RECAP:

after the teasing died down, it initially set in that the teenagers were finally alone. they could do anything they wanted; but instead, they chose to gather around in the living room, thinking back on the day. sophia and jaeden squeezed into the armchair, chosen, finn, and wyatt took the couch, and jeremy and jack opted to lay on the floor, surfing through the channels on the tv as they listened to the others talking.

"i think we should play a game," jaeden spoke up. "or do something to pass the time."

a grin suddenly formed on sophia's face. she looked at the boys, a sort of twinkle in her eye.

"never have i ever."

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

a silence fell over the room, and jack opened his mouth to quickly say something, but stopped himself. never have i ever? weren't they too old for that? or, even, considering what the topics may be, too young?

"i'm not sure." finn spoke up, almost voicing jack's concerns. "we've never played that before."

the group had played truth or dare plenty of times, so it was somewhat odd they had never played never have i ever. but, sophia seemed excited to play, and so did jeremy and jaeden. it was something new.

everyone agreed to play, to which sophia squealed with joy. she told the others how she had played it with a couple teens and her twin brother at a house party a couple weeks back, and it was nothing too scary. just a couple of lighthearted questions to get to know each other better, or in the the losers' clubs instance, break the ice.

"as long as it don't get too intense." jack chuckled, joining the others forming a circle in the middle of the living room. it was jack next to sophia, sophia next to finn, finn next to chosen, chosen next to wyatt, wyatt next to jeremy, and jeremy next to jaeden.

"all right," sophia started. "everyone know how to play?"

surprisingly, everyone nodded yes, except for jaeden. jack laughed at the boy and nudged his side. "poor lieberbitch," he remarked. "so excited, yet can't even play with the big kids."

"it's martell." jaeden stuck his tongue out, causing everyone else to laugh. it was almost like a routine at this point, jaeden correcting jack on his last name. jack quite obviously knew about the last name change, but he couldn't help but tease one of his best friends anyways.

"basically, jae, everyone in the group starts off holding five fingers, and someone in the group will state off something they've never done before. if someone else in the group has done it, they have to put their finger down. the person who gets all their fingers down first wins, i guess, or maybe loses for being an idiot and doing a lot of shit. whatever. we'll do a sample round, but do you think you got it?"

jaeden nodded at finn, thanking him for his brief explanation. and with that, the seven were ready to start.

they decided on sophia being the first to go, since she came up with the game. she gladly took the position, and held all five of her fingers up proudly, eyeing up the others and trying to think of a good starter.

"never have i ever gotten high." sophia smiled, shrugging. it was true; the redhead had never gotten high, nor drunk. she hated the idea that she might somehow feel out of control, or out of touch with reality. she wasn't planning on drinking or smoking at any point in her life.

the group stayed silent for a moment, almost as if they were too scared to move. then, someone spoke up.

"jack, put your damn finger down." wyatt said, to which jack rolled his eyes, putting his thumb down. "thanks for targeting me." jack scoffed. "finn, you can put your finger down too. remember the lake adventure?"

finn gave jack a look, to which the brunette simply gave him a sheepish grin and watched as finn put his finger down. sophia raised an eyebrow at them, almost wanting to interrogate their so called, 'lake adventure," but decided against it, and watched as jeremy put a finger down.

"jeremy!" sophia grinned, shaking her head. "i never expected that from you!"

jeremy simply shrugged and smiled nervously, looking around at the others to see if anyone else would put their fingers down. none of them did, so they continued playing.

as the night progressed, the game became more enjoyable. some questions were easy and fun, but others were a little more personal, and somewhat odd. nobody minded it though. they were all catching up on what they had missed throughout the past two years without being in each other's lives, and they loved being able to find out more.

by the time it was nearly eleven-thirty at night, jack and finn had one finger left, with sophia and wyatt trailing close behind, jaeden and jeremy with a whopping three fingers left, and chosen with all five.

the group had all decided on one more round, then they would call it a night and settle down by watching a movie and going to sleep. it was chosen's turn, and he looked at the others for a moment, before deciding on a question.

