– Scotch –
How Scotch was named Scotch
Two hours after she walked into The Shed, I called it a night early, and I dodged empty drink cans from angry dancers. I don’t give a damn, and neither do the guys. I leave my guitar slung over my shoulder and I jump down from the stage, push through the pissed off crowd, I swoop Sammy into my arms and I kiss the shit out of her.
She giggles into my mouth, but her eyes are alight with fun, and her hands hold me tight and beg me not to let go.
“That was so much fun.” Her hand slips into mine, and her spare hand rubs up and down my forearm. “You guys are really good.”
I smile and drop another kiss on her nose. “Come for a walk with me, Sammy? We’re gonna walk home.”
Her eyes flick between mine, surprised, daring, sassy. “All the way home?”
“Sure. It’ll take an hour at most. I wanna walk with you.”
Meg crashes into us, her body falling on Sammy as she giggles and clasps that guy’s hand in hers. “We’ll walk too. Gimme that bottle back now, Samuel.”
I turn back to the stage, to the guys packing up our shit, and I spot the bottle of scotch sitting by Marc’s feet. I turn back to her, and ignore the tall fucker who has her boobs in his hands. This is our place, and I don’t know who the hell he is. “I let you drink that straight, you’re gonna be spewing everywhere before we get home.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Whatever, lightweight.”
I shrug my shoulders as Sammy presses in closer to me. Whatever. I’m just happy to have Sammy here. Meg can do whatever the fuck she wants. “You wanna spew all night, that’s on you. You want your liquor, you better go ask Marc for it.” I smile wolfishly. “You better ask nicely.”
Her eyes turn to slits as they follow my gaze, and she watches Marc as he watches us. Jesus, first impressions are definitely important, and these two practically hate each other. In all the years I’ve known Marc, I’ve never seen him take such a dislike to anyone so quickly, not even that kid who knocked his sister down at school for the twentieth time. On the twenty-first time, when he stepped up to her and put his foot out to trip her, Kari popped him on the chin and took care of the situation herself.
Meg huffs and puffs at my words, and I silently pray her new friend doesn’t escort her to the stage, and thankfully, as though she knows what would happen if she did, she slithers out of his grabby hands and she walks away.
Sammy and I turn away from him, and though I keep my eyes on Meg and Marc, I lead Sammy toward the doors to leave.
We’re on borrowed time, and I won’t be wasting a single second if I can help it.
Meg approaches the stage with her hands on her hips and her long hair swaying with sass. She says a few snippy things to Marc as he stands tall on the stage and looks down his nose at her, and though I can’t hear them, it’s not hard to read ‘asshole’ and ‘give it to me’ on her lips. They both bend down at the same time to retrieve the bottle, and though they both get their hands on it, Meg wants it more, and snaps it out of his grasp.
Marc’s lip turns up in an angry sneer, but with a ‘fuck off, then,’ he turns his back on her and starts spinning cords around his arm. She turns back and skips to the new guy’s side, and Sammy and I follow them outside.
Ten minutes later, the rest of the guys join us outside in the dark as others all make their way to cars and bikes, or they simply start walking down the street in every direction until they disappear into the dark. Angelo drove here in his Charger, so I throw my guitar into his trunk so I don’t have to carry it all night. With his shiny new driver’s license, Luc drove his dad’s old van to transport his drum kit, but knowing – hoping – that Sammy would be here tonight, I just came in Ang’s car with every intention of walking her home and sucking every last minute out of this night.
Fuck knows if they’ll get caught tonight, and if they do, this might never happen again.
I take her hand in mine, even as Meg cracks the lid on the bottle of scotch, then with an infectious laugh, she tips the bottle and takes a long swig. She’s going to be spewing before we get all the way home.
Marc walks beside another girl from school, and Sassy St James and her crew hang around the van as Luc finishes loading. Forgetting them, Sammy swings around behind me quickly, then with an infectious laugh of her own, she jumps onto my back, wrapping her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck. She snuggles in tight as my hands instantly jump to her thighs to keep her secure. She rests her chin on my shoulder, as her breath bathes my skin and her hair tickles my ear. “You gonna be my sturdy carriage tonight, Sam?”
I push my chin forward until she takes a hint, then as she places her palm over my lips, I kiss her hand gently. “I’ll be your carriage every night, Sammy.”
She snickers, and though I know for a fact she hasn’t consumed a single drop of alcohol tonight, she still giggles as though she’s high on life. “Sam and Sammy. It’s been ages, and I forgot to think up a nickname for you.”
“Any suggestions yet?”
