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Del Fuego

I slid into a chair at the bar with a jelly donut in my hand.

"And what'll you have, Maya," he asked, smiling.

"How do you know how to do this?" I asked, gesturing to the mixers.

"Bartending? Taught myself. Watched pretty girls at bars for quite some time, but I'm not complaining," he replied.

I nodded, "I'll have a-"

"Wait," he held a hand up and slid a multi-page laminated booklet to me.

"Are you familiar with the Treehouse specials?" he asked.

I snorted, "The Treehouse has its own cocktails?" I asked.

"Of course we do!" He said. 

I read through the makeshift menu. I have to admit, they sounded pretty good. They used fruit and random flavors with alcohol to make really interesting sounding combinations.

"I'll have a-" I squinted at the menu, "Del Fuego."

He smiled wickedly. "Are you sure? You don't seem like a Del Fuego kind of person," he said.

"Shut up and make it," I said. He snorted.

A Del Fuego was Vodka, a Maraschino cherry, cinnamon, and jalapeno. It was ridiculously spicy.

I watched Josh pour and drop and shake the drink, the he lit it on fire. I laughed. He put it out and handed it to me. I took a sip. The vodka burned my throat, and the jalapeno made it feel like my insides were being boiled.

"Whew!" I shrieked, laughing so hard I feared the fire might come out of my nose, which would've hurt like hell. My eyes were watering.

Lucas came over and sat next to me, a cupcake in each hand. He was beaming.

"Del Fuego?" he asked. Josh nodded. He shook his head, laughing, "Give me a Rubi, would you?" he asked. Josh nodded and got to work.

"Do they all have Spanish names?" I asked.

Lucas laughed, "Yeah. Josh thought they sounded cooler."

I shrugged, "They kind of do."

Josh handed Lucas his drink, shaking his head, "Rubi. You always were a softie, Lucas," he said. 

"What's a Rubi?" I asked, trying to recall the menu. 

"Rose wine, strawberries, and sparkling water," he said matter-of-factly. I giggled. Lucas laughed and sipped his drink. He leaned over and kissed me gently, then fell out of his chair.

"Holy crap, Maya!" he ran behind the bar and stuck his whole head in the ice chest.

Josh was doubled over with laughter, "That's- not- very- sanitary," he spluttered in between fits of laughter.

"What happened?" I asked, confused.

"You had Del Fuego on your lips," Josh said, still shaking with laughter.

I started to laugh, too. If Lucas drank Rubis, I knew he would die if he had a Del Fuego.

He yanked his head out of the ice chest and dried his face off with a dish towel.

"I'm sorry, Lucas!" I said, hugging him, "You couldn't take the fire," I tried to sound as sympathetic as possible.

He pecked me on the cheek, laughing.

"Whatever," he said, sipping his Rubi.

Riley was laughing behind me. I turned, to see Farkle and Zay racing to finish their halves of a rainbow citrus cake before the other one. Farkle finished first, and Riley cheered. Zay shrugged and shoved the rest of the cake in his mouth. Riley and Farkle came over to the bar while Zay attacked a box of powdered donuts.

Josh slid Riley and Farkle the menu.

"Can I have a Jueves?" Farkle asked.

"Coming right up," he said.

I laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of ordering Spanish-named cocktails off a menu for a seventeen-year-old to make up in a tree house.

"What's a Jueves?" Riley asked.

"Rum, orange soda, and pomegranate," Farkle answered prompty.

"What do you want, Riley?" I asked. Riley wasn't that good with alcohol in general.

She perused the menu some more, "I can't decide between a Claro Vaso and a Delphin," she said.

"What's in them?" I asked.

"A Claro Vaso is rose wine, blueberry, and maple syrup; a Delphin is gin, caramel, vanilla, and mandarin oranges," she said.

I shrugged, "You like maple syrup and blueberries," I said.

"Yeah, I'll have a Claro Vaso," she said.

We all sipped our drinks, and Farkle passed down a gallon of chocolate ice cream. 

After that, we ate cake and more ice cream and donuts. Josh made us all seconds and thirds of super awesome cocktails, but not strong enough so we got drunk.

It was on the top ten of the best nights of my life.