“Hey,” Jenna protested.
“Oh, hush. You wanted margaritas.” Bella set the blender on the coffee table in the living room, where there was a little more room as long as Sky, Amy, and Jessica remained sitting on the couch.
“Come on, girlies.” Jenna waved them over and they huddled next to the kitchen while Jessica stood a few feet away, watching them. Jenna handed a shot glass to each of them, then poured salt onto a cutting board while Amy squeezed past her and sliced lemons. Each of them sucked on the webbing between their finger and thumb; then they put salt on their wet skin and grabbed a lemon from Amy.
Having never done shots before, Jessica’s stomach was all kinds of nervous. Sky took her hand and pulled her over to the counter.
“Just do what we do.” Sky licked the webbing of her own hand, eyes wide, and nodded at Jessica, encouraging her to do the same.
“Um…” Jessica’s pulse quickened.
“I think we have a virgin with us.” Bella draped an arm over Jessica’s shoulder.
“I’m not…” Oh my gosh. You’re talking about my virginity?
Bella smiled down at her. “Good to know, but I meant the tequila.”
Jessica let out a relieved sigh. Oh, thank goodness.
“To Jessica. The first victim of Thong Thursday.” Jenna sucked back the drink and drew in air between clenched teeth. “Woo! Go on, girls.”
Jessica watched as each tossed back her head and sucked down the tequila like they did this every night. Maybe they did, but Jessica never had. Not once. She rarely even drank wine. With her orchestra friends, drinking was never a part of their evenings out, and when she was by herself, she never had the desire to drink. Watching the girls, she realized again that she had been moving in a very small and sheltered circle. She stuck her fingertip in the tequila and sucked the alcohol off of it. It had a strange taste, not at all pleasant. She wondered what the excitement was all about.
Amy touched her shoulder. “Jessica, don’t worry. I’m a lightweight, too. We’ll take care of you.”
“Like Tony takes care of you?” Jenna raised her brows in quick succession.
“So, you and Tony are a couple?” Jessica had seen the way Amy looked at him, and she imagined it was the same way she couldn’t stop looking at Jamie. He looked so casual and sexy, and every time their eyes met, her body got hot and flustered.
“Don’t I wish.” Amy rolled her eyes. “We’re just friends.”
“Okay. Okay.” Jenna bounced on her toes. “Come on, come on. We gotta do this before Petey comes in here and…”
Bella set a hand on her hip. “And what? Wants to get down and dirty? Trust me. He’ll love it even more when you’re three sheets to the wind.”
Jessica had spent the last few years with people who were reserved, focused on excelling in a highly competitive, highly skilled field that was also cutthroat and unforgiving. This fun banter, this girl talk, was all new and exciting to her—and she didn’t want it to end.
“Okay, here goes, but please don’t let me embarrass myself. And if I throw up, don’t let Jamie see. And if—”
“Ha! Five bucks.” Jenna slapped a hand out toward Bella and wiggled her butt from side to side in a celebratory dance. “Pay up.”
Jessica’s heart crashed to her feet. Am I a joke to them? Like Thong Thursday? Her face must have reflected her horror because Amy took hold of her shoulders and looked compassionately into her eyes.
“Honey. Jessica, honey. We do this to each other all the time. Don’t take it personally.” Amy put her arm around her. “You guys, she’s as sensitive as me.”
“Have a shot, Jessica. It’ll take the edge off of our backward humor.” Bella pushed her shot glass up toward Jessica’s mouth.
“So, you aren’t making fun of me? Because I’m kind of slow on the uptake, I think. I’m not used to this sort of joking around.” Why was her throat thickening? Darn it. Why couldn’t she be stronger, like her mother? At times like this it might help.
Sky pulled herself up and sat on the counter, while filling everyone’s glasses again. “They do this to everyone. They just noticed that Jamie had his eye on you, and…” She motioned for Jessica to drink.
Jessica clenched her eyes closed and licked the awful salt from her hand, then tossed back the tequila—Gross!—and sucked the lemon. She drew in air between gritted teeth just like each of them had.
“Well?” Jenna brushed Jessica’s hair from her shoulders. “You still with us?”
Jessica nodded, reeling from the taste. “It tasted like burning water. Is that what it tastes like to you?”
Bella licked her hand and began dabbing salt on it. “It tastes like I’m about to get drunk to me.”
Jessica pressed her lips together, suppressing a smile. The four of them were so different from one another, but they got along like sisters. Thong Thursdays and tequila shots? What else had she missed out on while she was spending hour after hour with music instructors and, later, playing with the orchestra? Heck, what else had she missed out on since she first picked up the cello at six?
Two shots later, Jessica felt a little numb as they went back outside. The guys were standing by the fire, beers in hand. Jamie looked over and his mouth lifted in a crooked smile. Jessica returned the smile, or at least she thought she did. Her entire body felt relaxed, and all the proper rigidity in her back, shoulders, and even her neck had somehow disappeared.
And she liked it. She liked it a lot.
Jessica swayed a little and reached for the bench as the men came toward them. Jamie’s jeans hung low on his hips, and there was no mistaking his flirtatious smile or the heat in his eyes as he raked them down her body. She held tightly to the bench for support.
“So the strawberries were a ruse?” Pete laughed and wrapped an arm around Jenna. Joey lay down beside his feet and rested her head on her paws with a loud huff of breath. Pete whispered something that made Jenna blush.
“Crap. We left the margaritas inside.” Bella glanced at Jenna, then waved a hand in the air. “Oh heck. We’re good.” Bella plastered herself to Caden’s side, and he looked up at Tony and shook his head.
Blue and Tony exchanged a laugh.
“It’s a good thing I drove tonight.” Blue pulled Sky down to a seat.
“Hey, don’t even think about making a move on my sister,” Pete warned.
“Pfft. Just getting her home safely. We’re friends,” Blue said.
“So were we,” Pete and Jenna said in unison, then shared a kiss.
“Come here, sweet one.” Tony guided Amy to a chair and sat beside her, leaving Jamie and Jessica to look at each other like two kids at a middle school dance.
She couldn’t look away, even though she was sure his gaze was burning a hole right through her and at any minute someone was going to yell, Fire! and douse her with cold water.
Jamie leaned in close and touched her hip. “I guess they initiated you?”
His hand was flaming hot.