Amelia
It was a little hard to get that first beer down. Beer was disgusting. But the more I told myself I liked it, the less I minded it.
When my food came, I didn’t like the way the alcohol made my food taste, so I took a break with the beer and focused on getting some food in my stomach, something I knew was important when it came to drinking. Once I had eaten my chicken strips, I ordered another beer and continued on.
The second beer wasn’t as bad as the first, and by the third, I thought I actually might like the stuff. I started to feel… happier, lighter, and more at ease. I felt my muscles finally relax, making it easier to move. I didn’t even realize how tense I’d been.
“Now that you’re starting to loosen up, what do you say to a game of darts?” Oliver asked.
I shrugged.
“Sure, let’s do it.” I stood too quickly and felt the wave of dizziness wash over me. I bumped into the back of the booth and found my balance before he even noticed. Or maybe he did notice. He had a smirk on his face as we walked toward the dart machine that was in the back corner of the bar.
There was a high-top table with a cup of darts in the center. He grabbed some darts and then stuck a couple of bucks into the machine. He walked back toward me with swagger rolling off him—more than usual, or maybe the alcohol just made it seem that way. He lifted both hands, showing me the darts in his fists.
“Black or blue?”
“Black.” I held out my hand, and he dropped the black darts into my palm.
“You know how to play?”
“I worked in a bar. Of course, I know how to play.”
“Ladies first,” he insisted, stepping away from the yellow tape on the floor.
I exhaled and lined my toe up behind the line. I pulled my dart back and took aim at the bullseye. I focused and threw the dart, watching it fly through the air and stick the board…nowhere near the bullseye.
Damn.
I wet my lips and tried again with dart number two. Once again, I aimed for the center of the target, but when I threw it, I found it closer than the first but still not where I needed it to go. I stepped to my left a little and threw the last dart. This time, the dart was just outside the bullseye. I ended up getting my score from five-o-one down to four-seventy-six, though.
I took my darts from the board and moved to stand out of the way, watching as Oliver prepared to take his turn. He was definitely better than me, getting his score down to four-twenty-five. We went back and forth with throwing our darts. Any time I started to feel like I was catching up, he’d take his next turn and blow me out of the water. We finished the game with him winning, even though I still had sixty points on the board.
He turned to face me as he offered up a smile. “Loser buys the next round?”
“Fine,” I agreed, rolling my eyes as we made our way to the bar.
“What can I get ya?” the bartender asked.
I looked over at Oliver.
“Two beers and two shots of tequila.” He shot me a wink.
She nodded and rushed off to get to work.
“Who is that for?” I asked, taking the barstool beside him.
“You and me, who else?”
“Ew, I’m not drinking tequila.”
“You’re totally drinking it. It’s one shot. It’s not going to hurt you.”
“So now you’re forcing me? What happened to this whole thing being my choice?” I threw back.
He rolled his eyes in annoyance. “Fine, if you’re going to play that card. It is your choice. I just thought we might speed this along a little. At the pace you’re going, you can sip that beer all night long and never catch a buzz. You want the full effect or not?”
The bartender was back, putting the drinks in front of us. “That’ll be twelve dollars.”
