“So much for getting Maddox laid,” grumbled Axel. “What a waste.”
“She’s right,” says Declan, having already finished his drink and clearly wanting to move the night along. “It’s not like we can make them leave. We should go,” he says hopefully.
Axel looks thoughtful for a minute.
“Nah,” he says finally. “We’ll just go ahead of you. I’ll buy you girls a drink, so just stay in here for as long as possible and that way you won’t catch up to us. And then we shall never speak of this again. Especially to the parents,” he said sternly. “Got it?”
“Whatever,” said Clara, flipping her dark, straight hair over one shoulder. “I want…a Sex on the Beach,” she says, grinning at Axel, who rolls his eyes.
“Fine. What about you girls?” offers Axel.
“I’ll do the same,” says the other friend, Anna, gamely. “Thanks!” She looks slightly familiar; I’ve probably seen her hanging out with Clara before.
“Madison?” Axel asks.
“I’m okay,” says Madison softly, staring at the floor.
Declan, Axel, Clara, and Anna head over to the bar, leaving Madison and me standing alone together.
I feel awkward and don’t know what to say. Madison doesn’t speak either and can’t seem to look at me.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” I say finally, hoping it doesn’t sound like a come-on.
“No, it’s okay,” she says quickly, flashing me a pained smile. “Thanks, though.”
“Come on. It’ll make getting through this place a lot easier,” I grin, trying to pretend like she’s just an acquaintance, not Madison, the girl I grew up with and have had a crush on for years. “It’s my treat.”
“Well…okay,” agrees Madison hesitantly.
We make our way over to the bar, but I deliberately steer us to the opposite end from the rest of our group. As weird as the situation is, now that I have Madison all to myself, I’m reluctant to give her up.
“What do you like?” I ask her, again trying not to make it sound flirtatious.
“I…I don’t really know,” says Madison, flustered. “I haven’t had a drink in a while.”
“I’ve got you. Can we get a Cosmopolitan and a Manhattan, please?” I say to the bartender, who has made her way to our end of the bar. She looks Madison up and down, frowning. Guess I won’t be getting any more free shots.
“I’ve never had a Cosmopolitan before,” says Madison, looking pleased. “So fancy!”
“It’s pink,” I say, thinking of her swimsuit. “You’ll like it.”
Shit, why did I say that? Now she looks confused.
I laugh and try to change the subject quickly. “Yeah, I guess you’re still in college, huh? I don’t think I had a drink with more than two ingredients in it until after graduation either.”
“Oh, I remember, you and Axel would come home over breaks and get wasted! I have to confess, sometimes Clara and I stole liquor out of your room,” Madison says wickedly, seeming more comfortable. She is so fucking sexy when she smiles like that.
“Wow, what a little thief! Guess you should be buying me a drink then, huh?” I joke.
Madison pretended to think about it. “Nah, I like it better this way,” she teases.
The bartender hands us our drinks, flashing Madison another disdainful look.
“What’s her deal?” Madison mutters, picking up her drink.
“I don’t know. Probably jealous,” I say.
“Jealous?” Madison crinkles her nose adorably, looking confused again.
“Yeah,” I say, looking at her in disbelief. Does she not know she’s gorgeous?
“Well, cheers,” she says, clinking her glass against mine.
“To your first,” I say, then realize how it sounds. “Your first Cosmopolitan, I mean,” I try to recover. She smiles and takes a big gulp. A little bit of the sugar rim sticks to her lips, and I’m dying to lean over and lick it off.
“You, uh…” I say, gesturing toward my mouth.”
“Oh,” she giggles, wiping at her lips with a cocktail napkin. “Thanks.”
“Hey, Maddox!” Axel calls from across the bar. “Stop flirting! We’ve got to get a head start on the girls if we don’t want this night to get any more awkward!”
I don’t want to leave Madison, especially so she can go farther into the club with the girls. But I can’t do anything about it without being extremely weird.
“Guess that’s my cue,” I say to Madison.
“Have fun,” says Madison in a stilted voice, awkward once again. For a moment, it felt like we were just having a drink at a regular bar, and now we’ve both remembered why we’re actually here.
“Listen…be careful, Madison,” I say quietly. “Don’t let anyone give you any trouble, okay? We’re just a shout away if you need us.”
“We’ll be fine,” she says. “Thanks. And thanks again for the drink.”
“And make sure Clara doesn’t do anything stupid,” I grimace, making Madison laugh.
“I can’t make any promises,” she says, “But we’ll be safe, I swear.”
“You better,” I say, looking into her sparkling green eyes one more time before turning to walk through the doors into the next room.
4
Madison
I never would have come tonight if I’d known where we were going.
Clara, Anna, and I got ready together at the apartment Clara and I share. Getting ready with your girlfriends is almost more fun than actually going out; we drank a little sparkling wine, listened to music, helped each other pick out clothes and makeup. It was fun and I realized how much I missed doing things like that. I made a mental note to make plans with the girls more.
All Clara told me was that we were going to a club. So, I naturally assumed she meant a normal club with drinking and dancing. After a couple of glasses of wine, I was excited to hit the dance floor. But I should’ve known something was up from the way she and Anna kept giggling and exchanging knowing glances the whole time we were preparing to go out.
“So, Madison, you going to try to get some tonight?” Anna teased, using a tiny brush to gently apply a sparkly powder to my eyelids. We were in the bathroom; I was sitting on the toilet with the lid closed while Anna stood over me to do my makeup, and Clara was straightening her hair at the sink.
I rolled my eyes into the back of my head, even though they were closed.
“Yeah, right,” I said sarcastically.
“What, like it’s such a crazy thought? You used to get laid all the time,” Anna protested, expertly stroking mascara onto my lashes.
“Mm-hm. Used to is right,” I agreed. “And it wasn’t all the time. Don’t exaggerate.”
“But seriously, when’s the last time you had sex?” Anna asked, her teasing tone gone.
It was freshman year, back when I was getting wasted and partying way too much. I would get drunk and go home with any guy who paid me enough attention. The sex was fun at best, boring and terrible at worst, but I would never say it was good sex. I’ve never even had an orgasm with a partner before. I only hooked up with guys because I was drunk, and once I stopped drinking and partying, I stopped having sex too. It’s not like I was getting much out of it, anyway.