“Yeah.”
Landon releases another steadying breath, and I reach out and pat his knee without thinking. Part of me expects him to flinch away from my touch, but he doesn’t. “No. Thank you. I drink my highly expensive, extremely rare liquor from a glass, not a bottle.”
“Suit yourself,” Lemon says before wrapping her lips around the bottle and taking a long swig. I have to cover my mouth to keep from laughing outright at the look of outrage on Landon’s face.
When she’s done swallowing, she asks, “What’s your sign, Landon?”
“Mysign?”
“Your zodiac sign.”
Landon shrugs, and he looks like he already has big regrets about coming downstairs. “How should I know?”
“When were you born?” I ask, and Landon hesitates, like he’s uncomfortable revealing that sort of intimate information. “What? You’re a public figure, Landon. We could easily look it up on the internet.”
He sighs. “Fine. October twenty-fifth.”
“Scorpio,” Lemon says immediately. “Figures.”
“What do you meanfigures?”
“Let’s play a game,” says Eli, taking another swig from the bottle.
“Strip poker?” suggests Lemon.
“You need cards for that. No, thinking something like truth or dare.”
“Ooh, I like that one,” says Lemon.
“No,” snaps Landon.
“Landon hates that game ever since Johnny Monroe dared him to make out with Nikki Hudson in eighth grade,” Eli tells us, unable to stop grinning at the memory. “They got in the closet, and he chickened out because he’d never kissed a girl before.”
“That is not what happened,” says Landon, glaring at his brother.
“Yes, it is.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Somebody. Please. Set the record straight,” I say, enjoying this way too much.
“I had no qualms about kissing Nikki Hudson,” Landon says, “but she’d just gotten her braces removed and her teeth hurt.”
Eli shrugs. “Alright, if you say so. But that’s not the way I remember it.”
“How would you remember it? Your face was super-glued to Victoria Larken the entire night.”
“Oh yeah. She was a great kisser. What ever happened to her?” When Lemon elbows him in the gut, he winces, and I cover my mouth to hide my laugh. “Don’t worry, babe. No one’s a better kisser than you.”
“Prove it,” dares Lemon, and right before our eyes, Lemon and Eli start making out again.
“Maybe I do need a drink,” Landon mutters, resting his head back against the couch and staring up at the ceiling like he’s praying for the strength to get through this evening.
“That makes two of us,” I say, trying and failing not to stare as the two practically eat each other’s faces off. When Elifinallypeels his mouth off Lemon’s, he gets to his feet with her hand in his, pulling her up beside him.
“I think we’re gonna…go upstairs for a bit,” Eli says slowly, and Lemon nods.
“Jesus Christ,” mutters Landon, rubbing at his temple like a headache’s coming on.
