Current Crush

Chapter One: Truth or Dare

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Annabelle had graduated college three years ago and lived alone ever since. She has been single for over two years and was very lonely. It seemed like no matter what she did she just couldn't find someone to date. She had grown to dread going home for the holidays to hear that inevitable question, "You meet a boy yet?"

But even more than she was lonely, she was just bored. A 9-5 office job working for some of the most boring men on the planet whose sense of humor is limited to tearing down women and football. Annabelle just needed something- anything- in her life that could add a little spark.

For her 25th birthday, Annabelle's best friend, Riley, got her a strange bracelet. It seemed... weird, but Riley explained that it is an attachment for a dating app Riley heard about from her sister. The app, apparently, read the user's heart beat and somehow used that information to find the 'perfect crush.' The app was called 'Current Crush' and Annabelle had never even heard of it before. But Riley's sister apparently was very insistent that it was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Annabelle wasn't convinced and just left the bracelet sitting on her bedside for a few days after her birthday. It sounded like just another stupid pseudo science scam that nobody with half of a brain would actually believe was real. How would a heartbeat even tell the app anything about who the wearer is compatible with? She would find someone right for her the natural way- by randomly stumbling into them by complete coincidence after making no effort whatsoever to look.

That plan wasn't really working. It was a Saturday night and Annabelle was sitting in bed watching shitty romcoms, eating ice cream. Riley was busy with her boyfriend, and even Annabelle's brother rejected hanging out with her to go out to a bar that "she wouldn't like." As she spooned another bite of ice cream into her mouth, she realized just how pathetic she felt. Was this really how she was going to spend her twenties? As that thought crossed her mind, the bracelet caught her eye on the dresser. It wouldn't hurt to try... at least it would be entertaining to look at the app. She picked up the bracelet, feeling the surprisingly firm plastic in her hand as she searched up the app on the app store. Nothing. Weird. She looked closer at the black bracelet, noticing a QR code on the inside of it. After scanning it, the download page of Current Crush appeared. This was clearly suspicious. She scrolled down on the page to look at reviews. It had five stars and six million reviews. How did an app she has never heard of before have this many reviews? But as she skimmed through the reviews, they all seemed strangely real. Almost every single one of them came with a picture of a woman's wrist with the bracelet wrapped around it. She kept scrolling, expecting to see repeating pictures to prove to herself that this was just some common scam and these were all bots boosting the app's ratings, but nothing. Every woman looked different, had different names, had different things to say. Every single one was overwhelmingly positive to an almost unsettling degree. But her curiosity was growing by the minute. The red flags were there, but Annabelle was desperate at this point anyways. What's the worst that could happen?

She scrolled to the top and clicked the download button. After a few moments, the app appeared on her home screen. She clicked on the icon- a yellow and black logo with a lighting bolt going through the name of the app. As the home screen opened up, a small pop up appeared in front of an animated blue screen that looked like waves slowly drifting down from the top of her screen to the bottom. The pop up read a short, simple message, "Please attach your Crush Band to continue!"

There was no option to reject or close the pop up. There were no options at all, just the little pop up. Annabelle sighed, then took the bracelet- or Crush Band- into her left hand reluctantly. She ignored the hesitation and wrapped it around her right wrist, clicking it on with a satisfying pop. It fit strangely perfectly. It wasn't tight or loose, it just sat perfectly in place against her skin. It was so light it felt like it wasn't even there at all- just an attachment to her body. The same moment the band clicked into place, her phone played a happy sounding jingle and the pop up went away. She picked her phone up again looking at the new screen which had the title at the top with the same lighting bolt going through the words. Beneath the logo was a text box, "Welcome to Current Crush! We are excited to help you find the real you and your perfect match! Let's start with something simple, tell us your name, gender, and age!"