She breathes out a lazy sigh, but she’s anything but lazy. Her long muscular thighs squeeze me firmly, even as her hands knead my chest absentmindedly. “Puddin’ sounds cool…?”
I snort loudly, so loud that the others turn and look our way. Marc smiles at me, until Meg hoots and rushes Sammy and me, then he turns away with a dirty frown and he starts kicking rocks with his hands dug deep in his jeans pockets. Holding the bottle up to my lips, Meg forces me to drink or let it spill down my shirt. “You said you’d drink with me tonight, Turner. So we drink.” She pulls the bottle away even as my eyes water from the equivalent of six shots she just force fed me. Sammy snickers on my back as I cough and wheeze, but Meg takes another swig without a single cough. I have to man up or she’ll embarrass me.
“So I’m told you’ve loved Sammy since the ninth grade, Turner.” She turns her nose up. “What’s up with that?”
Sammy snickers near my ear again and she holds me tighter. I run my hands higher up her thighs, and with every inch I steal, her body becomes stiffer and her chest stops and starts haltingly. Interesting. I pretend to ignore her reactions, and I turn my eyes back to answer Meg. “I’ve loved Sammy since she walked into first period science when we were fourteen.”
“What would you have done if she never gave into you?”
She feeds me another long drink of scotch before I can answer, then pressing the bottle up to Sammy’s lips, she tips it up, though she doesn’t make Sammy drink even half as much as she gave me.
“I’d have done the same thing I’ve been doing,” I tell her as I fight back against my burning throat. I squeeze Sammy’s thighs again. “It’s been three years already. I’d wait a hundred if I had to.”
Sammy and Meg both sigh indulgently, and Sassy St James lets out a disappointed sigh, making me realize Luc and the girls are walking behind us too. “But why?” Meg asks. “I’m not saying my girl isn’t amazing, ‘cause she is, but rumor has it, you literally didn’t even know her. So you didn’t like her for her personality yet. And she wasn’t exactly strutting around in a string bikini. She’d yet to utter a single word… So why?”
I consider my words carefully, even as the alcohol starts whooshing through my blood, the exertion of walking and carrying Sammy pushing my blood through my body faster.
This isn’t the first time I’ve been asked this question, nor is it the first time I’ve sat in silence and tried to puzzle us out. I’ve written songs in an attempt to put what I feel into words. I’ve run for thousands of hours in silence as I tried to think it through. I’ve never exercised without music before… not until I met Sammy – because then she became my music, and I needed the silence so I could think.
I shrug my shoulders, even as Sammy’s head rises with the movement. “I just dunno Meg, and I’m not sure it can be explained in words. I’m not even sure it’s rational, and unless you felt what I feel, you couldn’t possibly know. But I guess it’s as cheesy as when two souls that started as one, were finally reunited. Fourteen or forty, it is what it is.”
“And there’s no doubt in your mind?” She takes another swig, then presses her bottle to my lips. The liquid rolls down my throat smoother this time, and my smile turns up into a goofy smirk at my accomplishment. Meg watches me with her own smirk, then her guy-friend snags her hand in his and his lips swoop down to attack her neck.
“Barf.”
I turn at Luc’s words, then I laugh as he walks with a can of beer in his hand, and each arm slung over a girl’s shoulders. Sassy tucks her body into his – I guess she doesn’t mind the age gap like Meg does – and another girl from school presses herself up against his other side. Barf.
“Who’s your friend, Meg?”
Meg unlatches herself from the guy, though his arms reach out like he has the eight arms of an octopus. She slaps his hand from her boobs again, though she softens the blow with a flirty smile. She walks backwards with the bottle in one hand. “You’re still cute, you know that, Luc?”
“Thanks, babe.” He tips his chin at Biff again. “I know you’re new around here, but we don’t actually know that guy. We don’t often take in strays.”
Biff’s face turns from staring at Meg with hungry eyes, to shooting a dangerous glare at Luc. He snags Meg’s hand again, then swinging her up into the cradle of his arms, he continues to glare at Luc. “Name’s Drew, and you, fuckface, are still a child, so maybe you wanna shut your pie hole.”
Marc’s face contorts with quick rage, but shooing his girls off, Luc sprints forward and jumps on Marc’s back like Sammy is on mine. Luc squeezes him mockingly and slaps a wet kiss on his cheek until Marc’s angry face is replaced with disgust at Luc. “I love you like Turner loves Sammy, you know that Macchio? You’re pretty fly for a white guy.”
