Page 42 of Notes About Vodka (Happily Ever After Hangover #1)
Chapter Twenty-Two
VAL
“Did you know that vodka has been around for so long it has been used historically as currency? Although, I prefer it as a gift.”
“Happy birthday, to you, happy birthday, to you, happy birthday, dear Laura, happy birthday, to you.”
Laura’s eyes are bluer tonight and bright with excitement as balloons are released into the air at the end of the song. I’m holding her to me tightly as her friends and co-workers all shout out, “Surprise!”
Laura looks up into my eyes. Her’s are so damned blue right now, just sparkling like sapphires. How perfect for tonight.
“You did this?”
I want to kiss Laura right now, right here, right in front of everyone. She’s stunning, wrapped in this skin-tight, barely any sleeve if that shoulder part counts as one, hot pink dress that hugs her body like it was made for her .
“I had help,” I whisper into her ear as I press a kiss to the side of her head instead of her lips.
Her friends gather around, singing and cheering her on, and all I can do is watch, as I let her go.
Struck by how magnetic she is. I’m filled with that familiar mixture of excitement and frustration, the kind that’s been there since this whole game between us began.
We’re celebrating at The Blue Key, a bar with neon lights and a bustling crowd—a perfect place to lose ourselves for the night.
It’s one of those chilly November evenings where it was warm and sunny during the day, but now the cold is the kind that settles under your skin, reminding you the seasons are shifting.
Laura’s smile cuts through the coolness of the night though. She’s glowing as she mingles with Skipper and Rhea, hugging them close and thanking them for the party. Her laughter spills throughout the bar, lighting up the atmosphere.
Even though tonight is supposed to be about Laura and fun, I can’t shake the thought of whatever it is she’s hiding from me. I know it has to do with her family…her mother… but what other secrets is she keeping?
It bothers me. I can’t stand feeling so distant from someone I care about this much; someone I’m rapidly falling… no, I am in love with Laura.
But tonight, it’s her 24 th birthday, and I tell myself to let it go. For now.
I want a repeat of the other night. I want to taste Laura again; I want more than the long kisses and hugs that make it where I never want to let her go.
This cat-and-mouse game between us has dragged on for months.
Grabbing coffee, watching movies, all of it just hovering on the edge of something more .
And the notes! She still leaves them hiding around everywhere for me to find. Doodles, stories of our moments, struggles with classwork she thinks I can help with.
It’s driving me insane, feeling her warmth so close but always just out of reach. I know she feels the same—I can see it in her eyes, in the way she smiles when she thinks I’m not looking.
That night … her delicious pussy… her moans, her soft snores, her… BLET!
It was something beyond amazing, but I want more.
Finally, I am able to pull her back to my side as we gather around a long bar top where the bartender has set me up with my own beverage station. I paid a little extra to be able to create some of my favorite martinis for everyone here for the party.
My heart is hammering in my chest.
“Laura,” I murmur, leaning close. “You know how much I care about you. I want tonight to be special. Happy Birthday, moya lubimaya, my world.”
Then, I turn around the face our ever growing birthday celebration crowd.
“Let’s celebrate properly,” I say to everyone, “I’m going to make some special vodka martinis for us,” I add as I open up a bottle of Russian Standard vodka.
I prepare the first drink, a classic dirty martini, with a neon green twist.
As I hand Laura the classic martini, the green making the gray in her eyes glow through the captivating dark blue, I can’t help but watch her reaction. “Simple but timeless,” I explain, my voice dropping as I hold her gaze. “Just like you.”
Her eyes flicker with something—hope, maybe, mischievousness? Whatever it is, I cling to it. Laura has been relaxed tonight, a bit more carefree and I wonder what it could take to really make her go wild .
I wait patiently for her reaction as she takes the first sip.
"Pure alchemy, Valerie! I was expecting sour olive, but this, the flavor is still there, but it’s slightly sweeter, purer tasting."
I wink. “It's the water that makes the vodka. Here, try just the Russian Standard on its own."
I pour her a shot and pass it to her, our fingers grazing, causing the all too familiar electrical current to ripple through my body.
"Don't forget about us," Rhea interrupts.
"My apologies," I reply and line up several shots for Rhea, Skipper, and a few other friends that have joined us, including Mads who just walked in to the Blue Key.
"To Laura! Hey Val, how do we cheers the birthday girl in Russian?" Skip asks.
