stumble back into the hotel tonight, I’ll show you.”
“It’ll be too late by then,” I said.
“Then you’ll just have to trust me, Jimmy.”
She was smiling but her eyes held the challenge. Do you trust me to know what I want when no one has in years?
“I trust you,” I said.
Her shoulders relaxed and her gaze softened. “Thank you,” she said, easing a breath. “Now let’s have some serious fun.”
We joined the line snaking around the corner of the club. Since it was relatively early, it moved fast. Once inside, Thea went straight to the bar and grabbed us two stools on the corner.
“We need shots,” she declared. “Tequila.”
“You haven’t been drunk in more than two years,” I reminded her. “Your tolerance is going to be shit.”
“Which is why I’ll only need one shot,” she said with a grin. “Or two. Or three.”
“Two, max,” I said.
Her eyes flashed. “Are you telling me what to do now, too?”
“Babe, you weigh about a hundred pounds. I don’t want you to get alcohol poisoning.”
She smirked. “I weigh a lot more than a hundred pounds.” She silenced my protest with a kiss. “Thank you for keeping me safe, but I can take care of myself too. I’ll drink lots of water.” Thea called to the bartender, “Tequila shots, sir.”
“That’s how you do it, honey,” said a woman from the mixed group of young people next to us.
“Right?” Thea said. “If you’re going to party, then par-tay.”
Soon enough, Thea was the party. She had the bartender line up shots not only for us but our neighbors at the bar. I hesitated before taking mine.
“I’m keeping you wild, Jimmy,” Thea said. “Don’t give up on me.”
I cocked my head at her choice of words, but in the end, she wanted this night, and I wanted to give it to her. We knocked back the shots in unison. The tequila went down smooth and I was suddenly hot all over. The dance music thumped so loudly, I could feel it in my pulse.
Another shot followed the first, and I tried to keep track, to make sure Thea wasn’t overdoing it. Hell, I needed not to overdo it. But she slammed back a glass of water and then tugged on my hand.
“Come dance.”
I shook my head. “I don’t dance. It’s just not in my DNA.”
She pouted, then bounded off with her new friends. She danced with abandon, laughing, her eyes lit up and a thin sheen of sweat glistened over her skin.
More drinks followed, and the alcohol did what alcohol does—make bad shit feel a million miles away and consequences even further. I lost track of how many drinks were pressed on me while trying to keep track of Thea’s. But as promised, she had a water glass in her hand more often than a cocktail and I relaxed. The enormous space was a pulsing box of light and sound. People talking, bodies dancing, flashing lights, and the pounding beat of one song after another.
The night began to break into pieces and time became a nebulous thing, stretching out and contracting. I felt as if I were underwater. Thea swam up like a mermaid with her long hair loose and flowing.
“Hey, baby.” She put her arms around my neck and kissed me wetly, tasting of some sweet cocktail I couldn’t remember her ordering.
Maybe it’s the same as the one in your hand.
I looked down. A mai tai? The fuck. I didn’t drink mai tais.
“I have to piss,” I slurred. “Watch our stuff?”
“Anything for you,” she said and plopped heavily onto one of the stools.
I slipped out of my jacket—why the fuck was I still wearing it? It was hot as hell in here. I stumbled through a morass of people to the bathroom and took a piss—mostly hitting the target. I washed my hands and peered blearily at the reflection in the mirror. There were two of me and I had to squint one eye to focus.
Time to call it.
I somehow found my way back through the crowd to Thea. “I’m drunk,” I stated.
“Me too,” she said, but her eyes looked clear. Or maybe it was the shifting lights.
“Let’s go,” I said.
A shadow seemed to cross her face before she smiled tipsily at me.
“One more dance,” she shouted in my ear. “Please, Jimmy,” she said. Begged. “I don’t want this night to end.”
“Thea…” But she was already gone, dancing to a song I put on my phone for her at Blue Ridge, a million years and a lifetime ago.