Chapter 12 #2
Jason smirked at me as I danced, then caught me before I knocked into a table. “I think it’s time to slow down, lightweight. You’re like half my size and you’re keeping up with me.”
“Hey, I am not a lightweight. Besides, our apartments are close by,” I enunciated proudly.
Before I could stop him, Jason had taken the drink from my hand and replaced it with a glass of water. “No more Painkillers until you down that whole glass.”
I did as I was told and gulped down half the glass, giddy and buzzing and carefree.
I could see why people thought drinking was so much fun.
I didn’t have a care in the world, all my worries melted away.
I felt weightless, buoyant. I could get used to this.
Why had I been so worked up about Ryder?
Flirting was fine. Flirting was fun! Flirting was seriously underrated. I should tell him this.
Before I could, someone jostled me as they pushed by to get to the bar, and Jason grabbed me before I took a tumble into the astroturf. Staying upright seemed to be an emerging issue for me. Perhaps a point in the “not drinking” column.
My hand was still gripping his bicep when I had an epiphany. “I’ve got it! Your stage name should be Sin.”
His brows furrowed. “Sin?”
“You know, like Jase-sin. As in, you have a body built for sin.”
He barked a laugh before leaning in and lowering his voice. “Careful, or I might think you’re coming on to me.”
“Who says I’m not?” I said boldly, batting my eyelashes and giving him what I hoped was a tantalizing—rather than maniacal—smile.
He snorted. “Please. I may have a pretty face, but I’m not dumb or blind.”
The alcohol must have breached my blood-brain barrier, because I wasn’t following. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I know better than to chase after someone who’s obviously hung up on someone else.”
“Me? Who am I hung up on?”
He gave me a look like Please, then nodded his head toward the bar, where Ryder was procuring our next round of drinks. The implication was clear.
“Ryder?” I choked out. How could he know? Is he clairvoyant? I’ve been so careful!
He chewed on some ice. “It’s clear to me and anyone with eyes that there’s something going on between the two of you, and I know enough to get out of the way.”
“I’m sorry, Ryder Perry?” I repeated, paranoid now that other people could read on my face what I’d worked so hard to keep hidden. “The same guy who wanted nothing more than to get me fired off this movie? Who hated me until”—I checked an imaginary watch—“last week?”
Jason sighed. “You’re both idiots.”
“He’s the idiot,” I insisted. “I’m very…smart.” Blood was rushing to my head, and the room was starting to spin. I needed to sit down.
Jason looked amused. “You’re both completely in love with each other. It’s as plain as the nose on your face.”
“Oh my gosh Jason, shhh. He might hear you!” I hissed, glancing over to make sure Ryder was still stuck at the bar. The last thing I needed was him catching wind of this stupid crush and things getting even more complicated on set. “Ryder is not in love with me.”
Jason smirked, cocky and sure. “Oh, he definitely is.”
What?! “He told you that?” I squeaked.
“He didn’t have to. Guys know.”
I tried to focus on the hazy blur that was his face, but I was having a hard time standing without swaying.
I blinked, but my eyelids seemed to be taking longer to open and close.
Damn it, I wish I was more sober for this conversation.
He has real intel here and you’re too drunk to capitalize on it!
“Why are you even telling me this? Doesn’t this break some sort of bro code? ”
He waved a hand, unbothered. “You won’t remember a word of this conversation tomorrow.”
Right on cue, Ryder sidled back up to our table, three more drinks triangulated in his hands. “Hope you’re ready for our next round! Only problem is I can’t remember exactly what I ordered, or which is which.” He shrugged as if to say, Oh well. “Bottoms up!”
I didn’t have a chance to spin out about Jason’s commentary before I found myself getting spun around by Ryder, the two of us drunk-dancing on our improvised dance floor.
“If you like pina coladas,” Ryder crooned as he twirled me in a circle.
“And getting caught in the rain,” I belted off-key, stumbling over my own feet.
We weren’t dancing so much as falling all over each other, though neither of us seemed to mind.
We were handsy and uninhibited, the alcohol allowing us to take liberties we couldn’t normally get away with.
Every time he spun me, my breasts brushed against his sternum, and I wondered if he felt that point of contact as intensely as I did, if it throbbed in his joints, if he’d analyze it in bed later the way I would.
“Be careful, you two,” Jason called from the table. “The last thing Ryder needs is an injury. He has a hard enough time getting through scenes as it is,” he taunted, grinning wickedly.
“Hey now, that was a low blow,” Ryder retorted, though he couldn’t have cared that much, because he kept right on swaying.
