.”
I leaned toward him, but he jerked back. A couple of the guys said, “Oooh,” like he’d blocked my shot, but right as a wave of mortification crested to swallow me alive, he took my hand and pulled me to my feet.
“Not here.” He towed me in the direction of the woods.
“No fair,” someone called. “How will we know you went through with it?”
“You’ll have to trust us,” he called over his shoulder.
He stopped behind the dock house and turned to face me, still holding my hand. “You don’t have to do this. Ben was out of line.”
If I thought he was trying to get out of this, I would have turned around and headed right back to the fire. But instinct told me he didn’t want to get out of this. He just didn’t want me to feel trapped.
Something about him saying Ben was out of line, like…like Ben knew something I didn’t. Like Ben was trying to help Sawyer out because…
Why not do it? It was the last night of camp. It wasn’t like it could complicate the summer. It was a kiss—one that could satisfy my curiosity—not a relationship. We’d have a whole school year to forget about it.
I tangled my free hand in his hoodie strings. “I never back down from a dare.”
He hesitated for another full second before a soft curse escaped him, then he leaned down and his lips met mine.
They felt as good as they looked, but I was caught off guard by the spark. No, straight-up shocked. We taught campers to build fires using lots of tinder, highly flammable bits that would catch and burn quickly so they’d feel successful.
