Double Dare

by Murray Peterson

  “It’s me!” Alex exclaimed. The light beer had clearly gone straight to his head. Yes, light beer. He drank light beer, not even mid-strength, but light beer!

  “How does this work? Do I kiss Kelly or does she kiss me?” Alex asked. Jim’s eyes never left Helena, a tiny smirk curling the side of his mouth.

  “I think you kiss each other,” Jim offered. He didn’t seem upset about his girlfriend kissing another guy. So, what was that look from before about? Helena wished she could just press pause on Kelly and Alex and ask him. Kelly took off her Eagles hat and lent across the wine bottle. Alex went red and smiled apologetically at Helena. A laugh nearly escaped Helena’s throat, but she suppressed it with all her willpower. His eager expression was like that of a six-year-old who had just learnt entered a petting zoo. His eyes widened as he looked at Kelly then began to lean towards her. Helena prepared for jealousy, disappointment, even anger, but as Alex slowly pressed his lips somewhat awkwardly to Kelly’s, Helena felt nothing. She watched on in amazement as the two kissed for a couple more seconds and was amazed at her lack of concern. They could’ve kissed all night for all she cared. But why did her stomach feel so tight and her chest burn so uncomfortably? It must’ve been those damned noodles.

  Alex finally withdrew and looked down sheepishly. Kelly sat back looking smug. “Now what?” Alex asked.

  “You spin it. Just don’t land on me,” Jim told him. Alex nodded, again missing Jim’s humour. Alex looked between Helena and Kelly, his eyes bright with excitement. “Here we go!” The queasy feeling in Helena’s stomach lurched each time the bottle spun in front of her. Don’t land on me, don’t land on me. As though fated, the bottle stopped spinning right at her feet. Alex was already eagerly leaning in. Helena didn’t have time to think, to brace herself before he pushed his lips onto hers. This wasn’t how she’d envisioned their first kiss. In a room with others watching him, he was upon her before she could take a breath. She tried to pull her head back but couldn’t escape. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. He wasn’t how he was supposed to be. A wave of paralysis overcame Helena. She couldn’t move.

  “Easy there, tiger,” Jim said and placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder. Alex pulled back laughing and exclaiming, “Wow!”

  Helena took a moment, resisting the urge to wipe her face to get whatever remnants of Alex remained on her lips, and then forced a smile on her face. The sick feeling in her stomach doubled as she grabbed the bottle and spun it hard. She snuck a hand to her mouth and lightly wiped away the feeling of Alex and hoped no one noticed. She didn’t want it to land on Alex again, but the alternative seemed so much worse. She couldn’t kiss Jim, she just couldn’t.

  The bottle continued its journey, around and around the room it spun until finally it came to rest, pointing at the impossible possibility. There it lay pointing to the one person she could never kiss, never think of that way, never allow herself to feel anything for. It was pointing to her best friend, the one person she could never treat like a boyfriend because he meant so much more to her and if she kissed him, she knew the world would end and nothing would ever, ever be the same again.

  It was pointing at Jim.

  Chapter 9

  It was inevitable that eventually the bottle would find its way to him. The full enormity of the situation hit him like a semitrailer as he saw its final rotation slowing, the neck pointing directly at him. Jim looked at his oldest and dearest friend and saw the uncertainty and shock in her expression. Normally so bold, Hels had taken a few hits this evening and he could see she wasn’t sure how to proceed from here.

  He had seen how she had flinched when Alex had moved towards her. His clumsy attempt at kissing had turned her into a deer in headlights. Without thinking, Jim had gotten involved, stopping the man before anything regrettable happened. He definitely didn’t want their kiss to be like that.

  He stared down at the prostrate bottle. Could he do this? Could he kiss Hels? She was a girl; he was a boy. It wasn’t like it would mean anything? Except, it did mean something. She meant something and he couldn’t pretend otherwise.

  “You okay?” he asked Hels.

  She nodded. He decided there was no way he was going to rush in like Alex, but the longer he waited, the crazier the situation would become.

