Rocket barked at the word “food” and we both laughed. Logan turned the key in the ignition and grabbed the gear shift, turning onto the street. I looked down at his hand gripping the gear shift, feeling my body get hotter and hotter every time he changed gears. I’d always been turned on by men who could drive a stick shift. Maybe it was the phallic imagery, I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was a massive turn-on. I squirmed in my seat, trying to alleviate the discomfort in my lower half. I was still pretty wound up from earlier, and I found myself breathing a little heavier than normal. Hoping Logan didn’t notice my discomfort, I asked him which pizza place he was taking us to.
He turned and glanced at my face. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, biting my lower lip.
“Oh god, Jamie, please don’t look at me that way.” Logan gripped the gear shift so tightly his knuckles turned white. I turned my head to look out the window. He cleared his throat, then said, “We’re going to Margherita’s.”
Margherita’s was a cute little Italian place on the boardwalk where I would not be out of place wearing just a bikini and toting two dogs. We parked in a municipal lot on 19th street and walked the few blocks to Margherita’s.
We sat out on the patio together silently. We were facing the ocean and shaded by a large red and green awning, so I took this chance to pretend to be looking out at the water. Our waiter came and broke the silence, thankfully, and we ordered a large veggie pizza to share, and got the dogs a large bowl of water.
We ate our pizza with a couple of Italian beers, which were a frosty relief from the heat of the day. As we drank our beers, dark gray clouds gathered, promising a wicked summer storm. I hoped the storm would be quick, but you never know with Virginia weather. If nothing else, a storm would be an excuse to go back home and end this awkward lunch.
“Well, this storm should clear the beach pretty quickly and send people scattering,” Logan said. “Good thing we got a spot under cover when we did. Pretty soon this place will be packed. Until then, we’re just going to have to get more beers and wait it out,” he proclaimed, calling our server over. “Two more La Rossas, please.”
The server nodded and left to grab our beers. I leaned back and put my hands over my belly. “I’m all done with the pizza. Saving room for beer,” I said, pushing out my belly and attempting to make more room. The motion drew Logan’s gaze to my chest, and I blushed slightly.
Logan said, “Attractive,” and smirked, then grabbed another slice for himself. Our beers arrived and I thanked our server. The patio was indeed filling up as the first fat raindrops started hitting the sand on the beach. We drank in silence, and I pulled Luke back from stealing someone’s pizza when they weren’t looking.
“So what are we gonna do today?” I asked Logan as he laughed. He swigged his beer while he considered.
“How does day drinking sound? We’ve already started on a couple of beers. We can call Dylan and Hannah and see what they’re up to,” he proposed.
“That’s an excellent idea,” I said. I pulled out my phone to call Hannah, and Logan pulled his out to call Dylan. They were both free, and we made a plan to meet at O’Malley’s Irish Pub in an hour, giving us time to pay our bill and drop off the dogs.
We called our server over, who had to make her way through the crowd. We gave her cash for our bill, then started wading our way out of the patio and into the street. The rain had mostly stopped, leaving just a light drizzle. We ran to the car and Logan drove to my apartment. I left Luke and Rocket snuggled up on the couch together, threw on a sundress, and ran back down the steps to Logan’s car. I got in, buckled up, and turned to him.
“Let’s go drink.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Logan and I sat together at the bar of the Irish pub, drinking Guinness and waiting for Hannah and Dylan to show. We didn’t talk much. Both of us were still feeling a little awkward about our ocean encounter earlier in the day. I sipped my beer, grateful for the forgiving nature of alcohol. Dylan got to the bar before Hannah, pulled up a stool next to me, and ordered a beer. Dylan’s presence cut through the tension between me and Logan, and relief flooded me.
“Hannah is perpetually late,” I apologized. “We might be here for a while.” Both guys shrugged, then started talking about the soccer game that was playing on the large television above the bar. I halfheartedly tried to follow what they were saying, but soon gave up and sipped my beer in silence.
Hannah blew in about a half hour later, as predicted. She set her bag on the bar and faced us all, hands on hips.
“All right, guys, the best way to get started day drinking is with shots,” she proclaimed, waving the bartender over. “Can we get four Irish car bombs?”
