World Whisky Day, National Eli Day - May 20th
BEN
"Fuck, man, I still can't get over this place. I can barely tell it used to be Red's, and the pics don't do it justice." Eli, my oldest friend, meets my gaze from across the bar. "So proud of you, man."
"Thanks. That means a lot."
"I wish I could have been here for the grand opening."
Eli has been working in Seattle for the last year.
"I'm just glad you're back. I missed your ugly mug," I say.
He laughs. "I guess now that we’re living in the same city again, I’ll have to compete with your pretty boy blue eyes.” He raises his highball glass. “I welcome the challenge. To finally being back in Austin.”
I nod and cheers. Red Poppy doesn't open for another three hours, but I wanted Eli to see the bar before it got busy. Plus, I won't have time to catch up once it opens. He got into town at the perfect time. Turns out it's National Eli Day and World Whisky Day, which is Eli's preferred liquor, so I thought it was the perfect day to get together.
Since I started paying attention to the odd national holidays in case there's an opportunity to talk to Lainey, I've learned there's a shit ton of national drink days. I don't keep up with them all, but every once in a while, I'm inspired to feature a drink to draw in crowds. Today I've made a Whiskey Smash as a special.
"Damn, this is good," Eli says after he takes a sip. It's a high compliment since Eli is more of a whisky neat guy. "I could get in trouble drinking these."
"Which is why I made you get a ride here."
"Cheers to that." He raises his glass again before he takes another sip.
My phone buzzes on the bar and my stupid heart picks up at the sight of Lainey’s name. I haven't seen her since she slipped out of my bed in the early morning after Mother's Day. I let her think I was still asleep since I was too tempted to pull her back into bed and do all the things I’d dreamt of doing to her.
Lainey
Are you at Red Poppy?
Me
Yeah
Lainey
Be there in 10. Fix me that whisky drink you put on IG. Make it a double.
Me
It's already a double.
Lainey
Quadruple, then.
I laugh at that. There's no way I'm fixing her a four-shot drink.
Me
Wow. Bad day?
Lainey
You have no idea.
Me
SYS
"What's so funny?" Eli asks.
"My friend is having a bad day and asked me to make her a quadruple shot drink." It really pains me to call Lainey a friend. Even as it feels right, it also feels really fucking wrong.
"Whoa. Well, that one drink would do the trick. She'll be passed out before four."
It must be a really bad day if she's leaving work this early.
"So, who is this she friend? Anyone I know?" A curious gleam lights up his eyes. Eli is who gave me the nickname, Frat Bro Ben, recognizing it as a mask for my grief. Other than the occasional tease, he accepted it. He enjoyed the benefits of the female attention I attracted whenever he visited. He went to college in Colorado, so we didn't see each other often.
"No, it's Lainey. I met her on New Year's Eve. Our parents are dating."
His mouth drops open as he leans back on the barstool. "Whoa, wait. Mike’s dating?"
"More than that. He's shacked up with her."
Eli's eyes bug out. We've been friends since elementary school and practically lived at each other's houses as teenagers, so he's almost as close to my dad as I am. "No. Way."
"Oh, it gets better."
I go on and tell him about how Lainey and I met and the situations we've caught our parents in. I don't tell him how close Lainey and I have really become or the fact that I know what it feels like to make her come. Or how I'm afraid that if I'm not careful, I'll probably fall in love with her. I already feel like I've got one foot over the ledge after Mother's Day. The way she understood and listened...it was exactly what I needed. I don't think I'll be able to spend Mother's Day without thinking of her.
It's been almost ten minutes, so I start making her drink. I've told her anytime she wants to come by that she can park in the back and use the code I gave her to get in. A minute later, the back door squeaks open.
She emerges from the hall, and the moment Eli sees her, he sucks in a breath. He looks at me and mouths, whoa , with an interested gleam in his eyes. My stomach twists. Fuck. I didn't think about Eli finding her attractive. I mean, of course, he would, but I didn't think about him hitting on her.
And he definitely will.
Lainey beelines straight to the bar and the drink I've set down. She settles on the stool next to Eli, takes the glass, and starts drinking—no, she starts gulping.
"Whoa, whoa." I gently take the glass out of her hand. "You don't chug this like a beer, Lainey. Do you want to kill yourself?"
"Not really,” she mutters. “But a two-week coma should do the trick."
