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It’s what happens when you mix bourbon and boredom.
At first, Fox was a bit stiff about it and refused to do any of the dares I challenged him with, and believe me, I gave him a hard time about it, but he wouldn’t agree to do anything but take shots. After several losses and a little more liquid courage, he eventually loosened up. To my surprise, he’d accepted my dance-off competition. It was the first silly thing that he agreed to and I knew the fun was about to begin. I set the playlist on my phone to shuffle and we began breaking out our best moves. We were equally uncoordinated, but we had heart. The only rule was that you had to dance the whole time until the song was done, no matter what. I ended up losing because I was laughing so hard at his attempts to do the worm on the floor that I doubled over to hold my stomach. Fox called me out immediately.
The next dare involved Fox braving the rain and wind to gather a trash bin full of ice from the machine outside. He was all too pleased to dump the freezing mixture of ice and water over my head as I stood, partially clothed, in the shower screaming my lungs out.
Fox had lost the last war battle, so I challenged him to go outside again, but this time he had to be naked and run from one end of the walkway to the other while belting out “Singing in the Rain.” He accepted without hesitation and reached behind him, tugging his T-shirt off at the collar, he unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them down along with his boxer briefs. I had to bite my bottom lip in order to keep my composure and not start drooling over the perfection of his toned chest, defined abs, and that delectable V thing. Before I could get a good look below the waist he covered himself up with both hands and confidently strode up to the door.
“I’m ready,” he stated quickly, so I opened the heavy metal door. Fox walked past me and did a quick scan of the area. The rain was pouring pretty hard, the trees bending and the wind howling something fierce. Honestly, I started to have doubts about letting him go out there.
“Fox, what if a piece of flying debris or something comes up and smacks you in the face?”
“Then I’d better hurry up.” He winked, letting me know that he had no plans of backing out. After he’d stepped outside of the room and onto the walkway he turned to warn me. “You better not shut and lock this door. You hear me?” I grinned up at him and shrugged.
“I don’t know, the wind is kind of strong. I’ll do my best to keep it open.” I chuckled because I had been thinking about doing exactly what he was telling me not to.
“Harley,” he growled, but I could see doubt in his eyes.
“Okay, I won’t.” I agreed with fake reluctance and laughed. My cheeks felt warm from the alcohol and the fact that I couldn’t stop smiling at him.
“If you do, you will pay!” he yelled before he sprinted to one end of the walkway singing the same two lines of the song over and over. At one point he attempted something that resembled skipping until his foot slipped on the wet concrete. He quickly righted himself, all while keeping both hands over his privates. I couldn’t control my laughter as I leaned against the door, holding my stomach. When he completed his dare, he was also laughing uncontrollably and breathless. He stepped back into the room and quickly put his jeans back on.
“That was by far the worst dare, Harley. Much worse than anything I had you do.”
“Don’t get mad because I am more creative than you,” I teased.
“How about more deviant?” he replied, raising one eyebrow and smirking at me.
“Well, you may be right,” I plopped onto the bed and took a swig of the bourbon right from the bottle.
“Let me have some of that,” Fox said as he reached for the bottle and lifted it to his mouth. I watched his throat work as he swallowed. Then his half-lidded gaze focused on me. “What’s your story?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you traveling all alone with only a cross-body bag packed full of your stuff?”
“How do you know it’s called a cross-body bag?” I twisted my mouth at him as I tried not to laugh.
“I have a sister and a mother who love shit like that, so I have no choice but to know.” He half chuckled, and his cheeks flushed. Embarrassing him had become so much fun. It was like blood in the water to a shark like me. It was time to find just how far I could push Mr. All American. To his credit, Fox was good at sparring with me, and he gave as good as he got, so I felt it was time to kick things up a notch.
“Hmm,” I eyed him suspiciously. “Are you gay, Foxy?” His eyes widened as he began to cough and sputter the bourbon he was drinking.
“What?” he wheezed.
“I mean it’s okay if you are. No judgment here but it would make a lot of sense.”
“Why would it make sense?”
“For one, you’re too handsome. Almost pretty.” I ticked off each thing with my fingers. “You know all about handbags and when you drank from that bottle just now, your pinky finger stuck out.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” He coughed as he tried to swallow again. “I did not stick my pinky finger out.” He stared down at the way he held the bottle before he put the cap back on and tossed it at me as if it burned his hands.
“Okay, never mind.” I shrugged, holding back my grin because honestly, I didn’t think he was gay, but I was enjoying his reaction.
“I have been called a lot of things, but this is a first!” He half laughed again, but his tone was filled with indignation. “No, I am not gay, and Christ, I can’t believe we are even having this discussion.” He stared at me with a look that said what the hell is wrong with you? Then he paced back to the window.
“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised is all I’m saying.” I continued to poke at him as I shrugged noncommittally. I knew he was completely put off by my remarks and was trying to decide what to say or do. He kept his back toward me for several minutes and when he didn’t return with a snappy comeback, I actually started to feel bad. Which was odd for me. In order to feel bad, you had to care what other’s thought. There wasn’t anyone left in my life I cared that much about. Not anymore.
Maybe the bourbon was creating these mushy feelings in me, and I made a mental note never to drink it again.
