Theoretically Speaking

Chapter Seven

It ended up being both – alcohol and a rant.

“Didn’t I choose drinking?” Daniel asked with a groan.

I laughed. The simple sound created a distant ringing in my head. “Think of it as a…‘buy one, get one free’ deal.”

“Lucky me.” He leaned back in his stool and tipped his beer over his mouth. On our way back, he’d stopped at a friend’s house and emerged with a six-pack and a bottle of gin. Except for a little wine here and there, I wasn’t one for strong alcohol – mainly because it didn’t seem to like me very much – but in such depressing moments of life, it was a girl’s best friend. After finishing two glasses, I barely noticed the burn the alcohol left when it trickled down my throat. It just trickled. And trickled some more.

I stared at my full glass. “I wasted seven hours driving here so a psychic could screw with my plans more and so I could get drunk.” Today’s clue had eliminated the online dating plan, but hadn’t exactly made it any easier. I’d bought the shirt four years ago – back then, I didn’t wear it too much. Now, Brooke teased me that it had become somewhat of a uniform for me. How was I supposed to remember when I wore that shirt? And how dare Claire try to mess up my plans? “But it doesn’t matter. Cause Vince is The One.”

“That’s why he hasn’t called?” Although Daniel was drinking almost as much as I was, he didn’t look or sound the least bit drunk.

“Yet. He hasn’t called me yet. Cause he’s gonna call. He knows he’s The One. The One always knows that kinda stuff, y’know?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “How do you know Vince didn’t call?”

“You say a lot of things when you drink.”

I did. To think that would have stopped me from drinking with Aidan’s best friend, but clearly not. By now, I’d told him about Vince…and I knew I told him that I wanted to sell my parents’ house, a decision I had no idea when I’d become so sure of. I told him about not being able to pay my bills…and if I remembered correctly, I also told him about drooling when I slept. And sleepwalking when I was stressed. And…

“Did I tell you about my boobs?”

The corner of his lips tugged up, and his eyes glinted with amusement. He nodded, looking straight ahead. “Your left’s bigger than your right.”

Oh gosh, I really needed to stop drinking. I needed to keep my hands occupied.

I took a large mouthful of the gin and emptied the glass for a third time. Daniel nudged me with his elbow. “Don’t worry about it. Tomorrow morning, you won’t remember telling me any of this.”

“And you will?”

He had on a crooked grin. “High alcohol tolerance. It takes a lot to get me drunk.”

I looked at him, studying his face. It was a beautiful face. His hair, wet from the rain that had started on the way back, thick and dark, stuck to his forehead. His features were sharp – strong jaw, straight nose without a bump, permanent frown on his face.

“You know, you’re kinda really hot. Like, beautiful-hot. You must have good genes. Or plastic surgery, but I’ll go with good genes. I bet your dad’s hot.” Aeryn, shut up.

A grin spread across his face as he leaned forward. I could almost taste his breath on my face. “You’re drunk.”

“Doesn’t make you less hot.”

“For you, it makes me more.”

I grinned. “So you’re admitting you’re hot.”

“Never said that.”