Love At First Night

16.

THE MUSIC IS only marginally quieter in the kitchen.

Everyone is congregated around the bar, which isn't really a bar so much as a long table constructed out of plywood that's being staffed by two very tall boys and a dark-haired girl with a gold hoop in her nose. Half the room is carrying a red cup. The other half is shouldering their way forward in the hopes of getting one. I brace myself against the swaying crowd and tighten my grip on Joy's hand (so I won't lose her) and Lisa's (because I don't want her to lose me, either).

"It's the birthday girl!" the girl with the nose ring shouts when we reach the bar.

Lisa laughs. "Hey, Sana. Any chance we get VIP access?"

Sana shifts some cases of beer and bags of red cups out of the way, revealing an opening under part of the bar. Lisa presses a hand to the small of my back, guiding me forward, and then I'm ducking to get under the plywood. Joy's next to follow.

"Oh, I like this," she says when she pops up with me on the other side. "I like this a lot."

There's actually breathing room back here, in the open space behind the makeshift bar. My shoulders sag with relief. Then Lisa ducks under the bar to join us, and suddenly there's less space, but I'm not mad about it.

Not at all.

"What do you want?" She asks.

You. "I don't know. What are the options?"

"Beer, wine, vodka, tequila, whiskey. Anything you want. Just-" Lisa winces, then reaches out to pat the side of an enormous plastic Gatorade barrel perched up on the bar,"-don't touch the jungle juice. It's got like six different types of hard alcohol in it. You'll be blacked out before you finish your first cup."

Joy wordlessly slips around us, plucks a cup off the stack, and dispenses herself a glass.

"Are you serious?" I ask.

She takes a sip and smacks her lips. "I'm never serious. Oh, wow. This is poison. Yep. Okay. You stay and do your thing, and I'm going to challenge someone to beer pong before this stuff hits. I'll be making friends and enemies, if you need me." She adds, in a mock-whisper she hides from Lisa with one hand, "Don't need me."

Then Joy slips out from under the bar and disappears, leaving me with Lisa.

Alone-and also very much not alone.

"I'll take some red wine," I blurt. "I mean, if you have some."

Lisa flags down Sana, who's busy distributing cans of beer to half the lacrosse team, and relays my order to her. She reaches for the boxed wine. Lisa redirects her to an unopened bottle hidden in a cabinet on the other side of the bar. Sana cocks an eyebrow and gives me a look that's a little impressed and a lot intrigued.

"What's the special occasion?" She teases.

"My birthday," Lisa says. Her tone is bored, but there's a pink flush to her cheeks.

I watch as the cork is popped and my own personal wine is poured into a red cup.

"Here you go, babe," Sana says.

"Thanks so much." I put my nose over the rim and sniff. "Shit. Is this real wine?"

Lisa cracks a smile. "Of course it's real wine."

For a solid three seconds, I'm convinced there are honest-to-God stars twinkling in her eyes before I realize it's just the reflection of the string lights pinned up around the crown molding over the kitchen cabinets. She looks so beautiful. And she's so tall that, even in my heeled boots, I have to tip my chin up to look at her. The last time we saw each other, she was sitting down. Now that we're both upright, I'm reminded how well our bodies slot together when she lifts me and I can wrap my legs around the middle of her. She was able to pick me up with only one good arm. I wonder what she could do with two.