Page 18 of Dared

There was silence on the other end of the headset, and I busied myself with swapping out my character’s weapons, hoping I hadn’t made a mistake by directly addressing something that was clearly an incredibly awkward subject for us both.

Finally, though, Finn spoke. “Yeah. It’s…normal. I’m sorry if…if I made you uncomfortable or anything, though.”

“You didn’t. It was just a surprise,” I quickly said, wanting to reassure him, and he barked out a shocked laugh.

“A surprise. Right. Okay. Can we agree to never discuss it again?”

“Please.” I could count on one finger the number of people I could actually have a conversation like this with, and even with Finn, I never wanted to mention it again.

“Good. Uh, so, which co-op battle do you want to pick? The sand arena gives us an extra twenty percent XP if we make it through.”

“You read my mind.”

We settled into the game, falling into our usual synchronised rhythm, and I knew we were going to be okay.

8

Leo was nervous. I knew all the signs, and I’d expected them. But he was still here in the library. He’d come, and from the determined set of his jaw, he was going to see this through. I’d been mostly teasing when I called him “little lion,” but it was true. Leo never failed to amaze me with how hard he tried. I wished he could see himself the way I saw him.

“They’re gonna be here soon.” His leg bounced next to mine, and I lowered my hand, placing it on his thigh. He stilled instantly.

“You’ve got this,” I reassured him. “You’ve never backed out of a dare yet.”

He shot me a smile that warmed me all over, grateful, like I’d said or done something amazing, when all I’d done was remind him he was capable of doing this. He gave me way too much credit and himself way too little.

I removed my hand from his thigh and busied myself with setting up my laptop. I was mostly here as emotional support, but there was the added bonus that Daisy was going to be there. Daisy, my teammate Pete’s younger sister. Daisy, who was pretty and reciprocating my flirting efforts.

Daisy, who I hadn’t thought about once since this whole thing had been arranged…

Sighing, I rubbed my hand over my face.

“Are you okay?”

The arrival of Charlie and the girls saved me from coming up with an answer to Leo’s question. As they approached, Leo stiffened next to me, and I pressed my leg against his. He exhaled shakily and then raised his head.

“H-hi.”

Charlie shot him an easy smile, then nodded at me. “Alright? Anyone want coffee? I’m going to the machine.” He glanced at Sophie. “Soph? Wanna help me carry them?”

She smiled at him and nodded. After taking coffee orders, the two of them disappeared, and Daisy and Millie were left standing there, exchanging glances.

Right. The reason we were supposedly meeting in the library today was so Leo could help Millie set up a gallery for her photos, and here I was, taking up the only seat next to his.

I climbed to my feet, pulling out my chair. “Millie, why don’t you sit here? Daisy, that means you get the pleasure of my company.”

Daisy smiled at me as I pushed my stuff across the table and then took a seat opposite Leo. She drew me into a light-hearted conversation about football, and I relaxed as we debated the merits of the current Arsenal team versus Glevum FC in their upcoming match.

I kept finding my gaze sliding to Leo, though. Just to check if he was okay.

Charlie and Sophie returned, settling into the remaining chairs and handing out coffees to everyone. Daisy immediately began talking to Sophie, and I was free to check on my friend again.

Leo’s brows were pulled together in concentration, his head bent close to Millie’s as they both focused on her screen. “…So…you see here? Now we’ve got the empty gallery set up, all you need to do is drag and drop the photos and save here… Yeah, that’s it. The website will automatically update.”

“Finn? Finnegan!”

I blinked. “My name isn’t Finnegan. Just Finn. It’s not short for anything.”

“Okay.” Charlie’s lips curved upwards in amusement. “Either way, I called your name five times before you noticed. Something interesting going on over there?” He gave a pointed glance towards Leo.

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