Marcus laughs and throws Luc off his back, and though Luc falls to his ass, his ego remains intact when the girls rush back and plaster themselves to his sides.
“Who invited these people?” I ask Sammy, and mirroring Luc, she drops a wet kiss to my cheek. Can’t say it disgusts me, though.
“Want me to get down yet?”
My hands squeeze her firm thighs closer, and I lay my head back lazily. I maneuver us so her face sits against my neck. “Not even a little bit, Ricci.”
“You didn’t finish your story!” Meg calls out. “I need to know exactly what she did, so I can do the same and snag me a boy who’ll write songs for me and look at me like I was made of gold.”
“Maybe you should stop whoring around then,” Marc replies snidely.
Meg swings herself out of Biff’s arms angrily, and though he tries again with the octopus arms, she rushes toward Marc as she sways a little too far to the left for her to be completely sober. With her bottle still clutched in one arm, and her other hand up with her pointer finger out, she stabs him in the chest. “Nobody ever said I’m a whore, Marc. You don’t even know me.”
“You hit on--”
“I don’t give a damn who I hit on. I don’t even care if I suck Luc’s dick in front of you, you don’t have the right to call me a whore. How many girls do you talk to at school, Marc? Don’t think I don’t notice the girls. How many has Luc got attached to him right now? Yet you don’t call him a whore, nor do you call the girls ready to drop to their knees for him whores. So why me, huh?” She stabs him in the chest painfully and takes another long swig of the amber liquid. “Is it ‘cause I didn’t talk to you first? Or is it because you have little man syndrome? Do you have a small dick, Marc? The girls always passing you up for your hotter friends?”
Luc snickers obnoxiously. “She thinks I’m hotter than you, Macchio.” He pulls Sassy’s head in painfully close to his. “Can’t say she’s wrong. I do have the chiseled jaw, then there are the baby blues I got, and my hair that’s nicer than my sisters.”
“Shut up, Luc.”
Meg pokes Marc again. “Don’t tell him to shut up just ‘cause you’re wrong. I’m no one’s whore, and you don’t have the right to call me shit. Your grumpy ass continues to ruin a story I’m trying to hear about my best friend and the love of her life.” She turns away from him, but she swings back quickly as her eyes light. “Here’s an idea though. You wanna know the secret to getting a girl? Look at them the way Turner looks at Sammy. That shit’ll never steer you wrong. Until then, you better learn to suck your own dick. I hear there’s a procedure for that. Remove a couple ribs, something like that.” She spins away from his shocked face, then walks back to me. She almost chips my front tooth when she shoves the half empty bottle in my mouth and force feeds me again.
I’m already starting to feel woozy, the alcohol gone straight to my head and sending warmth to my toes.
“Want some scotch, Luc? I can share with you too… though if we share the same bottle and exchange a bit of spit, Marc might take that for having sex, which would only make me more of a whore.”
Luc scoffs, and dropping the girls from his side again, he skips forward and throws his arm over her shoulder companionably, taking the bottle she offers and lifting it high to chug several heavy mouthfuls. Jesus, Meg might not be the only one spewing tonight.
“You guys wanna play truth or dare?”
“Um, yes!” Luc bangs his and Meg’s heads together accidentally, and though her hand comes up to rub the sore spot, belly giggles roll over us all. “Truth or dare, Meg?”
As though she’s forgotten all about Biff, she wraps her arm around Luc’s waist and her hand digs deep into his back pocket. “Dare!”
Luc looks down at her with a wolfish grin, and though she should regret her decision, she looks like she doesn’t have a care in the world. “You’re a brave girl, aren’t you Meg?”
She shrugs carelessly, and as though she’s taken it upon herself to ensure I drink tonight, she steps the three feet toward us and tips the bottle up to my lip. When my mouth overflows and dribbles down onto my chin, she steps back under Luc’s arm. “I said dare, Luc. Let me have it.”
“Hey,” Sammy murmurs close to my ear. I turn my face as far around as I can, then the familiar happens again; my dick springs painfully to life, straining against my jeans as Sammy brazenly licks the spilled liquid from my chin. I’ve never been so desperate in my life to not be a virgin anymore.
“Alright,” Luc continues on with their game. His eyes search over us all, then turning a full circle with Meg still under his arm, he faces Marc and they walk backwards. “I dare you to kiss Marc.”
Meg lets out a disgusting ‘ugh’ that sounds more pig snort than rejection, but Luc silences her. “You said dare, and I dare you to kiss my boy. It ain’t illegal to kiss when you’re our age, Meg. You won’t go to jail for it, but better yet, we’re family around here, and you and Marc need the boy girl version of round robin fight circle. If me and Marc, or Turner or Angelo, spoke to each other the way you and Macchio speak to each other, we wouldn’t stay family very long. It’s time to take it to the yard where we settle our shit like men.”
