He held me still with one hand and fumbled behind my back with the other. As soon as he realized how ticklish I was, he decided to be merciless.
“James, no. Please. No, really, we’ll spill everything.” I couldn’t stop laughing and howling out of frustration. “James, we’re making a mess, look at how—”
I swallowed another curse word because it was too late. My fingers were soaking wet. The bottle fell out of my hands, spilling part of its contents on Jackson’s leather seat.
“Oh shit.” I heard him laugh louder.
“You got the seat wet, you idiot!” I tried to breathe normally.
“You’re the one who got the seat wet, you moron!”
“What’s so funny?” Oh for god’s sake. It was Will.
“Nothing,” I exclaimed, suddenly jumping out of the truck.
James’s hair was messy; he was flushed and out of breath. Just like I was. William was looking at us like we were crazy.
“Nothing. Snow White said Austin looks like a koala with a wig.”
I laughed as I got out of the car.
“Will you sit in front, June? With me?” I noticed a hint of gruffness in William’s words, but I decided not to pay attention to that.
“Jackson?” I asked as I got into the passenger seat.
“He’s going back with Marvin. He left the car here and asked me to take care of it. You guys didn’t do any damage to it, did you?”
“Who, us?” James quipped from the back seat; I held back a laugh. “Of course not.” I wasn’t in a position to tell Will we’d already done a few hundred dollars’ worth of damage in there. James bashed his forehead against the back of my headrest, then reached his arm over to play with the hair on the nape of Will’s neck.
“Cut it out,” Will admonished him patiently. It looked like he was used to James’s bizarre behavior when he was drunk.
He snapped in reply, turning around with his shoulders on the seat.
“Austin seemed preoccupied with other things tonight. I wonder if he really meant to—” Will started to talk, but cut himself off as soon as he realized his friend wasn’t listening.
Something tickled my side, and I almost jumped out of my seat. “Everything okay?” Will asked when he saw me squirming in place.
“Yeah, everything’s fine.”
I shooed away James’s fingers by elbowing the seat as he started to laugh again. Obviously he was drunk.
“James?” Will tried calling him, but he was on the phone.
“Will you take me to Tiffany’s?” he asked at a certain point.
“You sure?” Will raised his eyebrow.
“Actually, no, Taylor’s.”
“Sure, what is that, an auction? To whoever offers more?” I grumbled, irritated.
“No, it’s a pajama party.”
“What does that mean?”
“You don’t want to know, Snow White.”
After a quick ride, we reached an exclusive gated community with guards and railroad crossings. The security guy stopped and looked in the car, but when he saw James he motioned for us to pass.
