Yes

"No no, I can do it" I said with as much confidence as I could muster. I picked up my drink and poured it down my throat. If there was any more in my glass, it would of gone all over the floor. One of the older fencers gave a little clap as I placed my glass back down on the table.

Tom and Katie came over with enough shots for all the freshers and themselves. Inside was a clear liquid, and even though I could smell it, I had no idea what was it was.

I reached over to grab a glass when John placed a hand on my arm. I gave him a puzzled look.

"It's tequila. You really want to do it without the rest of it?"

How complicated can a shot be? Oh wait, is tequila the one where you put salt in it or something?

Sure enough, Tom and Katie came back with a couple of salt shakers and some lemon slices.

"Do you know the process?" John said as he grabbed a lemon slice, a shot and a shaker.

"No, I've never done one if these before." I said.

"It's simple, lick your hand, pour some salt on it" he said before he demonstrated it. "Then you lick the salt, take the shot and bite into the lemon as fast as you can."

I licked the base of my thumb and put my hand out for John to pour some salt on. Then I grabbed a slice and the last shot remaining.

"Cheers!" Tom shouted before licking his thumb and downing his shot.

I took a deep breath, and licked my thumb. Then I lifted the shot glass up and poured it into my mouth.

It burnt. It hurt so much. I felt like my mouth was filled with acid, being dissolved away. Like a rabbit in headlights I froze, my eyes tightly shut.

"Swallow it, quickly! And then bite the lemon."

It took everything I had to not just spit it all out onto the person in front of me, but I was able to swallow. A hand then brought mine up to my mouth, holding the lemon. I bit on it as hard as I could and the burning started to subside.

I opened my eyes, and then winced from the light outside. John let go of my hand and brushed some of my hair back behind my ear.

"You alright? I wasn't sure you were going to keep it down there" John said as I took the lemon out of my mouth.

"I wasn't so sure either."

"And a big congrats to Ella for almost making as big of a mess out of the shot as Katie did in first year!" Tom loudly exclaimed.

"Aw, leave her alone. Besides, no-one is going to beat the mess I made!" Katie shouted back.

"Do I even want to know what she did?" I asked.

"She forgot to lick the salt, spat the shot out everywhere and then threw up for the next 5 minutes" Tom laughed.

Well, I guess my shot could of been worse.

We stayed for another 5 minutes while everyone else finished their drinks. People started to grab their coats and bags and began to head out into the road outside. John handed me my coat.

"Do you live far from here?" he asked

"Not too far, just across from campus."

"Me too! I'll walk you home."

We walked out of the pub. The air was cold despite it still being September, but this was England, it's not like I'm not used to it. As we made our way down the road, John tried to make conversation which I tried to engage in. But the alchohol had hit me quite hard at this point.

I'm such a lightweight! My tolerance is so low right now. I guess that's what I get for not going out all summer.

We eventually reached my house. I started fumbling with my keys in the lock when John shined a light from his phone for me. I stumbled into the house and turned around, pulling my keys out the door.

"Are you alright? You look a little tipsy" laughed John

"I'll, I'll be fine thanks. The shot just hid me a bit harder than I was expecting." I said, looking at my shoes.

He probably thinks I'm an absulute mess.

"Hey, any chance I could, perhaps get your number?"

What? He wants my number? He wants my number! He likes me!