Don't mean to get ahead of where we are
"I win! I win! Hahahaha, how do ya like that, Zel? That's the sixth time in a row! How's it feel, huh? Bow and worship at the feet of the wonderful Lina Inverse!" She grinned broadly, striking a pose as the chimera tossed his cards onto the table top. "C'mon, worship! I beat you! I beat you senseless!"
"All right, all right, you won. Big deal."
Maybe it was his slightly irked tone, maybe it was the sticky gray rain outside the tent they were now occupying. Maybe it was just the itchy, excitable, mischevious mood that had gotten hold of her somewhere a few days before. But whatever it was, it made Lina grin all the wider and keep up the stream of challenges. "You bet it is! I won! I beat the living daylights out of you! Man, if we'd been betting this round, you'd be broke!"
Don't mean to act a little nervous around you
I'm just a little nervous about my heart
Zel swept the cards across to his side of the low folding table, and contemplated them beneath his hands for a moment. Maybe it was the oddly humid weather, or maybe it was just the fact that he was tired of all those damn lonely cups of tea night after night--but either way, he felt reckless. "Why not bet, then?"
The sorceress quit posing and shot him a Look. "Scuse me?"
"You heard me. We'll play one more round, but this time we'll add... a little wager." He could barely believe he was saying it, but now that the words were coming, they refused to stop. "The loser has to do whatever the winner wants for ten minutes.�
Cause it's been a while since I felt this feeling
Everything that you do gives me
"Make it twenty, and you've got a deal." She sat down again, watching intently as Zel shuffled the cards. Little spikes of fear and excitement prickled across her forehead--what could she make him do for twenty minutes? Okay, okay, so she could name about a dozen things she'd like to make him do, but... something relatively harmless...
She was still thinking it over when she picked up her cards
It's been too long since somebody whispered
"Oh, shut up and kiss me"
Zel wasn't sure whether to kick himself or whoop with joy. Given Lina's winning streak and his own disbelief at the bet he'd just made, he wasn't at all sure he had the slightest chance of winning, but hey, a guy had to start somewhere. Besides, maybe she might want to...No, he reminded himself firmly. She's not gonna be interested in that. She'll probably make me play the guitar or recite "Life is wonderful" or make me do a cannon ball into a frozen lake... Not that he wouldn't mind the benefit of a frozen lake just now. He picked up his cards and they started the game.
Didn't expect to be in this position
Didn't expect to have to rise above
"DAMN YOU!" Lina slammed both palms on the table, red eyes wide in disbelief. "Damn you! You so cheated!"
"I so did not," the chimera grinned, laying out his cards. "Read 'em and weep."
"But I was on such a streak--I demand a rematch!"
"No way. For the next twenty minutes, you're mine."
You're mine. She almost shivered: it sounded, well, good. Not a position she'd want to be defined by, but... it was nice. Of course, she couldn't tell him that. So she opted to pout and sniff instead. "Yeah, well," she said airily, crossing her arms over her chest, "you got lucky this time. Just don't get any funny ideas."
A reputation for sinnin', since I've
Been a jaded lady when it comes to love
"Funny ideas, huh? Oh, L-Sama forbid the freak have a sense of humour." Even though the words carried the same biting sarcasm that he always used in talking about himself, he couldn't help smiling. He'd done it. He'd actually won. He had her.
"Yeah, whatever," Lina was saying, in the same I-don't-care-that-you-trounced-me-really-I-don't tone of voice. "Just get on with it."
He considered. Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes... "Okay then," he said, finally, "we're going to play another little game."
But oh, baby, just to feel this feeling
Everything that you do gives me half a chill
"Really? What's it gonna be this time, Go Fish?�
"Better." Was it her imagination, or was the smirk on his face growing distinctly wicked? "We're gonna play Truth or Dare."
Her shoulders stiffened. "Ohhhhhhh no," she said, shaking her head. "Ohohohoooo no. No, no, no. Absolutely not. No, no, a thousand times no."
"C'mon, it goes with the deal. You have to do whatever I say."
"No no NO no no NO!" She brought an open palm down on the tabletop. "I refuse. I will NOT--"
"Would you rather have to eat a live frog?"
"You're disgusting."
"I'm aware of that."
It's been too long since somebody whispered
"Oh, shut up and kiss me"
�Look, Zel--why does it have to be Truth or Dare? I mean, the Truth questions you could ask me any old time..."
"But we haven't had an 'any old time' lately," he pointed out. "We've been way too busy. I mean, would you have taken the time out to ask, 'Hey, Zel, what's your middle name' while we were looking for the Claire Bible?"
"You have a middle name?"