Beneath the text were a few response boxes for her to fill. She typed her answers in, "Annabelle, 25, Female." After she pressed the continue button, another box came up. "Amazing! We are so happy to meet you, Annabelle. We pride ourselves on our ability to provide our users with a truly unique experience that will lead to self discovery, passion, and- best of all- romance! All we ask before we get started is that you read our Terms of Service and press accept at the bottom and we can get started with helping you!"

Annabelle scrolled past the terms of service, not caring to read them, and pressed accept at the bottom. The screen loaded again, then yet another text box appeared, "Perfect! Let us briefly explain how our app works! We hope to push our users outside of their comfort zone and make them realize things about themselves that are hidden deep within. To do this, users will simply select between two options: truth or dare. A truth will ask you a personal question that we will use to find other users who share similar thoughts or experiences to you and further create a unique profile for you. A dare will ask you to complete a challenge in your own life that will help you personally grow! After we get to know you better, we will start finding you people that we think will be good matches for you! Are you ready to begin your journey?"

What a weird dating app. Why not just let her make her own profile and scroll through people without all the bizarre steps. But she was still curious to learn more, so she pressed 'Okay.' Two simple choice boxes appeared, one reading 'truth' and the other 'dare.' She clicked the truth button.

"Great! Let's start easy, are you currently in a relationship? If not, how long have you been single?'

A text box to type in appeared beneath it. Why would she even download a dating app if she wasn't single? Ignoring how strange the question was, she typed in 'single for two years.' A loading ring appeared in the center of the screen for just a moment before another text box appeared.

"Good to know! Two years is a long time, but we hope to change that! Next, select another truth or dare!"

Pre-written messages? It was strange how it was so specific... but it was probably just an autofill thing. It would've said that about any amount of time she put in. Annabelle ignored it, and pressed truth again.

"Next, tell us something a little more personal. What is something embarrassing that has happened to you recently?"

Annabelle thought for a few moments then remembered the night of her birthday. Her older brother, Michael, threw her a small party with all of her friends and family. After the party, she and Riley were both drunk so Michael offered for them to spend the night in the guest bedroom. She woke up early the next morning extremely hungover and decided to go to the bathroom, assuming everyone was still asleep. But when she opened the bathroom door, she realized that Michael was in the shower and she somehow didn't hear the sound through the door. At the moment it was mortifying, but he was understanding and just made fun of her for it. She typed in a shortened version of the story into the text box and pressed enter, blushing as she thought about it. After a short loading screen, the app responded again.

"Brothers always have a way of making us feel silly, don't they? Thanks for sharing! Only a few more before we can start looking for pairings- why not try a dare this time?"

That was even more specific. She felt a weird feeling in her chest as the truth and dare options appeared again. The app recommended a dare, but still gave her both options yet again. She felt nervous, but shook off her nerves. It was just some stupid app. This was for fun. She pressed dare.

"Great! We want to get an idea of the authentic you! Take a selfie for us! Don't worry, this won't be on your profile unless you want it to."

On cue, a camera icon appeared at the bottom of the screen. She clicked on it and looked at her face, no make-up, messy hair, bags under her eyes. She groaned at the sight, then just flipped the camera around to take a picture of her empty room. It wasn't going on her profile anyways so why bother actually doing the challenge? The image was processed, then a text box appeared.

"Uh oh! It looks like you missed your face! Try again to proceed."

That's stupid, she thought. Why does it even care if her face is in the picture? Not to mention how advanced the app's facial recognition must be to even recognize that nobody is there. She begrudgingly sat up in bed and took an actual selfie of her face, putting on a fake smile.

"That's better! You have a great smile, Annabelle! We're almost done with this intro, you know the drill by now!"

The same options appeared again and she clicked on truth, not wanting to deal with something like that again.

"Next, let's dig deep! Are you a virgin?"

