Hold the Forevers

“Here we are!” Mary Elizabeth cried.

I held it up to toast as Channing shouted, “To still being better than Alabama.”

The entire bar went up in a round of shouts and applause at her proclamation.

“Hell yes!” I called and then tipped the drink back. It burned all the way down. I blinked back the tears in my eyes. “What the hell, Mary Elizabeth?”

She grinned. “Four Horsemen.”

“Jesus, no wonder I saw black.”

I stumbled away from my friends to grab a drink that wouldn’t ruin my liver quite as fast. Who had let them choose the drink anyway?

I leaned over the bar, waving at the bartender to get his attention. He tipped his head at me, and I called out for a vodka cranberry. Meanwhile, I held tight to the bar to get the spinning under control.

“Holy shit! Look, y’all, it’s ‘Hey There Delilah',” a guy said as he approached me.

My face soured. Only one group of people had ever called me that. And go figure, I’d managed to end up at the same bar as Ash and his asshole high school friends. I didn’t blame Ash for not wanting to crash with Chuck Henderson. His lackeys, Greg and Joseph, weren’t too bad, but Chuck was as much of a ringleader as Shelly Thomas.

“Chuck,” I all but growled.

“Delilah, I must say, you have cleaned up nicely,” he said, his eyes roaming my body. “No wonder you were fucking her in high school, Ash.” He smacked Ash in the chest.

Ash’s fist clenched, and he shouldered Chuck out of the way. “Why don’t you shut the fuck up?”

“That would be excellent advice.”

Chuck held his hands up. “Hey, I was joking.”

“No, you weren’t.”

“No, he wasn’t,” Ash agreed.

Our eyes met, and that mutual understanding passed between us. I’d been lucky the last year to not run into anyone at UGA who had gone to my small high school or the all-boys equivalent. Now, Ash had brought them right to me. Great.

“Of all the bars in Athens, you had to choose this one.”

He shrugged. “Chuck’s choice.”

“Here you go,” the bartender said, sliding a drink to me.

“I got it,” Ash said. He withdrew his credit card and passed it to the bartender. “Can I get a Jack and Coke and five shots of tequila as well?”

“Sure, buddy.”

“You didn’t have to get my drink,” I told him as I sipped on the drink that tasted mildly like swill.

“For the trouble,” Ash said with a dazzling smile.

I shrugged but wasn’t going to turn down a free drink.

The bartender passed Ash his drink and then laid out five oversize shot glasses, filling them nearly to the brim. Salt and limes were dropped onto a napkin next to the drinks. Ash nudged one toward me.

“Oh no, I already had a Four Horsemen.”

“Damn, Delilah,” Chuck said. “Who knew you could hold that kind of liquor?”

I couldn’t. But the challenge in Chuck’s voice made me pick up the tequila shot. Mind you, it was definitely more like two or two and a half shots. And the last thing I wanted to do was drink it, but fuck Chuck Henderson.

“To high school,” Chuck declared.

“Ew,” I said under my breath as I clinked glasses with Ash.

Then, I downed the contents of the drink, latching on to the bar to keep from spinning. I scrambled for a lime to try to douse the fire in my gut.

I was not going to be sick. I was not going to be sick. I was not going to be sick.

Maybe if I said it on repeat, it might be true.

“Lila, there you are!” Channing said. “You’ve been gone so long. We had to send out the search party.”

Chuck took one look at Channing and stepped forward, as if he were king of this place. “Hey there, baby.”

Channing wrinkled her nose. “Not interested.”

“Come on,” Chuck continued over her objection.

“She said no,” Ash said.

“Not that I need a reason,” Channing snarled, “but I’m here with my girlfriend.”

“Oh, I’d watch that.”

I stepped between Channing and Chuck before Channing could deck him, which he rightfully deserved. “Go fuck yourself, Chuck. You weren’t cool in high school, and now, you’re a fucking prick.”

Ash shook his head. “What the fuck, man?”

Chuck laughed, as if the entire thing were a joke. “I was just kidding. Christ, everyone is so sensitive.”

Ash ignored him and followed me and Channing away from the guys he’d gone to high school with. “Hey, I’m sorry about him.”

Channing rolled her eyes. “As if that’s the first time I’ve heard that.”

“Still shitty.”

“It is,” I agreed. “Channing, this is Ash.”

“Ash,” Channing said with raised eyebrows. “The Ash?”

He shrugged, all nonchalant. “Sure.”

“The one who showed up without a girlfriend this trip?”

“Didn’t work out.”

Channing grinned devilishly at him. “Oh, I like you. Dance with us.”

I giggled at Channing’s easy acceptance of Ash. Just like that. Despite all the frustration she’d had with him earlier, he’d stood up for her, which made him cool as far as she was concerned. Plus, she was still mad at Cole. As was I.