A Very Starkid Holiday

Chapter Nine - What Could Hurt?

"I-I mean we can do, like, sleepover games?" Denise suggested with a giggle.

"Like what?" Rob asked, unsure of what she meant.

"Umm like..." she tried to think, "oh," she snapped her fingers, "like truth or dare!"

Everyone groaned.

"That's so cliché." Jamie scoffed.

"We're not teenagers anymore, I don't think truth or dare is for grown ups." Brian laughed.

"How about spin the bottle too?" Moses laughed.

"Guys." Julia laughed, "what else are we supposed to do? Play heads up for another 5 rounds?" Everyone's laughter calmed as they nodded their heads in agreement and shrugged with inaudible replies of "you're right."

"I mean, what could it hurt, guys?" Lauren shrugged.

"Truth or dare?" Jeff asked more like a statement.

Dylan looked over at Meredith who didn't seem to like the idea of "truth or dare" but was being dragged into it.

"I don't know guys, it doesn't sound like the best idea..." Nick tried to reason, he was scared of saying something wrong.

"Just one round, maybe?" Walker suggested.

"Yeah, one round sounds good."  Rachel shrugged, then took a gulp of her water.

"It'll be fine, Nick." Joey quietly reassured to him by holding onto his wrist then quickly letting go.

"Who wants to go first?" Brian asked the group, no one replied. "Um... okay. How about..." he scanned the room before setting his eyes on one person across the room, "Rob, you go first. Truth or dare?"

"Um alright, Dare." He smirked, the room filled "o"s.

"I dare you to..." he thought out loud, "to... fill your mouth with water, then we'll all tell you funny jokes and you have to try not to laugh." Brian smiled.

Rob scoffed, "easy." And took a drink of his water, through a mouth full of water, he inaudibly said the word, "go."

After a couple people, Rob still hadn't broke until it came around to Mariah, she ended up telling a joke that reminded him of a memory, an inside joke of theirs. He couldn't hold it in, he ran to the bathroom and spit out the water, the whole group laughed as he jogged back to his seat mumbling, "I knew you'd be the one to break me." He shook his head with a chuckle. She smiled sweetly to him.

"Okay Rob, you choose who goes next." Brian continued to laugh.

"Um... Moses." He smirks, knowing full well why.

"Rob," Moses said through gritted teeth.

"Truth... or dare?"

"Jesus— this is hard. Um..." he looked between Brian, then looked at Mariah, then to Jamie, and back to Rob, "Uh—Truth!"

"Truth, eh?" Rob smirked.

"Yeah." Moses scoffed, confidently.

"Tell your honest opinion about the girls in this room." He winked at him.

"Oh-um..." he started, "Rachel, you're fun and enthusiastic... Jamie, you're a joy and I love working with you... uh- Denise you've always super supportive and a caring friend to all... Lauren, you're quite the jokester, I love pulling pranks with you... uh- Julia, you're carefree and a sweet girl... Meredith, you're a ball of sunshine, you are such a great friend... and Mariah, you're... extraordinary, an angel." He smiled to himself, "you mean a lot to me—you all mean a lot to me," he quickly fixed his sentence and smiled at them all.