“I heard my dad say something about the guy she’s seeing. Apparently, he has a record.”
I swallowed, heart thumping. “Like… he’s a rockstar?”
Dare laughed sharply. “No, dumbass. Acriminalrecord. My dad says he’s done bad stuff. That he’s not safe to be around. That I’d be better off here.”
A heaviness thickened the air.
“She’s choosinghim, Tru. Some guy she barely knows… over me.”
Bitterness bled through his voice, and heartbreak, and my heart splintered right alongside his. “I would always choose you,” I promised. “Again and again. I can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t.”
His expression wavered, balanced between trust and disbelief.
I wiped my palms on my jeans, then stood up and faced the post where I’d drawn our names last summer. The red ink had faded now to a pale pink, but still holding strong.
Tru + Dare
NO GIRLS ALLOWED
I drew a blue heart around it, and beneath that in messy scrawl I added,forever.But even as I capped the marker, I knew it wasn’t enough. Ink could fade. I needed something solid, something that couldn’t wash away.
Reaching for the button on my shorts, I said, “We have to piss on it.”
Dare appeared scandalized. “What?”
“On the heart. Our names. It seals the deal.”
“T-That’s not a thing.”
“It is now.”
He didn’t budge. “Why would we piss on it?”
“I don’t know. It just… sets it in stone. Forever.” I jerked my head toward him. “Come on. Whip it out.”
He raised his eyebrows. “You’re insane.”
“Piss promise,” I said solemnly. “It’s sacred.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced my body to cooperate. It took a second, but I managed a small stream that hit the heart and dripped down the post.
I zipped up and glanced over my shoulder. “Your turn.”
With a dramatic sigh, Dare got to his feet. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“Come on,” I urged with a mischievous grin. “Seal the pact.”
He unzipped, and a second later, a warm arc of urine splashed over the Sharpie letters. The dirt at the base of the post soaked it up greedily.
Dare zipped back up and gave me a half-smirk. “You’re such a freak.”
“Yeah, but you pissed too.”
“Under duress.”
“That’s a big word. You stole that from our vocab test.”
Dare rolled his eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause you made me study for it.”
