Chapter 22: Kiss and Tell

This game sure seemed like more trouble than it was worth, I thought as Ashton asked me if I wanted to go next. 

"Sure," I said. I had a few ideas I wanted to try out myself.

"So, who are you choosing, Sarah?" Eric asked me, and although the question was simple, his words made me wonder if he was asking me something else.

"Mert," I tilted my head at him and gave him a smile reminding him he still needed to pay for that position he'd put me in earlier.

He nodded, accepting responsibility.

I wasn't going to be subtle. I wasn't going to hold back. He'd assumed too much about me and less at the same time.

"Alright, truth or dare?" I asked him.

I had a plan… he'd been planning to out my feelings, but now I wanted to turn the tables on him.

Let us see what Mert was made of.

"Truth," he replied, a little cautiously…

"Okay, then."

I wasn't afraid of anyone here and wasn't going to back out of calling out anyone, especially if I had a vested interest. Did he really have the guts to reveal what he felt for Melisa loud and clear for everyone to see?

"Truth it is, if you could kiss any girl here, who would it be?"

 Melisa gasped, realizing my intent. Zerrin looked at me curiously. Emre laughed as if I'd made a joke. Emre probably got it.

"Now it's getting hot," Zayn teased.

As for Mert, he just stared at me as if I'd given him an electric shock. Not pretty when you were on the receiving, was it?

"The evil twins probably think you're after Mert, now that you've already tried Eric, Emre, and of course me," Ashton sniggered at his own whispered joke.

"C'mon, c'mon, Mert, just choose someone already. It's not that hard of a question…" Eric told him.

"I… think that," Mert stopped, shook his head, and then closed his eyes, "I won't answer your question." 

I was too shocked to say anything because I'd obviously been expecting too much of him. I'd been expecting him to man up to Melisa. Just as I was about to say something to him, he held up his hand and opened his eyes.

"However, I will accept a dare instead and show you my answer," he said.

We were all confused. What did he mean?

Then he turned towards Melisa, who was sitting beside him, took both of her hands in his own, and looked into her eyes.

And then he kissed her. At first, Melisa looked just too shocked to respond, but then she freed both her hands and threw them around his neck. Mert took the hint and wrapped her up in his arms.

I felt hot just looking at them. 

I smiled, thinking that Mert had passed his test with full marks. Then Ashton started clapping, Zayn joined in, I joined in, and then everyone was clapping for them. Zayn even let out a wolf whistle as they separated.

Melisa was flushed and a little embarrassed but happy.

Mert smirked at me, knowing what I'd thrown at him and that he'd countered it excellently. 

I acknowledged the win with a nod. We were even.

"Can we move on now?" Zerrin whined, "Pelin, c'mon, it's your turn now!"

"Oh, yay, finally!" Pelin clapped her hands in excitement.

"So? Who's your victim?" Zayn made a face at her.

She just rolled her eyes and looked at Eric. Of course she would choose him, it was so obvious.

"Eric," She said as if it needed saying, was I the only one unsurprised?

Eric smiled at her and opened both his hands like he was a bird, "Hit me!"

I wished I could actually hit him; he was really getting on my nerves with his antics. What a pretentious freak. I couldn't believe I hadn't seen right through his act. I didn't even have the excuse that I was in love for my apparent blindness and lapse in judgment regarding him. 

In my defense, he had this outer veil of a happy-go-lucky, easy-going guy going on that blinded you to his real intentions. 

"Okay, so truth or dare?" Pelin asked him.

I was almost sure Eric would say dare, just because he would want to stay away from the truth. He didn't have a good relationship with the truth.

"Dare, give me a dare," he said, confirming my suspicions.

"Okayyy…" Pelin waited a beat and then said, "You have to kiss someone here. It can be any girl out of all of us!" 

To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was shook. This seemed to be a new low, in my book at least.

She'd just asked the exact same question I'd asked Mert and turned it into a dare. I could guess at her motives: she wanted the same result my question had had on Mert. I assumed she wanted a public declaration of affection from Eric and this was the only way she thought she could get it. It just seemed so desperate. 

Wow.

"Wow," whispered Ashton, mirroring my thoughts, and I fought back a laugh, turning it into a cough, which brought Eric's eyes to me.

He looked at me a second as if asking me something and then looked at Pelin. Pelin looked confused. She'd expected an instant return of her feelings. She'd been sure of him. How awful for her?

I wondered if he'd already messed around with her in private. It was possible—anything was possible. I shuddered, immediately grateful that Ashton had saved me from that kiss on the couch. 

Eric once again looked at me, now for a longer time, as if considering. Then he looked beside me to Emre and then back at Pelin. Good Lord, what was he thinking?