No more truth. It's dare time.

"Dare," you say immediately, because you're not sure you want to offer him an opening to further pursue this line of conversation, and he makes a face.

"Whatever happened to us getting to know each other better?" Scott wants to know, which makes you laugh.

"Yeah, well, ever heard the saying, actions speak louder than words?" you tease. "Plus I basically just did a whole big truthy truth for free."

There's a short silence while you both sip your drinks and while Scott considers what to dare you. He glances up at you a couple times, as if debating himself internally about something, which is actually making you extremely curious, before saying, "Okay, Bridge. I dare you... to go skinny dipping with me tonight after it gets dark."

You raise your cup and take another drink to cover your surprise. As well as... your unexpected, intense, genuine interest in that prospect.

"You're just fucking with me because you think I made up that dumb freshman crush thing and you want to see how far I'll commit to the bit," you say, doing your best to sound level even though your heart is pounding furiously now. "It wasn't a bit, and it's in the past, and I'm not that stupid."

"I'm not fucking with you," he says, holding your gaze in a way that makes you halfway feel like you're already stripped down in front of him. And... uh. Oh. Well. You kinda like how that feels.

"Well, what about Dex?" you say, making a lame, extremely token, effort toward being the kind of friend your oldest childhood companion actually deserves. "That's hardly fair to him. We can't just leave him out of stuff. Besides, he'll sort of notice if we just randomly disappear tonight."

"Would he?" Scott says, glancing toward the sliding door and looking a bit downcast. "Yeah, you're not wrong," he agrees, with a sort of troubled expression. "We shouldn't. I know." He glances up at you, then down at his drink. "Though..." he says hesitantly after a long pause, "Anymore I kinda feel like he's the one leaving himself out. I see how hard you're trying to keep the band together in spite of whatever he's going through. But that must get... exhausting sometimes. You're allowed to not do all the heavy lifting yourself. And to spend time with people who aren't him and not feel guilty about that."

You consider this while you study Scott, who has been your close friend as well as Dex's, practically since the very start of high school, even though he was popular and neither of you were. He's down to earth for somebody so gifted in the departments of looks, sports, and likeability. He's never pissy. He takes things in stride. His charisma is effortless. And he's extremely good-looking.

And... well, it's been on your mind lately how one of your most important goals for the last year of high school, which you never really got a snowball's chance at because of the whole underage-drinking fiasco, was: lose your virginity to somebody fun whose company you like reasonably well. You really wanted to get a little experience before going to college. It never occurred to you the answer to that dilemma might be right in front of you all along.

Because skinny dipping sure sounds like a flirty maybe-invitation for fooling around. Maybe even sex.

It's not fair, you know that, for two of you to mess around without the other knowing. But all the same... you feel yourself flush with warmth because now that it's in your mind, you can't seem to stop wondering what it would feel like to kiss Scott.

When you sit there still hesitating instead of answering, Scott glances up at you with a mildly rueful expression and says, "I can't help asking myself... if this is you trying to let me down gently," and at this you find yourself shaking your head, because no, no, that's definitely not it and you don't want him thinking that, but then his expression shifts to pure mischief as he finishes his thought, "or if you're just being chicken because you're a beautiful little liar who has been trying to convince herself the last three years she doesn't still have a big secret crush."

"The ego on you!" you say, forcing yourself to roll your eyes even though you are feeling rather breathless and excited about the direction this is taking.