After putting our movie collection and any other items we were afraid might get stolen in my bedroom, Gwen and I busied ourselves by making strawberry margaritas and doing a shot of tequila.
“Hey ladies! The party can start, I’m here!” Braeden announced when he barged through the front door.
“Hey babe! You want a margarita?” Gwen asked as he put a twelve-pack of Miller Light in our fridge.
“Sure! Tequila me up!” he exclaimed, taking a glass full of the frozen red drink from me.
“So, who’s all coming? All of your moronic frat brothers?” I asked, downing the rest of my drink before pouring myself another.
“Of course! And, the other fun party regulars. Should be a good time!” he replied.
“Are Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumbshit coming? They’d better not be,” Gwen warned, speaking of Jason and Derek.
“No way! I failed to mention it to them. I wouldn’t do that to my little Esme,” he grinned, slinging his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close.
“Oh, I’m so glad I have you to look out for me, Braeden,” I said teasingly.
“Who told you that it was okay to touch my girlfriend?” Zac asked as he stuck his head in the door.
“Sorry buddy!” Braeden said, withdrawing his arm so I could properly greet Zac.
“Hello to you, too!” Zac laughed once I had finally ended our hello kiss, “And how many of these have you had already?”
“Only two, so just leave me alone,” I said, setting my glass on the counter.
“You drink as much as you want, Esme, just as long as I get at least one of these,” he said, peering into the pitcher.
“There’s more where this came from. Two handles more,” I laughed, opening the cabinet to reveal two more large bottles of premixed margarita mix in the cabinet.
“You ladies stocked up!” Braeden said.
“It’s gonna be a good night!” I exclaimed.
By ten-thirty the party was in full swing. Gwen had put herself on kitchen duty, which basically consisted of keeping people away from our supply of alcohol. Zac and I were mingling with people in the living room. He introduced me to some of the guys he used to play football with. They were nice enough, but as the alcohol continued to hit my system, I found it harder and harder to pay attention to their sports talk. My head was buzzing with the delayed effects of the tequila and I more just stared at Zac while he talked than listened to what he was saying.
“Earth to Esme!” he said goofily, grabbing my cheeks in his hands and forcing me to look directly at him, “What are you looking at?”
“You,” I smiled, welcoming eagerly the feeling of his lips against mine.
“Were you even listening to me?” he smiled, letting one hand linger on my cheek.
“Nope,” I admitted with a smile, “Not a word.”
“How drunk are you?” he laughed.
“Let’s just say that it takes awhile for tequila to hit my system, but when it does… oh man!”
“Tequila makes me horny,” he whispered in my ear before placing a kiss to it.
“Everything makes you horny,” I laughed out loud, allowing him to pull me closer.
“ESME! Come here!” Gwen yelled from the kitchen, and in my current state, I couldn’t read her tone of voice enough to know if it was something important or not.
“What?!” I said as I entered.
“More shots!” she grinned, motioning to four shot glasses full of tequila on the kitchen table.
“More shots? I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” I swayed, holding on to Zac for support.
“It’s the best idea ever, what are you talking about?” Gwen asked incredulously, “We don’t have to drive home! Get plastered!” I sighed and stepped up to the table with Zac at my side.
“Fine, twist my arm,” I smiled, taking a shot glass and waiting for Gwen, Zac, and Braeden to follow suit.
“Just so you all know, shots plus Zac equals bad things,” Zac laughed.
“I’m sure Es won’t be complaining,” Gwen said, sending a wink in my direction before downing her shot.
“Oh god… I need a lime,” Zac groaned, snatching one from the table, “That was horrible.”
“You big baby,” I smiled, kissing him briefly before putting our shot glasses in the sink.
“Your cheeks are all red,” he commented, brushing a thumb over one of them.
“That happens when I drink a lot.”
“You look adorable,” he said, kissing me again, this time pressing me into the kitchen counter. His hand dropped from my face to my waist, making sure that I was pulled as tightly against his body as possible.
