Madd Mack's Love Cruise Ch. 01

"How many stickers do I have?" Madeline asks me curiously.

"Six," I tell her, impressed. "What about me?" I turn my back towards her.

"Jeez, Liz," Madeline sounds jealous, "You got ten!"

Wow. Must have been the confidence and the smile; it really does go a long way.

"There's still one more round," I remind her, redirecting her attention to Maddi Macklin on the loud-speaker.

Now that most of the crowd has dispersed, the competition doesn't feel so intimidating anymore. With only sixteen of us left, it's actually starting to seem possible that Madeline and I could win this thing. I admit, my hopes are toking up, just a little.

"This is the final round," Maddi repeats, waving us all closer to her. She puts the megaphone down on the table, commenting, "I don't think I need this anymore. Everybody mix in, and circle around the table here. This is where you get to really prove just how much you want to be here." She and her friends must have set up the folding table during the last round, because it wasn't here before. On top is a stack of homemade flashcards with the words Love Cruise Dares on the backs, written in bold pink print. Also on the table, are a dozen or so little white Dixie cups. I can't see what's inside, but something smells rotten. "We're going to do a round of Dare. When it's your turn, you'll pick a Dare card from the pile, and perform the action. If you refuse to do the dare, you have to pick up a cup and consume the contents. I'll tell you right now, what's in those cups is gross. It could be a bit of potted meat, lutefisk, kumis, or durian fruit. If I were in any of your shoes right now, I'd go with the dare. If you refuse to do the dare or eat the mystery food, you are out. Another twist, if you refuse your dare it doesn't go back to the pile, it goes to the next player, who then has to complete your dare plus their own dare. If you attempt a dare, but don't succeed, it also goes to the next player, and you have to pick a cup. When the round is over, if we still have too many of you leftover, we'll play another round. Ready to get started?"

Sounds fun to me. I'm a little worried for Madeline, though; she's very squeamish. There's no way she'll be able to eat any of those foul foods, so she better be able to complete her dare. I turn to give her a few quick words of advice, but she's not next to me. Instead, I find Maddie's second choice in the last round standing between us. She catches my eyes and grins widely.

Before I can think of anything to say to encourage Mads, Maddi Macklin singles me out. "You," she points at me, "And you," she points to a tall, model-like black guy with a rather smug smirk on his face, "were the most-picked boy and girl from last round, so one of you will get to go first. You're going to play rock, paper, scissors to decide. What are your names?" She looks to me first.

"I'm Liz," I supply.

Maddi settles her baby blues on tall, dark and handsome. "Lucas," He submits in a low, deep voice, his tone just a hint flirtatious.

"Liz and Lucas," Maddi repeats, "Are you ready?" We nod. This could be exactly the kind of advantage that could put me on that cruise ship tonight. I might actually win this thing. "All right. Rock. Paper. Scissors. Shoot!"

I throw out my right hand, index and middle finger pointed outwards in the 'scissors' shape, while Lucas holds out his hand in a fist. Rock crushes scissors. I lost.

"No hard feelings?" Lucas asks, his brown eyes wide like a puppy begging forgiveness. He's definitely practiced this face. He knows it makes him look irresistible.

"None at all," I assure him with an easy smile. It's okay. I don't have to go first, and now I can see what kind of dares we're working with, and what people's reactions are when they have to eat the contents of those Dixie cups.

"Lucas will go first!" Maddi announces happily. "We'll go clockwise around the circle after Lucas has his turn. If you fail your dare and do not eat what's in your cup, please stick around until the round is complete. You might get another chance, okay? Let's see what the first dare is! Lucas, go ahead and pick the first card."

Lucas reaches for the top card, reads it to himself, and then starts cracking up. He puts a hand on the middle of his stomach as he full-on belly laughs. "Oh, hell naw," He says in a weak voice. "I don't do feet."

The twerking girl is standing to Lucas' right, she'll have to go last in the game, leans over his shoulder and reads his card aloud, "'Suck on someone's big toe for three seconds." She slides a hand up his bicep teasingly, "You can suck my toe, baby. My feet are super clean, see?" She lifts her foot to show him her blue-painted toenails, but he waves her away.

"No, no," He denies, "Nothing against you or anything, but I'mma have to pass on the toe sucking."

"If you're sure," Maddi warns him, "You'll have to pick a cup, then. You must finish the entire contents of the cup and swallow without being sick in order to clear the round."

