A Dare is a Dare

This is my first story, inspired by a few others on this site. It's a relatively slow build because I wanted the progression of the characters' actions to feel somewhat natural, so if you want a story that cuts straight to the 'action' then this probably isn't for you.

Originally I planned for this to be longer and two parts, with more time and exploration once things started heating up, but as I was writing I ended up cutting to the climax more quickly. If there's interest then at some point I might resume working on the longer version.

I hope you enjoy it!

"I'm heading out now, enjoy your film and I'll see you both later!" Julie called into the house as she headed out the front door. It was Friday night, and she had her usual social club meeting with some friends.

Julie's 18 year-old daughter, Sarah, was in the kitchen making popcorn in the microwave while Sarah's father, David, was in the living room choosing a film. Watching films on a Friday night had been a family tradition for almost as long as Sarah could remember. It used to be something they did as a whole family, before her mother's club started meeting on Fridays, so for the last year or so it had just been her and her father.

Sarah quite enjoyed it now it was just with her dad. She got on well with her mother, but her movie tastes were pretty boring and she would generally object to them watching anything with too much action or a complicated plot. Since it had become just her and her father the films had gotten a lot more interesting.

"Dad," she called, "Can I have a glass of wine?"

"Only if you pour me a whisky too!" David replied. Alcohol was another thing Sarah would never have been allowed if her mother was joining them.

On the sofa, David sighed as he flicked through the various options on the streaming service. He always felt pressure when it was his turn to choose the film. It was easier when Sarah was younger and hadn't seen most of the obvious classics, but after watching a film every week for years they'd seen all his best picks and he wasn't up to date on which new releases were any good.

He heard the microwave ding in the kitchen to signal the popcorn was ready, and so gave up trying to pick a quality film and just settled on a generic-looking thriller. For his part, he didn't really care if the film was any good, he just wanted Sarah to enjoy it. For him Friday nights were mostly about spending some quality time with his daughter after a long week at work. In some ways it was better when the film was a bit corny and rubbish, as they'd spend the evening pointing out all the ridiculous plot holes and making fun of the ropey acting.

David came into the kitchen where Sarah was just finishing pouring her glass of wine. He gave her a hug. "I'm going to miss this when you head off to university," he said. "It'll be weird just watching films on my own."

"Oh Dad, don't be silly," Sarah replied, "That's months away. And I'm sure you can find something more interesting to do with your Friday evenings than watching movies by yourself!"

"You're right, but those months will fly by... it feels like only yesterday I was teaching you to ride a bike or taking you to your first day of school." David looked into his daughter's deep brown eyes. He was proud of who his little girl had grown up to be. She was the model student, like her mother had been when she was younger, as well as the star centre forward for her school's hockey team. He had no idea who she had inherited her sporting prowess from. Both David and Julie kept fit enough, but they were useless at sports.

"Anyway, enough sentimentality," he said. "You take the drinks through, I'll bring the popcorn." He took two bowls from the cupboard and headed over to the microwave.

"What are we watching, Dad?" Sarah asked.

"Some rubbish 90's thriller," David said. "I can't even remember the title. We can watch something else if it's no good."

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Sarah smiled.

They walked through to the living room and took their usual positions on the sofa. Sarah grabbed a blanket and pulled it over her, snuggling into the side of her father. They were going through a particularly cold spell this February, but as usual her dad was resolute that the thermostat was not to be touched.

The film was, as David expected, incredibly generic. So much so that he couldn't figure out if he'd seen the film before or if it was such a collection of tropes and clichés that it just felt like he had. It was about an hour into the film, in the middle of a scene where the male and female leads were having a barbed conversation over dinner at a restaurant, that he realised he had seen it before. And he knew what was coming next.

"Should we, err, maybe watch a different film Sarah?" David asked, his eyes nervously flicking from the screen to his daughter.

"Nah," Sarah replied, taking a sip from her wine. "This isn't the best film ever but it's not that bad. I want to find out what happens."