  “Come on you two, we don’t have all day,” Kelly said.

  Jim held in a breath as he shuffled himself closer to the middle of the circle and instinctively held out his hand. Hels blinked hard before reaching out and taking his. Their fingers entwining slowly.

  She was shaking. A warm tingle ran up Jim’s arm as he softly gripped her hand. They had held hands before, many times. He wanted to offer her that safety, that connection. Her breathing was sharp. Jim sent her a secret wink to try to reassure her. She smiled self-consciously, slowly moving towards him too.

  “Just kiss!” yelled Kelly.

  *****

  Whack!

  “You’re it!” Hels yelled.

  “Na-ah! You didn’t kiss me.” Even at nine years of age, Jim knew the rules. You got kissed with the lips or it didn’t count. That was the whole point of the game, wasn’t it?

  “I kissed my hand then I got you,” she argued.

  “That’s not how you play, it has to be with your mouth.”

  “What if I can’t reach your lips?”

  “We can play something else?” he offered. This was getting very complicated.

  Hels thought for a moment, “No, it’s okay, I’ve got a plan. You’ve got ten seconds.” She began her light speed count then gave chase. She found him at the clothes line which they both orbited at a terrific speed until she managed to ankle tap him. Jim slammed head first onto the grass, the air knocked out of his lungs. Without delay Hels turned him over and jumped on top of him. Her long curls tickled the sides of his face making him giddy. They stared at each other for a long moment, both panting furiously.

  “Ready?” she whispered.

  He could only nod.

  “Oi! What are you two doing?”

  *****

  They were laying on a picnic rug under the stars, their shoulders touching. Hels was talking, “Dad says I should go to uni, but I just can’t do it Jim. I’m not that smart and I’ll be stuck reading books for four more years. What do you think?”

  Their teenage eyes met, Jim felt a surge of desire so strong he completely lost his train of thought. Instead of answering, he smiled awkwardly at her.

  “Jim, are you even listening to me?”

  He nodded, “I was just thinking.”

  “That can be dangerous.”

  He ignored her sarcasm, “What do you want, Hels, I mean really want?”

  She shrugged her shoulders and stared into his eyes again. “I don’t know, what do you want?”

  The desire burned throughout his seventeen-year-old body. Could he kiss her? Would she hit him? It was too risky. He sat up unable to quell his inner conflict.

  “I don’t know what I want,” Jim lied.

  *****

  “One more drink, come on Jim,” Hels slurred. The bar smoke was thick, the haze only added to his feelings of inebriation.

  “I think you’ve had enough,” he answered.

  “Bullshit. But I haven’t had my fun time!” She exclaimed. He laughed putting an arm around her as she threatened to slouch off the bar stool. “I think you’re just jealous,” she reasoned. “You don’t want me to… Wait, why is the room moving?”

  “Could we have two waters?” Jim called across the bar. The barman gave Hels a look and nodded.

  “Water!? Now listen Jim, what are we going to do about me getting my freak on?” she was most concerned. The barman put the waters on the bar and gave Jim a look of sympathy.

  “What would you like to do?” he gave her a water.

  “Yuck!” she screwed up her face as she drank. “I would like to get it on now.”

  “What?”

  “Help me Jim, I need to get my freak on.” She put a
hand up to his face in a surprisingly gentle and intimate gesture. He furrowed his brow. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? And was he sober enough to know better than to follow through with it?

  He encircled her into his arms. “Are you sure, Hels?” he whispered, close enough that his lips brushed against her cheek. She nodded, then as is often the way with fate, she snuggled into his shoulder and fell asleep. He carried her to the taxi, then to his bed where he left her and never spoke of their conversation again.

