Page 31

CHAPTER 31

IF I WAS A DUCK

JACKSON

“I f a river was liquor and I was a… oh shit, what am I?” ? * Theo busts out laughing as we hold our shots in the air. “Oh yeah! If a river was liquor and I was a duck, I’d swim my way down and drink my way up. But a river ain’t liquor and I ain’t no duck, so let’s take these shots and get fucked up.”

Theo snorts. “I think we’re already there, buddy.”

“Eh, fuck it.” I lick the salt off my hand, down the tequila, and shove the lime that’s in my other hand in my mouth, rind and all.

As I attempt to suck the lime dry, I watch as Theo does the same, but unlike our last six shots, my eyes zero in on the way Theo’s lips wrap around his lime.

Oh fuck.

And because I’m too fucking drunk to have a decent reaction time, Theo clocks my stare. Slowly, he pulls the lime out and sets it with the rest of its dried up friends. A slow smile spreads across his face as he holds out his hand. “Lime?”

I pull the whole lime from my mouth and set it in his hand, which he then sets on the pile.

Like she has all night, our server clocks us as soon as our shot glasses are empty and comes right over. “Another round?”

My eyes grow wide, and I look over at Theo, who is now starting to sway in his chair as much as I am. But there’s a new look on his face. I’ve seen it countless times, on Clay, on Emerson, and even on little Lizzie Bug.

Mischief.

“I think we’ll take one more round,” Theo tells her.

“Be right back,” her bubbly voice announces before heading to the bar.

Thank god Coach Taylor decided not to come back. When he took Austin back to his room, Lizzie caught sight of Coach and insisted he play for a while. Being the softy at heart that he is, he was all to happy to agree, and by the time he managed to peel himself off the floor after building what I’m assuming was countless block towers, he decided to hit the hay.

When he texted us to make sure it was okay, Theo and I were already on our third shot and second margarita, so we assured him it was more than fine.

“Where the hell did you learn that anyway?”

“Learn what?” I ask before sucking down more of my frozen margarita through the straw. A vital piece of information about me, I will always choose a frozen margarita, because I’m secure enough in my masculinity to admit on-the-rocks margaritas are shit and frozen is far superior.

I mean, it’s like a slushie… but for adults. What’s better than that?

Theo chuckles. “That ridiculous toast.”

I hold my finger up in the air. “First of all, it’s not ridiculous, it’s clever as fuck. Second of all, my dad says them all the time. Mostly just to embarrass everyone around him, but also because he takes pride in knowing he’s the cleverest person in the room.”

“Is he?”

“Is he what?” I down another gulp of margarita.

Theo tips his head back, laughing even harder this time. Actually, we’ve been doing a lot of that this evening. I don’t know if it’s strictly because of all the alcohol, or because for a few hours we’ve just decided to not give a fuck, or a little of both, but it’s felt so fucking good. “Is he the cleverest person in the room?” Theo asks.

“Oh. Yeah, he is. My brothers and I like to pretend he’s not, but behind my mom, he’s the smartest person I know.” I lean in closer and Theo follows suit. “But don’t tell him I said my mom is smarter than him,” I whisper, loudly .

“Don’t worry.” Theo’s tone matches mine. “I won’t.”

? * Suddenly, the DJ changes the music and the opening chords of “Right Round” by Flo Rida and Ke$ha blares through the bar, just as the server reappears. I swear to god I think she’s magic. “Here you are, gentlemen!”

Theo and I have matching looks of excitement as she walks away. “What do you say, Mr. Young…” I reach for our shot glasses and hand him his, this time sans the salt and lime. “Wanna show me what you’ve got?”

Theo’s eyes heat as he brings the glass to his full lips. “Oh, most definitely.”

* ? A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozy

* ? Right Round - Flo Rida and Ke$ha