A KISS For Valentine's Day

The Twelfth Date

I was incredibly nervous for today's date. Tommy had invited me over for cocktails, which in theory would have been just fine had it not been for the fact that last time we had a date that involved alcohol, we ended up breaking up. I was determined to prevent that from happening again. If anything, I wanted us to get so drunk we ended up getting back together or something. 

"Alright Eric. Just...just don't do anything to mess it up tonight. Don't get super drunk, don't get even a little drunk. Watch what you drink and just stay sober and hopefully it'll just be fine. The last few nights have been really fun, you just need to not do anything to make tonight terrible," I said to myself. 

I looked at the clock, feeling my heart start to flutter. Just thirty more minutes until I would head over to Tommy's house. Shaking my head, I pulled open my door, rummaging through my headbands. I picked up my purple one, the one that Tommy had said was his favorite as it brought out my eyes the best. I looked at it for a moment, feeling bitter tears pricking at my eyes before I set it back in the drawer, burying it deep and grabbing a blue one instead. I tied my hair back, keeping it out of my eyes, before getting changed into a nicer outfit, not too fancy but better than sweats and a ragged t-shirt. 

At last, the half an hour passed and I got in my car, driving to Tommy's house. It had been ages since I had been over there, and he had teased that he might let me spend the night. As to what he meant by that, I had no idea. There was only one way to find out. My mind was racing the entire drive and I worked myself up to feeling nervously nauseous by the time I walked up the path to his front door. With a deep breath, I reached out and rang the doorbell. There was a half-second's pause before the door flung open and Tommy gave me a wide smile. "Heyy shrimp!" he cried, wrapping me in a hug.

I took a step back in confusion. "Are you...drunk already?" I asked. He grinned, shaking his head. "No, no, I haven't had anything to drink yet. I'm just really excited to hang out with you tonight! I've made a bunch of different cocktails, it'll be fun to just drink and talk," he said, keeping an arm around my shoulders and steering me into his house. I leaned against his side, letting him lead me to his living room and feeling my eyes widened.

There was a spread of fourteen different cocktails on the table, ranging in color and size and smell and appearance. "Oh damn you made a whole spread!" I cried. He smiled, nodding. "I did!" he said proudly. "There's fourteen different ones, I was thinking we could do seven and seven! Obviously we don't have to drink them all and we don't have to finish each drink all the way unless we want to." "So what cocktails did you make?" I asked, but he shook his head. "Nah, that'll take too long. Just pick which one looks good and I'll tell you what it is!" he said, gesturing to the arrangement of glasses on the table. 

Frowning, I walked around the table before picking up an almost peach-colored drink with a sliver of orange in the glass. "What's this one?" I asked. To my surprise, Tommy's face immediately went red. "Oh that's um...that's a gin martini with some amaro and orange," he said. "What's it called?" I asked, and he went a bit redder. "Uhh...hanky panky," he mumbled. I laughed, setting it back on the table. "We'll save that one for later tonight," I said with a wink, unsure what words were even coming out of my mouth, but thankfully Tommy laughed. "Maybe we will." 

I ended up selecting a strawberry bourbon Kentucky Kiss while Tommy opted for vodka cranberry and lychee Red Lotus. "Cheers," I said, clinking my glass against his. "Cheers!" I took a long sip, letting out a little hum of pleasure. "Mm that's good! Damn, nice job Tom!" I said. He gave me a proud smile. "Thanks! I really like making cocktails, it's fun how many flavors you can incorporate and how you can pair different alcohols like things with fruit and stuff," he said. "I'm glad you enjoy making them since this one's really good! I can't wait to try another one," I said, already making the mistake of drinking my entire first cocktail when I had six more lined up. 

And it really didn't help I was drinking on an empty stomach.

The next one I picked up was one that almost looked like a smoothie, and Tommy's eyes lit up. "Ooh that's a good one! That's Love Potion #9, that one's ice cream, strawberries, vodka, and chocolate liqueur!" he said, before grabbing one that was a mix of strawberries, vodka, and whipped cream, called Floating on Cloud Nine. Once again, we clinked our glasses together. "Cheers, b--Eric," Tommy said, cheeks tinging pink. "Cheers," I said. We drank the cocktails and I let out a soft moan of enjoyment. Somehow, this was even better than the last one, perfectly sweet. Unfortunately it was almost too sweet, as I could pretty much forget I was drinking at all.

As the night went on we worked our way through all fourteen cocktails. I drained the last drops of the Hanky Panky cocktail, looking at Tommy with a smirk. "Mm that's good. You're r-really good at that," I hiccupped. He waved his hand dismissively, face flushed red. "N-nah. I'm jush good at drinking an' stuff," he said, words slurring a bit. "Mhm. Can you make ush s'more? I wanna keep drinking with you," I purred. 

To my immense drunken disappointment, Tommy just shook his head. "Nuh-uh. 'M shleepy an' we g-gotta be at a p'rty tomorrow," he said, taking my hand and yanking me to my feet, stumbling off to his room with me close behind. He fell onto the bed, patting the blankets next to him. I curled up into a ball with a yawn, burrowing into the pillows but not snuggling against Tommy. Even though I was definitely drunk, I knew we still weren't dating and I didn't want to push him farther away. So I just closed my eyes, hugging a pillow instead of him. He patted me on the shoulder. "G'night Eric. I like you a lot," he murmured. "Night Tommy. I like you too," I yawned, passing out into a content sleep.

Twelve days down, two to go.