A protective instinct pinged in my solar plexus.
“Come on, don’t give him a hard time,” I echoed, and Jason raised an eyebrow at me meaningfully.
Crap. Why not just declare your love in front of the entire bar?
I needed to cover. “Wyder can’t help it if he’s afwaid of heights,” I said in an exaggerated baby voice, pinching his cheeks.
Ryder wasted no time grabbing my wrists and pinning them behind me while he tickled the living daylights out of me, and I writhed with laughter.
“You know, if I had known your treatment for a fear of flying was to dry-hump me, I would’ve confessed my phobia a lot sooner,” he said with a naughty glint in his eye. “In fact, I’m feeling pretty scared right now…”
“Unhand me!” I squealed as Jason shook his head at us in the background.
“Just promise me one thing,” Ryder rumbled, his voice low and rough against my ear, and I hummed in response, still breathless with laughter. “You’ll never do that for anyone else.”
The air between us shifted, thickening, and when I pulled back to look at him, the gleam in his eye had softened into something that made my heart stutter.
“What do you guys think, we ready to call it a night yet?” Jason interrupted, gathering up all our empty cups. I think we may have gone a tad overboard on the souvenir glasses.
The familiar piano intro of a Bob Seger song came on, and I whooped. “What are you talking about? This party’s just getting started! Come on Ryder, let’s see that Tom Cruise strip tease!”
The next thing I knew, I came to with my head nestled against Ryder’s shoulder. It was warm and cozy here, and his gently prodding voice sounded a million miles away. “Hey Sleeping Beauty, I think it’s time to go home.”
I answered without bothering to open my eyes. My eyelids felt like they had weights sewn into them. “Mmkay,” I said, snuggling my head deeper into his collarbone. He smelled delicious, like a pine tree on Christmas morning.
“Why don’t you guys head back, and I’ll settle the tab,” I heard Jason say. “Plus, there’s a girl over there who’s been eyeing me.”
That tidbit woke me right up, triggering a second wind and noisy catcalling from me and Ryder, and prompting Jason to practically drop-kick us out the door.
“Thanks for buying,” I told him and threw my arms around his neck in a sloppy hug, overcome with tipsy sentimentality. “I love you, Jase.” As soon the words were out, a light bulb blazed on, and I pulled back. “Jase! That’s it!”
“Jase.” He puckered his lips, thinking about it. “You know what? I kinda like it.”
“Of course you do!” I said, pounding a fist on his chest. “Because it’s perfect. It’s so simple. It was just hanging out there the whole time!” I did a little happy dance and tripped over my own feet.
Ryder caught me easily, steadying me as he shoveled me out the door. “Okay there, birthday girl. Fresh air time for you.”
Only problem was, the summer air was so swampy, I’m not sure one could call it “fresh.” It certainly did nothing to sober me up. In fact, I think it might have made me drunker. “Is fresh air supposed to feel this stifling?” I asked him, fanning myself.
“I think I’m sweating more now than I was inside,” Ryder admitted, wiping his brow.
“I’m not sure the Tiki Hut was our best choice,” I told him, feeling woozy.
My ears were ringing, and the slightest hint of nausea was starting to set in.
I’d consumed so many sugary drinks tonight, my tongue felt fuzzy, like it had grown a layer of fur.
If I got sick, it would look like I raided a Kool-Aid factory.
“But we’re only like ten steps away from our door,” he pointed out. “Really, my plan was inspired.”
We stepped off the curb to cross the street, and I immediately stumbled again—not exactly my wisest decision, choosing heels for my inauguration into the world of binge drinking—but Ryder somehow managed to catch me before I completely face-planted, though I nearly took him out in the process.
I’m not sure why I expected him to keep me upright when he could hardly walk a straight line himself.
We were both fighting for our lives, and the whole thing made me collapse into hysterics.
“That was a close one,” I wheezed, laughing so hard tears started leaking from my eyes. Everything was hilarious. “Can you imagine Francesca’s meltdown if I showed up on Monday with my face covered in road rash?”
“Don’t even speak it into the universe.” Ryder kept a firm grip on my waist as he led us across the street. We were jaywalking! Such rulebreakers!
“I’d blame it on you for sure,” I said through my giggling. The moon hung low in the sky, illuminating our path home like a stage light on an empty set.
“At least you’re a happy drunk,” he said as we reached Riverview’s front entrance and he pulled open the door.
“Is there another kind?”
“Oh, sure. There are sad drunks, angry drunks, aggressive drunks, sloppy drunks, horny drunks…”