Falling (12 page)

“Boz only makes magic brownies,” James whispers.

Dana’s brows come together. “Magic brownies? What on earth is that supposed to mean?”

Rory laughs then, and Dana’s attention is suddenly on him. She’s staring at his nearly bald head, but not really at him. She holds out her hand as she steps closer and rubs her palm on the spikey hairs.

“Dana you are so stoned.” Rory shakes his head and steps around her.

“I’m not…” And then I see the light go on. “Right. Magic brownies.”

Boz walks past us into the living room. “I got more where those came from.”

I suddenly feel a little bad. I’m not sure if Dana does this kind of thing. I stand too close, and instead of stiffening up and leaning away, she leans her body into my side and rests her chin on my shoulder.

“Wanna say something?” she asks.

My mind is blank right now. Wait. “I should have warned you about the brownies. It’s a tradition of his.”

“I’m totally cool with it.” She wraps her arms around my neck from the side, and I’m wondering how to step away without being a jackass. I definitely don’t need my brothers seeing us close.

“Of course you’re okay with it…
now
.” I run my hand down her arm before stepping away.

“I’m hungry.” Dana spins and heads for the kitchen.

“A beer or two to go with my joint, brother?” Josh calls from the living room.

“No problem!” I call back and follow Dana.

She’s poured five bowls of fruit loops.

“What the hell are you doing?” I’d be mad if it wasn’t so damn funny to watch her transfixed.

“Look at the colors, Jase. They’re all moving together.”

She gets to the bottom of the bag and shakes it a few times, spraying multi-colored crumbs all over the counter.

“Oh-kay.” I put a bowl in each hand. “Why don’t you go see if everyone wants some, huh?”

She wanders slowly around the counter and around the tables to the living room. I watch her go, knowing I’ll definitely need to keep my distance tonight because…just, for a million reasons. Something tells me that if I were to lean in for a kiss tonight, I might get one. The reality of what that could mean settles into my gut.

“Light?” Boz holds out a joint as I flop on the couch next to James and across the room from Dana, who’s sprawled on the large sofa alone.

James glances at Dana, and then at me, and wags his brows a few times. I’m now glad Dana’s so stoned because with any luck, she’ll miss all the innuendos that are going to be flying around tonight.

“Warnings, Truths, Dares, and Secrets.” Boz looks around at the group. Josh and James clap.

“What’s going on?” Dana’s eyes are on me.

“A game we used to play as kids.” I shake my head. “That we’re
way too old to be
playing
.”

Dana ignores me and looks at Boz. “So what do we do?”

“No way,” I say. “We are not doing that.”

“I wanna.” Dana pouts.

And already, I know I’m going to lose this battle. I’m so screwed.

DANA

Warnings, Truths, Dares, and Secrets.

“Awesome.” Boz laughs. “Dana can be first.”

“See? I’m even going to volunteer to be first.” I have no idea what I’m going to be doing, but these guys are fun, and this night is fun, and I decide that I like being stoned.  I sit up tall with my legs crossed in front of me on the couch.

“So, Dana.” Boz slumps, a joint in his hand. “You get to pick but we go around the circle four times so you’ll eventually have to do everything.”

“Okay.” I nod. I sit up even taller and try to be serious like Boz, but I’m hungry. I grab a fistful of Fruitloops and put them in my mouth. Boz passes his joint over to James or Josh, I’m not sure which. It doesn’t matter. They’re interchangeable because they’re brothers and their names all start with J. I laugh again.

“You pick—Warnings, Truth, Dare, or Secret.”

“I have no idea what that means. Let’s just start at the top and work our way down. What do I do?” I stare at him intently, hoping he knows I’m serious. I really want to play.

Jason looks at me. “You give us a warning. Basically telling us to never do something stupid that you’ve done.” He sounds more resigned than excited, which makes me extra curious about all of his turns.

“Oh.” I think really hard and then it comes to me. This is perfect for a room full of guys. “Warning!” I yell as I put both my hands in the air and they laugh a little. Jason takes another drag off the joint and passes it on. “If you ever go in for a Brazilian wax, drink a bottle of tequila first, or, one of Boz’s brownies might also do the job because…
wow
.” I emphasize the last word slowly. Boz, Rory, and Jason all cringe.

“What’s a Brazilian wax?” Josh asks.

“They wax you, you know, down there, and they take it
all
off,” Rory says and raises his eyebrows a few times.

“Whoa,” Josh says. His eyes look me up and down once. “Do you always do that?”

I laugh. “It’s not my turn anymore!”

Things get hazy when it’s not my turn.

“Dare,” Jason says. I look up.

“Oh, do some of that Capoeira you’re so good at.” Rory points at him.

“The what?” I ask.

“It’s like that Fox guy in Ocean’s Twelve? Jason can do that,” he says.

“The dancing thing?” I really want to see this.

“I’m too high to do that right now.” Jason laughs. “And I’m way out of practice.”

“Give it your best shot.” Rory nods. It’s final.

Jason stands up and before I really understand what’s happening, he’s on his hands and then his legs are off to the side, but he’s still balanced on his hands and then he’s up and moving in these crazy incredible ways. My mouth drops open.

“Okay, Dana!” Boz waves his hand in front of my face. “Your turn.”

I’m still staring at Jason’s very limber, very strong body. Wow.

“Oh.” I look back toward Boz. I wonder how long I was starting at…whatever I was just staring at.

