“Now let’s have some fun,” said Laura as she passed each person a shot glass and a lime slice. She licked her hand and shook
the salt on her hand. “Pass it around.” Each person did the same thing.
“Now what shall be our first toast?” asked Veronica.
“Hmm,” said Howie. “To…”
“Imminent success!” exclaimed Lauralee.
“Now I’ll drink to that,” said Kevin. They all toasted, licked the salt off of their hands, drank the shot, and sucked on the lime.
“Wow,” Lauralee breathed as the tequila burned its way down her throat.
“Jose’s the best,” said Howie.
“One thing though,” said Lauralee. “Who drove?”
“Me,” said Kevin.
“Shall I take the keys now, or do you stop shooting?”
Kevin took his keys from his pocket, and tossed them her way without saying a word. The others were concerned with Lauralee’s outburst a couple of weeks ago, so she gave Alex the go on telling them the truth. They were there for her, especially Kevin, who had also lost his father a couple of years earlier. Kevin was like a mentor to her, trying to console about the grief she had felt. “Crash here or get a cab?”
“Let’s see how the night goes,” said Howie.
~*~
The night wore on: talk, shoot, talk some more, shoot some more. During all the talking, all Lauralee could notice was the chemistry that built but between Kevin and Laura, as well as Howie and Veronica. She knew even before they had met, they would be perfect together. As Lauralee got to know the other guys over the past 2 months, she could only say in the back of her mind: That’s something Laura would do, or, Veronica would say the same thing. Even Alex, as her heard about Lauralee’s two best friends, felt that they were his friends’ counterparts.
After a few hours, and a whole bottle gone, Laura unsteadily got up, went to the kitchen and grabbed another bottle. “Anyone for another?”
“Yeah,” a drunk Kevin said. “Another round everybody?”
“Hmm?” Lauralee said, her head resting on Alex’s shoulder. She pushed her hand on Alex’s chest to support herself. “Yeah… yeah man another drink!”
“I say… we do some body shots,” said Howie, looking at Veronica.
“D, are you sure that’s you, or Jose talking?” asked Alex.
“I don’t care who it is,” said Veronica. “I like that idea. But, I like to kiss a guy before he licks my shoulder.”
Howie, now his eyes in intoxicating slits, said “I think I can accommodate you on that.” He grabbed her face and kissed her lips gently. When he pulled away, Veronica, reeling from the pleasure, gave him a sultry smile.
Kevin, slipping his arm around Laura, stated “Now we can’t be left in the dark, can we?”
“I don’t think so.”
Laura leaned into Kevin for a soft kiss. Alex leaned into Lauralee’s ear. “You were right.”
“I told you so,” whispered Lauralee back. “Now I hope they remember in the morning.”
~*~
That morning, or afternoon, Lauralee woke up in her bedroom with Alex’s arm around her stomach. As she lifted her head up, she felt the pangs of last night in her head. Her head feeling as heavy as a bowling ball, she quickly dropped back into the pillow. She closed her eyes to try to stop the room from spinning and turned her head.
“Alex, baby?”
“Mmm?” He said in a daze, his voice gritty like sandpaper.
“You awake?”
He lifted one eye open. “What time is it?”
“About 12:30.”
“Alright, time to get the lead out,” he tried to lift his head and quickly dropped it, his hand resting on it. “Damn, am I facing the consequences!” He went to the night table, grabbed a glass of water and drank it to soothe his dry throat.
“Better?” Lauralee said.
“A little,” Alex’s voice returning to normal. “You OK?”
“I don’t know, is the room supposed to move?”
“Only if we’re in California,” Alex said, turning on his side to face her. “Did I ever tell you how beautiful you look in the
morning?”
“Wow, you must still be drunk,” laughed Lauralee, the pains in her head sharpening.
“Speaking of California, giving it any thought?”
“Baby, one rule when it comes to hangovers, decision making makes the head pound even more.”
“Just making sure you’re thinking about it.”
“I told you, I have to talk… oh wait a minute, I better check the body shot royalty downstairs. I hope there wasn’t an orgy happening in my living room.”
“Yeah, especially if we weren’t there.” Lauralee looked at him wide eyed. “I’m kidding baby. A little alcohol humor. Let’s go downstairs.”
Lauralee and Alex shuffled downstairs to find Howie and Kevin passed out on the couches, with coats used as blankets. There were lime slices and empty shot glasses on the coffee table. Alex went to Kevin and shook his shoulder.
“Kev, man, get up.”
Kevin stirred in his drunken sleep.
“Kevin, don’t make me scream.” Alex shook him harder.
“Alright, I’m up,” Kevin said, then falling back down. “No I’m not. Man my head!”
“You earned it buddy. Now Howie.” He walked over to him.
“Good luck, AJ, that’s like trying to part the Red Sea.” Kevin turned to Lauralee. “He’ll sleep through a tornado.”
“D. D, get up, rise and shine.” Howie didn’t move. “Damn, this boy can sleep.”
“I’ll handle this,” said Lauralee. She went up to Howie and tickled his neck. Slowly his eyes opened with a smile. Then his eyes went wide.
“Lau? Jesus what happened? I wasn’t that drunk.”
“It was magical,” said Lauralee. Kevin and Alex’s snorts rang through the room.
“Ha-ha, very funny,” Howie said with a grunt. He slowly picked himself up as Kevin and Alex laughed loudly.
“God, I came here to get some relaxation and all I’m getting is noise like a garbage truck!”
They all turned to see Laura and Veronica standing there rubbing their eyes.
“Good afternoon starshine,” said Lauralee.
“Oh hush up,” Veronica said. “Where’s the aspirin?”
“I brought it down, I figured we could all use it,” said Alex. He went into the kitchen. “Lau? Where’s the coffee?”
“I’m coming,” said Lauralee. She went into the kitchen, where Alex was looking in the cabinets. Lauralee opened the cupboard and pulled it out.
“You think they remembered what happened last night?” asked a hopeful Lauralee.
“Don’t know,” said Alex, “but at least they had a lot of fun in the moment.”
Lauralee had a fallen face as she filled the coffeepot with water. “Uh, babe?” said Alex.
“What?”
“I think their memory has come back,” he said with a laugh. “Come here.”
Lauralee overlooked the shelf, seeing Laura and Kevin holding hands, while Veronica was sitting on Howie’s lap, all watching some cheesy talk show.
“By George, you got it!” said Alex.
“Waiter, I’ll have a romance for four please,” said Lauralee. She gave Alex a celebratory hug.
Chapter 13
Contents
Chapter 11