The bartender scowled at us, but went to make our drinks for us. While he made the drinks, he gave us a long history lesson on how offensive it is to order Irish car bombs, especially at an Irish bar, which considerably dampened our spirits. We ordered a plate of nachos to split, then settled in with our drinks.
“Who knew it was offensive to order an Irish car bomb?” Dylan asked sincerely.
Logan laughed. “I did. Don’t you know anything about Irish history? You know, Hannah, maybe you should let us do the ordering so we don’t offend every bartender we come across.”
Hannah scoffed. “Pssh. I’m a bartender and I am unoffendable.”
Dylan swiveled in his seat. “Is that a challenge?”
Logan and I looked at each other in surprise.
“Yes, that’s a challenge,” Hannah said, sipping her beer.
Dylan went all out on the first attempt. “Your ass is fat.”
Logan blew out a long whistle and stared down at his beer.
Hannah preened, wiggling her butt around in her chair. “Thank you,” she said with a wink. “Was that really the best you’ve got?”
Dylan held up his index finger, thinking. Logan said, “You’re gonna dig yourself a hole, man.” Dylan grinned widely.
“Okay, okay, here’s one- what do you get when you cross goat DNA and human DNA?” he asked.
Hannah screwed up her face in thought. “What?”
“Kicked out of the petting zoo.”
Logan and I groaned, and Hannah laughed uproariously. “Oh my god. That one was good. But you’ll have to try harder- that wasn’t even offensive, just hilarious.”
Dylan opened his mouth to make another off-color joke and I intervened.“Okay, okay,” I said. “We’re getting kind of loud. Maybe we should move on to the next bar and take this party elsewhere.” Everyone nodded in agreement and downed their drinks.
We paid our tab and walked down the street, all happily buzzed. Logan and I smiled as we listened to Dylan’s repeated attempts at offending Hannah, none of which were working. I saw a convenience store and had an idea. “Why don’t we just get some beers there and drink on the beach? That way we don’t have to deal with anyone offending the people who are handling our drinks?”
“Ooh, I have my cornhole boards in my car, and a cooler and some koozies, I think,” Hannah said, lighting up.
“Are you always this prepared for a beach party?” Dylan asked.
“What fun would I be if I weren’t?” Hannah replied. “I’m parked like two blocks from here, Dylan, you want to come with me to get them?”
Dylan nodded, and Logan said, “Jamie and I will get the beer and the ice, you get the cornhole boards and coolers and koozies or whatever.”
Hannah linked her arm through Dylan’s, who looked immensely pleased at this. I smiled widely and looked up at Logan. “Let’s do this.”
Logan held open the door of the convenience store for me, gesturing for me to go in front of him, and I walked over to the beer cooler. I chose a light beer, which was the easiest to drink on a hot beach day, and held up the case for Logan’s approval. He wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “You want to drink that light stuff? It’s basically water.”
“Yeah, but the good stuff will not taste good lukewarm when a
ll the ice has melted and it’s a million degrees outside. Trust me, city boy, for a beach day like today, you want light, flavorless beer,” I said, sticking with my choice.
“I’ve been to a beach before, and I’ve drank lots of different things on a beach. While you drink that, I will be drinking this,” Logan said, holding up a six-pack of imperial IPAs. I winced. A day of drinking those in the summer heat would set me up for a massive headache later on. To each his own, I guess.
I grabbed a few large waters as well, and loaded two big bags of ice into Logan’s arms. I ignored the way his hands accidentally brushed up against my breasts, but I knew he had noticed it. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, shifted the ice in his arms, and headed to the register.
Logan paid for our stuff again, ignoring my protests, and we stood in front of the store to wait for Hannah and Dylan to get back with the boards and cooler.
“Hey, who is working tonight? We’re all drinking so can’t really work,” I asked, shading my eyes to look up at Logan.
“Joe and Linda are working together tonight, and I think Victoria is on too,” Logan said. “Today is probably going to be my last day off in a while. Joe’s last day is this upcoming week, and then they’re moving in a few weeks after everything is set up. I’m going to be quite busy, what with new hires and trying to revamp our bar’s scene.”