About a minute later David winced as the film moved to the next scene, with the two characters on screen passionately kissing as they burst through the doorway to a bedroom. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as they tore each other's clothes off and fell back onto the bed. His living room was suddenly filled with the sounds of passionate moaning as the two attractive protagonists writhed around together naked on the bed.

He looked down at his daughter snuggled up against him, her mouth slightly open and eyes glued to what was taking place on screen. She seemed transfixed, the only movement being her chest slowly rising and falling with her breath as she took everything in.

Sarah was engrossed. She could feel the awkwardness of watching with her father next to her, but she didn't want to take her eyes off the screen. Sex was something she was relatively unfamiliar with. For the last couple of years she'd been so busy with her studies and the hockey team to have time for a boyfriend, and she'd never even gotten as far as a kiss. She'd tried watching porn before, mostly out of curiosity, but she didn't find it particularly enjoyable or arousing. If anything it just worried her about what sex was going to be like once she did get there in a relationship.

She was ashamed to admit it to anyone, but sex was something that stressed Sarah out, particularly given she was going to university in a little over six months. Some of her friends were already having sex, and everything she heard from them and their older siblings suggested that was pretty much all anyone did or talked about after they graduated high school. She was desperate to know more about it, worried that she'd be going to university a virgin and woefully inexperienced with what to do once in bed with a guy.

As her eyes drank in the scene on the television, she realised this was having a different effect on her than watching pornography ever had. She could feel her face flush slightly and her heart-rate quicken. Her crotch tingled at the spectacle of the attractive blonde on the screen, lying naked in the bed and moaning as her muscled co-star kissed over her torso and his hips thrust between her legs. She wished in that moment she could be the woman in the film, feeling her ecstasy and understanding what sex was like.

With a final crescendo and after what felt to David like hours, the scene finally ended. "Good thing your mum isn't watching this with us!" David chuckled unconvincingly, feeling like he had to say something to break the awkwardness he felt with his daughter against him.

It snapped Sarah out of her trance. "Uh... yeah... she'd probably have turned it off the moment they started kissing." Sarah paused for a few moments, her head still full of thoughts of what she'd just watched. "Dad, is that what sex is like?"

Her father gave a laugh, before realising his daughter was asking a sincere question. "Well sometimes it is, I guess. But not usually, Sarah. Or at least it's been a long time since me and your mother had that sort of evening." He looked across to his daughter next to him and realised she had a concerned look on her face. "Not that there's anything wrong between me and your mother," David continued, "it's just that after such a long time you don't really have that intensity any more. But it's still nice, just in a different way."

"In what way?" asked Sarah.

"Err..." David was starting to regret starting this line of conversation. His and Julie's sex life wasn't really something he wanted to discuss with their daughter. "You just sort of come to know each other better, I guess. You get more experienced and learn what your partner likes."

Sarah was about to ask another question when suddenly the TV and lights turned off. She jumped with surprise as the two of them were immediately plunged into darkness. David felt Sarah startle next to him.

"Must be a power cut," he said. He walked to the front window and pulled the curtains back to look through. "Seems the whole street is out. I'll just go check the breaker to make sure."

David felt his way to the utility closet and flipped the switch up and down. Nothing. He grabbed a torch off the shelf and a box of matches.

"Yup, no power," he confirmed, walking back into the living room.

"How long do you think it'll be out?" asked Sarah

"No idea," David said. "It'll depends on what's wrong. It could be an hour, could be the whole weekend." He turned on the gas fireplace and used one of the matches to light it. The soft glow of the fire suddenly bathed the living room in dim orange light. "The central heating won't do much without electricity, we should keep this running until it's back on. We might even need to all sleep in here tonight if it gets too cold in the rest of the house."

David phoned the utility company on his mobile. After being put on hold for a while they confirmed they were aware of the problem and had dispatched someone to fix it. "They say it'll be a few hours," David relayed to Sarah. "It'll be sorted by tomorrow morning at the latest."

"Well there goes the film then," replied Sarah. "What should we do now? What did people your age even do for fun before electricity was invented?" she smirked.