"No problem," He says confidently. He picks up a cup at random, lifts it to his lips, and tosses his head back without hesitation. I see his Adam's apple bob as he swallows. He sneers, and then his expression changes from disgust to surprise. "That actually didn't taste half as bad as it smelled. Smelt like rotten fish that sat in a warm cooler for a week."

"Sounds like you got the lutefisk," Maddi tells him, "From what I've heard, the taste is very mild in comparison to its intense odor. Nice job keeping it down, Lucas. You've passed this round."

Lucas grins, asking a question that's on my mind as well, "Does that mean I win a spot on the trip?"

Maddi shrugs, her expression not giving anything away, "You'll have to wait until the end of the round and see." Flicking her thickly-lashed eyes in the direction of the pale-skinned, auburn-haired male to Lucas' left, she says, "You're up. You must now complete Lucas' dare plus a dare from the pile."

He sighs in disappointment, admitting, "I really don't want to suck on somebody's toe either. I might have to take one of the cups..." Picking up a dare card from the stack, he reads out, "Do a handstand. Shit."

Uh-oh. I'll take that as a sign he doesn't know how to do a handstand.

To his credit, the dude gives it his best shot and attempts a handstand, but he fails miserably. He grudgingly picks two cups at random and peers inside. Unlike Lucas, this guy hesitates for quite some time, despite the rest of us cheering him on. Maddi tells him to drink up, or forfeit his turn, so he takes a swig from one of the cups. His whole face scrunches up, and his body does a strange shake, like he's having a convulsion. He gags.

"It helps if you plug your nose!" Someone yells out.

Taking their advice, he takes a deep breath, plugs his nose, and finishes the first cup's contents. After he swallows, he gags again, loudly. For a moment, it looks like he's going to throw up. He somehow manages to keep it down. "That was raunchy," He explains, "So raunchy. Like, rotten sour milk, and it was so salty. Blergh!" He gags a third time.

Maddi reminds him of his second cup, and he groans, "I really don't think I can. I'm gonna be sick."

"I'm so sorry, I'm going to have to fail you this round." Maddi tells him regretfully. He curses under his breath. She points a finger-gun at the next player in the circle.

"Your turn, handsome." It's the guy who took his shirt off last round, with the amazing abs. He flashes Maddi a killer smile.

"Let's do this," He accepts, stepping out of the circle to approach one of the girls close to him. She's tiny, maybe five-feet, and looks like a light-skinned black Barbie, with a long blonde weave, and teeny jean shirts paired with a belly shirt that has 'SO EXTRA' written in bold black print. "Wassup? I'm Damien."

"Paris," She replies, quirking an eyebrow up questioningly.

"Mind if I suck on your toe?"

She stifles a laugh before nodding, "Go on then."

Damien drops down to one knee in front of Paris and helps her slip her left foot out of her sandal wedge. He lowers his mouth to her foot, staring her in the eyes the whole time, and sensually takes her big toe into his mouth. Paris giggles. Maddi counts to three. Damien returns Paris' foot to her wedge, thanks her, and immediately cartwheels into a handstand. Paris and a few of the other girls gasp. Damien lifts one hand off the ground and holds the one-armed handstand for a couple more seconds before landing smoothly on his feet.

"Damien," Maddi whistles, "That was impressive. You still have one more dare to complete."

"I'm ready," Damien responds. He takes a card from the deck, reading it to himself. He turns to his neighbor, a tall, skinny girl with long waves of silver hair cascading down her back. She has medium-size black gauges in her ears, and a silver ring through her septum. Like Paris, she's wearing a belly-baring shirt, white, long-sleeved, and sheer with a black bandeaux bikini top underneath. "Could I raspberry your belly?"

"Can you do what to it?" She asks, clearly confused.

"This," he demonstrates, holding on to her hips for leverage and pressing his mouth to her flat abdomen before blowing air against her skin and creating the intended fart noise. She squeals, gently shoving his head away. He straightens up. "I can't believe you've never heard of a raspberry."

"I can't believe you just spit on my stomach," She says with a straight-face.

"Sorry," Damien shrugs in a 'my bad' sort of way.

"I'm kidding," She cracks a smile, "It's totally fine."

"You've passed this round, Damien," Maddi voices what we already figured, "You are up next, my dear."

The silver-haired girl waves to the group, "Hi, I'm Gia. Let's see..." She draws a card. "Burp the alphabet. Easy."

