Truth or Dare: A Sweet Romantic Comedy Collection by Laura Burton (i read a book TXT) 📕

“Uh-oh, still haven’t summoned the courage to kiss him yet?” Katia asks, sounding worried.

I grin and brush my tingling lips with my fingertips. “Oh, no that’s not been the problem.”

Katia gasps, then a loud whisper pricks up my ears. “What is it? What did she say?”

“Is that Michelle?” I ask. Even in a whisper, I can recognize that voice anywhere.

“Yeah, she’s here,” Katie says. Michelle demands to know more. So I take a deep breath and spill. I tell them everything. From the awkward teeth-knocker moment just before we went to bed to falling headfirst into the tub during our steamy kiss.

“And he knew the camera wasn’t set up, but he came over and kissed me again anyway,” I finish. Katia and Michelle hum in unison.

“Interesting,” Michelle says.

“Very interesting,” Katia adds. I roll my eyes, picking up the smile in their voices. It’s not like me to over-analyze every little thing. That’s Michelle’s quirk.

But with Cameron, I can’t help it. First, I think he’s just focused on getting the dare finished. I mean, he backed off after our first smooch in the hot tub. But then he came back.

Why?

This hot/cold behavior is making me dizzy.

“Well, Jonah said Cameron talks about you in his sleep, always has,” Michelle says. My breath hitches at the revelation. Jonah and Cameron were roommates in college and now share an apartment on the east side of the city.

“What does he say?” I ask, my curiosity piqued.

“Jonah isn’t the type of guy to offer specifics,” Michelle quips back. I look at the ceiling with a huff. It’s true. I’m amazed Michelle even got that sliver of information from Jonah.

Is it a surprise I’ve always been on Cameron’s mind? I guess not. We’re close. Maybe he just dreams about me doing something dumb like falling over or eating too many corn dogs at a baseball game?

Or, maybe he secretly feels the same way about me? Maybe he longs for us to be something more than the platonic thing we’ve got going on.

I snort at the thought. Well, there’s nothing platonic about kissing Cameron.

“What if this dare changes things between us and there’s no going back?” I worry aloud.

“That’s kinda the idea, right?” Michelle says, echoing my thoughts from last night. I look at the phone in my hand, chewing my lip. Recording a kiss is fun. I was 100% committed and focused on that part of the dare, but I'm only just coming around to the part about putting our kiss online.

“Girls, what happens after we upload the video to the internet?” My mind conjures up pictures of my folks hitting play, and the barrage of questions that will follow.

Are you dating Cameron? 

Are you two getting married?

Should we call his parents?

My folks like Cameron and they know his parents. But will that stop my dad from wanting to rip his throat out when he sees a video of him giving me mouth to mouth for the whole world to see? Unlikely.

“There will be consequences to this dare,” Michelle says, and my thoughts shatter like glass. “But the idea of these challenges is to push us all out of our comfort zone and become comfortable with being uncomfortable.”

“Wait. Are you counting on all of us choosing a dare?” Katia cuts in.

“Come on, nobody picks truth,” Michelle scoffs.

I smile at my phone, listening to my two besties bickering with each other.

“Then why bother even calling it truth or dare? Why not just give all of us challenges?”

“Because where’s the fun in that? Besides, remember all those summer nights playing truth or dare in high school? Now we’re all back from college, I thought it would be fun to recapture the good old days…”

“Honestly, I don’t think any of us want to relive those days.”

A soft knock on the door interrupts the call and I look up.

“Hey Holly, did you fall asleep? You’ve been in there for hours,” Cameron says, his voice muffled.

I end the call quickly, jump to my feet, and look around the darkened room, only just noticing that it's now night-time.

I throw the door open and Cameron is leaning against the doorframe with a smile on his face.

“Sorry,” I blurt. “I was on the phone.”

Cameron stands upright and crosses his arms across his broad chest. “Ah, is Michelle checking up on us?”

I can’t help smiling back. My stomach lets out a rumble. “Are you hungry?” I ask. Breakfast feels like days ago.

Cameron points at me with a grin.

“Way ahead of you, I ordered Chinese.”

The two of us sit on the couch with the TV on, eating our Chinese food.

“I didn’t realize I was starving,” I say, leaning back after I've devoured every last bit of my chow mein.

The spices warm my soul and I close my eyes.

“That’s what I love about you,” Cameron says, and my eyes fly open. I catch the look of mild horror on his face before he settles back into a casual smirk. It’s not the first time he’s told me he loves me. But now we’ve kissed, it takes on a much less platonic meaning.

“Go on…?” I press. He shuffles away from me and places his empty pot on the coffee table. “Well,” he says, wiping his mouth. “You’re not like a normal girl.”

I raise a brow at him, unimpressed by the vague sentiment.

“Girl?” I say, exchanging my empty Chinese box for a drink.

Just how long does it take for a girl to be recognized as a woman these days?

When she’s thirty-five?

Or maybe not until she’s picking up her first pension check?

Cameron smirks at me like I broadcasted my thoughts across the room. “You’ll always be that girl in drama class to me.”

And just like that, my irritation dissolves. I smile back.

We sit in silence, and Cameron doesn't elaborate on his point. But I don’t care. We sit goo-goo-eyed next to each other, totally at ease in each other’s company.

Then our phones vibrate in unison. We both reach for them on the coffee table.

“Ah, it’s from Michelle,” Cameron says. I gulp as I