Tipsy by Cambria Hebert Read Free Book Online Page B

myself think. The lighting was dim, most of it coming from
flashing neon bulbs and a disco ball over the dance floor. There
were booths lining the walls, all of them in the shadows, and a bar
shoved up against the right side of the room.
    It kind of looked like a huge empty
gym. The walls were plain. The floor was wide-open for dancing in
the center, and the bar was wooden with stools
underneath.
    There were people crowded
everywhere—around the bar, around the booths, on the edges of the
dance floor. The dance floor was seeing a lot of action as well.
Couples and groups were gyrating and dancing all over the place. A
DJ booth was set up on the far side of the room, and he was dancing
it up to the tunes as well.
    The air was thick in here, the amount
of bodies making it overly warm. It smelled slightly of stale smoke
and beer.
    “ Come on!” Dee yelled over
the music and pulled me over to the bar. Craig pushed his way
through the crowd and appeared several minutes later with a drink
for each of us. He was also carrying a shot of clear liquid, which
he extended to me.
    I took it without question and
swallowed it in one gulp. It burned the whole way down my throat,
and I felt it coat my stomach with fiery warmth. I took a sip of
the rum and coke in my hand and scanned the crowd.
    “ See anyone promising?” Dee
asked, leaning into my ear. I rolled my eyes. In this place? Yeah
right. I had a better chance of catching some weird airborne
disease in here than I had of actually meeting a guy worth
dating.
    “ No,” I yelled. “I’m not
looking anyway.” The sting of being rejected by Blue again was
still fresh. It was like one of those nasty cuts that just a brush
of the air caused it to burn and sting fiercely. Unfortunately, I
couldn’t slap a Band-Aid over my entire body. I was going to have
to deal.
    I took another sip of the drink,
feeling the effects of the shot already. I guess alcohol was sort
of like my Band-Aid tonight. I never drank so I knew it wouldn’t
take much to take away the sting—if only for a little
while.
    A new song switched on,
something by Pink, and suddenly I didn’t mind it was so loud. I liked not having
to think.
    “ Let’s dance!” Dee said and
pulled me out onto the dance floor.
    The three of us found some space on the
side and started moving to the beat. Dee was a good dancer. She
ground herself against Craig, who used his hands to pull her a
little closer. Eventually, I began to feel like the third wheel I
was, and I shook my empty cup at her and pointed to the
bar.
    She nodded and I stepped off the floor
and out of the crush of bodies. I tossed my cup in a nearby
trashcan, not really intending to get another. I was already
feeling it. I was a little fuzzy headed, my body was relaxed
(relaxed = uncoordinated), and I knew if I drank any more I would
be well on my way to drunk.
    I wandered toward the bathroom,
debating the toxicity of the germs in there, but my bladder made
the decision for me. The alcohol was going right through
me.
    Halfway to the bathroom, someone
stumbled into my path from a nearby booth. They bumped into me.
“Sorry,” they mumbled, righting themselves and disappearing into
the crowd.
    I adjusted my top and turned my
head.
    Familiar eyes collided with mine and my
heart stopped. It literally stopped beating. I felt like every
ounce of oxygen had been siphoned out of my lungs and they
collapsed right there beneath my ribs.
    Eyes that blue could only belong to one
man.
    My gaze raked over the rest of him,
confirming what I already knew.
    Blue was here.
    He was wearing clothes I never would
have guessed he owned. Scuffed-up jeans, a T-shirt, and a black
leather jacket. On his head was a gray knit skull cap. It covered
up the hair I ran my hands through just hours before. God, it felt
like years.
    Even more, there was a piercing in his
lip, a tiny silver ring that the flashing lights above occasionally
reflected off of.
    It made me yearn to know what that
metal felt