David rolled his eyes at the jab about his age. "Come on, I'm only in my early forties. And I don't know, we could play a board game or something I guess?"

"I don't think I'm really in the mood for starting a board game," said Sarah. She was still a little turned on from the film, and the conversation with her dad was just starting to get interesting before the power went out. She had an idea.

"How about we play truth or dare?"

"Truth or dare?" asked David. He was a little taken aback by his daughter's suggestion.

"Come on Dad, you must know what truth or dare is... you can't be that out of touch."

"I know it!" David protested. "It's just... well it's not really a game you'd play with family. It's more a student party game."

"Well I am a student," replied Sarah confidently. "Maybe I could do with the practice before I leave for uni. Plus whenever I'm upset and refuse to talk to you about something you always say family shouldn't keep secrets from each other."

David had to chuckle. Ever since she was old enough to talk back Sarah had always found ways to use his own words against him. "Fine," he said. "But anything inappropriate and I'm pulling the plug."

"Well in that case you'd be the loser. I guess we need a forfeit..." she thought for a moment. "First person to back down has to do the washing up for a whole month." Usually Julie cooked dinner, so David and Sarah would typically take turns washing up afterwards. They both hated doing it.

"Deal," said David, holding out his hand. Sarah shook it.

They picked up their drinks and moved over to a spot on the floor in front of the fire, sitting facing each other. The orange light from the fire flickered gently across them.

"I'll go first," said Sarah. "Truth."

David thought for a moment. "Way back I used to have an R2-D2 coffee mug, it was my favourite and one day it suddenly went missing. I want to know what happened to it." He saw Sarah wince and knew he was onto something.

"I broke it," she said. "I was practising dance moves in the kitchen with Chloe and accidentally knocked it off the counter and it smashed. We hid it at the bottom of the bin outside so you wouldn't find it. That must have been over five years ago though, I'm surprised you can even remember it."

"I'd had it since before you were born," replied David. "It's probably only been missing for about half as long as I had it before that."

"How did you know it was me?"

"Come on Sarah, if your mother had broken it then she'd have come clean, and there aren't really any other suspects in the house. I just wanted to finally know what had actually happened after all these years."

"OK," said Sarah. "Now it's your turn."

David thought for a moment. He wasn't sure what sort of thing his daughter would dare him to do, but he didn't want to take his chances with one just yet. "Truth."

Sarah decided she wasn't going to waste any time in picking up where they'd left off earlier. "Before, when talking about you and mum, you mentioned knowing what your partner likes during sex. What sort of things did you mean?"

David sighed. He was literally one question in and was already starting to regret agreeing to the game. "Jeez Sarah, you really want to hear about this sort of stuff from me?"

"Yes, yes I do," Sarah took a nonchalant sip of her wine. "Unless you'd rather wash dishes instead..."

"Fine. There's different positions you can do, and you learn which ones they prefer, I guess. Or certain ways your partner enjoys being touched. And you get better at reading their expressions and signals so you know when you're doing something that feels really good for them, or not."

"Anything else?"

"Well, I suppose there's other things you add in too, like toys or lingerie. Or role-playing scenarios." David wasn't sure which he felt more uncomfortable with, the conversation he was having right now, or being sat next to his daughter watching the scene in the movie that started it all to begin with.

"So what sort of thing do you like, Dad?" Sarah asked.

"Nuh-uh," said David. "I already answered your question, you don't get another one. It's your turn now. Truth or dare."

Sarah smirked. She could wait another turn. "Dare," she said. She wasn't sure what her father was going to make her do, but she was curious what it might be. This was her first time playing truth or dare, so she didn't really have a measure of what a reasonable dare was - obviously if the aim was to win you could dare something ridiculous like jumping out of an upstairs window, but that didn't feel fair. She figured if her father went first setting a dare, she'd have a benchmark to work off of.

David passed her his glass. It had about a centimetre of whisky left at the bottom. "I dare you to drink the rest of this," he said.