“Are you determined to pervert this kitchen in as many ways as possible?” I laughed lightly as he dropped his kisses to my partially exposed shoulder, eventually pulling the wide strap of my tank top aside for more access.
“You know it,” he stated simply. As much as I didn’t want to, I finally pushed him away, knowing that letting him do that in the kitchen in the middle of a party probably wasn’t the best idea.
“Let’s save it for later, okay?” I asked.
“Sure thing,” he smiled, leaning in to kiss me one more time.
“Aww… well, if it isn’t the happy couple,” a snide voice said from beside us. We broke apart slowly as if to compose ourselves and saw Derek and Jason standing there looking at us smugly.
“Looks like you two kissed and made up since the last party,” Derek stated.
“Who would’ve thought that Mr. Ex-Quarterback would be so easily dissuaded?” Jason asked.
“I’m pretty sure neither of you were invited,” I said as sternly as I could manage with a fuzzy feeling head and limbs.
“All of the Delta Phi’s were invited. You should’ve known we’d show up, Esme,” Jason said.
“Why don’t you two just leave? No one wants you here,” Zac said.
“Is that so? That wasn’t the case about a year ago,” Derek said, “For me at least.”
“Wow, is that all? It seems like much… much longer,” I said definitively, fully prepared to just turn around and walk away.
“I thought I told you two to leave,” Zac said, ignoring my hand tugging at his shirt as crossing his arms defensively over his chest.
“It’s a party, Ex-Quarterback. Don’t get your panties in a twist about it,” Jason said.
“Why do you even care about giving her a hard time? Neither of you has dated her for over a year? Do you honestly still give a shit, because I know that she doesn’t,” Zac said.
“Are you kidding me? How could we forget about Esme? You know what I’m talking about, man!” Jason exclaimed.
“I’m pretty sure I don’t,” Zac spat.
“Oh, so she hasn’t screwed you yet? Funny, she put out for me on the first date!” Derek said. Without any sort of warning, Zac reached back his right arm and slugged Derek right in the nose.
“Whoa! What the hell?” Jason asked, lunging at Zac only to find himself held back by Braeden.
“I’m not going to ask you again. Get out!” Zac said, pointing at the door.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Jason asked, struggling drunkenly against Braeden’s strong grip.
“I think I’m the guy who just made your boyfriend’s nose bleed,” Zac said, eliciting laughter from the crowd I had just noticed was watching the entire scene, “And if you ever come around Esme again, I’ll give you the same treatment. Now get out.” Braeden and Zac then ushered them out the front door and as soon as it was shut, the crowd erupted in cheers.
“I fucking hate those guys,” Braeden said, “Thanks for doing what no one else was willing to do.” Zac shook his head.
“I shouldn’t have punched him. I don’t hit people. I don’t know what the hell came over me!” he said.
“You were just protecting your woman’s honor,” Braeden laughed, “Any guy in here would’ve done the same thing. Trust me.”
Throughout all of this, all I could do was sit there and stare in wonder at Zac. I was a little surprised that he had hauled off and slugged Derek, since he seemed to be a pretty laid-back guy. But the fact that he had done that showed how much he cared about me. People always say that your true feelings come out when you’re drunk, and his actions had just spoken volumes.
“What?” Zac asked once he realized that I was looking at him, “Shit, you’re pissed at me, aren’t you. I’m sorry, I just-” I put my hand over his mouth to silence him.
“That was without a doubt the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” I said with a smile, “And here I was, thinking that my room was the thing that would need protecting.”
“You’re just such a damsel-in-distress!” he teased, picking me up and slinging me over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I laughed as he walked me down the hallway while the party went right back to its previous state.
“Rescuing you, of course,” he replied, opening my bedroom door.
“Oh thank god,” I smiled as the door shut, thankful for the opportunity to show him just how grateful I was.