Twenty-Seven
Stacy
Reece is drunk.
Hilariously drunk, the first time I’ve seen him so.
He’s currently singing karaoke with Evan, dueting “Endless Love” off-key and terribly loud with a mic in one hand and a beer bottle in the other.
The bar is wild and boisterous, the crowd cheering the boys on with their own beverages lifted into the air.
I chuckle against my vodka tonic as I watch the scene unfold while sitting at a high-top table with Gemma, Tashia, and Lily.
Is it weird that I’m having a stupid good time?
“I finally found Reece’s flaw,” I say to Gemma with a chuckle.
She snorts, gnawing on her cocktail straw. “He’s a very talented boy in many different areas.”
“Just not music?”
“Just not music,” she agrees, taking a swig of her whiskey sour.
“Hey, Evan’s no Steven Tyler, either,” Tashia butts in, almost falling out of her barstool.
Oh, yeah. Tashia’s a little drunk, too .
Lily rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. “They both suck.”
She’s a pleasant one.
We got to Joey P’s a couple of hours ago, the smokey dive bar overflowing with college students and returning alumni.
Our group has been on a constant rotation up to the karaoke machine, belting Mariah Carey, Taylor Swift, Elton John, the works.
I’m only on my second cocktail, the neon lights just starting to blur, but I’m genuinely shocked by how much fun I’m having with everybody.
I’ve laughed so hard at karaoke singers that tears have fallen, my abs sore and my cheeks aching from chortling and smiling so much. It’s so easy to pretend with Reece.
Probably because it doesn’t really feel like pretending.
The boys finish their song, bowing as the crowd hoots and hollers.
They amble back to our table, both of their faces flushed with alcohol and their smiles radiant.
Reece stumbles up behind my stool, wrapping his arms around my waist and kissing my neck.
Evan does something similar to Tashia from across the table but Reece doesn’t seem to notice as I giggle at the tickle of his breath against my skin.
“I think your singing skills might give your cooking skills a run for their money,” I tell Reece as he buries his face in my hair.
He scoffs, pulling back and stepping around my body to face me. “Stace. I’m serenading you . You’re not allowed to make fun of me!”
“Really?” I giggle. “Because it looked like you were serenading your brother.”
“Hey,” Evan cuts in from across the table, pointing at me with his beer bottle. “The love of a brother is something you as a woman will never understand. This?” He motions back and forth between himself and Reece. “This is forever.”
“Um, this is forever,” Tashia protests, waggling her finger back and forth between herself and her fiancé.
Evan hurriedly amends his explanation as Tashia rolls her eyes, taking a long drag of the beer in her hand.
A plump, middle-aged man wearing a “UOWH Alumni” shirt pops up in front of the bar, swaying slightly from side to side as he takes the microphone from the MC. He starts to sing the beginning of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and Reece looks down at me with a goofy grin.
“Want to dance with me?” he asks.
I gape at him for a second, the alcohol buzzing in my head as he holds out his hand. “You serious?”
He takes my hand and pulls me off of my stool. “Duh. We dance all the time.”
“We do dance routines,” I correct him as he totes me out to the make-shift dance floor in the middle of the bar, a wide area of wooden floor encircled by high-top tables in front of the stage. “We don’t slow dance.”
Reece turns to me, pulling my body to his. “First time for everything, right?” he says as he begins to sway us back and forth.
And I let him.
In my peripheral, I see other couples flitting to the floor, as if Reece and I started a trend.
Reece grips the curve of my waist, his other hand holding mine as he buries his face in the crook of my neck.
I snake my hand up his back, tangling the cotton of his shirt in my fingers as I squeeze his hand.
He smells a little like beer, faintly like the sweet caramel apple he was eating earlier, mixed with the woodsy smell of his cologne that makes me heady.
I inhale, my nose pressed to the collar of his shirt as I try to get as much of Reece as I can in this small moment.
It’s like Reece is reading my mind as he murmurs, “I love the way you smell.”
I pull back slightly and Reece does the same, grinning down at me. “You do?” I ask.
He nods as we continue to sway, his lids drooping slightly as his most recent beer kicks in. “You smell like peaches. I love it. It’s comforting.”
I bite down on my lip as my cheeks heat. I’m definitely not as drunk as Reece, but I’m loose enough to admit, “I love the way you smell, too.”