"Forget it." He paused a moment, to collect his thoughts. This... could get interesting. "Right, so, truth or dare?"
There's somethin' 'bout the silent type
Attracted me to you:
"What the hell," Lina sighed. Things probably couldn't get much worse than they already were. "Dare.�
"All right then... and no backing out, remember, Lina... I dare you to stand on your head for a whole minute. Without the aid of magic."
That was it? One pathetic little kiddie trick? Oh, no. He was not getting out of this so easily. "If you wanna play Truth or Dare, you gotta make it a real dare, Zel," she said, surprised at her own tone of voice. "C'mon. Something really weird."
"Weird?" His confused (and, admittedly, cute) little frown only encouraged her.
All the business, baby, none of the hype
That no talker can live up to...
"Yeah! Or at least... well, you know, exciting. I mean," she went on, "if it was me, I'd make you list all your previous girlfriends or something..."
Zel felt his face grow hot, and he began to shrink in his seat. "Haven't had any," he muttered.
"You're kidding."
Oh, God. Why did she have to bring that up now? Did she have some kind of embarrassment-homing-sense that allowed her to strike a nerve every time she opened her mouth? "Just forget about it..." he murmured, miserably.
Come closer, baby, I can't hear you;
Just another whisper if you please
"Well, it is your twenty minutes, but I find that kinda hard to believe." She fell silent. It was pretty hard to believe. After all, he was so...well, he was... okay, she didn't need to remind herself how she felt about him. Not that she'd ever say that to his face, of course, not even if he dared her. She wasn't that stupid. They were friends... good friends...that was it. All there was to it.
Don't worry about the details, darling�
You've got the kind of mind I love to read
A thought struck him, and the blush came back, this time accompanied by a smile. "It is my twenty minutes, isn't it," he said slowly.
"Huh?"
"It's my twenty minutes. You have to do whatever I tell you. And now that we're playing Truth or Dare and you've brought up the whole girlfriend thing..." His heart had jumped into his throat, but he'd won a bet, and he'd be a foolish he didn't take advantage of it. "So, Lina--and remember, no backing out--here's your dare..."
Talk is cheap, and baby, time's expensive,
So why waste another minute more?
When Lina's heart started beating again, she felt all the blood in her bodyrush to her face. "ExCUSE me?" she squeaked. "You want me to k-k-KISS you??"
He nodded slightly.
"I--I--" Her entire body was swiftly dissolving into a mass of pins and needles; she swallowed hard. "Why the hell would you ask something like that?"
And, to her immense surprise, Zel turned beet red.
Life's too short to be so apprehensive�
Love's as much the symptom, darlin', as the cure
�Because, uh..." Zel felt his heart nose-dive into his boots. He'd just hit on her. On Lina, the poster child for destruction. He was going to get barbecued for sure.
"Well?"
"I'm sorry," he blurted. "I--I didn't mean to, I was just, that was way out of line, but you did bring it up and I kinda... I forgot, I'm sorry..."
Oh, baby, when I feel this feeling
It's like a genuine voodoo hits me
The pins and needles were beginning to congregate at the back of Lina's neck. Something in her mind was slowly sliding puzzle pieces together. What did he forget? That they were friends, that she had a bad temper, that he was Mr.Unemotional? That he was somehow not supposed to be interested in her? Which, quite basically, meant that any way you looked at it, he was interested. In some way, beyond friendship, he liked her at least a little bit.
Which meant that she had a chance.
She felt a smile bubble up to her lips, and grow, spreading into a luminous grin.
It's been too long since somebody whispered...
Zel wished fervently that lightning would strike him very, very soon. She was going to laugh. She was going to laugh and he was going to die of shame. Dammit, he'd known it had been a bad idea, he'd known she'd get weird about it somehow... now he'd probably have to pack up and disappear...
And then she spoke.
Oh, baby, I can feel this feeling
"You know, you could have said something before."
"Wh--what?"
God, the look on his face was priceless. She had to admit, he was damn cute when he was puzzled. Hell, he was always cute. "You heard me," she said. "You could have said something before now."
Everything that you do gives me
Zel felt the entire universe grind to a halt around him. "You--you really--?"
She nodded. "Sure. All you had to do was ask."
"But I thought..." He had no idea what he was thinking. He could scarcely believe what he was hearing. She actually wanted to do this. It might just be temporary, and it might be small, but he had a chance... Which meant he had to shut up and act on it before his twenty minutes were up.
It's been too long since somebody whispered
"Well, I guess whatever you were thinking was wrong," she said, laying a small gloved hand on his wrist.
"Oh, shut up and kiss me"...
"Yeah," he whispered, leaning across the table to catch her lips with his own. "Yeah, I guess it was.