  *****

  Hels sat across from him, their hands touching gently as hundreds upon hundreds of memories simultaneously played across his mind. There were the times he had wanted to kiss her, had dare hope she felt the same for him and the times where they had almost kissed. The vivid memories threatened to overwhelm him, but Jim stayed in control. He looked into her ocean eyes then instinctively reached up to her, his fingers stroking her soft cheek. He took a tiny breath, their hands tightened as they leant in, then his mind exploded into a million voices all of them telling him he was kissing Hels, he was kissing Hels. And he liked it.

  Jim noticed her lips were soft upon his, but then they were firm and they moved in a regular rhythm that he knew they were born to. His free hand cradled the side of her face, her head tilted and he felt their tongues brush one another’s. A desire, so strong, then swept over him and Jim’s body straightened and tensed as though ready to attack.

  Luckily, or unluckily, Kelly threw a glass of water over his head. He pulled back and everyone laughed, even Hels whose cheeks were now ruby red.

  “Jim!” Kelly shrieked in her hawk like teacher voice.

  “Sorry,” he apologised though his eyes held no remorse. Hels shook her head slowly as though in shock.

  “What was that?” Kelly demanded.

  “Sorry,” he said again.

  Hels had a wry smile on her face as she suggested, “Maybe we should have just played Pictionary.”

  The evening went downhill quickly from there. Everyone went very quiet, except for Kelly, who was bringing up Jim and Hels’ kiss every five seconds. Alex, annoyingly, was trying to get the game restarted. Jim, himself, was somewhere between pure elation and blinding fear that he had done something terrible. He just couldn’t work out what to feel, so somehow, he felt both. They played cards and after gambling away their matchsticks, Kelly yawned and said she had to get an early start. He doubted it was true but for once couldn’t wait for her to leave. Alex took longer to go, only taking the hint when Hels offered to walk him to his car. Jim didn’t like the idea, but there was little he could do. He busied himself tidying up the mess they had made. It was fair to say he wasn’t a fan of Alex and found the guy to be a bit of a dick, but Hels was a big girl, she could take care of herself.

  *****

  “Did you have a good night?” Helena asked Alex not knowing what else to say.

  “Yeah, though that Jim guy is a bit weird.”

  Helena laughed, but Alex’s serious expression told her he wasn’t joking. “Oh yeah, I’ve been saying that for years now.” She knew Alex wouldn’t detect her sarcasm. Was he for real? There were people who were straight laced, but he was something else altogether. He was straight-laced, straight-shoed, straight-socked, straight-panted all the way up to be straight hatted. She didn’t know when it had happened, but she had come to realise that though he might appear to have all the right qualities in a man, he was strong, intelligent, mature; Alex was in fact a boring man-child. A part of her knew that is exactly what Jim would have thought of him too, but she would never give him the satisfaction of telling him he was right.

  “So, I was thinking about that spin the bottle game,” Alex said as they got to his car.

  “Yeah, it was a bit of a disaster.” She knew where this might lead and wanted to head it off as quickly as she could.

  “Did it upset you when I kissed Kelly?”

  “No, honestly, it was fine. All part of the game. So… I might see you up on site?”

  Alex ignored her, “Are you sure you two never-”

  “No! Never! Look, I’d better go and help clean up,” Helena took a step away.

  “But I was hoping, you know, that we could try it again. You know, before I go.”

  God, he was so obvious. Helena felt an internal shiver as she looked for the words to reject Alex plainly and kindly. She knew any subtlety would be lost on him.

  “Sorry Alex, it’s been a long day, I better go help Jim.”

  Alex’s face screwed up, the street light offered him few favours. “Oh, I see. You two have to clean up together?”

  She wasn’t sure what shocked her more, Alex’s insinuation that she was sleeping with Jim or his use of a metaphor.

  “I’m going to go now. You’ve obviously had too much… light beer.” She turned to go and heard Alex clearly say the word, “Slut.” Helena refused to trade insults and walked back up to the house. She heard his car door slam. The car started up and drove away. She let out a deep breath.

  So much for Mr Nice Guy.

  *****

  Jim busied himself as Hels walked back inside. She went straight to her room and shut the door. Jim thought about going after her but thought it would be better to give her space.

