After Math(30)

“Tina!” I hiss.

“—is a step in the right direction to getting your freak on. But you skipped a bunch of steps you need to go back and hit tonight.”

Caroline leans over the table and takes my hand. “I agree with Tina, except for the fucking-Tucker part.” She shoots Tina a glare. “Don’t encourage her.” She turns back to me. “You need to relax and have fun. If you need a little alcohol to help you do it, so be it.” She points to my glass.

I feel like they’re trying to force cough syrup down my throat, except my drink tastes nothing like cough syrup. In fact, it hardly tastes like alcohol at all, yet I’m feeling pretty buzzed. “What is this?” I ask taking another sip.

Guilt washes over Tina’s face. “Long Island Iced Tea.”

“What?” I set the glass on the table knowing I’m going to be drunk very, very soon. But then again, what’s the harm in that? I’ll pay for it tomorrow, but tonight I want to forget everything. Forget Tucker and all my past. I want to forget about my carefully plotted life, and I just want to have fun like everyone else. I shake my head. “You know what? Who cares? My goal tonight is to get drunk.” I bring the glass to my lips and take several swallows.

Tina’s eyes light up. “Well, look at you. You go, girl.”

Caroline doesn’t look as ecstatic about my announcement, but I realize Tina and I are on opposite ends of extremes—Tina’s the wild child, and I’m the boring one. Caroline straddles the center line. For me to skip right over Caroline into Tina’s territory is shocking. Ordinarily, I would ask myself if this was a good idea, but I have enough alcohol floating around in my bloodstream to shove aside any concerns.

For once in my sorry life, I’m going to have fun.

I finish my drink, and Tina drives us to the club. I’ve never been here before, but Caroline used to go here with her ex-boyfriend, and I know Tina frequents the place. She’s tried to get me to come with her half a dozen times. She’s had a fake ID ready for me for months.

We’re not wearing coats, and although I’m wearing Caroline’s sequined sleeveless shirt and a skirt, I’m not as cold as I would be without the alcohol. We walk across the parking lot, and when a couple enters the building, loud music blares from the doorway. I wobble across the asphalt on Caroline’s borrowed heels, already feeling the rhythm soak into my bones.

Caroline shoots me a weird look. “Tina, we have to take turns watching her tonight.”

Tina scrunches her nose. “Whatever for? She’s a big girl. You have to let our baby bird fly.”

“She’s so drunk she can hardly walk, and we’re not even in the club yet.”

I groan. “Sure, I’m pretty tipsy, but I’m having trouble walking because I’m wearing your three-inch stilettos.” I point to my feet.

Caroline remains unconvinced. “You don’t drink that often, and Tina filled you with enough alcohol to fuel an ethanol-powered car for fifty miles.”

Tina shakes her head. “And you’re telling me that you’ve never been drunk? Come on, Caroline.”

“You know that’s different,” Caroline protests.

“Scarlett’s smarter than you give her credit for. She’s not that drunk, and we’re in a public place. She’ll be fine.” Tina sighs. “But if you think she needs watching, you take the first shift.”

After we pay to enter, Tina heads straight for the bar, and she and Caroline order drinks. I’m tipsy but not drunk. Contrary to what Caroline thinks, I’m no stranger to alcohol. You don’t grow up in the home of an alcoholic and her friends and not become acquainted with it. I had my share of drinking binges in high school with the handful of people I hung out with. I just left it all behind in Shelbyville when I came to college.

Leaning against a tall table, I look around the room. We’re on a raised level that surrounds a sunken square floor, which is half full of dancers. A DJ is set up on the opposite side of the room.

Tina comes back and hands me a drink. “There’s a good selection to choose from tonight.”

I turn to her in confusion.

“Guys. We’re here to look for guys.” She says it slowly as though I’m deaf, which I partially am from the roar of the music and the crowd.

“I thought we were here to dance.”

Tina grins and sips her drink.

I taste mine and realize she’s gotten me another Long Island Iced Tea. She doesn’t just want me drunk. She wants me wasted.

Caroline stands next to me, swaying to the music. She leans toward my ear. “I trust you, you know. I just worry about you.”