And immediately make a face.
He throws his head back with a laugh as I slide the second beer back. “Did you also think that beer tastes terrible?” I ask with a wince.
“Yup. I took one sip of the Coors Light I stole from Lucas and immediately dumped it.”
“That’s not making me excited about these other beers,” I grumble, reaching for the third one.
“They’re not all bad, I swear,” Nico says as he nods at the one in my hand. “That one’s a little fruity, so you might like it.”
Sure enough, when I try the wheat beer, my eyebrows shoot up. “That’s not bad. Definitely the best of the three.”
“One more,” Nico says, sliding the last beer in front of me. “Then you can decide which one you want to order for when we tear into some of these games.”
I frown at him. “We’re playing games?”
“Mhmm,” he says with a smile. “The live music starts in an hour, so I figured we could try your hand at some bar games while we wait.”
And maybe a tiny buzz is already hitting my system, or maybe it’sNico’spresence that I’m drunk on, but I can’t hide the giddy smile that pulls at my lips. “Okay,” I whisper happily.
His smile grows, his gaze dropping once more to my lips before quickly lifting back up. “Go on,” he encourages.
As soon as the cider hits my taste buds, my eyes widen. “Oh my God.”
Nico grins. “Yeah, that’s what I figured would happen. It’s good, right?”
I take another, bigger sip. “Sogood. It’s like spicy juice.”
He waves the bartender down again. “An accurate description. Now let’s get you a real glass so I can start to school you on those games.”
I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun.
Maybe the first time my mom took me horseback riding. I was twelve years old and had finally worn her down about signing me up for lessons. It probably wouldn’t have been as fun if she went with me, but then again, that was never a real worry. She’d rather pay for a private and pawn me off on some instructor. Thankfully, the instructor was more lenient about taking me out on the trails instead of just having me ride in circles around the arena.
It was the first time I ever felt truly free.
Until now.
“You’recheating!” I shriek at Nico. But I doubt he can hear me over my laughter.
“You’re just mad I keep beating you,” he says with a grin, spinning the foosball handle and scoring his tenth goal.
I straighten with a groan. “They should make it against the rules to spin the handle blindly like that.”
“It is,” says some girl as she walks by me.
My head whips around to stare open-mouthed at Nico. “Youarea cheater!”
“You’re cute when you’re outraged,” he says with a chuckle. Gesturing around the bar, he asks, “So, what’s next?”
We’ve been here for over an hour at this point. I was worried he was going to want to talk the whole time, but we’ve mostly been playing games. I learned how to play shuffleboard, a couple of arcade games, and I even got to try ping-pong for the first time. The only one I couldn’t bring myself to attempt was pool, but maybe another time.
Another time?
I’m snapped out of the foreign thought when there’s movement on the stage. Chairs are being carried out, instruments are being moved around. It looks like they’re setting up for the musicians.
“Want to find a seat?” Nico asks.
I nod, so he leads us over to the left side of the room, into a slightly more secluded area. He grabs us two more waters on the way.