“Luc--” Meg attempts to pull away from his arm, but he holds her tight.
“One kiss, and whatever happens after that is your business. I swear no one will be calling you a whore, especially not him. But for the love of pig’s piss, you two need to kiss and make up.”
“No,” she declares easily. “Truth.”
“You said dare!”
“And now I change my mind. Truth.”
“Ugh,” he grumbles. “This game will turn to shit in two seconds if none of you follow through.”
“I’ll follow through on all the rest – as long as the rest doesn’t include kissing asswipe over there. Ask me your question.”
Luc rolls his eyes, but then they light up mischievously. “Alright. Tell us your biggest secret in the whole wide world.”
Meg’s brows draw in tight, thinking about her answer even as she drinks some more, then feeds me some more. My stomach rolls with nausea, but Sammy’s breath on my neck tells me to man the fuck up and get over it. Meg throws her arm around Luc’s waist again as she considers. “I dunno what my biggest secret is. I don’t really have a lot.”
Marcus scoffs arrogantly. “She suggests the game, then she flakes on her first dare and truth.”
Meg’s eyes turn to slits, and if I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was ready to bash him over the head with her bottle.
“I don’t really have secrets,” she continues. “I’m basically an open book – to everyone except my dad. So I guess my biggest secret in the world is actually being out right now.”
Luc rolls his eyes. “That’s lame. Think of another one.” But before she can answer, his eyes light up again. “How many guys have you slept with, Meg?”
I choke on my spit as hers and Marc’s eyes meet again, but this time, neither contain venom. Hers are insecure, and his are eager to know. Like she’s scared of the judgement, and he’s excited for his imminent victory.
“You can’t lie,” Luc continues. “Forget asswipe is here. There’s no judgment.”
“How many people have you slept with?” she asks him, but he smirks and shakes his head.
“It’s not my turn yet, baby doll. Answer your question, then it’s my turn.”
“Ugh, fine.” She looks at me and Sammy, then glancing at Marc, she looks out into the dark street instead of meeting anyone’s eyes. “Some people in this group might assume I’m a whore just because I like to flirt with boys. But, I’m actually still a virgin.”
Luc’s eyes pop wide, but Marc scoffs arrogantly. “I call bullshit. I smell a turd. I see a whore. I say this game is a waste of time, ‘cause she ain’t gonna answer truthfully.”
Luc turns to him almost angrily, dragging Meg around roughly and almost tripping her up. “Maybe she’d answer truthfully if you stopped being such a dick to her. She’s Sammy’s friend, and since Turner is whipped as shit, well, that implies Meg’s sticking around for a bit. You’re hurting the family by being a dick, Macchio. Who’s to say she’s lying? You’re a virgin too, asshole.”
Marc’s jaw drops in shock, and though I feel a little bad for him, the combination of being a little drunk, and Sammy’s taste still on my lips from minutes ago, plus the fact he is actually being a dick, I’m finding it hard to muster an ounce of sympathy. Serves him right for passing judgement.
He consciously picks his jaw up, grinding his teeth together, but he nods quickly, then goes back to kicking rocks. That’s all she’ll get. Not an apology, but a promise to shut his mouth for the rest of the night.
Luc turns them around again, and walking forward, Meg’s shoulder bumps into mine even as Sammy’s lips absentmindedly start nibbling at my neck. I stretch my neck to give her space to work.
“It’s the truth,” Meg continues. “I’ve never had sex before. Do you know how when you’re craving your favorite dessert? Like, you really want that triple chocolate mud cake or whatever. You think about it all day. You anticipate it, you get excited for it. The best time of that cake is the minutes before, when the expectation is built so high in your head. You fall in love with the cake a little bit. Your mouth waters when you think about it…”
Luc barks out a laugh. “I think you just gave me a boner thinking about chocolate cake. I’ll never be able to look in a bakery window the same way again.”
Meg snickers as they sway together and walk. “Yeah, well, anyway, the thought of the cake is amazing, but usually about halfway through the serve, the sugar starts to make you feel sick. Your belly hangs over your pants. You might even get a headache from the sweet overload.”
Luc’s brows pull together. “I don’t get it.”
