White Tie, Black Leather

10: Choke! On a Kiss

"Cam I don't know about this," I murmur, tugging on the tight bodycon dress he forced me to wear. The night breeze catches my bare legs and causes goosebumps to appear over my olive skin. I shift closer to Cam in order to retain body heat.

"Calm down, Blythe. You look great, alright?" He throws his arm around my shoulder and squeezes me before tugging me through the glass door of a bar.

A bouncer at the door stops us but he instantly recognizes Cam and they fist bump. "She's with me," Cam gestures to me with his head and the large man allows us to pass.

"So," I say as we push through the sweaty bodies doused in a concoction of alcohol scents, "what is this party for? Is it his birthday or something?"

"Yeah," Cam yells over the music, "he's twenty-three."

"I wasn't supposed to bring anything, right?"

"Nah," He shakes his head. "Chances are, we won't even see him tonight."

"Then why did I come?"

"To keep me company, of course," He scoffs and I roll my eyes.

"So I'll just sit at the bar while you drink and flirt with random women?"

He shrugs, "If that's what you wanna do, baby."

I roll my eyes once more and pull myself closer to him to avoid being groped by strange people. He escorts me to a barstool and orders for us, "I'll have a whiskey, neat. Give the lady a kamikaze cocktail."

The bartender nods and begins to make our drinks.

"What's a kamikaze?" I question.

"You'll see," He answers cryptically, leaning against the counter next to me.

I shrug and play with the napkin set out in front of me.

"I thought you don't want to see Jesse anymore," Cam suddenly speaks and I meet his gaze.

"I don't," I answer laconically.

"When I told you it was his birthday party you acted like you had to see him and get him a gift," He points out.

"It's in poor taste to come to someone's birthday party and not get them a gift or greet them," I speak a matter-of-factly.

He laughs, "Maybe in the high class world. This is more of the lower class scene—we don't care as long as there's booze."

"What a distasteful thing to say," I mumble. "Not all lower-class people are alcoholics like you and Jesse."

Cam tosses his head back and lets out a hoot of laughter, "You're right."

Our drinks are set on the tables in front of us and I stare at mine. The opaque liquid is topped off with a lime slipping into the side of the glass. My eyes watch Cam as he hurriedly tosses back the burnt sienna liquid from his crystal glass and loudly places the glass back onto the counter.

"I'm gonna go dance. You have fun with that," He motions towards my drink before pushing away from the counter and disappearing into the crowd of people.

Meanwhile, I stare apprehensively at the drink before me. What's in it?

The bartender laughs and I look up at him. "It won't bite," He jibes.

"What's in it?"

"Vodka, Triple sec, and lime juice—nothing too bad," He shrugs, wiping down the crystal glass Cam drank from.

I eye it curiously before slowly picking it up and taking a sip. The citrus taste combined with the vodka hits me like a truck and I cough.

The bartender raises an eyebrow at me, "I won't even ask how old you are— don't want to ruin Jesse's party."