Gia manages to belch the entire alphabet, impressing at least a few of the boys. Paris is next to Gia, and draws a seemingly easy dare card: Kiss the player to your right for ten seconds. The player to her right is Gia. I would have no issues kissing another girl for a spot on the boat. Paris, however, states very plainly, "I don't kiss girls. I'm not gay." She picks up a cup and downs it almost as easily as Lucas had his. She has to lean over and take a few deep breaths to keep from booting it back up, though. Maddi tells her she, like the last guy, got kumis, which is fermented mare's milk. The guy next to Paris gets her dare, and therefore kisses her for ten seconds, which he doesn't seem to pleased about since he gets second-hand sour milk taste in his mouth. At least he went through with the dare. Unfortunately for him, the next dare doesn't go so well for him. He's supposed to remove an article of clothing off the person to his left, using only his teeth. The girl doesn't want him to though, so he has to go for someone else, and what she's wearing is too complicated for him to get off. He gets mad and basically rage-quits the game, leaving the pier even after Maddi calls after him that he could still win a spot if there's a second round.

"That was..." Maddi blinks in a sort of dazed way, "Weird. I mean, am I wrong? I feel a little bad for the guy, but that was so dramatic. Anyways. Moving right along, because we don't have a lot of time. This boat is leaving at five o'clock on the dot, and it is currently four-oh-five. Who's next?"

The girl next to the rage-quitter has dark curly hair and glasses, and is wearing a cute red dress with white polka dots and a matching red sun-hat and white sandals. "Me!" She assumes the last guy's failed task, and turns to the hot man to her left. It's Sean. She takes his tank off with her teeth, revealing his beautiful body. I ogle him shamelessly while his head is still covered with his shirt. The shirt is off, and the task is complete.

"Nicely done," Maddi compliments. She gestures for the girl to pick another card.

"Do fifty sit-ups or crunches," She reads off. She gets down on her back, assumes the position, and begins the exercises. She starts to slow down a lot before even reaching twenty-five crunches. By forty, she's done, but our cheers keep her going for a few more. Her body gives up on her during the forty-fourth crunch and she lays in a defeated heap until Sean helps her to her feet. She says she can't eat whatever's in the cup, her stomach is already hurting. Round failed.

Sean, knowing he's next, gets down and I, as I'm sure the other girls will agree, enjoy watching his brawny body easily complete fifty sit-ups. I almost wish he had to keep going, he looks that good. When he selects a card, his eyes flash to me and he smirks, that dimple appearing again. He reads out, "Kiss the person you are most attracted to for ten seconds."

He puts the card face-up on the table and walks over to me. He takes hold of my chin with one hand and leans in for the kiss. I'm pleased at how soft and warm his lips are. I close my eyes and move my mouth against his, opening it slightly so I can taste him. I'm glad he hasn't had any of Maddi's gross food punishments. He tastes like he's been chewing mint gum recently. His tongue slips inside my mouth and I have to put my hands flat on his chest to hold myself up because I'm feeling a little breathless.

I faintly hear Maddi counting, "Nine...ten," followed by cheers from the other players as Sean ends the kiss. I lick my lips and keep my eyes on him as he returns to his spot. He smiles at me and my heart races. Oh boy, do I want to feel his lips on mine again. I can't deny now that I really want to win, and get a spot on this Love Cruise with Sean.

A petite redhead follows Sean. Her dare is to do twenty-five push-ups with another player on her back. That might have been do-able or even pretty easy for a big guy or gal with a smaller girl on their back, but this miss is very petite. She chooses the girl beside her, who is around the same height, but noticeably curvier. She only manages five push-ups before collapsing. She can't bring herself to take a drink, and fails the round. The next girl, who had been on the redhead's back, has to now try and complete the same task. She chooses a bit more wisely, picking Paris, the smallest girl, to lie on her back. Her arms are wobbly like cooked spaghetti, but shockingly she completes the exercises. She's so happy, she almost forgets she has a second dare to do. This one says she has to swap clothes with someone of the opposite sex. She is wearing a skin-tight strapless dress that ends mid-thigh, and apparently, she's not wearing anything underneath.

"I'm not about to get buck-ass nekked on this pier," She laughs. "I guess I'll try and choke down whatever this is..." She reaches for a Dixie cup. After one sip, she gags violently and spits on the ground. "Oh my God, no. No! That's vile! I can't." She tears up a bit.

"Aw, sorry, babes," Maddi empathizes, "I have to fail you this round." Quickly moving on, she addresses my other pick in the sticker round, "Mr. McDreamy Eyes, you're up."