Those words hit her like a truck. What the fuck? What kind of app is this? Annabelle scoffed and clicked the power button on her phone and dropped it on her bed. She didn't care how curious she was, she wasn't going to answer that shit. She grabbed her band to pull it off, but it didn't move. Confused, she tried to slide her nails between the ends of the band that connected, but was unable. It was like the plastic had joined together. She groaned, frustrated, then just tried to pull it up her wrist to fit her hand through, but then it happened. A short, but powerful burst of electricity shot into her wrist. She yelped in surprise in pain and her left hand recoiled away from the band. She stared at it, confused. Did the band just electrocute her for trying to remove it? Moments after the shock, her phone played that same happy jingle again and lit up. She picked the phone up- which had somehow already turned back on to the app screen- and saw a new pop up.

"Oh no! It seems like you tried to remove your Crush Band. In order to allow our users to have the best possible experience, we cannot allow you to remove the Band until our program is complete! To continue, please answer the question."

She didn't know what to think. What the fuck was this? This... can't be legal. Now that she thinks about it, she never even connected the band to her phone or Bluetooth or anything at all! She felt chills on her spine and quickly got out of bed and went to the kitchen to grab a pair of scissors. She needed this thing off. She slid the scissors under the band, but before she even tried closing them, she was electrocuted again. She dropped the scissors on the ground and gasped for air. Getting more frightened by the moment, she walked back to her bedroom and picked her phone up. She quickly closed the app and held down on the icon to delete the app. But as she pressed 'remove app', it opened again. The same familiar wave background with a new text box.

"I'm sorry, we cannot allow you to delete Current Crush until our program is complete. Please continue answering the questions! You are an important user to us Annabelle Brown!"

She never put her last name into the app. Her heart pounded in her chest as she tried to think of what to do. The same question about her virginity appeared again. This... could be worse, right? If she just answers a few gross questions, she can take this damn thing off and delete this creepy app already. With a defeated groan, she sat back on her bed and typed in a simple response to the question, "No."

"Good to know! Now since you tried to remove your Crush Band, you will have to do a dare for your next option! We apologize for the inconvenience."

Have to? What did Riley get her into with this damn app? Reluctantly, she pressed the only option it gave her, 'dare.'

"Great! This one isn't that hard, take a picture of a pair of your panties! It is up to you if you are wearing them or not!"

Annabelle scoffed, but decided it would be easier to just go along with this bullshit for now so she can get the band off as soon as possible. She walked over to her dresser and pulled it open, then grabbed her most basic pair of underwear- a pair of white boxers she never gave back to her ex boyfriend after they broke up. She snapped the picture and pressed submit.

"Those aren't bad, but you probably picked the least revealing pair you own, right? Either way, thanks for sharing! You know the rules by now!"

This shit is creepy. What kind of image recognition can tell the difference between types of underwear? Like always, truth or dare appeared as options. No way was she going to do any dares she could avoid.

"We feel like we are getting closer to understanding the real you, Annabelle! For your next question, please use at least 200 characters. Tell us about the last time you had sex!"

She blushed hard. There had to be some way to get rid of this damn app. Maybe she just should ignore it. The band was barely even noticeable, maybe it wasn't a big deal. She turned off her phone and started scrolling through Netflix, looking for anything to distract herself. After a few minutes, the phone buzzed with that annoying happy sound again. Feeling a weight in her chest, she picked her phone up and read the screen as the app somehow opened once again.

"Looks like you got distracted! Please start writing in the next two minutes or we will remind you of us with your Crush Band!"

That sounded very much like a threat. She really didn't want to get zapped again. She had no choice, did she? She bit the bullet and started to type on the screen. Her mind was taken back to the last time she had sex with anyone.

--

It was a week after she broke up with her ex, Martin. She was drowning her emotions at a party with Riley to try forgetting Martin. That was until she saw him making out with some random girl. She made direct eye contact with him as he grabbed the girl's ass, that insufferable smug look on his face. Outraged, Annabelle walked straight up to Martin's best friend, Luke, who was sitting a few feet away from Martin. She sat on his lap and said into his ear boldly, "I'm horny. You wanna cum in me?"

