Chapter 81

I groaned and showed Maria the message. She covered her mouth with her hand.

“He did hear us talking about our plans,” she said. “I can’t believe he would do that!”

“I can,” I muttered. I don’t know what had gotten into him lately, but I sure was tired of it.

“Don’t worry,” Maria said. “I’ll keep an eye out for him and run interference.”

At that moment, three very handsome men in their mid- to late thirties walked up to us.

“We heard you had a bet going to see how many drinks you could have bought for you?” One of them said, looking back and forth between Maria and I.

“That would be her,” Maria said with a smile.

I looked past the men and saw Rachel smiling at us. She gave me a wink.

“We’d love to buy you a round. What’s your poison?” Another said.

Eric had heard this and turned from the second girl he’d found to talk to. “Hey!” He looked back at Rachel, who turned and hid her face when he did. “This game is rigged!”

Maria and I laughed.

“Oh, is that the asshole you’re up against?” The third man said, pointing to Eric.

“It is,” I said.

“I’m buying you two drinks then,” he winked at me.

Eric groaned. “Thank you for that,” he said to the man. He looked at me. “That’s my brother,” he said, rolling his eyes.

“Ha!” Maria said. She high-fived the brother.

“So what’s the score now?” His brother asked.

“I believe that’s 6 for Hazel, and 1 for…” Maria narrowed her brow.

“Eric,” he muttered. “And yes. Only one for me.”

I put my hand over my heart. “Let me buy you one,” I said to him.

“I don’t want your pity drink, I’m winning this fair and square,” he said, then softened. “But thank you, that’s really sweet.”

I smiled as I watched him look for another person that might possibly buy him a drink.

“She likes buttery nipple shots,” Maria told the three men in front of us. My cheeks burned. I really wished there was a different name for that shot. Unfortunately it was really the only shot I knew by name.

“You got it,” Eric’s brother said, and the three of them walked over to the bartender. They came back a few minutes later with four shots for me and one for each of them and Maria.

“Hey, maybe I should get in on this bet,” Maria said before she downed hers.

“Mm, I need a DD,” I said, taking each of my shots. The three men gawked at me.

“Impressive,” one of them finally said.

“No, it’s not. She’s a lightweight, you’ll see,” Maria said.

She wasn’t wrong. I was already beginning to feel a little spacey and dizzy and light-headed. I suppressed a giggle. I was a giggler when I got drunk and I didn’t want them to know their shots had hit me so fast.

“Did you buy the two from me yet?” Maria asked.

I shook my head. She held out her hand for the money she’d given me then walked down to the bartender for two more shots. Oh boy, I thought. I’d better sit down for this. I returned to my original stool and sat.

Maria brought me the two shots and leaned in to whisper. “Don’t look now, but Logan just walked in.”

“Ughhhh,” I groaned louder than I intended to. “Let me at that asshole, I’ll give him what for.”

“Shhh,” Maria said. “Let’s use our inside voices.”

“Oh,” I said, grabbing the bar top to keep from swaying. “Was I being loud?”

“Still are,” she said. “I’m going to go talk to him, will you be okay?”

I gave her a big, exaggerated nod. “I’ve got these two shots to keep me company.” I picked them up and held them up in the air to show her.

“I’ll be right back,” she said. “Don’t leave this spot.”

I gave her a thumbs up, then downed both shots. I looked around for Eric, who was getting another drink from the girl he was currently talking to. He looked around and when he spotted me, he held up the drink and two fingers.

I looked around for someone else that might help me. A guy in his 40s maybe was passing behind me and I waved at him. “Sir, could I interest you in buying me a drink?”

He frowned at me. “I think you’ve had enough,” he said and kept walking.

“It’s for a bet!” I called after him, but he ignored me. I blew a raspberry in his direction and turned back to the bar.

Eric walked up to me. “You doing okay?” He said, a smile creeping at the corners of his lips.

“I’m doing very well,” I said, starting to slur my words. “I think I’m winning.”

He tried to suppress his smile. “Yeah, I’d say you are. Do you want to stop and declare a winner? I’m a little worried about your liver at this rate.”

“Pfffft, no way, you need a chance to catch up,” I looked around the bar. At that moment, an upbeat country song that I loved came on the jukebox. I grabbed Eric’s arm. “Ohhh, I love this song! Dance with me!”

“Oh, uh…okay,” Eric said, helping me off the stool. I leaned on him very heavily, as the room suddenly started moving around like a gyroscope. “Are you sure you can dance?”

“Oh, yes, I’m very good at it,” I nodded.

He laughed. “I meant, are you able to stand upright long enough to dance?”

“Oh,” I shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out!”

Eric helped me walk to the dance floor. I leaned on him and lead him in a two-step. It felt very well done to drunk me, but sober me guesses it was quite the sloppy train wreck. Still, Eric was a perfect gentleman and held onto me for dear life so I wouldn’t fall over.

The song ended and we stopped. I pouted at him. “Heyyy.”

“I didn’t end it,” he said. “How you feeling? Do you want to keep dancing?”

I gave him a big head nod.

“Alright, you got it.”

I waited for the next song to start and gasped when it did. It was quite the opposite, a rap song from the 90s, but it was another one fo my favorites.

“This is going to require a table,” I said, moving to the nearest empty one.

“A what?” He asked, sounding mildly panicked.

“A table,” I said, the ‘duh’ implied.

“For what?” He said.

“You’ll see,” I said. I pulled off the denim jacket I was wearing and threw it across the bar. I was vaguely aware of a couple people yelling and ducking when the jacket came flying their way. I stood on one of the chairs to help myself up to the table. I started feeling a little wobbly on it.

“Oh my god,” Eric said, running over to help steady me. “I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”

“That’s because you haven’t seen my sick moves yet,” I said, stepping from the chair to the top of the table, holding onto Eric’s shoulder for balance.

I slowly stood upright, holding my hands out in front of me for balance. When I felt steady enough, I slowly started bobbing my knees and shaking my butt.

“Get it girl!” I heard someone yell.

“I will!” I yelled back. I took off the button down top I was wearing and revealed a white tank underneath. I spun it over my head and threw it out into the crowd, who began cheering. I started dancing with more vigor.

“Oh my god,” Eric said. “Please be careful.”

“You be careful!” I parroted.

I saw Logan approach the table. I ignored him and kept dancing. But I wasn’t as steady as I thought, because next thing I knew, I was falling forward off the table in slow motion.