“Adam made frosted mistletoe margaritas,” Andy went on, knowing margaritas were my weakness.
A little groan escaped me, drawing Venezio’s attention. He shot me a devilish smirk. “Margs, huh?” he asked.
“My weakness,” I agreed.
“Anyway, you two have to come with us. You’ve got to be done around here for the night.”
I glanced back, seeing that most of the volunteers had cleared out. Save for Craig, who seemed to be waiting for an invite to the conversation.
“Come on. You work so hard,” Andy said.
“She’s got you there,” Sammy agreed. “Come on. You know you want to come.”
I did, actually.
And that felt like a major step forward for me. I’d been avoiding most social gatherings since my mom passed. There’d been no desire to go. Now that there was, it felt wrong to pass on the chance to get out, socialize, and have a good time.
“You too,” Andy insisted, looking at Venezio.
“Don’t let her bully you,” I insisted. “Sometimes it’s hard to accept that Sammy is the lawyer and Andy isn’t,” I added. “If you don’t want to—”
“I’ll go,” Venezio cut me off.
“Really?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“Well… okay then,” I agreed, trying to seem casual while my heart was doing a little flip-flop at the idea of getting to spend more time with Venezio outside of the charity. Even if maybe mixing him with alcohol was not the smartest of ideas.
Just this once, I was going to let myself be stupid.
“Craig, I’m locking up if you’re all done here,” I called, taking the cash with me through to the back room so I could lock it up.
By the time I came back out, Venezio had turned off the space heaters and Craig was gone.
“Is there a dress code?” I asked as we all moved outside.
“Nope. You’re all set.”
The girls took off ahead of us, leaving me to trail behind with Venezio.
“It’s okay if this isn’t your kind of thing. I know it’s hard to say no to Andy. But if you get there and aren’t having a good time, it’s okay if you want to head out.”
“Why wouldn’t I have a good time?”
“Well, I know Christmas isn’t your thing. And Drake and Adam always take the party’s theme to the extreme.”
“I can endure the cheer.”
Endure the cheer.
Only I would find that saying charming.
All of us made our way into the subway, where Venezio stood near us like a moody guard dog, staring down anyone who dared to look our way. Once, when some woman curled her lip at Andy and Sammy holding hands, called out, “The fuck you looking at?”
Behind his back, Andy beamed and mouthedI like him!
The thing was, I did too.