“Truth.”

“Okay.” I nod seriously.

“Why do
you
get to pick what we ask her?” Jason asks.

“Because I made the brownies that made her so willing.” Boz looks over his shoulder at Jason.
Obviously
. They’re so funny. I start laughing again.

“Have you ever, ever had your heart broken?”

I’m nodding before I realize I’m doing it. My eyes get wide. “It sucked.”

“Told ya.” Boz looks over at Jason. Hmm. They’re talking about me behind my back.

“One time, I was a freshman in college. His name was Clive. He was a friend of my brother’s. My brother set us up, but we weren’t allowed to tell anyone. I liked him all through high school. We used to fool around when my brother had a group over. We weren’t allowed to tell anyone.” I whisper the last part out. Wait, did I say that twice? I’m not sure. “He came from this great family. He was the first guy I ever…
you know
.” I remember him so well. “I really thought he was it, and he knew I wasn’t it before we even started.” I’d given him everything, been whatever he wanted me to be. I sit there in a daze for a while. Even the brownies don’t take away the memory of the rawness. ‘Truth’ starts around the room.

“No. I don’t want her back. Not anymore.” It’s Jason’s voice.

“Oh! Never!” One of the other boy’s answers. The room is smoky and I’m starving and having a really hard time concentrating.

“Daaaanaaaaaa…” Boz says my name real slow while he stares at me.

“What?”

“Time for your dare.”

“Oh.”

“I think she should take off her shirt.” Rory says.

Jason slaps him on the back of the head.

“Ow, man!” Rory reaches out behind him

“Dana.” Boz looks at me carefully. “Pick out the handsomest man in the room and kiss him.”

This is so easy.  Jason is totally the best looking guy here, especially without his beard. Wow. Our eyes meet for a moment. This is what everyone expects. I laugh because I have a way better idea. I slide off the couch and crawl on my hands and knees to Boz.

I take myself by surprise then. Boz is sitting against the back of the couch with his legs stretched out on the floor. I sit on his lap and straddle him. His belly is significant. I’ve never kissed anyone this fat before. I try not to laugh, lean forward, and curl my fingers through his hair. I kiss him. His beard is really in the way. I push my body against his and really kiss him. His beard is all scratchy and feels crazy
.
I think about all the stories about food and stuff getting stuck in beards, and I can’t take it anymore. I fall off of Boz’s lap sideways onto the floor laughing.

“Beards are out for me.” I don’t move for a moment and then I roll over and crawl back to my place on the couch. Everyone’s staring. Boz folds his arms across his chest and looks smug. The game fuzzes again. Josh crams two full handfuls of Fruitloops into his mouth and then spews them all over the floor. I’m not sure what the other guys do.

“Secret time.”

“What?” I ask, eyes blinking. It can’t already be my turn again, can it?

“Secret time,” Boz answers.

“But isn’t that like truth?” I’m completely confused.

“Haven’t you been paying attention?”

“No.” I laugh. “Not at all.” I shake my head. I feel good, relaxed. They laugh a little with me.

“You tell a secret about someone else in the room,” Boz explains.

“Oh, I have one about Jason.” I stare at Jason, and let myself look at his dark eyes for a moment or two.

“Really.” Jason folds his arms and lets his head rest off to the side—sure signs he doesn’t believe me.

“Jason is a writer and he wrote a book that is so good I stayed up almost all night for two nights to finish it.” I’m very pleased that I have a secret to share.

“How…?” Jason is staring at me. His brothers are staring at
him
.

“Someone called so you left the room, and I really wanted to know what you were so intent on with all that typing away. I downloaded your writing file. I love your book.” I flatten my hands over my chest.

“You downloaded stuff from my computer?” Jason’s jaw clenches.

“It’s before we were getting along. Back when you were mad at me because I was having sex with Craig.” It’s so damn funny. Jason’s expression. Sex with Craig. The espionage I performed right underneath his nose. Is espionage the right word? I don’t care. It makes me sound cool. I wanna be cool.
Essspionage…

A few of the guys choke a little and look back at me. Maybe the Craig thing shouldn’t have come out. “Please don’t say anything to anyone.” I look around. “I feel really bad, you know, about Craig. But Jason’s book is awesome.” I point at each one of them.

“I don’t even know what to say.” Jason’s mouth is open in shock. He probably doesn’t know what to
think
right now.

I catch Jason’s very warm, brown eyes.  Again. “I’m sorry. Jason, but you have to know how good it is.”

He stares.

“I didn’t know you were writing,” Boz says.

“Cass knew.” Jason looks down. “It’s my happy distraction. The thing that keeps me sane up here all winter. Cass didn’t like it.”

“How could she not like it?” I’ve never met her, and I really don’t like her. Who in their right mind would leave a guy like
Jason
?

He shrugs. I get up from my spot on the couch and walk over to him. I don’t know why, it just seems like the thing to do. This is the kind of rescuing that I can do. I slide next to him on the couch, half on his lap, and put my arms around him.

“I’m sorry for stealing that file from your computer, but I’m glad I did. Don’t stop writing, Jason.” I smash my face into his chest. The room is hazy and spinning. He’s so warm.

He pats me on the back a few times and then leans away, waiting for me to go back to my place. Normally, I would hate being dismissed like that, but tonight I don’t even care. I walk carefully back to the couch, flop down, and realize I’m exhausted. I try to keep my eyes open while the guys talk, but don’t last for long.