"Nas derovia," I reply. At the glazed look in everyone's eyes, I say it slower so everyone catches onto the consonants and syllables. "Na-as, de-ro-via. To your good health!"
Laura whispers, the phrase coming of her lips with a slight southern accent, "Na-as dear-rov-ia."
I grin and start to tease her for the cuteness but Skipper and Mads call out together, "Nas derovia, Laura!"
Then, glasses clink andwe throw back the vodka. Damn, I forgot the za cuska. Little bits of appetizer or food for my girl. Hmmm… how sexy it would be to feed her a piece of bread, with a little butter and sturgeon caviar right now.
My eyes track Laura's throat again. I want to kiss where her neck contours into her collarbone as she swallows. Trace my lips down her chest, leaving hickeys along the scar that resides between her breasts before I take my time with each of her nipples.
Fuck, I need to calm down.
The thoughts cause my dick to bulge. I fidget, trying to hide my growing arousal by moving on to make the next martini .
The second is a bright pink cosmopolitan.
“This one is a bit sweeter than the last, with cranberry juice and a hint of lime. Perfect for someone as sweet as you, Laura. It would be a Cosmo without some of the other secrets, so for you, my song science writer, I call this, The Hemingway . Name already coined by someone else, FYI.” I laugh as I pass the drink forward.
Rhea takes it from me before I get it all the way to Laura, sipping, “He’s right, this one is definitely as sweet as you, Laura Mae.”
Laura laughs and its music to my ears, and heart. “Stop it Rhea! You know I hate hearing my legal name. But, it sure would be nice to know before you gobble is all down.”
“You’re right,” Rhea says, “Val, please make the Turkey baby over here another drink of her own. This one already has my saliva on it and tainted the taste.” Then, Rhea just tilts it back and its gone.
Well, go girl! I make another Hemingway and when Laura takes a sip, the smile that crosses her face lights up her eyes.
“Oh, wow, I was expecting sugar, but this is different. Yes, its very sweet, but…”
“It’s the agave nectar,” I tell her.
“Yummy, I like it.”
“Good, I’m glad.”
Next, I pour a deep blue martini with curacao, its color almost matching the dim lights around us. “And this one is…exotic. Refreshing.”
I gentle pop Rhea’s hand as she tries to grab the drink as I pass it to Laura and exclaim, “Oh no, not this time. Birthday girl gets all the first sips from here on out.”
Laura grins at Rhea, chuckling to herself.
She takes a sip, her eyes fixed on mine.
I feel my heart beating so loudly it drowns out the music, the crowd, everything else.
The third martini is a deep blue, almost sapphire, like Laura’s eyes tonight.
When she looks into it, the silver gray I know so well start to sparkle through.
“This one is called a blue lagoon, with blue curacao and a splash of lemonade.
“Val,” Laura pauses, they are all amazing but this one is so…refreshing. Is there pineapple in here?”
“Just a splash, and grenadine,” I say as I lean into Laura.
I’m going to kiss her. But before I my lips can connect to hers, Rhea interrupts, asking, “Val, okay, so we you are a Russian, but how did you actually get stuck here in the U.S.? Laura hasn’t told us much, if anything.
And more importantly, why are you studying science?
You totally need to just become a mixologist and open your own bar. ”
I chuckle. “Ha, well, I don’t know what Laura has said, but after I came back to the United States as an exchange student, I never went back. I used to have an old joke about it, but it’s pretty bad.”
“Okay, well color me curious,” Skipper interjects.
“Well, I’m still here, but… you haven’t exchanged me back yet… so there’s an American student also still stuck in Russia.”
I can hear the crickets.
“Yeah, I told you that was a bad joke.”
“Oh, Valerie, I get it.” Laura’s laugh starts as a giggle but then she snorts as the sounds escapes. She’s lost in a fit of hysterics. No one has ever laughed that well at my joke. And even though she sounds like a hyena right now, I want to kiss those happy tears begging to fall from her eyes.
Then, we all lose it for a moment. You ever have the time where someone laughs, then you laugh, and so does everyone else. It doesn’t matter if the joke, or whatever happened was funny. It’s just that the cycle continues. And what you think you are done laughing, there you are, bent over again.
That is us as Laura tries to finally pull herself together, only to lose it once more and we all follow, compelled to dance her tune.
Rhea finally brings us back to the conversation.
“Ya’ll, chill. It’s not that funny. But okay, it might be a little.
But back to the next question, what brought you here, to the United States when you could have gone everywhere if you are in an exchange student program? ” she asks, genuinely curious.