Jack & Lucy

Jack

I could tell Lucy was already slightly buzzed from her pink cheeks and glassy eyes, so when she recommended the wine tasting, I hesitated.

"Please?" She asks before tugging on my wrist to pull me across the street. I felt every inch of her hand on my wrist, aware of her touch like I have never noticed before. She's not a touchy-feely person by any means and I have watched her endure hugs for years. I have also only seen Lucy buzzed a few times but never drunk. She's always the responsible one both at parties and on the lake, saying she can't mix heat and liquor. Tonight, she seemed determined to keep a wine glass in her hand so I was not going to be the one to kill her buzz.

I follow behind her as she crosses over to the wine bar and I immediately notice how nice she looks tonight. Her dress is flattering, her short hair is wavy and her make-up isn't overdone. She looks really pretty, but I won't tell her because I don't want her to take a compliment as an insult again.

We show our IDs to the doorman and he straps neon paper bracelets around our wrists before we are allowed inside the overly crowded tasting room. I instantly spot two women in the corner that Fischer and I have gone out with, so I am thrilled when Lucy pulls me over to two stools that are shockingly open at the opposite end of the bar. I make sure I sit with my back to them and Lucy shifts in her seat as she scans the menu.

"You're doing a flight with me, right?" She asks, more telling than asking and I shrug before agreeing. She orders us two of the red wine tastings and is delighted when we get free chocolate to pair it with.

"I didn't eat before I got to the gallery, so I already feel the champagne," she confesses as if I couldn't tell just from looking at her.

"I've wasted so many seltzers on you. All this time I should have just bought a cheap bottle of champagne to get you drunk," I tell her, and she giggles. 

"Why were you ever trying to be me drunk, Maverick?" She asks, her playful eyes landing on mine. 

"Because clearly, you are much nicer to me when you're sloshed." Her jaw drops slightly before she laughs. 

"I am always nice to you. I'm nicer to you than most people.

"Oh? You call all your friends Jackass?"

"I do when they are one," she quickly says back and then goes to cram more chocolate into her mouth. 

"Do you want me to get you dinner?" I ask, wondering if I should be feeding her real food. She goes to answer but the sommelier interrupts us by dropping down our first tasting. He explains the velvety texture and woodsy notes and Lucy's glass is almost empty by the time his shpiel is over. I pretend to have a mature palette and let the wine sit in my mouth. I swirl it around in my glass, hoping Lucy answers my question. Instead, she pops more chocolate into her mouth and says, "God I've missed chocolate."

"Didn't you just make chocolate cake the other night?" I ask as she continues to break off pieces of the gourmet chocolate bar.

"You watched my video?" She asks in surprise and I realized she doesn't know that I've never missed one.

"Yeah, unlike Blake, I don't think you are a hack," I joke before finishing my first tasting. Her face falls again and I hope I didn't offend her. But then a smirk tugs on her pink lips and she says, "I have a successful Youtube channel that I was making decent money off of. For some reason, he didn't see that as an accomplishment. He only ever saw it as a hobby."

"I noticed you pretty much stopped posting after you left Arizona," I confess, hoping she doesn't think I've been stalking her. Even though that's pretty much exactly what I've been doing. She slides her empty wine glass away from her and then says, "He didn't want me to and I didn't have time. I jumped right into work and the rest of my time was researching spaces for a bakery and school." The sommelier wanders over to check on us and Lucy asks for her second round. He swipes her glass off the counter and then she continues, "Jack, I really am sorry. I was such a bitch to you that last night here. I just...I couldn't have anyone telling me that what I was doing was stupid because deep down, I knew it was stupid. We hadn't even been together for a year when I accepted his proposal. And I knew by the look on Stella's face that she was wary of the whole thing, but my stubborn ass was just determined to prove everyone wrong." Her second glass appears in front of her and this time, the sommelier just watches as she downs it like a shot. He's much briefer in his description and he takes her glass away to prepare her third.