Chapter 18
Holiday Drinks
CHARLOTTE
Mars
Happy New Year’s Eve, lover
Jupiter
Ughhh, I think I’ll just have to start ignoring you. Maybe I’ll block you
Mars
Ha, no you won’t
Jupiter
You’re right. So, any big plans tonight?
Mars
I’m actually going to hang out at a friend’s house, you?
Jupiter
Just stayin home
Mars
Ah, no New Year’s Eve stroke of midnight kiss?
Jupiter
Sadly, no
Mars
Are we going to have to find you a chick when we find me a guy?
Jupiter
Haha, no thanks man Mars Okay, well I gotta run, just wanted to check on you before I left Jupiter All right, have a nice evening. I’ll text you at midnight Mars Oh good, it wouldn’t feel right without a text from my lover
Jupiter Nevermind, no text
Mars I’m kidding, you know it
Jupiter Yeah yeah, I’ll text you later. Have a good evening
With that, I put my phone away and grabbed my stuff to head to Tracy’s. I was excited to spend New Year’s with Tracy since I usually spent it alone. It was pretty pathetic, but sometimes one of the guys would be on for me to play with, and I always texted Jup at midnight. It was our special tradition. I would probably text him just a few minutes late this year since I would be with Tracy. I hoped he wouldn’t mind it being a little delayed.
Once I arrived at her house, I went up to the porch and rang the doorbell. Tracy greeted me with a big hug.
“Welcome, girlie!”
“Hey, Trace. Happy New Year’s Eve!” I said excitedly as we took my stuff up to her room.
“I’m so excited you’re here. Okay, we have about five hours until the New Year, so I thought we would play a game downstairs until then,” she
told me.
“Sounds great—lead the way.”
“Are you ladies ready to ring in the New Year?” TJ asked when we came downstairs. I noticed he was sitting on the couch drinking a beer.
“Most definitely!” Tracy said.
“We were about to play a game—want to join us?”
“If you two don’t mind, I’d love to. What are we playing?”
“Let’s play that party game where you connect your phone up to the system and have to answer questions or draw things on it,” Tracy said.
That sounded pretty fun.
“Okay, but if we’re playing that, we need alcohol,” TJ said.
“Um, you’re already drinking.” I couldn’t help stating the obvious.
“Oh, not me, you two. Trace, whatcha want?” TJ asked.
“Make me a coconut rum and soda, please.”
I hadn’t seen Tracy drinking before, but I’d also never seen her hanging out for long with her brother. I knew she used to go to parties a lot, so maybe it was normal for them to drink—or maybe it was a holiday thing.
“I’m not exactly a pro at mixing drinks, and beer isn’t my thing. I usually just drink whatever TJ whips up for me,” she clarified, noticing my
puzzled expression.
“Can he get you something?”
“Um, I’ve, um, never really had anything,” I confessed in a hushed tone, feeling a bit jittery with TJ still in the room.
“Seriously? Never?” she asked, her eyes wide with surprise.
“TJ, make it two. We need to rectify this teenage tragedy.”
“Sure thing,” he responded, a smirk playing on his lips as he looked at his sister.
TJ returned with two drinks, handing one to Tracy before settling down on the couch next to me. I was perched on the end closest to Tracy’s chair, but TJ chose to sit in the middle, right beside me, instead of on the other end. I figured he wanted to be close enough to hand me my drink. I took a tentative sip and coughed slightly as the liquid scorched my throat.
“That’s, um, potent,” I managed to say, still coughing a bit.
“Here, try this,” TJ offered, extending the beer he was sipping.
I accepted it from him and took a whiff. Yuck! It was possibly the most repugnant liquid I’d ever encountered. I must have grimaced because the twins burst into laughter. I cautiously brought the bottle to my lips and took a tiny sip. Wow! It tasted even worse than it smelled.
“Gross! You can have it back; it’s terrible,” I declared, handing TJ back his beer.
“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t like it, but I had to let you try it,” he said, chuckling.
“How can you drink that?” I asked, taking another sip of my own drink to wash away the awful taste.
“I guess it’s an acquired taste, but I see you’re managing your drink better now,” he observed.
Wow, he was right. I was actually drinking it. It had a pleasant coconut flavor. I found myself liking it.
“I think I’m getting used to the burn,” I admitted, taking another sip.
“We might need to keep an eye on her,” Tracy remarked.
“Keep an eye on who?” I asked, giggling again. Tracy was really amusing.
“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t think I made the drink that strong. But it’s okay; she isn’t going anywhere, so we don’t have to worry,” TJ added.
Did I mention how attractive he was? And those electric blue eyes of his were simply mesmerizing.
“All right, let’s get started. Charlotte, go to the website on the TV and
enter that code,” Tracy instructed.
“Who is Queen Bee?” I asked.
“Oh, you can choose any name you like. Queen Bee is Tracy,” TJ explained.
“So, you must be The One to Rule Them All?” I asked. The drink seemed to be loosening me up—I wasn’t as nervous anymore.
“Yup, what are you going to choose?” he asked.
I quickly typed a name onto the screen.
“What does 01101000 01101111 01101101 01100101 mean?” Tracy asked, struggling to read the long number.
“There’s no place like it,” I snickered, taking another sip of my drink.
TJ burst into laughter. I didn’t think I’d ever heard him laugh so hard, which made me laugh even harder. Tracy just sat there, looking at us like we were crazy—which only made us laugh more.