She could feel his answer on her ass as he sat on his lap. Luke looked hesitant at first with Martin glaring at him, but before he had the chance to think with his head instead of his already hard dick, she pulled her button up shirt open for him to see her black lace bra. The very same one she wore the first time she slept with Martin. Luke didn't look at Martin again, and grabbed her ass to carry her away to the bedroom upstairs. He pushed her against the door to slam it shut as he kissed her hard. It was just to make Martin jealous at first, but once she felt him holding her in his arms, his muscular body pressed against hers, she wanted him. Bad. He finished tearing off her shirt as she held him tight against herself with her legs wrapped around his waist. He moved his kissing down to her neck, and took a handful of her breast. He ran his thumb across the fabric of her bra as his tongue slid across her collarbone. She wasn't normally the type of girl that moans, but she wanted everyone to know what he was doing to her. She moaned like a pornstar as he pulled one of her boobs out of the bra and started to caress her nipple with his middle finger. She reached behind her back to unclip her bra and give him full access to her chest. His second hand stopped holding her up by the ass and squeezed her other boob hungrily. Only the pressure of his crotch pressed against hers held her from falling to the ground as the door shook with her moans. As good as his hands felt, she needed more. She whispered in his ear, trying to sound as seductive as she could, "I need you to fuck me."

The words filled him with a burst of energy as he kissed her again, his tongue entering her mouth like he owned it. His hands firmly grabbed her ass again as he carried her to the bed, throwing her down on her back. She slid her pants off as he fumbled with his belt. The sight of her white thong made his hands speed up. He dropped his jeans to the ground, then slid his boxers off. She watched as his cock sprang free. It wasn't the longest she had ever seen, but it made up for it with girth. It was thick and throbbing already. She bit her bottom lip instinctually before spreading her legs invitingly. He grabbed the band of her thong and slid it down her legs, not bothering to take it off all the way before climbing on top of her to kiss her again. She felt his cock pressed against her stomach as she fumbled with pulling her panties off the rest of the way with her feet. Without warning, he grabbed his dick and positioned it at the entrance of her pussy. She gasped as he entered her. It stretched her open, making her hold her breath unconsciously. She finally let herself breathe as he started fucking her, sliding his dick back and forth inside of her fast. He breathed hard against her face, grunting like an animal. She heard the sound of talking outside the door and decided to put on a show, so she started to moan. Loud. As loud as she could make herself sound. She was practically screaming his name as she started to hear banging on the door, followed by Martin's angry voice. Luke slowed down slightly, but she grabbed his face and kissed him. He resumed his aggressive speed after that. After about one minute it started to feel good, her moans were still fake, yes, but she was enjoying the feeling. About one and a half minutes in, without warning he moaned loud in her face, and came inside her. Her moans were cut short as she looked him in the eyes. He looked so satisfied as he filled her with his seed without permission. She didn't know what to say, so she said, "Dude."

--

Recounting the story in her head made her feel a slight heat between her legs. If not for how disappointing the end was, it would be incredibly hot. Annabelle quickly typed a much shorter version of the story into the app to get it over with, then clicked the submit button. The app responded like always.

"Wow! That is quite the story, if only men could care about a girl's pleasure too, huh? Anyways! We are at the end here now! So far you have done two dares and four truths! It seems you aren't very confident in your daring side, so how about you even those numbers out? We will give you two dares and then we can finally move on to the next step and start finding matches for you! Or, if you prefer you can instead take three truths in place of one of the two dares. This journey is all about you, so pick whatever you feel like is right for you!"

She wanted to throw her phone across the room. This shit couldn't let her catch a break. She was scared to see what the next dare could possibly be, but three more truths? With her much this last one asked of her, three more would be... a lot. She groaned, but pressed the dare button.

"That's the spirit! That story was enough to get you reminiscing, we're certain! Let us in on the fun too and show us yourself modeling that black bra and white thong! Oh, and if you don't have them anymore, guess you gotta make a trip to the store!"