Page 100 of Girls Will Be Girls
He shakes his head as he counts dollar bills. “You guys lost me twenty bucks. Nine days…” He scoffs. “It should never have passed three.”
Lou grins like this is hilarious. “You didn’t feel like letting me in on this?” He asks Willie.
“That would’ve compromised the integrity of the bet.” He walks over, places two empty shot glasses on the bar in front of us, and pours the tequila from his other hand. “Next time, don’t dawdle.”
I let out a shocked laugh as Lou hands me my shot, completely unfazed.
“Cheers, baby girl.” He clinks his glass against mine.
As the liquid burns down my throat and my happy, tipsy state begins to creep back in, I notice a smiley Buck waving his tanned arm at me from across the bar in a comically large way like he’s waving off a steamship in Victorian times.
I take Lou’s hand — while he’s still trying to process the shot with a scrunched face — and my cocktail in the other, and pull him to the other side of the bar with me.
Buck raises his hands high. “You made it.” He takes me in from head to toe. “And youbroughtit.”
“Me?” I say. “What about you?”
We both do little twists for each other with my hand still in Lou’s, where he stands behind me.
“I think Dolly herself would be proud with that kind of cleavage.” He says, making me laugh.
“Lou, this is Buck.” I pull him forward.
“Oh, I know,” Buck says. “We’ve met.” He grins at Lou.
Lou reaches over to shake his hand. “How you doing, man?”
“I see you didn’t dress up,” Buck says. “Surprised Willie let you off.”
He shrugs and grins. “Like I’ve been saying, I’m Willie’s favorite.”
“I truly, truly resent that,” Buck says.
I point between the two of them with my drink hand. “How do you two know each other?”
“We both spend a lot of late nights here,” Lou says.
Buck nods. “We’re in constant competition for Willie’s affection.”
Lou smirks down at me. “For different reasons.”
“I don’t know.” I sing song. “Lou and Willie would make a cute couple.”
“Well, luckily for me, you two just made out in front of the whole town, so I’m back at number one, baby!” Buck cheers.
“We did not make out.” I defend.
“Thankfully, you did.” Buck takes a sip of his drink, ignoring me. “I just won a buttload of cash and there’s no one left to distract Willie from me.” He narrows his eyes playfully at Lou. “So tonight is a great night.”
“You bet on us?” Lou laughs.
“Don’t hate the player.” He shrugs.
Casey pops up next to us, happy and still dancing, demanding that we do shots. When Lou tries to decline, Casey sticks him with a terrifying glare and threatens what will happen if he denies the birthday girl, which shuts him up immediately because she is equally terrifying as she is amazing.
After cinnamon hell, in other words, a shot of Fireball, all three of us join Casey’s group. We play more games — thankfully, less embarrassing ones now that Lou is here — and when Casey ushers me up on the dancefloor, Lou stays back at the table with Buck.
Every now and again, my gaze will flit over to them because I’m incapable of keeping my eyes off of him for too long, and every time I do, his eyes are already on me. That adorable smirk on his lips as he watches me. His dark, searing eyes when his gaze dips, unashamedly taking every part of me in. It’s like he wants me to see him looking.