Eli chuckles, and she looks at him, seemingly noticing him for the first time. I can see the appreciation in her gaze. Eli is a good-looking guy, and I've seen firsthand how easy it is for him to hook up. My stomach twists again.
"Your future stepsister is awesome," Eli says.
Lainey looks at me with narrowed eyes. "Is that who you told him I was?"
"Definitely not." I fire a hard glare at Eli. "I told him our parents were dating. This is Eli Burke, my oldest friend. He's been living in Seattle for the past year and just returned to Austin. "
She reaches out her hand. "Lainey Langford, nice to meet you. So, are you here for good?"
"For good. Unless work ships me off again."
Eli works for a major hotel chain and was in Seattle to oversee the opening of a new hotel and conference center.
"So, what's been so horrible about today?" I ask her, wanting to get her attention away from him.
She groans and takes a drink from her glass, this time a proper sip. "It's the holidate posts."
"Holidate?" Eli asks, and I explain Lainey's assignment to him.
She drops her head to the bar with a heavy sigh. "They told me that not only do I have to find a real date for Memorial Day, but I also have to plan a whole weekend full of activities. Which means I have to spend a whole weekend with some stranger."
"Hey," I lift my arms, presenting myself. "I can be your date again."
" Real date. My boss wants someone new. Even though you’re the most popular post so far. You got more comments than the hockey player.”
I can’t help but smile. I did notice her Cinco de Mayo post got more attention than the Kentucky Derby, and everyone was shipping us together, noticing we’ve been in more than one post together. I also saw some comments from past hook-ups. Some were kind about my, um, skills, and some were not. Despite those cringe comments, the exposure has been positive. Red Poppy’s socials have even gotten more hits since then.
“I can't use Josie again either or anyone in my family,” she continues. “The posts when I have a true holidate are too popular. Now I have to find someone in the many emails of guys vying for a holidate or use that dating app again."
"I'll be your date," Eli pipes in .
Lainey jerks her gaze to his while my heart slams into my chest. The word “no” is at the tip of my tongue.
"Really?" she says, like he's just thrown her a life preserver.
"Hell, yeah. A weekend full of fun with a beautiful woman. Sounds perfect."
Fuck. Me.
Lainey looks at me hesitantly, then back to him. "I don't know. You're still a stranger." Her voice is now a bit wary.
"Technically, but I have a reference." Eli points at me. "Ask him anything about me. We've known each other since we were nine."
Lainey looks at me. "Well? Any skeletons in the closet I should know about?"
Damn it. Even if I dig up the dirtiest thing I have on him, it's on par with something Frat Bro Ben did. No, Eli is a good guy. I would easily recommend him to any of my friends.
Just not Lainey.
No choice, asshole.
"Unless he's gathered some fresh ones while away, not really. He likes to drink but doesn't get drunk often. Though don't let him drink tequila, he gets super stubborn. Not into drugs that I'm aware of." I look at him and Eli shakes his head. "Was a bit of a ladies man in college, but he's never cheated on any of his girlfriends. His biggest fault is he prefers hot tea over coffee."
Lainey looks at him. "Eww. That might be a deal breaker."
Eli laughs. "I might not drink it, but I know how to make it." He gives her a confident and charming grin. I've seen that look. Bare minimum, that look gains him a phone number, but more times than I care to remember, it leads to the bedroom.
“Well, I suppose that’s something.”
I start making another drink to distract me from noticing the spark in Lainey’s eyes. Why did I have to make it so fucking easy for her to fall completely in love with him ?
She bites her lip as if contemplating, then takes a sip of her drink. My eyes meet hers, and there’s something in her gaze that makes me think she wants me to give her a reason to say no. Or is that what I want to see? Because the thought of her and my best friend hooking up is like a knife to the gut.
“Why don’t I take you out to dinner tonight?” Eli says, breaking into our moment. “We can get to know each other, then you can decide if you want to spend the weekend with me."
She looks at me, seemingly conflicted. "I haven't even eaten lunch yet."
I pour her Whiskey Smash into a glass, but since she hasn’t finished her last one, I take a sip and set it between us.
"We can order some food, and y'all can get to know each other here," I offer with a smile.
Eli glances at me, not appreciating my suggestion, but when Lainey agrees, he goes along with it. I order a pizza and suffer through watching Eli flirt with her.
