We’d just finished making our way through the small crowd gathered outside when Landon appeared in the doorway with a glass raised in one hand. “Best. Drink. Ever.”
Forcing back a smile, I crossed my arms. “Hmm, shouldn’t I be the judge of that?”
“Well, yeah, of course. But that’s just what I named the drink. Best Drink Ever. I mean, it may taste like shit, but when people say ‘Hey, that looks good. What is it?’ you’ll have to answer, ‘best drink ever.’ ”
The guys laughed and Landon’s grin widened at their approval.
“Okay, okay. Let’s see if it lives up to its name.” He handed me the glass and I took a sip, fully aware I had an audience. The first thing that hit me was coconut mixed with something tangy, like pineapple or orange juice. There was also a hint of fizziness, like he’d used some type of carbonated drink, but then I was smacked in the face with the vodka. All in all the drink was good but, whoa, it burnt going down. I coughed a bit as the residual flames licked at my throat, then finally gave Landon the thumbs-up. “Has a kick, but overall…” I winced and cleared my throat again, “…it’s good.”
His eyebrows pushed together and he stared at the glass. “Maybe I didn’t stir it well. I tasted it…twice. I couldn’t taste the vodka at all.”
“Maybe it has something to do with all the beers you’ve been shotgunning?”
He nodded. “Good point. Want me to add more juice?”
“Please?”
He chuckled and reached for the glass. “No problem.” He disappeared back into the house and suddenly I was tugged into someone’s lap.
I practically stumbled, then regained my footing and stared directly at Colby. Not even sure where he’d come from.
“I’ve been thinking.” His words weren’t quite slurred but he did seem to take extra long to get them out. “About you and me.”
Oh shit. A quick glance around confirmed at least five guys were in earshot.
“Together.”
My back stiffened. Great idea. Wrong time. This conversation so couldn’t happen now.
“Um—”
He shushed me. “I think we’d be great together as captains.”
What the hell? “Like of a boat?”
He laughed. Hard. “Team. Captains of a team.”
“Oh, okay…” A drunk Colby probably didn’t need to make sense if the conversation wasn’t diving into private territory. Might as well just let him babble.
“For that beach cleanup next month, if we organize our group, and I mean like really have a solid game plan, we could definitely win this.”
“We could…” Were we seriously discussing a fundraiser like it was the most important event of our life? “But we haven’t registered.”
His expression fell. “I know. But we’d win. And we’d donate all the money to the pier restoration. We need that pier.”
“Um, yeah. I like the pier too.” Holy crap, how much had he drunk?
“You were wearing blue.”
“Um, what?” Drunk Colby was very hard to keep up with.
“We were twelve. It was our first time getting to walk the carnival without our parents. And you were wearing blue.”
The back door slid open and Colby jumped up so fast I almost fell from his lap. He mumbled something about getting a drink and took off inside.
I craned to get a better look at his expression but Landon blocked my view.
“Sorry, I ended up making a few drinks for the guys.” He handed me back my drink. “Tell me if this is better.”
I took a sip and nodded, still hung up on where Colby had been going with that story. “Much better. Thanks.”
I sat in the chair Colby had been in and pretended to listen to the guys while thinking back to the night he’d been talking about.
It was the summer before seventh grade and we were at the weekend carnival on the pier. Usually I had to stay with my parents because it got crowded with all the tourists, but Colby’s parents had let him walk around with Landon so I asked my parents if I could join them. Mom had always been overly protective, but that night she waved her hand and nodded, like she was batting away a fly.
At the time, I was thrilled, but looking back, I realized I’d missed the glossy tears hiding in the corner of her eyes. The slight turn of her mouth, the tremble of her lip, the way her shoulders sagged with the weight of adult problems that I’d never understand at twelve. They divorced a few years later, but what I hadn’t realized at the time was how that night was the beginning of the end of their marriage. I never resented her for the brush-off though, because now I knew how much my mom had protected me from. She absorbed all the pain of a bad marriage, so I could stay blissfully unaware.