Page 17 of Feel Free to Scream

The drink is orange with half an inch of foam on top. I take a tentative sip, and my eyes widen. “Oh, yum.”

“Yeah? I’m a little curious, after seeing him make it.”

“Oh, you should try!” Without thinking, I offer him my glass.

It only occurs to me that it’s an oddly intimate thing, sharing a single glass, when he’s dipping his lip in the foam. “Fuck, that’s good.”

Add fuck to the list.

He gives me back my drink. “I think I’ll order one of those.”

“Most guys wouldn’t want to walk around with a girly cocktail in hand.”

“Most guys have something to prove,” he replies, shrugging.

The implication he doesn’t is something I refuse to dwell on.

“Be careful with that; I think he put more vodka and liqueur than anything else.”

“Really?” Lily pouts. “But it tastes so good! I can’t even tell there’s any alcohol.”

“Trust me, there is. I’d better go bug Luke again.”

With his warning in mind, I make myself sip my drink slowly.

“Oh, we’ll tag along,” Lily offers.

My guess is, she’d do just about anything to avoid another chat with Cross.

“It’s pretty crazy that you guys hired a bartender for a college party. What’s wrong with punch and beer kegs?”

“Nothing, but the ladies like cocktails.” He shrugs. “Luke’s a student, anyway. We have a fair few helpers from the main dorms. They do odd jobs for the houses, and we pay into a pot to cover their dorm fees. Everyone wins.”

Luke was awfully busy, with a dozen people waiting around his marble bar for their orders, but when he spots Keller, he immediately asks, “What do you need?”

Keller points to the two of us, standing on either side of him, with each of his thumbs. “The girls are already halfway done with their cocktails; and I wouldn’t mind one myself. You can make it all in one shaker, right? It’ll be easier to do all three at once.”

“You got it, let me just finish the couple of kir royales.”

I watch him serve the mix of crème de cassis and Champagne, pouring Moët and Chandon from a magnum bottle. “I’ve never had champagne,” I say idly.

“Luke, we have an emergency over here,” Keller calls. “This philistine needs Champagne, stat.”

“Damn, never?” From Luke’s wide eyes, that’s a sin. “You can’t have a kir for your first time. It’s lovely, but you need to try it neat.”

“Well, I’ve had cava, and prosecco.”

Luke looks like he could cry. “You’re breaking my heart, girl.”

He grabs a crystal flute with a delicate design from under the bar and fills it before sliding the drink to me. I set down my half-finished martini to try it.

It occurs to me he gave the girls their drinks in plain glasses.

“Hey, I’ve had Champagne, but not from a fancy expensive brand. I’ve seen this one around, it’s like, twice the price of the one my mom gets. Can I have some, too?”

Lily is also given a pretty glass.

“It’s the best the wyverns keep on hand, chilled,” Keller says. “They have a few nicer bottles in the cellar, but nothing like what we keep in the vesper tower. If you like it, we’ll have to expand your palate someday.”

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