"Oh, and get this," Lainey says. "They want me to go camping to promote a local outfitting company. Camping . I've never been camping in my life, and they want me to go with someone I've just met? Like that's safe!"
"I'm an Eagle Scout," Eli says with a shit-eating grin.
"No fucking way!" Lainey says on a laugh.
Shit, she’s warming up to him.
Eli’s hand slides over hers on the bar, and it takes all my willpower not to slap it away. "Lainey, pretty sure this date is destiny."
She grins. "I think you might be right."
I throw back another gulp of her whiskey smash.
Eli goes on about where they could go camping, and the more he talks, the more Lainey looks unsure. "Wait, you want to sleep in a tent for three days?"
"Yeah, that's camping,” he says in a duh kind of way .
I swear she looks paler.
"Depending on where we camp, we could go tubing down the Guadalupe or Comal, and we can…”
As Eli goes on, Lainey looks more overwhelmed and panicked. Her gaze finds mine, and I can’t take it anymore.
"Let's do a group thing. I'll join you," I blurt.
Eli raises his head from where he’d started looking up things and narrows his gaze at me.
"And bring Josie. Or anyone else," I continue so he doesn't think I'm trying to sabotage his date. I'm not really trying to, but I refuse to let Lainey get roped into a weekend she’s not completely comfortable with.
"You know, that's not a bad idea," she says, her expression relieved.
"I thought it was supposed to be a real date," Eli says.
"We'll focus the pictures solely on us for the post. It'll be good to have others around to help document the date." She scoots off her stool. "I'm going to run to the restroom, and I'll text Josie."
As soon as she's out of earshot, Eli pins me with a look. "What the hell? Why do you keep cockblocking my date?"
"I'm not."
"You totally are!"
I glance away and take a calming breath before I face him again. “Look, you were going a little fast and furious. Spending the weekend with a guy she doesn’t know while camping in the middle of nowhere for days isn’t exactly something a woman is comfortable with. Her holidates haven’t exactly gone well.”
That seems to deflate him some. "It's not the middle of nowhere, but I guess I did get a little ahead of myself. It's been a while since I've gotten laid."
I ball my hands to stop myself from grabbing him and telling him he better not fucking touch her. "Look, don't push Lainey. "
"I don't push women, Ben." He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have. “But if you think I'm going to give up the idea that Lainey will end my dry spell, you're sorely mistaken." I slam my teeth together to stop myself from completely losing it on my best friend. Thankfully, Lainey comes back before I do something stupid.
As she approaches the bar, she pauses by the reserved bar stool. “You know, I meant to ask you, why is this always reserved?”
My heart seizes. Shit.
“That’s Poppy’s Spot,” Eli says. He might not have been here since I reopened as Red Poppy, but he knows about my mom’s carving and the significance behind it. “You can see where she carved her name in the bar top.”
Lainey’s gaze bounces from him to me before she inspects the bar and finds my mom’s script. She gently runs her finger over it. “No one sits here.”
It’s a statement, but when her gaze rises and meets mine, I can see the question in them.
“No. Never.”
Except not never. Only her.
Her mouth parts in surprise even though her expression softens. My heart is beating so fucking fast. I feel raw and exposed, as if I’ve just revealed my deepest darkest secret. I watch her throat in a swallow before she dips her gaze back to the carving. She gives it one last touch.
“That’s beautiful, Ben.” She keeps her gaze down, and I can’t help but think it’s because if she looks at me, it’ll reveal too much. Hell, I’ve probably revealed too much in mine.
I glance at Eli and he’s looking at me with a sympathetic expression. At least, he thinks this tense and somber moment is due to thinking of my mother. I’m internally grateful for him for easing the pensiveness surrounding us when he raises his glass and says, “To Poppy.”
Lainey returns to her seat and raises her glass. Since I don't have my own drink, I grab a bottle of tequila and pour a shot. “To Poppy.”
My gaze catches Lainey’s as we take our drinks. It’s weighty. Significant.
“So, did you get a hold of your friend?” Eli asks.
Lainey blinks. “Oh, yeah. Josie’s in.”
"Is she single?" Eli asks.
"Yes."
"Awesome!” He looks back at me. “Now it's a double date."
Lainey and I lock gazes as we both respond with a hollow sounding, "Great."