“I mean, the thought of the cake is always better than the actual cake. So I flirt with boys, because that’s the fun part before the cake, but the eating it is the sex… and maybe it’s fun for a little bit, but in the end, you probably feel sick and gross about it all, because it can’t possibly live up to what you had in your mind. So by flirting, I’m enjoying the buildup. It’s win win… for me.”
“Ever think about the state of the blue balls you leave the guy with?”
She cackles drunkenly, but she adds seriously, “It’s not my responsibility to make a guy come, Luc. He can do what he wants with his dick, but putting it in me doesn’t fall into the realm of his entitlements. Not until I give him the go-ahead.”
Luc whistles through his teeth. “That’s a harsh truth, Meg.”
“Harsh, maybe. But truth, absolutely. You have sisters, right? I’ve heard about the beautiful Lenaghan family. You wouldn’t want them to do something with a guy just because he expects it.”
“Ugh,” he cries out. “Don’t put that shit in my head. They’re still babies.”
“They’ll be my age one day. What would you think if a guy implied that his blue balls were their responsibility?”
“Fuckkkkk.” Luc shoves a giggling Meg away, thrusting her against Marc’s chest where he catches her before she trips into a drunken giggling heap. He sets her on her feet, but then lets her go and moves a full ten feet away.
“That was a really shitty game of truth or dare,” Sammy declares softly, and finally, for the first time since we watched the girls arrive tonight, Marc cracks a smile.
“Alright Luc,” Sammy starts. “Truth or dare?”
“Dare, baby doll. Always dare for me.”
Twenty full minutes later, we walk down my street, and though I’d intended to walk her home, my drunk ass brought them here instead. Thankfully, my dad is working tonight, and my mom would have gone to bed ages ago. Even still, I stumble and clutch at Sammy, and I noisily shush everyone. Meg brings the bottle back to my mouth for the hundredth time tonight, and a bubble of pride swells in my stomach when I finish off the last drops of scotch, emptying the bottle and smiling conspiratorially at Meg like we’d hatched a plan and just executed it perfectly. I squint my eyes as we approach my house, and a girly snigger escapes my lips when I spot Angelo leaning against his Charger with his arms folded across his chest and his ankles crossed. He smirks arrogantly as our rag tag group move closer. Leaning back into his car, he pulls out a few cans of soda, not the beer I was kind of hoping for.
“Angelo.” I rush forward and hug him, and it’s not until his and Sammy’s heads bash together that I remember she’s still on my back. She cackles out a tipsy laugh, and Angelo holds me steady as my swaying turns to dangerous levels. Sammy should probably jump ship soon, or risk falling and getting squished under me, but then again, under me might be a nice place for her to be--
“Took you jackasses long enough. I’ve been waiting ages.”
“Shhhhh!” My shush was loud enough to wake the dead, and when Angelo shakes his head at me, he looks to Meg and eyes off her empty liquor bottle.
“You idiots have fun?”
“Can I get some of that soda?” Sammy asks him as she climbs down off my back stiffly. Angelo passes her a Coke and she cracks the top instantly, tipping it up to her dry lips and chugging. Watching her throat move as she glugs the liquid should be sensual, right? Instead, my stomach rolls and I place my hand down on my mailbox for balance.
Angelo leans down in front of me. “You good dude? You’re green.”
“Can a guy have alcohol poisoning after an hour?”
Ang chuckles and shakes his head again, straightening up when Meg stumbles around, first crashing into Luc, then Marc, and finally pricking herself on my mom’s rose bushes. She jumps forward quickly, but her giggles turn to piggy snorts as she holds her stomach and cackles. The world spins on it’s axis as Sammy’s beautiful eyes come down to meet mine. She has six of them. And three heads.
“You’re so pretty.”
“Hey, are you okay, Sam? You don’t look so good.”
“Ermmmokay.”
“You wanna sit?”
I shake my head sluggishly. “Nahmokay.”
I watch as she shrugs her six shoulders, then lifting three cans of soda to her lips, she thirstily chugs some more. She shakes her heads to clear the bubbles from her nose, but waves crash inside my own head, deafening me to Meg’s continued cackles, or the soft questions Angelo asks me. I attempt to shake my head to clear the fog, but instead, I shake my ass because my body broke, and fire races up my throat and my stomach comes crashing out into my mama’s rose bushes. Steam rises off the pile of puke, then soda sprays down next to it. Vomit dribbles out the side of my lips, and I look up to find Sammy pawing at her face as soda leaks from her nose. Her mouth moves like she’s laughing, but the waves in my brain continue to deafen me. I look to my left to find Meg rolling on the grass in hysterics, then Marc watching her as he holds his own stomach and laughs.
I’m fucked.