“Well, then, let’s really enjoy today,” I said, nudging him in the side. He looked down at me warmly. “Just forget about all that work you’re going to have to do, and enjoy getting your ass whupped in cornhole.” I tilted my head and smiled, challenging him.
Logan laughed. “Oh yeah? Well, I don’t even know what cornhole is and I’m still sure that I can beat you.”
My mouth fell open. “You don’t know what cornhole is? How have you lived? Aren’t you a bar owner? Loads of bars have cornhole boards outside.” He shook his head and raised his shoulders. I tried to think of the easiest way to explain the game to someone who had never played it before. “It’s a game played with beanbags and wooden boards that have holes in them. The two teams take turns trying to get the beanbags either onto to the board or in the hole. If you get it onto the board, that’s one point, and if you get it into the hole, that’s three points. Teams can cancel out each other’s points though, so if you both get an equal amount of beanbags onto the board, nobody gets any points. Oh, and you play until one teams gets twenty-one points but not anything over twenty-one, otherwise your last shot doesn’t count. Got it?”
Logan nodded slowly. “Well, I’m sure there’s a learning curve, but I think I have the gist of it. Throw beanbag, get points, drink beer.”
I laughed. “Yep, you got it. Or at least enough to get you through a game.” I shielded my eyes from the sun, looking around for Hannah and Dylan. “Oh, there they are!” Hannah was holding a cooler and Dylan was holding the cornhole boards unsteadily. Logan darted forward to grab the cooler from Hannah, and dumped the bags of ice into it. Dylan readjusted his grip on the boards, Logan picked up the cooler, Hannah and I grabbed all the beer, and we walked down to the beach.
Luckily Hannah had thought to grab a giant beach blanket from her car, so we spread that out to protect ourselves from the hot sand. Hannah peeled off her jean shorts and tank top. Dylan made himself very busy with loading the beer into the cooler, appearing to be very interested in the exact placement of beers. I smirked and pulled off my dress, standing on the towel in just my bikini. Logan looked over at me appreciatively and I grinned at him.
We set up the cornhole boards on the sand and split into two teams- guys versus girls. The cornhole setup has players from opposite teams stand at the same board, so I stood with Dylan and Hannah stood with Logan. Hannah went first, landing a beanbag in the hole her first throw. She threw her hands up and gloated.
“Whoo! Beat that, losers!” She did a little victory jig while swigging from her beer.
Logan squared his shoulders and moved himself into position, clearly wanting to prove himself. He tossed the beanbag and it landed a full five feet from the board. Hannah whooped with more laughter and Logan shook his head in frustration. I bit my lips to keep from laughing, and Dylan was shaking next to me with silent laughter.
Hannah scored nine points that round, and Logan zero. Dylan and I were up. I am a very average player so had pretty low expectations, and Dylan was as abysmal as Logan, though he also didn’t seem to have high expectations for himself. Hannah and I made quick work of it, winning in just four rounds, and we all took a break to take a dip in the water.
“Last one there has to chug a beer!” Hannah exclaimed, running towards the water. Logan caught up to her and quickly surpassed her, with Dylan right behind Hannah, and me in last place. I didn’t mind chugging a beer, though, so I just walked calmly into the gently lapping waves and fell backwards.
We all dipped under the water, swimming out far enough that we couldn’t touch the bottom anymore. We lazily floated around, cooling ourselves off and relaxing. After fifteen minutes of floating, Hannah stood back up and proclaimed that she was tired of the water and wanted to go back to playing on the sand. We all swam back to shore and went back to our blanket.
“Jamie, don’t forget you have to chug a beer!” Hannah said, holding out a light beer.
“No skin off my back,” I said, shrugging. Hannah may have thought this is punishment, but I welcomed the cold beer in the hot sun.
Grabbing a beer out of the cooler for himself, Dylan said, “How about we play a drinking game before we go back to cornhole?”