"never have i ever kissed my best friend."

jack felt his heart speed up at those words, and his tongue seemingly go dry. was this a stroke? or was this what a heart attack felt like? jack looked at jaeden, jeremy, wyatt, chosen, (with their fingers not budging,) and then finally finn.

finn's worried expression matched jack's, and the younger boy could practically see the wheels turning in finn's head. should they lie about it? should they forget the game and change the subject? should they just admit it? maybe they could say they had kissed other best friends of theirs, not each other. but jack wasn't sure that would work either. everyone knew finn was his best friend, and jack was his.

without allowing himself to think it through anymore, jack, whose cheeks had turned a bright crimson colour, looked finn in the eyes and put his last finger down, (his pinky to be exact,) to which finn did the same.

the teens stayed quiet for a moment; jack could feel their stares. but he couldn't take the silence anymore, and quickly jumped up, interrupting the moment.

"okay! that was fun, but finn and i won!" jack cheered, smiling slightly as sophia hopped up with him, the others joining. he knew they knew. they had to know now; jack dylan grazer, had kissed his boy best friend. more than once, in fact. and, he had liked it.

but that was besides the point.

"we should order room service!" chosen spoke up, and the others agreed rather quickly. chosen, wyatt and jaeden were already dressed for bed, so they decided to look through the menu and order the food themselves. jaeden ordered everyone to get ready for bed, and come out with blankets and pillows to the living room. they could pig out and watch movies for the night before they fell asleep.

jeremy and sophia went into their separate rooms to get changed, and finn and jack quietly shuffled to their room. but as soon as jack shut the door behind him, finn quickly started talking.

"that was too close, jack."

"i know."

"they know now."

"i know."

"stop saying that!"

"i don't know what else to say!"

jack was still against the door, back to, and with every word, finn just kept walking closer to him. he had a certain look on his face. not a good one, but instead one that made jack's heart almost ache. he didn't know why finn wanted to keep them kissing such a secret. he understood what would happen if they fans found out (they would go wild, they already were crazy enough without the kissing rumours confirmed) but was it really so bad for their own friends to know? sophia already knew; jack had told her when it had first happened and he was trying to figure out if he was indeed still straight. sophia had helped him that night. even if jack still wasn't certain what his sexuality was yet, he at least knew he wasn't just into girls, but also into boys, and he was okay with figuring that out as time went on.

"we can't do that anymore." finn said finally, looking down at jack's feet, then up to his eyes again. "it's too risky."

"sophia knows, finn." jack blurted out. "she's known since we kissed the first time."

finn looked at the boy before nodding slowly, taking in the information he was just told. it definitely explained why sophia loved the boys being together so much (taking pictures, smiling at them when they were even doing dumb things together) and why jack and sophia were so close. she was probably his own personal therapist.

"jack, you know i love you. you're my best friend," jack's heart broke a little more every time finn described him with the word best friend, "but i need you to be careful. this can't get out, even if it's just to them. understand?"

jack nodded, almost wanting to ignore finn's words and kiss him instead. what would he think of that, jack thought to himself, almost being able to picture the look of shock that would flash across finn's face.

but jack loved and respected finn too much to completely disregard his wishes. the two boys stepped away from each other, and got ready for bed. jack forced himself to face the other way as they got dressed, and as he went to leave, he quickly turned around to look at finn, resting his hand on the doorknob. finn was shirtless, his shirt in his hand, and just boxers on.

"you can't act like we never happened." jack whispered, finally twisting the doorknob, getting out of the room and closing the door behind him. he joined his friends as they all conversed, set up their sleeping positions, picked a movie, and waited for their food.

but for the rest of the night, even when finn was comfortably settled in next to jack on the floor, he couldn't help but feel that guilty feeling nagging at him, deep in his stomach.

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

☆゜*・:+* 。 *゜☆

hi!!! how surprising, i'm updating twice in the same week, haha. i currently don't have wifi, so i can't even respond to or read comments.:( i'm using my friends hotspot right now to even post this. but, hopefully i get my wifi back soon and then i can check messages! anyways, this may be a bit of a messy chapter since i'm pretty sleepy, and not really thinking straight right now, haha. thanks for reading, and lots of love.

- courtney