Page 17 of Charmed, I'm Sure
“Oz!” I yelled over my shoulder. “Just gotta find the yellow brick road.”
Even though her laughter disappeared into the sounds around us, her head was thrown back, her hand flying to her stomach as her eyes crinkled at the edges.
When we finally made it past the sea of bodies and spotted our destination, my heart sank. The line to get in wrapped down the street. I figured that it would be busy since they did drag shows on Saturdays, and it was Halloween… but this was insane.
“Ireallydon’t want to wait in that line,” Jaelyn whined next to me, her excitement dimming as we watched the line move a fraction of an inch.
“Purple Drank?” I asked, my brows winging up as I tilted my head toward the bar down the road.
“Oh, you want to getthatkind of drunk tonight.”
“We didn’t stop at any bar on the way here. Not even one of the however-many-there-areTropical Isles. Come on, one or two won’t hurt.”
Lie. That was a bold-faced lie, and we both knew it. The “Purple Drank” fromLafitte’s knocked everyone on their ass. It tasted like adamn grape Sno-ball, and you couldn’t taste the copious amounts of liquor in it either. But it was frozen, and I was hot, so it sounded like a solid plan to me.
With a shrug, Jae extended her arm out toward the bar and quirked a brow as she said, “Go big or go home, I guess.”
Taylor
When Addy told me she needed me to take her to New Orleans for her dress fitting, I hadn’t expected to be roped into staying for the night so that she could go to Bourbon Street and indulge in the drunken festivities. She’d even packed costumes, for god’s sake, and her fiancé, Colin, justhappenedto be in the hotel suite when we walked in.
“Come on, Tay, it will be fun! Loosen up!” she’d yelled when my deadpan expression hadn’t changed since we walked into the bar.
The lights were blinding, the music blaring, and I was pretty sure there were too many people in there to be under fire code.
“Come on, man. Hang up the stethoscope for a night and havefun,” Colin said as he pushed some kind of shot into one hand and a weirdly colored concoction into the other. “Bottoms up!”
I eyed the shot for a second, then sniffed; my stomach clenched on instinct as the smell of cinnamon liquor burned my nose. Grimacing, I met the blue-green eyes of my sister, who smirked and held up her own tiny glass in salute. “When in Rome, I guess.”
Addy’s whoop of excitement was barely audible over the crowd and music. We clinked our plastic glasses together, tapped them on thehigh-top table we’d miraculously found empty, and raised them to our lips. The cinnamon whiskey burned on the way down, but whatever was in the cup Colin had given me cut the taste and replaced it with something sickly sweet.
“What the fuck is this?” I yelled, my nose scrunching as I ran my tongue along the roof of my mouth in an attempt to dispel the taste.
“Not sure,” he shrugged, his eyes glassy as he sipped from his own cup, “It’s some special for Halloween. Just keep drinking; it gets better.”
Yeah right.Shaking my head, I took a large swig from the cup, grimacing as I turned my eyes toward the dance floor where Addy and Colin had disappeared into the crowd.
Bodies moved in all directions, some in time with the music, others… not so much. With a sigh, I found a blank spot on the wall and leaned against it, regret settling in my stomach as something wet and sticky seeped through the fabric of my shirt.Gross.
As the night wore on, we hopped from bar to bar, Addy and Colin taking full advantage of the specials at each one while I nursed the drinks they pushed into my hands. By the time midnight rolled around, I was over it. I was hot. Sweaty. And Addy kept insisting I keep the mask on my face because “It would ruin the costume” if I took it off, regardless of the fact that it was annoying and itched. I’m pretty sure everyone thought I was Zorro, but she assured me that I was Westley fromThe Princess Brideand the right girl would get it. I had no clue how she thought I would findthe right girlin the middle of a sea of drunken bodies, but she sure was adamant about it.
Therightgirl, the only one who infiltrated my mind at all hours, was probably back in Bellevue doing god knows what with lord knows who.
“Can you get me another drink?” Addy shouted as her body moved to the music, her arms swaying above her head.
“How about some water?”
“Tay Tay,” she whined, her bottom lip poking out at me in the most pathetic attempt at a pout she could muster.
“Water first.ThenI will get you another drink. Deal?”
With a huff, she nodded her head and headed back out onto the dance floor, where Colin threw an imaginary fishing line to reel her in. My body shuddered at the cringe move. I was happy for my sister, truly, I was. But they could be downright nauseating—cute, but nauseating.
Pushing my way through the throng of people, I finally made it to the bar at the back of the house. The bartenders had smiles on their faces, their painted-on makeup still perfectly in place, despite the sweltering heat inside, as they chatted with each of their patrons.
As I leaned against the bar top and waited for them to come down to my end, a familiar voice cut through the noise and pulled my attention.
“Dude, I said no. Back off.”