  He gave the spot on the rug where he had kissed Hels a disbelieving look before turning off the light. His shower was brief, but long enough to sort out his thoughts. He and Hels were friends, and while that kiss was good, better in fact than he had ever imagined, it didn’t mean anything. They were best friends. It was just a kiss. It probably meant nothing to her.

  By the end of the shower, Jim had managed to convince himself that the kiss had meant nothing to everybody and everything would be just as it had been before.

  With only a towel wrapped around his waist, he flicked on his bedroom light.

  “Shit, sorry Hels.”

  There she lay, snuggled under his doona. A bare leg lay temptingly across the bed. Her eyes opened slowly, “It’s okay, I wasn’t asleep. I don’t mind.”

  “Of course not,” he said grabbing his boxers from the drawer. “It is my bed after all.” Jim stood awkwardly, suddenly aware of his semi-nudity, then realised he would look silly just standing there gawking at her so he retreated to the doorway.

  “Did you have a good night?” he asked feebly.

  She looked at him with one eye half-closed, “What do you think?”

  “Just trying to be conversational.”

  She threw a pillow over her head dramatically. “It was a disaster, everything was bad, so bad,” she growled into it.

  “Everything?”

  “Everything. I dressed up for the crappiest dinner party in history. Then just when you think you can’t get any worse, we played stupid games with stupid people and stupid things happened. And then that stupid bastard…” she didn’t finish.

  “What did he do?” Jim tried to keep the concern out of his voice.

  “Nothing. He’s just a bit of an angry drunk.”

  “But he only had light beer.”

  “I know,” Hels said in pure exasperation.

  “You sure know how to pick them,” he teased.

  “Jim!” she growled and threw a pillow at him. “It was supposed to be a normal night and then it became all kissy-kissy.”

  “It wasn’t my idea,” he flung the pillow back.

  “You didn’t have to play,” she accused.

  “No, I should’ve just let you and Alex pash all night. You would have loved that.” Her eyes widened momentarily and he saw the hurt in them but refused to back down. “So, it’s all my fault then? I made Kelly start the game, I made Alex be a giant tool and I made us kiss, you’re right it was all me.”

  His mocking tone didn’t impress Hels. Her eyes hardened, the vulnerability evaporating from the heat of the argument, “So, you’re completely innocent? Mr I-take-forever-to-kiss-you-and-when-I-do-I-get-carried-away.”

  Jim felt fear well up inside of him. Had he kissed
her badly? Had she not liked it? Was he just as creepy as Alex? “Hey! I’m a good kisser,” Jim surprised himself as his ego asserted itself.

  Hels raised her eyebrows, “Wow, someone has got tickets on himself.”

  “What do you want me to say, Hels?”

  “Nothing, nothing. It’s all done now.”

  They looked at each other, she semi-naked on the bed, him standing with arms crossed over his bare chest. Neither knew what to say.

  “I give up,” Jim said finally. He switched the light off, but before he could walk out and close the door behind him Hels called, “Jim!”

  “Yeah?”

  “I lied.”

  “What?”

  “I lied, when we were kids. I never liked Kyle. I’d forgotten, but tonight I remembered. I lied.”

  He stood in the doorway, unsure how to respond. His mind was racing. Jim remembered how disappointed he had been when he believed she liked his older brother and not him. He had believed she would never like him, not like how he had liked her. Why would she lie about liking Kyle?

  And then Jim laughed, as in an instant, something that he’d thought was fundamentally true about his life—that Helena would never like him in any other way than as a friend—was blown apart. Suddenly, the world held millions of new possibilities. “Well you know the rules; if you lie, it becomes…”

  “A double dare,” she laughed, “I was hoping you’d forget that.” Jim stood motionless, wrapped in a towel thinking what possible dare he could come up with right at that moment. There were some extremely appealing options, but he refused to let himself get carried away. Tonight had taken a few unexpected turns and he needed time to recalibrate before he made a new mistake, or two. “Night, Hels.”