He doesn't do anything

Mike’s hug lasts far longer than you want and his hand seems to drift a little too low for your liking. You quickly pull away and send a mild glare at him, but all he does is smile innocently.

“Hey, Jane,” Lyndsey pulls your attention away, shouting over the music. “Wanna go dance?”

You glance where Lyndsey is gesturing and see a group of people in the living room grinding on each other. The strobe light hurts your eyes as it flashes, giving the people dancing a weird jerking illusion. You glance at Mike only to see that he’s moved on to another group.

You nod.

All you have to do is participate for an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Then you can go home and curl up in your comfy bed with a good book.

Lyndsey leads you out to the dance floor and starts swinging her hips to the beat. You follow her lead and move, however awkwardly, to the music.

You dance by yourself for a few minutes until you feel a tap on your shoulder. You turn around and see Lyndsey offering you a red solo cup. You take it and peer inside. It’s clear, like water. Without another thought, you down it.

It burns!

You start coughing violently! That was not water!

You look up at Lyndsey to see her laughing, hard.

“Jane!” She’s gasping for air between laughs. “That was tequila!” She’s bent over from laughing so hard. “You weren’t supposed to drink it yet!”

You’re too busy glaring at her and coughing up a lung to respond. Lyndsey grabs your wrist and pulls you towards a group in the kitchen.

“Can you guys give Jane another shot.” She elbows you, a large grin on her face. “Genius here just downed it by itself.”

“Damn!” One of the guys say. You’ve never seen him before, but he’s kinda cute. “I bet that burned.”

You clear your throat. “Yeah.”

The guy wordlessly pours you another shot.

“Alright,” he starts, “has everyone here done a tequila shot before?”

Lyndsey points to you and your face turns bright red. “Jane hasn’t!” She snickers. “At least not the right way.”

The stranger smiles at you. “Ok, here’s what you do, you lick your hand.” You watch as he licks his hand by his thumb and forefinger. “You pour some salt on it. You lick it off and take your shot.” You watch as he licks the salt off this time and downs his shot. Immediately sucks on the lemon in his hand. He clears his throat and smiles at you. “That’s it. Trust me, it’s easier than what you just did on the dance floor.”

Your cheeks turn red, but you ignore it. You follow his instructions, stopping just as you have the salt on your hand.

“Ok!” The stranger shouts. “GO!”

All of you at once, lick the salt, take the shot, and bite into your lime or lemon. You gasp at the end. While it was definitely better doing the shot that way, you can’t help but cringe at the sourness of your lemon. Maybe you should have chosen the lime?

“See,” Lyndsey nudges you with her elbow, “that wasn’t so bad was it?”

Inwardly, you want to roll your eyes at her, but you have to admit the night hasn’t been as bad or stressful as you thought it’d be. You shake your head. “No, it wasn’t.”

“Hey, Max.” Lyndsey looks at the stranger who had shown you how to take the tequila shot. “You got any other drinks?”

Max motions to the fridge. “There’s some beer in there if you want. Otherwise you’re looking at tequila or vodka.” He gestures towards the dining room table where a group of people are gathered around, laughing and taking shots. “They’ve commandeered one of the vodka bottles and are drinking them without chasers.” He shudders. “I can’t do that.”

Lyndsey smiles at you hopefully, “Wanna join in the drinking game in the dining room?”

You’ve already had two shots of tequila – in a row. And considering that you aren’t the kind of girl who drinks… ever, you’re already starting to get a nice buzz. You shake your head. “No thanks, you go ahead.”

Lyndsey doesn’t wait for you to tell her again. She turns and practically runs to the table, abandoning you with Max.

He smiles at you. “I’m Max. I don’t think I’ve seen you at one of these parties before.”

“Jane. I don’t usually come to these things. I’m not much of a partier,” you admit.

“Shame,” he looks you up and down, making you fidget slightly, “I wish I’d met you earlier.”

“Why’s that?”

“I go back to college next semester. I took this one off to save money, so I’ll be leaving in two weeks to go back to school.”

You brighten at this. Max is in college?! You’ve been wondering about how different it is compared to high school. You use this opportunity to learn what you can. You ask him about his major (marketing), dorms or apartment (house with 3 roommates and an illegal cat), classes, the teachers, his fellow students.

At one point during your conversation, Max gave you a beer, which you nursed until he challenged you in a beer chugging race that he won. He also talked you into another tequila shot before handing you another beer.

You were drunk. Drunk and happy.

You were talking to a gorgeous college guy about college and life after high school and you were feeling much more confident than usual. What was there to not be happy about?

The kitchen had gotten even more crowded during your conversation and your drunkenness was making it hard for you to concentrate and hear him over the music. This resulted in the two of you inching closer and closer until you were practically talking in each other’s ears. At one point, someone bumped into you and you stumbled into Max, who easily caught you. But you found yourself having a hard time keeping your balance anyway.

“Hey, let’s get you out of here,” his voice feels warm against your ear. “You’re pretty drunk.”

You nod in agreement, too happy with his voice to ruin it with yours.

Max wraps his arm around you and leads you through the house. It doesn’t take long before you two find a quiet room and he helps you over to the bed.

Once there he helps you sit down.

You smile up at him. “Thank you, Max.” Unbeknown to you, you’re slurring your words. “You’re a good guy.”

“Well, you’re a cool girl,” he answers as he sits next to you.

You snort at that. “I’m so not.” You wave your hand dismissively in the air. “I’m such a nerd and I hate parties like this. I’d much rather be home reading.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you hate parties like this?”

“Because!” You blink as you try to think of a better answer. “I… I don’t really know most of these people.” You shrug. “And the ones I do know are mean.”

“I see…” You look over at Max who’s staring at you as if debating something. “Jane?”

“Hmm?”

“I think I can change your mind about these parties.”

You snort again. “How?”

As soon as you ask the question, his lips are on yours. You stiffen at this unexpected turn of events. But you’re still drunk, so the small amount of pressure against you knocks you back.

Max is still kissing you, his body lying next to yours as he balances on hand so his face is over yours. His other hand is hooked around the back of your neck, keeping your mouth angled to give him better access.