There was a pause, and then, “What are you talking about?”
“You know damn well what I’m talking about.”
He chuckled, the asshole. “How bad was it?”
“Let’s just say that it could’ve been worse and leave it at that.”
“Yikes.” He chuckled again. “I’m sorry?”
“What makes you think I’ll forgive you after what you did?” I asked.
“The fact that you found it cute, andenjoyedwatching the inebriated side of Zaira? That you were the first one to witness it?”
Well…
“She turns into a blend of Khal Drogo and Arya Stark, man,” I said to him. “It’s fucking scary.”
Dylan laughed. “Good Lord. That bad?”
I glanced at a sleeping Zaira. “Yup. Almost ripped a bookstore employee apart because the store didn’t have what she was looking for.”
“Fuck, man.” I knew he was trying not to laugh harder. I could feel his struggle.
I scratched the side of my neck. “What did you give her anyway?”
“I asked the waiter to add a teeny tiny bit of vodka in her mojito.”
Jesus fuck.
“And how much, exactly, is ‘teeny tiny bit’?” I asked.
“Uh…” Dylan cleared his throat. “One shot worth of it, at least.”
He’s gotta be shitting me.
“At least?Are you fucking kidding me right now, D? You know she’s never had alcohol before, right? She doesn’t drink.”
He sighed. “I know, I know. But when we were out shopping a few months ago, she’d told me she wanted to try drinking. She didn’t want to do anything crazy, but she said she wanted to give it a go.”
“And you thought vodka was the way to go, today of all days? You remembered her wish from all those months agotoday?”
He huffed. “We didn’t exactly hang out after that because of COVID. Today was the first time we all met in a long while, and when you excused yourself to go to the bathroom, I quickly asked the waiter to slip some vodka in Z’s drink. I didn’t know things would go wrong.”
I leaned back in my seat. “And Zaira didn’t hear you?”
“No. Her and Kenzie were busy discussing who had better abs: you, or Chris Hemsworth.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “That sounds like them.”
“Yeah. You won, by the way. They compared photos and came to a unanimous decision that you have better abs. They also asked me, and I votedyou, so there’s that.”
I shook my head. “Am I supposed to thank you for that?”
“I mean, if you want to…”
I rolled my eyes. “You lost that chance when you slipped alcohol in my girlfriend’s drink.”
“Technically, it was the waiter who did it. I simply asked him to carry out the deed.”
