Chapter One
Angie sat in her old room with her closest high school friends laughing and giggling around her. They’d binged on junk food, watched a sappy chick flick, spent a good solid hour gossiping, and had just finished making a series of ridiculous prank calls. The odd thing about this behavior was it had been ten years since the last time they’d done any of this. Tonight had been their high school reunion , and as planned, they were to have one last sleepover.
“Hey, Angie?” Her now overly pregnant friend hushed the group to ask her question. “Do your parents have any ice cream?”
“Honey,” Beth spoke with the gentle authority of a PTA mom, “don’t you think you should slow down? When I had my twins, indigestion would soon follow…”
“Oh, no. I get enough of that from my overly helpful mother-in-law and I’m not even married to her son anymore…and this isn’t even his baby.” Casey raised her hands in the air to stop the group’s eruption of laughter. “So you guys are totally not allowed to give me any pregnancy advice.”
“Nothing to worry about from this corner.” Jenn placed an arm around Angie’s shoulder and squeezed. “We’re the single, available, and fabulous group over here.”
“Single and available yes, fabulous, not so much.” Angie smiled at her old friends and realized she was jealous of each one. They were happy and content with their lives.
Jenn had become the all-powerful business woman she’d always tried to be. Beth had gotten the rich lawyer husband, beautiful home, and kids. All the things she’d wanted in one neat package. Even Casey, with her out-of-wedlock pregnancy, seemed to be loving life with her latest biker boyfriend. Angie, on the other hand, had a call center job and lived in a rundown apartment…with a cat. Not to mention, boring brown eyes, not-a-curl-in-sight brown hair, and few extra pounds on her already heavy curves. Fabulous? Not a chance.
“So here’s the plan. I’ll sneak down and find Casey some ice cream,” Jenn said with authority. “And ya’ll open up the Truth or Dare box. I believe we stowed it away in Angie’s closet.”
Everyone groaned. The Truth or Dare box was something they’d made their senior year in high school. And, of course, Jenn would bring it up. She was probably the only one who actually wanted to play.
“Angie.” Beth went over to the closet and found the shoebox on the top shelf. “I thought I told you to burn this thing and bury the ashes in the backyard.”
“Never.” Casey took the box and dumped the cards onto the floor. “Remember the rules?”
Angie divided the handwritten index cards into two piles. “How could I forget? You know, I have nightmares over some of these cards.”
Jenn came back with a tub of chocolate chip ice cream and four spoons. “Let the game begin!”
They all sat in a circle and stared at the cards. “I’ll go.” Beth grabbed a truth card and read it aloud. “Where is the kinkiest place you’ve had sex?”
“Behind the bleachers,” Casey answered for her and nearly choked on a spoonful of ice cream at the same time.
“No.” Beth glared. “I told you, I only made out back there.”
Jenn rolled her eyes. “Okay, where is the kinkiest place you’ve had sex with your hubby?”
“Oh, in his office…no question.”
The giggles brought on laughter that was followed by tears. Prim and proper Beth admitting to sex on a desktop was the funniest thing they’d heard so far that night. Angie relaxed. It couldn’t possibly be worse than that. “I’ll go next.”
The others clapped their hands on their knees in an attempt to do a drum roll. “What’s it going to be?” Jenn nudged her toward the cards.
Beth and Casey chanted. “Dare, dare, dare.”
“Fine.” Angie tried not to appear nervous. “Dare.”
“Then this is for you.” Casey pulled a card out of her pocket.
“Hey, I want one from the deck.” Angie grabbed a card which said something about freezing her bra.
“I think everyone else here wants you to do this one.”
Angie looked around the circle and each of her friends nodded in agreement. “This is a setup.”
“Only the best kind.” Casey handed her the card. “Read it and we all dare you to do it.”
Angie ran her fingers through her long, brown hair and couldn’t think of any way out of the impending disaster. “I hate each and every one of you.”
“We know, we know,” laughed Jenn as she did that hurry up motion with her hand.
“Okay. We dare you to go over and tell Eric Fenton you had a crush on him in high school.”