Undeclared(71)

Shot guy merely held up his arms. “Go on through.”

Noah led the way, pulling me behind him. This room had tubs of glass-bottled beer, a luxurious drinking item for college students. Noah stopped and bought drinks for everyone. I tried to remember the rhyme. Was it liquor first and then beer or reverse?

“You look perplexed,” Noah said, leaning down to speak into my ear. His breath tickled my lobe and thoughts of our activities in the bar made me squeeze my legs together slightly. Thank god I was a girl. The shots were doing their job. I wondered if there were some dark corners I could take him into.

“I’m trying to remember if I should just keep drinking shots or if it’s okay to have beer.”

“Liquor first. You’re good to go,” Noah said and then sighed.

“Do you want to go?” First the glower and then the sigh.

“No, it’s all good,” he replied, squeezing my hand.

We wandered through to the back deck that was very crowded. There were two kegs out here and dozens of plastic cups already discarded on the ground like abandoned toys.

“Walk through the crowd with me,” Lana demanded. I turned to Noah and informed him of our plans.

“I’ll be right back,” I reassured him.

He nodded and went to hold up a piece of railing with Bo while the other guys delved into the crowd. Amy looked at Lana and me and then back at Bo. “Go forth, young pilgrim,” Lana said, winking at Amy.

We began a slow circuit through the crowd, saying hello to the people we knew. Lana was more familiar with the faces than I was. At the back of the yard, someone was handing out paper cups full of Jell-O shots. We were forced to swallow two before we could get out of there. By the time we had done a full circuit, we hadn’t seen Jack anywhere. It was early yet, but I felt buzzed.

“Lana,” I tugged at her hand, “how do you know when you should fake an orgasm?”

“I don’t think you’re going to have that problem with Noah,” she said, scanning the crowd.

“How do you know?” Had she slept with him!?

“No, I didn’t sleep with him.” She rolled her eyes, sounding disgusted. I must have said that out loud.

“Sorry. It just came out,” I apologized.

“Noah can barely allow your feet to touch the ground. He opens your doors. He carries your backpack for you. He makes sure you have food and that you’re entertained. Trust me when I say you aren’t going to have to fake anything.”

Rubbing the side of my face, I tried to add together all the facts. Impatiently, Lana grabbed my hand and said, “He will make sure you are satisfied. Don’t hide your reactions. He’ll learn from them.”

Lana’s explicit instructions penetrated a little better. Don’t hide. Be happy. Or was the song“ ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy?’” Confused again, I asked Lana, “Is this the point to stop drinking or keep drinking?”

Jack appeared out of nowhere to hand me a bottle and say hello to Lana. “Keep drinking,” he offered.

“Are you a genie?” I asked him stupidly. He laughed and tipped his head back to swallow his beer.

“No, why?” he asked, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth.

“We were just talking about you and, poof, here you are,” I said, looking at Lana. I didn’t want her to bring up my orgasm question in front of Jack.

“Like magic,” she nodded in agreement.

“I’ve got something magical, but I can’t show it to you here,” Jack replied. Lana rolled her eyes, but I was gone enough that I actually giggled despite his lack of originality.

I felt a warm hand at the nape of my neck and turned to find Noah behind me with a curious look on his face. Like he wanted to take Jack’s magic and crush it beneath his size 13s.

But when he noticed me looking up at him, he smiled that tender sweet half smile that I could tell was just for me. I swung myself around and threw my arms up to his neck.

“Whoa there,” he said, taking the beer bottle out of my hand. Apparently my actions had sprayed a little beer out of the newly acquired bottle. He said nothing about his bath and, instead, scooped me up to half walk, half carry me back to the railing, leaving Lana and Jack to discuss his David Blaine tricks.

Amy was still there with Bo, but there were others as well, guys and girls.

“Do all these people want to take Bo home?” I asked Noah. He choked a little on his drink and threw a look of glee toward Bo.

“I don’t know, but Bo’s pretty open minded, aren’t you Peep?”

Bo lifted a finger, but shifted closer to us so I could hear him. “You do know why we call Noah Jep right?”