“I’m not!” Lollipop’s head snapped back.
“You will be,” Lauren sighed. “I’m sure the Candy Girls haven’t changed that much since I was in high school.”
Sal decided it was time for another shot since the conversation was going downhill. Lollipop looked offended by the accusation, or rather, the premonition about her future. We ended up splitting off into two groups. Sal and the cooks went to finish cleaning the kitchen, and the waitresses stayed by the bar. About an hour later, and one more tequila shot that was ill-advised, Sal asked Lauren if he could talk to her. They were gone for nearly ten minutes, and when Lauren returned, she had a huge grin on her face.
“He did it!” Tiffani’s eyes opened wide. “He asked you out!”
“Keep your voice down,” Lauren hushed her. “But—yes!”
“Oh my god!” Tiffani grabbed the bottle of tequila. “This calls for a celebration…”
“We’re going to empty that bottle if we have another shot.” I raised my eyebrows in concern.
“Screw it.” Lauren pushed her shot glass over. “If Mr. Moretti is pissed, I’ll just tell him to take it out of our checks. Consider it a going away present…”
“In that case…” I put my shot glass beside Lauren’s. “I should definitely have one more.”
I was buzzed—no, I was hammered. I had never been that drunk before in my life. I was so drunk that I wasn’t even sure I could figure out how to call an Uber. We cleaned everything up in the restaurant, and the party started winding down. It was clear that nobody was driving home except for a couple of cooks that stopped after one shot of tequila. One of them offered to drive Sal home. Sal asked Lauren if she wanted to ride with them—and Lauren asked Tiffani to come too. That left me—and Lollipop. The cooks weren’t going anywhere near my side of town, and while I wasn’t sure how he would react, I decided to ask Jon to come get me. He was surprised to hear from me, especially when he found out I was inebriated, but he agreed to pick me up.
I really need to sober up before I go home. I don’t want Charley to see me like this.
“Come on.” I nudged Lollipop after texting my mother to let her know I was going to be a lot later than I expected. “You can ride with me.”
“Are you sure?” She raised an eyebrow.
“As long as your parents aren’t going to arrest us on the spot when we bring you home drunk off your ass.” I tilted my head to the side.
“No, my parents—they aren’t home much.” She shook her head back and forth.
“Alright, then it’s settled.” I nodded, and she followed me to the door.
Jon was happy to see me but definitely confused when I asked him to drive a drunk teenager home too. If I had been thinking a little clearer, I might have realized that it was a horrible idea before I offered her a ride. She lived in suburbia, but it was one of the biggest houses in the neighborhood. We got her home without incident, and it didn’t look like anyone was home. She must have been telling the truth about her parents, although there was a chance that they were just in bed. Either way, Jon didn’t draw an easy breath until she was inside her house, and we were far away from her neighborhood.
“We said no apologies…” I sighed. “But I put you in a bad spot.”
“It’s okay. No harm done.” He shrugged. “I’d certainly rather see that she got home safe than leave her at the restaurant. Is her name really Lollipop?”
“Apparently.” I shrugged. “She’s a Candy Girl or something…”
“Oh,” he exhaled sharply. “Yeah, they were around when I was in high school too.”
“So weird.” I shook my head and laughed.
“There’s a lot of weird shit at Carson Cove High.” He shrugged. “That’s what happens when you have a school full of spoiled brats.”
“Taylor calls them privileged.” I looked at him and grinned. “Were you one of those people?”
“I guess others saw us that way.” He nodded. “I don’t know, Bryant and I were different. There were a lot of labels, but we never liked them. We knew that regardless of what we had; it came with a price. Our lives were set in stone from the moment we were born. He was destined to be the CEO of Benson Enterprises—I was on the same path for my father’s seat at Alcott Inc. I know it sounds like a first world problem, but neither of us got to decide how we lived our lives. I always envied those that didn’t have a purpose—they were actually free…”
“What would you have done if you had a choice?” I raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I never had a chance to think about it—there was no point.”
The alcohol hadn’t worn off, but the sensation was dulled. When Jon turned towards his house, it finally hit me that I wasn’t going home. I needed sleep before I would be ready to see Charley, and a shower wouldn’t be a bad idea either. My mother didn’t respond to my last text, so I assumed she was in bed. I sent her one more to tell her that I was thinking about staying with a friend. That would keep her from calling the cops if she woke up in the middle of the night and I still wasn’t home.
Charley seemed content with the idea of me staying out a little bit later than normal, but I hoped she actually went to sleep—it was definitely going to be difficult to explain where I was if I didn’t make it home before she woke up. I hadn’t brought up the subject of dating with her, despite going out with a few guys I met at Carson Cove University. I was going to have to tell her eventually—or she would figure out on her own when she got older. I preferred to be as honest as possible with my daughter, but Jon wasn’t the only thing I was hiding from her.
“If I remember correctly, you need some coffee and a bagel.” Jon looked over at me when he pulled the car into the garage.