Snickerdoodles and Pop Rocks

Craig rolled over on his bed to his stomach, Kenny was beside him sprawled in the opposite direction, a bag of Pop Rocks in hand. Craig had Red Hots in his and was eating them lazingly, sliding one between his lips before another. He did it almost robotically. He found no reason to start a conversation, liking the quiet. If there was nice thing about hanging out with Kenny, it was that the other enjoyed talking as much as he did.

A knock on the door disturbed the quiet, Craig the one to get up and answer it. He abandoned his candy to its place on the floor when he went to answer under the belief he would be right back. Unfortunately for him, Ruby and her gang of friends grabbed him by the arms immediately and dragged him out the door, the older teenager letting out an annoyed groan as they countinued to take his protesting feet in the direction of the kitchen.

"We're hungry, and we've all agreed you're the best cook," Ruby explained to his forced removal from comfortability. She received no reply from Craig as she let go and he walked along with them instead. This is why Craig objected to Ruby's little slumber parties. It was filled with a bunch of over-snacking, energetic, blabbing teenage girls (and occasionally boys) that seemed to always see him as some sort of maid. Even when he said no, they would whine and bitch until he got annoyed enough to do what they wanted just to make them be quiet.

A sigh escaped Craig's lips now, the apathetic boy somewhat irritated already by the fact he was dragged in there. "Well, you whiny bitches are just going to get cookies and popcorn and then leave me the fuck alone," he said in blunt monotone and grabbed a baking sheet. The girls were used to his profanity and typical rude manners, happy they won as usual. Ruby disappeared with them back to the livingroom where the party was taking the place. Laughter filled Craig's ears as they resumed whatever they were doing before bothering him.

It only took about thirty or so minutes for Craig to finish. He pulled the hot snickerdoodles and dumped them all on a plate. He balanced the plate in one hand and the bowl of popcorn in the crook of his harm. "Okay, here's your shit," he said as he entered the livingroom. "Now I'm going to...," Craig stopped midsentence when he found his blond companion sitting in the midst of the girls in a circle. Ruby was sitting in his lap with one of his bags of Pop Rocks (they had cost ten cents per bag at the drugstore) and eating them contently. Her eyes flitted upon seeing Craig enter the room, the apathetic boy having no idea what to make of the situation. He wanted to tell Kenny he was a paedophile or something, but the other actually was not doing anything but appearingly playing their game.

"Going to join?" Kenny suggested with his usual cheesy grin. He had grown bored earlier in the room by himself and had walked downstairs to find the girls who explained to him Craig was in the kitchen. At some point, he had ended up joining them in a Truth or Dare circle having forgotten about Craig.

Craig was silent for a moment. "Fuck no," he finally said strongly in a deadpan before flipping them all off and making his start to return back to his bedroom upstairs. Unfortunately for him, he had not managed to make it up three steps before the girls (and Kenny) began to beg him to stay and "play with them. What was the harm?"

The latter of their pleas was the thing he was worried about.

Craig could feel another sigh on his lips as he strummed a hand through his bang and tugged on the end of his hat. "Fine," he said and returnt to the livingroom. He sat down next to Kenny, not bothering to really acknowledge the girls. They returnt to their game as soon as they saw him join the circle, the questions they asked and the dares they made relatively safe. Craig had wanted to leave after the first five minutes. At fifteen he had grabbed a pillow to place into his lap and leant against the couch with his eyes halfmast. He was lost in bored daydreams when he heard a voice call his name.

Bored indigo eyes glanced up then. It was the only sign that Craig had heard them. "Your turn," a girl with loose braided plaits said. All the girls were quieter now, a thing that should have raised a flag in Craig's mind, but he was too busy not thinking about anything all that hard. He wanted to go watch cartoons or play with his guinea pig. Anything but sitting in that room surrounded with snickering girls.

"Dare," Craig said. He still did not really want to play, but he had agreed. Picking a truth seemed dangerous, since the girls might use it as an opportunity to get something from him. Ruby especially since she already knew a lot about him, and would definitely use the  chance to embarrass him in the only way she knew how. So a dare was the safer of the two evils, Craig deciding that whatever they came up would not be too bad, even if it was illegal.

A smirk crossed Ruby's lips. She had moved from Kenny's lap and now sat to the side of him. Kenny was still eating his candy (Craig had no idea how he managed to make the small bags last so long unless he had bought a lot more than he had thought). Ruby scooted back a little, the smirk on her lips bringing back the question of "what's the harm?" back to Craig's mind as he caught it. He mentally cursed even before he heard the dare.

"I dare you and Kenny to makeout," Ruby said raising a brow from Kenny and a blank stare from Craig.

"What?" Craig said just to make certain he heard her correctly. Honestly, he did not think of Kenny (or anyone for that matter) in snogging terms, but it seemed Ruby did. Not to mention kissing one of your friends is weird on so many levels. He had kissed Clyde once when they had too many vodka shots, and had regretted it ever since. That incident had not been mentioned sinced the day it happened. In fact, that moment when Craig was staring at Ruby with disbelieving eyes was probably the first time he had thought about it since then.

"I," Ruby repeated emphasising her monotone with a point at herself, " want you to makeout with Kenny McCormick as your dare," she said pointing at each them when she said their name. Kenny caught Craig's eye and shrugged. Craig was still unsure what to make of the situation. He just ate some more of his candy, while some girls slightly pushed Craig to initiate him getting over to Kenny. They were still whispering lowly, but Craig could not hear them over the unreality of what was happening to him hit him. He was not going to kiss Kenny McCormick. He was not going to accidentally meet the eyes of who he was dared to kiss and freeze. He was not going to be pulled in a little closer by whatever magnetising force Kenny always seemed to have (you can call it amiable charisma, Craig called it devilish temptation). He was not just a breath away from Kenny's lips and tilting his head to close the distance.

The slight spark of the strawberry Pop Rock candy that he had forgotten was on the tip of Kenny's tongue was what told him otherwise. Craig took in that he was indeed doing what he had been telling himself he was not. He would have pulled away, but a hand had crept up to lightly press his neck. The pressure was enough to keep him close and also to keep him from pulling away. The candy tingled and sizzled on Craig's tongue with his own mind as he completely forgot about the girls and climbed on Kenny's lap, never daring to break the kiss.

One of Kenny's hands had wandered to his side and was tickling up his hoodie. Craig's breath hitched slightly and a light flush covered his face up to his ears. He could feel the heat on his face, Kenny's hand on the bare skin it met once successfully managing to crawl up his hoodie, the tongue on his and the small shocks like electricity dancing between their lips. It was getting harder and harder to breathe, to think, to do anything with each passing moment of a second that passed.

Craig only pulled apart when he felt like his lungs were about to burst. He swallowed spit mixed with the aftermath of the candy still in his mouth as he stared blankly as if he had no idea how he wound up in the situation he was in. Someone handed him and Kenny a soda, the girls still whispering to each other. Ruby's smirk was a full-on triumphant smile as she stared at her brother who was still too shocked to crawl (or "fall" would do) off of Kenny's lap.

Kenny was the one to stand, grabbing Craig's hand in his as he stood. Craig was following him with a frozen deadpanned expression, his feet moving on their own as they disappeared back into his bedroom. The girls were left behind, Ruby smiling happily before putting out an open palm much to the dismay of some of her friends.

"Told you guys Kenny topped."