Sarah had never had whisky before. She took the glass, raised it to her face and sniffed. She quickly drew her face away from the smell, her nose wrinkled. "Oh my god Dad, it smells awful."

"A dare is a dare, Sarah," replied her father with a smile. Sarah steadied herself, pinched her nose and downed the glass in one. She felt a warm sensation from the liquid as it went down her throat all the way to her stomach, and the intense smoky flavour flooded her mouth.

"Fucking hell that's horrible," she coughed, "Dad, you choose to drink this stuff?! It tastes like burnt soil!"

David laughed at her reaction, and decided to ignore his daughter's choice of language in front of him. "It's an acquired taste," he said, "you get used to it after a while. This bottle was a birthday present from your mother, I quite like it."

It was clear from Sarah's face she was thoroughly unconvinced by her father's statement. She finished off the rest of her glass of wine, poured herself another, and quickly took another large gulp from the new glass. "Ugh even with the wine I still can't get the taste out of my mouth," she complained. "Your turn, truth or dare."

David felt better about how the game was going after Sarah's reaction to the whisky, but he was still pretty sure he knew what exactly would be coming if he picked truth and he didn't want to go there. "Dare."

Sarah picked up the torch and left the room. A moment later she wandered back in holding the bottle of whisky. She held it out to her father. "If you like it so much, then fill that glass to the top and drink it in one."

"You know you're not really supposed to repeat a dare, Sarah," said David.

"This is a whole glass, so it's a different dare," Sarah replied. "And you never explained to me that was a rule before we start playing, you can't just add things now."

David took the bottle. She had a point. Plus, compared to quizzing him about sex with Julie this was a pretty easy forfeit. In hindsight he didn't know why he even protested it. He filled up the glass, raised it to his mouth, and drank the contents in one go, placing the glass down on the floor with a triumphant smile when he was done. "See? Lovely," he said. "Now it's your turn, truth or dare."

Sarah's confidence had dipped a little. Initially with her dad seeming so uncomfortable, she felt she could win pretty easily, but now she wasn't so sure. She knew her dad enjoyed whisky but she didn't expect him to finish an entire glass of it so happily. She could still taste it herself, and could still feel the warmth glowing inside her. A few beads of sweat had formed on her brow. Before answering, she took off her sweater - it had been a cold day but sitting right in front of the fire she was starting to overheat. As she looked down the shadows cast by the soft glow of the fire next to her enhanced the appearance of her cleavage through the low V-neck cut of her top underneath. She remembered what her dad had said before they started about if things got inappropriate, and she formulated a plan to get back on top.

But first she had to get through her turn. "Truth," she said. Now that she'd literally tasted what a dare was like, she had a hard time seeing why anyone would ever pick one over a truth.

David thought for a moment about what to ask. He'd clearly won the last exchange, but he felt the longer things went on the more Sarah would keep digging. He wasn't sure what had piqued the sudden interest in what her parents did in bed, but whatever it was he didn't want to continue that line of conversation. If he wanted to win, and win quickly, he needed to go on the offensive. He needed to try and make her as uncomfortable with his questions as he was with hers.

"Have you ever fooled around with anyone?" David asked.

Sarah was slightly stunned by her father asking such a forward question. Things had escalated quickly. She looked at her feet, and after a few seconds she shook her head.

"You have to tell the truth in truth or dare, Sarah," said David.

Sarah looked up and met his eyes. "I am Dad," she said. "I've never even kissed a boy before."

"But surely at your age..." David realised he'd potentially struck a nerve here and stopped himself mid-sentence.

"I know!" Sarah exclaimed, "Loads of my friends have boyfriends and mostly all they talk about is sex and what they get up to, and I've just been so busy with school and the hockey team and it's not like guys haven't asked me out but I'm now just worried everyone knows more than me and I do-" she cut herself off as she felt her father reach out and put his hand on hers.

"Hey, don't worry about it," he said. "You've got plenty of time, OK? I was in my early twenties before I had sex with anyone and it didn't hold me back - I ended up marrying her and two decades and a wonderful daughter later we're both still happy."