Jase snorted, “In Little Bumblefuck Dick Land, USA. Spending all your time with its King, the assmonkey, cockwaffle, dick-sneezing, fuckbutter, jerkass–Anthony Charles.”
I stepped back and looked up at him through narrowed eyes and snapped back, “Yeah, I did. But, don’t forget your hundreds of mini-vactions to Twatwaffle- Coochieville-Jiztit, USA. I hope you got your shots before visitingall your vacationing areas, because God only knows what nasty-diseased cooter roaches might have bitten into your dick!”
Joey groaned and dragged his hands down his face. “Holy crap. Can you two stop?” Stepping between us, he puffed out a loud breath and then smirked.He smirked!And then, you know what he said? He said, “You two are both still virgins, so get over yourselves!” Then he let go of us and walked to the door, “And…we aregoing out to Tooties tonight. Ava’s going to be there with a few people, too. Go get showered and dressed, we’re leaving at eight.Idiots.”
Jase was still a virgin?
My insides caught fire. Oh, sweet little baby Jesus. I wanted to be that boy's first.
I left the tree house with Jase Delaney biting down a stupid, red-faced smile, as I wondered what in the world he could be thinking.
After showering and trying to dress myself like I was older, the three of us walked into the next neighborhood and strode right through the front doors of a little hole-in-the-wall bar. I’d never stepped foot in a bar before, and I gasped out loud as my surroundings came into sight. The walls were covered with photos, masks, baskets, and old retro advertisements. Bicycle parts and stolen traffic signs hung from the ceiling throughout the room. A long cluttered bar ran along one side of the wall and a few pool tables, ripped red leather booths, and tables and chairs, littered the back. It smelled like stale beer and pee. To be more specific, it reeked like a few of my mother’sfriends.
The place was crowded—stock full of kids from my school. How illegal was that?Everybody seemed to be holding a bottle of beer or small glass cups filled with dark liquid.
Jase tapped Joey on the shoulder and pointed to an empty booth in the back. “You two go grab that booth. I’m going to buy us a special drink I read about online.”
Scared shitless, I grabbed Joey by the back pockets of his jeans and followed close behind him. I kept thinking that at any minute the cops were going to bust in through the doors, guns blazing, and arrest us all. I wondered if my mother would even come and get me from jail. I even wondered if they’d call my father, who I hadn’t seen in four months, because he was traveling all over Europe with his new wife.Crap, I had no one to bail me out if I needed it.
After five minutes, Jase scooted himself into the booth across from me, placing three medium-sized, clear, plastic cups with an amber liquid inside, in front of each of us.
“What level octane of gasoline will we be drinking tonight,Mr. Delaney?” I teased.
Jase raised a dark eyebrow at me and lifted the corner of his lips in a teasing smirk. “That would be a negative on the gasoline,Ms. Charlotte. Tonight, we will be drinking something calledA Mad Hatter.”
Joey chuckled next to me. “Hmmm. A Mad Hatter, huh?”
“Yep. It’s made with vodka, peach schnapps, lemonade, and Coke.” He held up the hand that was holding the glass, exhaled deeply, and quoted word for word fromAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland:
“’But I don't want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked. ‘Oh, you can't help that,’ said the Cat. ‘We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.’ ‘How do you know I'm mad?’ said Alice. ‘You must be,’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn't have come here.’"
Then he drank down his entire drink, and burped.
Joey laughed next to us and held his glass up, bumping me with his shoulder. “Have I gone mad? I’m afraid so, but let me tell you something, the best people usually are.” Joey gulped down his drink next, and yelled, “Charlie, my sweet innocent Charlie, it’s your turn! Drink up!”
Giggling, I brought my drink to my lips and sipped at my drink until it was empty. “Curiouser and curiouser.”
After forty minutes of giggling, swapping seats repeatedly, and singing to each other in the booth, Joey stood up with his third (or fourth)Mad Hatter in his hand and cleared his throat. My head had started feeling a bit wobbly, and I seriouslyloved everybody, even the scary bald man that sat in the corner staring at everybody.
Holding his glass up, Joey’s lips curled into another one of his goofy, beautiful smiles, “I think we need arealtoast, don’t you guys?”
“To best friends,” I smiled back at him.
Jase softly nudged my foot under the table and pointed his finger past Joey to where Ava Maria sat alone in the corner. He looked at Joey and pointed him in the direction we were both looking. “To having the courage to talk to the girl you like!”
Joey stood up taller in front of both of us and let out a long, low sigh. Leaning my head back against the cool leather of the booth we were hiding in, I stared at him, at everything that was completely Joey. Something strange and unlike anything I’d ever felt passed between the three of us then, something that whispered our love and our friendship; in a thousand little words that never needed to be spoken.
Then Joey raised his glass higher. “Here’s to falling…” He leveled his eyes on both of us. “…in love…and to the best example of it that I’ve ever seen, which is sitting right in front of me. And here’s to hoping my two best friends finally find the guts to tell each other they’ve been in love with one another since the fourth fucking grade. Cheers.”
Downing his drink, he slammed it on the table in front of us and walked away.
Here’s to falling…
I sucked in a loud breath and almost started choking to death on my own saliva. Okay, that’s a sorry-ass exaggeration, but that’s what it felt like. “W-wait. Whooa…Hold up,” I stammered.
Jase raised his head slowly, to meet my gaze. Stretching out his long legs under the table, he raised his feet up and planted them on either side of me on the cushions of the booth, trapping me in.
What? Did he think I was going to run? Well, I didn’t want him to run, either!Grabbing both his legs, making sure he couldn’t get away, I leaned forward. “You…youlove me?”