Reece smiles down at me before resuming our position and murmuring into my ear, “Don’t even get me started on the way you taste.”
Surprise zaps through my body at his words, the warmth in my cheeks spreading. I have to focus on staying upright as my knees start to shake, clutching Reece’s shirt in my fingers again to steady them.
“What? Too far?” he goes on when I don’t respond.
I swallow, resting my head on his chest. “No. I just… don’t know how to feel when you say those things to me,” I admit.
Reece evaluates my words while he spins me around, pulling me back to his chest as he sighs. “Me neither,” he finally says.
At least I’m not alone in my utter confusion regarding our relationship.
We don’t ask any more questions or say any other damning things. Reece murmurs the words to the Elvis Presley song into my ear and I let him, a warmth consuming me from the inside out as I press my body against Reece Taylor on the dance floor of Joey P’s.
It’s crazy. Absolutely ludicrous, but I’ve always played it safe. I’ve always been cautious and dammit, maybe I deserve to be a little crazy.
So, I dance. I bask in the warmth of Reece and inhale his sweet scent and revel in the feeling of his hands on my body in our small corner of the universe.
I listen to his rough, terrible singing voice in my ear and even though it’s off-key and out of rhythm, I smile.
It’s the kind of smile that hurts your cheeks, that feels impossible to wipe off.
It’s the kind of smile that only happens when you’re really, truly happy.
The song ends and Reece pulls back, grinning at me before pressing a soft kiss to my cheek.
The small gesture alone is enough to make my stomach flip over.
Reece takes my hand and leads me back to our table.
Tashia and Evan are already back at the high top and I don’t miss the watchful look Tashia gives us as we walk hand-in-hand back to our group.
She gnaws on her lip for a long second before tearing her gaze away and throwing her arms around Evan’s neck.
“I’m going to run to the bathroom,” Reece announces to the table before turning to me. “Go get us a couple more drinks from the bar? Put it on my tab.”
I nod without wiping the goofy grin off my face. Reece throws me a wink and heads towards the bathroom right as I meander to the long, mahogany bar on the right side of the room.
“Stace, wait up,” I hear Tashia’s voice say from behind me as I weave in and out of the thick crowd.
I stop to let her catch up to me, trying to keep my smile in place as I grind my molars. Maybe Tashia’s genuinely trying to be my friend. Maybe she’s not being vindictive and actually wants to bond with me.
Odds seem low, though.
Tashia trots up to me, adjusting her curtain bangs and looping her arm in mine as we walk up to the bar. She’s silent during the rest of our trek through the crowd and the physical touch between us feels stiff, uncomfortable.
“Vodka tonic and a Heineken, please?” I tell the bartender, glancing sideways at Tashia. She’s still got her right arm looped in mine, chewing on the thumbnail of her left hand while her eyes dart across the array of liquor bottles lined up behind the bar. “You want anything?”
She peeks over at me before ordering herself an IPA. Removing her arm from mine, she taps her pink fingernails on the counter of the bar while we wait for our drinks. She’s quiet, alarmingly so, but I know she didn’t come over here with me for no reason.
No, Tashia has something to say. Something she’s anxious to bring up.
The bartender, a young, pretty girl in a red Joey P’s tank top, slides us our drinks with a smile before turning to another customer.
I grab my cocktail and Reece’s Heineken, taking a long drink as Tashia does the same with her beer.
We should start moving back towards our table but we both stand with our backs to the bar, surveying the mob of drunk college students as the silence stretches between us.
“Look, I wanted to talk to you about something,” Tashia finally says without looking in my direction.
There it is.
I clear my throat and continue scanning the dance floor. “What’s up? ”
Tashia sighs, angling her body towards me and setting her beer down on the bar. “I wanted to talk to you about Reece.”
My jaw clenches as I turn to her, but I say nothing, waiting for her to continue.
“I know you probably think I’m a terrible person for what happened between Reece and me” she starts.
“I don’t,” I lie.
“But I just wanted the chance to chat with you alone,” she continues, ignoring me. “To warn you.” She lowers her voice.
This gets my attention. My fist tightens around my highball glass as I resist the urge to toss my drink in Tashia’s face. I drag a breath in through my nose and straighten my spine.
“Warn me?” I repeat.