This is a fun novella I started this year just before the holidays but didn't get to finish (yet). Let me know what you think in the comments and don't forget to vote!

Blurb:

Every year on Black Friday, BFFs Ava and Kari make a dare contest, from cookie baking to demolishing trays of Tequila shooters until they puke. For their college freshmen year, they take it up a notch: 

Who can clock the most one-night stands before the last day of the semester. 

For virgin Ava, this is a big leap into uncharted territory, but after a four-year losing streak, she's determined to take the crown. Problem is that her dares from days one, five, and seven aren't content with just one night.

Utterly exhausted, I drop into the empty chair across from Kari at the table in the food court. Fourteen freaking presents, two more than last year, leaving a big hole in my wallet but also a sense of accomplishment. I mean, who can boast that they've finished their entire Christmas shopping on Black Friday with maximum savings (even if the trillion other shoppers who fought me over bargains were kind of annoying)?

"I'm beat."

Kari grins. "I expected that, so I was such a good friend and already got your hot chocolate."

I eye the cup. "Where are the marshmallows?"

"What marshmallows?"

"Those small ones they always add."

"Why, I don't know what could've happened to them." She flutters her lashes at me all innocently. "Maybe they skip those on Black Friday. You know, too many people ordering. . ."

"Shit, you took them."

"Moi? Your best friend?" She opens her mouth and closes it with indignation. "I would never commit such an atrocity."

"Uh-um. Just like you didn't eat all the frosting off my birthday cake—"

"That was ten years ago, so you can't bring that up."

"The Statute of Limitations doesn't apply to BFF crimes."

She snorts—my latest lawyer jargon isn't something she appreciates. "Well, look on the bright side. At least I never stole your boyfriend."

"That's because I never had a boyfriend." Keeping a straight A average while enrolled in twelve AP classes during my high school years took a few sacrifices.

"Besides the point. Boyfriends are totally off limits. That's basic girl code."

"Then I vote to extend the girl code to anything sweet. Keep your paws off my marshmallows, my candy, and my birthday cake frosting."

"Duly noted." She slurps the milkshake through her straw. "So what are we gonna do for our Christmas dare this year?"

"Seriously? Are we still doing that?"

"Of course."

"Didn't you promise last year that it would be the last time?" I distinctly remember her claiming that we'd both become respectable adults as soon as we hit college. We were demolishing full trays of tequila shooters for three days until I finally threw in the towel due to the fear of permanent brain damage from alcohol poisoning.

"Nope, that wasn't me." She shakes her head, her lashes doing the fluttering thing again. "As you know, I don't make promises."

She is right about that.

"Besides, I have the best idea ever." She leans closer and bites her lip. That usually means she cooked up one of her crazier concoctions that gets us into trouble (and by us, I mean me). "Since this year was the year we both lost our virginity, and we are both non-committed, I say we go a little wild."

I arch a brow.

She squints. "I mean, you did lose your virginity at Ella's pool party this summer, right?"

It takes all my effort not to squirm under her drilling stare. I shouldn't have lied about that night, but I didn't want to start college as a pathetic dud who needed her BFF to get involved in her love life so that she could finally score. Pretending that I kept up with our milestone plan we made at the start of high school was easier, though in hindsight, it might now come back to bite me.

But hindsight is a dreadful thing and I'm not about to fess up that I'm as untouched as the Virgin Mary. "Sure, Nathan and I hooked up that night."

"Cool, then this dare should work." Glancing at a family with a small toddler at the next table, she leans even closer and drops her voice to a mere whisper. "What do you say if we have a few one-night stands between the first of December and the time your dad picks us up for Christmas?"

Worst idea ever. "I don't know . . ."

"Are you scared?"

"No, but I'm a little concerned about my reputation. Aren't you worried at all that dudes might think you are easy?" And losing my virginity to a one-night stand is exactly the reason I didn't end up with Nathan at the pool party.

"Nah, one-night stands for girls have become socially acceptable. Equality rules."

Kari has always been Queen Adventure. First kiss behind the swing set in our garden when we were in the sixth grade (with my older brother, so cliché), then titty play three years later under the bleachers after track and field practice. It's still a miracle to me how she got every single member of the baseball team to grope her without a teacher catching on. Of course, the big finale happened this year on Valentine's Day when she lost her virginity to Ryan Keller, our high school's bad boy, who convinced her to get a "Fuck the World" tattoo on her ass for graduation. When she proudly showed her parents a picture, they freaked out and almost disowned her.

And now she wants me to buy into her crazy one-night stand idea.

I scrunch my nose. "What about STDs?" Or pregnancy?

"Duh, of course we'll use condoms."

"Don't think it'll work. Come Monday, we still have two more weeks of classes, and then finals—"

"So you are scared?"

Terrified is more like it, but I wouldn't admit that if hell froze over. "It's not that—"

"Then I dare you to have more one-night stands than me during Christmas dare weeks."

Fuck, she's going through with it. "What's the prize?"

"That's the best part. Winner gets first dibs on the car, and the loser has to keep the room clean and do all of the laundry for the entire spring semester."

That's big. With my internship next semester at the law firm, I could really use first dibs on the car. Taking the bus on a cold winter night is dreadful. "Okay, I'm in. How do we prove that we went through with it?"

"Dunno. Maybe take a picture of the dude's dick?"

"Bad idea. People today are sensitive about nudes."

"Okay, then what about the boxers? We claim them as trophies and whoever has the most wins. Of course, they have to be used and smell like a dude, or they won't count."

Having a drawer of used and potentially dirty underwear goes against my hygiene principles, but it's the fairest solution under the circumstances. "That should work."

And crossing the threshold to becoming a sexually active member of society had to happen someday and what better opportunity than dare weeks with a big prize on the line.

I crack my knuckles. My BFF is going down!

After my four-year losing streak, this is my time to shine. Men beware; there's a tigress on the loose . . . and I'm ready to pounce on you.

Earmark this story for later in the year where it will become available for free on Ream to my followers.