okay, valerie would admit it: she was a bit vanilla when it came to certain things. one of those things was truth or dare.

she had her friends to thank for that realization.

just the memory of having to run around naked in the neighborhood was enough for the brunette to break out into hives. ever since, she'd taken a strict vow to only answer truth questions, never dares.

even dana carvey with his jewel-like eyes and his tendency to say all the right things couldn't convince her otherwise.

they sat alone and cross legged on the floor in his apartment and, in a fit of boredom, dana had proposed a game of truth or dare. figuring she'd be able to answer a bunch of off the wall questions, valerie agreed nearly instantly.

besides, dana was just her best friend; it's not like he'd do anything stupid.

what escaped her mind at that point of time, however, was that he was also dana carvey and stupid was practically his middle name.

"truth or dare?" dana asked, itching for valerie to loosen up a little. he wanted to play this game to have a fun time, not find out valerie's favorite food (it was spaghetti apparently).

"truth." the girl replied cooly.

dana blew out a puff of air before coming up with some dumbass question. "what's your favorite beatles song?"

"dear prudence." almost instantly, she blurted out.

the boy perked up at that. a smile appeared on his face as he sat up a little straighter. "really?"

she nodded, blushing.

if she could blurt out something like that, she could probably blurt out her true feelings. just the thought turned her a darker shade of red.

yes, it was stupid and pointless but valerie was kind of in love with dana.

how can you be kind of in love with someone? well, that's simple, my friend! the way you can be kind of in love with the love of your life is feeling the butterflies and all that good stuff but knowing deep down in your heart that it'd never work out (or so you think). therefore, you're sort of in love with them.

you'd be full out head-over-heels in love if you weren't responsible with your heart and valerie dominguez was the most responsible girl dana had ever met.

as he grinned at valerie, the girl racked her brain for a dare.

she hadn't asked the immortal question yet, but this was dana carvey she was with: he lived for dares.

"truth or dare, dana." valerie asked.

"dare!" he spoke and she chuckled to herself.

"shocker." she teased before thinking again; what could she dare him that he'd never been dared before?

she could be bold and dare him to kiss her, but no. he probably had a girlfriend or something like that.

boys like dana weren't single for long.

she wasn't bold, though; she couldn't bring herself to knock her walls down. that being said, she decided she'd never know if dana's lips were as soft as they looked.

"i dare you to..." valerie trailed off, trying to make something up on the fly. "sing to me."

she really hated her shy tendencies sometimes.

dana made some comment to himself about being thankful that he took guitar lessons for all those years. after fetching his guitar and sitting cross legged across from his best friend, he began to sing.

"dear prudence, won't you come out to play? dear prudence, greet the brand new day. the sun is up, the sky is blue. it's beautiful and so are you. dear prudence, won't you come out to play?"

valerie swayed along to the music, captured by the lyrics she loved all too much. to hear them coming from dana's musical mouth was like a dream.

with a smile, dana threw her for a loop when the next verse came around.

"dear valerie," holy shit. "open up your eyes. dear valerie, see the sunny skies. the wind is low, the birds will sing that you are part of everything. dear valerie, won't you open up your eyes?"

the rest of the song was spent with her eyes widened and mouth open. this could not be happening.

but it was.

after the song she looked at him and, within seconds, they were a giggling duo. that was the only thing she could do because god knows she couldn't form coherent thought.

"that was amazing!" valerie complimented while laughing.

"well my dear valerie," dana began, slinging an arm around her shoulders and making the girl freeze up "a songbird is only as good as his material. you gave me one hell of a dare and, well, you always inspire me."

not being able to concentrate on anything but the feeling of his arm on her shoulders, valerie gave a small smile and nodded lamely.

"your turn, my dear. truth or dare?" he asked.

"truth." she nearly whispered, gazing at his lips unashamed.

"why do you always pick truth?" dana asked, looking into valerie's eyes.

oh no, she thought. that was one truth she didn't want to answer.

"because," valerie began, looking down at the shag carpet and reaching out to touch it, trying anything to take her mind off of what she was about to say. "i've had many bad experiences with this game."

dana frowned; she couldn't see it, but she could hear it in his voice. "if you didn't want to play, you could have said so."

she shook her head, looking up at him. "it's not that i didn't want to play, it's just i didn't know if you'd take advantage of me."

"i wouldn't." dana smiled, visibly sparkling with sincerity.

that's all valerie needed to hear.

suddenly, it seemed that her walls were torn down and she felt a grin appear on her lips. they sat there for a while, gazing at each other.

"my turn." dana said after what seemed like an eternity.

"truth or dare?" she asked.

"dare."

valerie felt a bit of a blush creep up on her cheeks as she let loose. "i dare you to kiss me."

and he did.

thank you to richardstarkeys. i loved this so much!