“Care to let me in on the joke?” Tracy asked.
“That’s binary for home. It’s a computer joke,” TJ explained.
Tracy looked between us in disbelief before muttering, “Wow, you two really are perfect for each other. Can we start playing now?”
“Okay, for the first round, they’ll tell you what to draw, and you use your phone to draw it,” TJ explained.
It seemed simple enough, but drawing on a phone was trickier than it sounded. We quickly discovered that none of us were particularly good at it.
Our drawings became increasingly hilarious as TJ kept the drinks coming.
We also played other games where we had to come up with questions and answers and stuff like that. It was a blast.
After a few hours of gaming, we took a short break to grab some chips and refill our drinks. I seized the opportunity to make a quick trip to the bathroom. On my way back, I stopped by the kitchen to see if TJ needed any help bringing stuff into the living room.
“Hey, need a hand?” I asked, the room spinning slightly. That feels
funny I thought, giggling to myself.
“Um, are you drunk?” TJ asked.
Funny question.
“No, silly,” I giggled again.
“I think you might be. Try walking in a straight line toward me,” TJ suggested.
“I can’t walk in a straight line to you. Lines don’t end, and I’d bump into you, and it would hurt because you’re all strong and muscular, and I don’t want to get hurt,” I said, laughing at him.
“Strong and muscular?”
“Oh, don’t pretend you didn’t know that,” I laughed.
“Anyway, humor me. Try walking in a straight line toward me. Just follow the line of the tile,” he requested again.
“But I don’t wanna,” I protested.
“That tile is all wavy and stuff, but whatever.”
I started giggling as I extended my arms like a tightrope walker at a circus and began walking toward him. This was challenging with the tile shifting all over the place.
After about two steps, the moving tile tripped me, and I stumbled forward, right into TJ.
“See! I told you I was going to crash into your muscularity,” I said, rubbing my nose and giggling.
“Damn, you’re adorable when you’re drunk,” he murmured.
“And you’re hard,” I responded.
“Oh, sweetheart, you have no idea,” he replied, winking for some reason.
“Huh? Yes, I do; my nose still hurts from you.”
He just chuckled and shook his head as he turned to head back to the living room. I started to follow him but tripped again. He laughed but came
over and wrapped his arms around my waist to help me.
“See, hard,” I said, poking him in the stomach, making him chuckle again.
“I think it’s time I switch you away from alcohol.”
“But that’s not fair! I like it,” I whined, giving him a pouty face.
“So cute, but no.”
“Boo.”
After a few more rounds of games on the TV, it was almost midnight.
True to his word, TJ wasn’t letting me drink any more alcohol, and the room had stopped spinning somewhat. He was making me drink water and sitting close to me to prevent me from falling, I guess. It was sweet of him to take care of me. I wondered why Tracy wasn’t saying anything. I guessed she didn’t notice how close he was to me.
Tracy switched the TV to a channel that was showing the big crystal ball and had a countdown until midnight. She then handed us each a popper, and we stood up to count down. TJ still had his arm around me, like he did when we walked into the living room earlier.
“I think I’m okay to stand on my own now. You’ve been doing a great job giving me water to help me feel better,” I told him.
“Yeah, I don’t think so. I better keep holding you to be safe,” he told me. I never knew he was so considerate. It was nice of him to help his sister’s friend so much.
“Oh, okay. I guess it’s good to be safe,” I agreed. I leaned into him since he was pulling me toward him.
“All right, guys, ten seconds left!” Tracy announced.
We all counted down together, “…three, two, one, Happy New Year!”
We pulled the strings on our poppers, and little strings of confetti went everywhere. Tracy quickly pulled me into a hug and wished me a Happy New Year before heading to the kitchen to grab some champagne for us to toast with.
After she left, TJ pulled me back next to him, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“Happy New Year,” he said softly, using a hand to tilt my head upward
so I was looking into his eyes.
“Happy New Year,” I echoed.
He then leaned forward and gently brushed his lips against mine.
“What? What was that for?” I asked, taken aback.
“Isn’t it tradition to kiss a beautiful girl on New Year’s at midnight?” he
asked me.
“Beautiful?”
“Gorgeous,” he corrected before threading his hand through my hair and pulling me back up to him, kissing me again, this time with more passion.
I gasped in surprise, and TJ seized the opportunity to deepen the kiss.
I wasn’t sure what I had expected my first kiss to be like, but it certainly wasn’t this. Kissing TJ felt incredible—like I was floating among the stars, lost in time. I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep me close to him as I felt my knees go weak. After what felt like an eternity, he pulled away, leaving us both breathless.
I was completely speechless as I just stared up at him, lost in his eyes.
He leaned down one last time and gave me a chaste kiss on the lips before pulling back and wishing me a Happy New Year again. He then left the room to see if Tracy needed some help. Wow! I collapsed on the couch, out of breath and utterly confused. I then remembered that I was supposed to text Jup, so I pulled out my phone. It was hard to think about Jupiter, however, with my mind still consumed by TJ. I couldn’t break tradition
with my best friend, though.
Mars
Happy New Year bestie Jupiter Happy New Year! Are you okay? I was expecting a lover comment Mars Oh, sorry. Just didn’t feel like teasing you. I hope you’re having a wonderful New Year.
Jupiter The absolute best. You?
Mars Amazing
Jupiter Good! All right, I’ll let you get back to it. Will you be on later to play?
Mars Of course, gotta wish the rest of the guys a Happy New Year. Night