He does have gorgeous grey-blue eyes. He laughs awkwardly, and if I'm not mistaken, I think he's blushing! Either he's got a crush on Miss Maddi Macklin, or he's shy? How sweet. "It's Levi. Okay. So, which of you ladies wants to volunteer to swap clothes with me?"

The redhead who failed the push-ups dare offers Levi her flowy, floral dress. She's wearing a white one-piece swimsuit underneath, accented with a sparkly diamond brooch. In exchange for her dress, Levi offers up his gray tank top and black cargo shorts. They re-dress in each other's clothes. Levi actually looks quite pretty in the floral dress. He does a mocking curtsy and a few others laugh.

"How long do I get to wear this lovely ensemble?" Levi questions Maddi.

"Just till the end of the round," Maddi shrugs nonchalantly.

Levi picks his next dare. He laughs, "All right. Get ready for some Eskimo kisses, guys." He goes around the circle and rubs noses with each and every one of us. I like to think he gave me an especially smoldering look as he went in for my nose, but I can't prove he didn't look at everyone that way. "That was nice," Levi jokes when he's finished, "I feel like that brought us all closer together, don't you think?"

I laugh. He's funny. Sean better watch out. He might have competition. Levi is handsome, charming, and has a sense of humor. I'm a little smitten with them both. It's almost my turn. I'm starting to get a bit nervous.

"Very cute, Levi," Maddi compliments him. "You're up, dude," She says to the gentleman to my right.

He reads his dare pick, "Do ten squats while holding another player." He looks at me, "May I?"

I'm not the smallest girl here, so maybe not the wisest choice; I'm five-foot-five, a hundred and thirty pounds. I'm not heavy, but this guy is pretty skinny. He's maybe five-eight, but I don't think he weighs much more than I do. He lifts me bridal style and begins to squat. He staggers immediately, but manages to recover. He straightens up and goes into a second squat. He groans on the lift. I can feel his grip beginning to slip. I'm prepared when he drops me on the third squat, and I land on my feet.

"Yeesh," I jokingly make a jab at myself, "Maybe I should lay off the donuts."

"God no," He immediately apologizes, his pride clearly hurt. He tries to recover, "You're perfect. My arms are shot from tug o' war. It's not your fault." He grabs a cup.

"I guess I'm drinking this," He makes the mistake of sniffing the cup, "Ugh! Nasty shit." He gags from the smell. He spits on the ground. He finally dumps the contents of the cup into his mouth, and in a split second a stream of vomit is shooting out of his throat to the ground. I jump back so it doesn't splatter on me.

"Oh, gross!" Maddi exclaims, "Sorry man, but that's a fail. Liz, think you're up for the challenge?"

I nod. "I'm going to try." I make eye contact with my sister, and she comes over, avoiding the puddle of vomit, knowing instinctively what I want. She's the smallest girl here, next to Paris, so of course I'm going to try and squat with Madeline. "Hop on my back, sis," I tell her. She jumps up and I loop my arms under her legs like I'm going to take her for a piggy-back ride.

After correcting my posture, I bend into the squat position and straighten back up. I repeat this six more times easily. My legs start to shake as I descend into the eighth squat. I blow out my breath on the lift, and then tell myself I can do this. Only two more.

"You got this, Liz!" Someone yells out, and it gives me the boost to make it through one more.

"Just one more!" Maddi encourages. "You're so close!"

I lower Madeline and I down and then lift her up, yelling out, "Hah!"

Madeline jumps to her feet, "Yes, you did it!" She high-fives me.

I take a moment to catch my breath, "Honestly, I thought that was going to be easier."

"Ready for your next dare?" Maddi asks me.

I pick a card and read it to myself first: Receive a hickey from another player. Well, I'm not going to ask that of my sister. I look to the others, "Who wants to give me a hickey?" I stick out my tongue playfully and bite it between my teeth.

Damien is the first to raise his hand, "I'm game."

I give him the 'come hither' motion with my pointer finger. Damien swaggers over, his eyebrows waggling at me. I cover my laugh with my hand and then sweep my dark blonde hair behind my shoulder to give him access to my neck. Damien licks his lips before swooping in and suctioning them against the side of my neck. He grips my shoulders, which are shaking as I laugh, and continues sucking on my neck. His stubble is tickling me so badly it's almost unbearable. I squeal. Damien finally loosens his lips, steps back, and assesses his masterpiece.

He bows, announcing, "The deed is done."

I wipe the excess saliva off my neck with the palm of my hand. "Well, thanks," I tell him. "That was...something. I don't think I've gotten a hickey since high school."