Hannah pouted, but Logan agreed quickly. I suspected he wasn’t ready to get his ass kicked in cornhole again quite so soon. “Okay, the game is Never Have I Ever,” Dylan started. “Everyone holds up five fingers, and if you have done the thing that the speaker hasn’t, you put down a finger. Last one to still have fingers up is the winner. Or loser, I guess, depending on how you see it.”
Hannah chuckled at this. I looked over at her, knowing exactly what I was going to say first. I had played this game countless times with her, and I knew her weaknesses. I was going to play to win today.
“Ladies first,” Dylan said, nodding towards me.
“Okay, never have I ever eaten an artichoke,” I said, looking at Hannah.
“Lame,” Hannah said, putting down a finger and looking around. Both guys also had one finger down. “Okay, never have I ever driven a truck.” She looked around, and no one put down a finger. She looked surprised, and said, “No one? Hm. I’ll have to hit harder next time.”
It was Logan’s turn. “Easy. Never have I ever had a vagina.”
“Oh come on, that’s cheating,” I said, putting down a finger. “You’d better watch yourself, I’m coming for you now.”
“Yeah, low blow, dude,” Dylan said. “Never have I ever had breasts.” He smiled wickedly as Hannah and I both put a finger down, and Hannah gave him the middle finger.
“Okay, I’m gonna take the high road here and not go for the easy kill,” I said. “Never have I ever been to a non-North American country.” I lied about not going for the easy kill- I knew Logan had traveled extensively and Hannah had been to El Salvador for Habitat for Humanity in college. Everyone put a finger down, and I grinned in victory.
“Time to liven this game up,” Hannah said. “Never have I ever been in a threesome.”
She looked around interestedly. Nobody put a finger down. “Aw, we’re all prudes, I guess.”
Logan’s turn. “Never have I ever eaten a steak.”
Everyone put a finger down, and Hannah asked, “Oh, man, how is that even possible?” She had all five fingers down, and so was the first one out.
“I’ve been a vegetarian since I was twelve,” Logan said. I looked at him sympathetically. “Don’t worry, I don’t feel like I’m missing out,” he assured me.
Hannah snorted. “That’s because you’ve never had a steak.” I punched her in the arm to shut her up.
Dylan said, “Never have I ever don
e anal.”
I blushed a bit, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by Logan. I kept my fingers up though, and Logan put one down, winking at me. I raised my eyebrows at Logan and he shrugged. “Hey, I’ll try anything once.”
Hannah said, “Not prudes after all, huh? Jamie, get these guys out.”
My turn, and I needed to get dirty to win. “So I think it’s cheating a bit to go for the obvious differences like gender traits. I’m going to go ahead and admit that never have I ever smoked pot.”
Dylan put a finger down. Hannah grinned at him. “What, like you’ve never been to a Sublime cover band?”
Logan said, “Never have I ever had sex in a public place.” I narrowed my eyes at him, thinking of this morning in the ocean. He may not have actually had sex in public, but we had come pretty close to it today. I put a finger down, staring him squarely in the eye. Dylan put a finger down too, and Hannah looked impressed.
Dylan went with “Never have I ever worn a dress,” which I put a finger down to, and Hannah groaned. Logan still had two fingers up, and Dylan and I were down to one each.
“Never have I ever owned a business,” I said, aiming for Logan. He and Dylan both put down a finger, and it was down to me and Logan now.
“Never have I ever used a vibrator...on myself,” Logan said, his tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip. I put a finger down, and Logan won the game. I blew Logan a little kiss and winked at him.
“More cornhole?” Hannah suggested eagerly, looking around at the group. Nobody had any better suggestions, so we got up and got into position. A few games later, we were all cornholed out, and were lounging around on the blanket.
We drank a few more beers and hung out, talking about nothing in particular. Around eight in the evening, Hannah said she was tired and started packing her stuff to go home. Dylan hopped up to help her, and Logan and I pitched in by gathering all the empty beer cans and bringing them to the recycle bin up the beach.
Hannah and Dylan left to load her stuff into her car and head home, but Logan and I stayed on the beach together. We sat next to each other on the large beach blanket, looking out at the water, and I leaned my head on Logan’s shoulder. He tensed, then softened and placed a soft kiss on my temple.
Summer Bender Page 10