"Well, I guess it's time for you to go. Almost time for group study, right?" Ethan said in a sarcastic tone.

"No– uh," Oscar grinned, "I'll stay."

"Are you sure?" Ethan picked up another beer from the table next to them and handed it to Oscar.

"I'm sure," Oscar said eagerly.

"Good man, Oscar," Ethan said, giving him a hearty slap on the back.

That evening Oscar played beer pong, and video games with Ethan. Kim tried shrooms for the second time, and Serenity fooled around with her boyfriend the whole night. All was usual, it seemed. After many hours the house was almost empty. Only Oscar, Kim, Ethan, Serenity, Serenity's boyfriend Michael, and another one of their friends, Noah, remained.

They had all retired to an upstairs bedroom, that was being dimly lit by a small light fixture hanging from the ceiling.

Serenity was laying face down on the bed, mumbling to herself. Kim sitting beside her, looking up, was mesmerized by the ceiling fan. Michael and Ethan sitting on the floor, cracking jokes and horsin' around. Noah, sitting in the far corner on a grey bean bag chair, playing a game on the PS4, and Oscar, sitting in a swivel chair across the room.

Oscar sat back in his chair and folded his arms, watching the other boy.

He had never really spoken to Noah, but something about him intrigued Oscar. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about him, but Oscar nonetheless became enthralled. Maybe it was the booze, maybe it wasn't.

Noah paused for a moment, ruffling the front of his hair, before picking up where he left off. Oscar watched his hands as they gracefully held onto the controller. His fingers were long but strong looking, his fingernails pink and smooth.

Oscar's eyes wandered up his arm, to his slim forearm disappearing into the sleeve of his grey Baywood Robotics Team t-shirt, pushed up to his elbows. His nose was straight and aquiline, his lips, perfectly formed, parted slightly, his breath, Oscar imagined, moving in and out in steady streams of air.

Suddenly, Noah looked over and Oscar caught a flash of his dark blue eyes, framed by tangled golden locks, before turning his head back towards his game and effectively slaying a herd of zombies.

Abruptly, Serenity sat up. She turned around on the bed, and sat on her knees, facing the others. "We should do something," she squeaked. This caught the attention of Noah, who put down his controller, and looked over in her direction.

"Do what?" Kim asked.

"Hmm..." she thought. "You know what we should do?" she said eagerly.

"What?" said Michael, the buff dude who had been fondling her all night long.

Serenity reached down and picked up an empty bottle off of the floor, "Play spin the bottle, truth-or-dare edition!"

"Alright," everybody agreed and soon enough, they were all sitting in a circle with the bottle spinning in the middle. The bottle stopped and pointed at Kim.

"Okay Kim, truth or dare?" Ethan asked.

"Truth."

"Oh boy, this should be fun," Ethan quipped. "Here it is, if you had to sleep with a girl, who is not a celebrity, who would it be and why? Also, bonus points if you describe in detail what you're gonna do to that girl," he added.

"Really Ethan? Okay, wow," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, if I had to sleep with a girl, I guess I'd go with Serenity," she said, and looked over at a shocked Serenity.

"Omg, why?" Serenity asked.

"I don't know. You're the only girl I know well enough to do anything with, I guess."

"And do you wish to elaborate on what you would do to me?" Serenity joked. "Ahaha, you wish!" said Kim.

They all laughed. The room was silent for a few seconds. "Anyway. . .um, next?" Kim breathed out, and spun the bottle. It landed between Michael and Ethan.

This caused Serenity to insert herself in the situation pretty quickly. She hopped in Michael's lap and squealed, "Michael!"

"Okay," Michael said in his husky voice, "I chose truth."

"Okayyyyy," Serenity said, while wrapping her arms around his neck. "How many girlfriends have you had, and who was your favorite?"

The rest of the group let out a collective, "Ohhhhhhh."

"Well, let me think." Michael looked down at his fingers in Serenity's lap. He finally said, "About nine, I think."

"Nine!" Serenity exclaimed. "Now I really feel special," she said sarcastically.

"Hold on, you didn't let me finish," Michael interrupted. "You're the best girlfriend I've ever had," as he leaned down to kiss her.

"Alright, get a room," Ethan laughed, causing Serenity to throw a pillow at his head.

After a mushy makeout session, Serenity crawled off of Michael's lap, and over to the bottle to spin it. "My turn!" she said, and spun.

The bottle spun, round and round. Noah watched from the corner. Oscar sat back, slouched in his chair, not really anticipating where it would land.

The bottle stopped. It was pointing directly towards Oscar. He didn't think much of it at the time, and nonchalantly said, "Dare."

"Oh good!" Serenity said. She thought for a moment. The room was quiet. Kim began, "I have one-" "Wait, I have a good one!" Serenity interrupted. She paused, "Okay, Oscar. I dare you, to kiss Noah!" "On the lips!" she added.

Oscar's heart began to pound. His eyes widened. He sharply turned his neck towards Noah, who was already looking at him, with a solemn and somewhat confused expression on his face.

"Uhh...." Oscar began. "Pick something else?"

"No way! It's a dare, you have to do it!" Ethan encouraged. "Yeah!" Kim exclaimed.

He felt his anxiety welling up inside of him, ready to burst outwards.

Noah looked Oscar in the eyes, seeming to ask "Is that okay with you?" Oscar just stared at him.

Oscar began to say, "I mean...I uh....I don't think tha-" suddenly he was cut off. By Noah. Noah quickly got up and shot over to Oscar. He roughly clasped the sides of his face with both hands, and brought their lips together.

Oscar's heart was pounding and his stomach refused to sit still. He closed his eyes, and gently caressed Noah's forearm. He leaned in the smallest bit. Even Noah didn't notice. A burning welled up inside of him. Oscar hadn't been prepared for this. He couldn't do it.

He broke the kiss as quickly as it began and leaned back, staring awkwardly at the other boy in front of him.