The Senior Trip

Chapter 20

ASHER

I wink because we both know right now would be the perfect time to make a "that's what she said," joke. Harper's cheeks turn pink, and her eyes grow wide.

"Watch," I tell her. I lick the salt from my hand and then throw back the shot. I watch her the whole time because I can't help it. When I'm done, I reach for one of the limes and suck it into my mouth to chase the tequila. I'm sure I look ridiculous with the rind handing out of my lips, but Harper only smiles and takes in a deep breath.

"Seems easy enough," she says, but I can tell she's nervous. It's endearing.

I watch her perfectly pink tongue sweep out from between her plump lips and swipe up the salt from her skin. Then she throws the shot back, her eyes only closing for a brief second as the liquid slips down her throat. I reach for the lime and hold it to her mouth. She takes it from me with her teeth, and the slight tug of her movement against my grip has me leaning in closer. Somehow it feels more powerful than it should as if there is another force behind the whole thing.

She blows out a breath, her lips puckered perfectly into an "O," and I feel the warmth of the expelled air hitting my throat and face.

"How was it?" I ask, lifting our beers from the bar and handing hers to her.

"Not bad," she replies, but then she laughs. "Actually, it tasted awful, but the lime helped a little I guess."

"The first one never goes down smooth. You'll have to try it again later."

We head back over to the edge of the pool and sip on our beers. My body already feels looser from the shot, and it dawns on me that maybe this is precisely what I need to get through this trip. Alcohol is a great eraser so long as you don't let it wear off.

"Are you supposed to call your parents during the trip?" I ask. My dad is off the map, and I wouldn't dare call my mother.

"No. I told my parents I wanted to do this without having to check in. I'm going away to college in a few months. I think it's good practice for all of us." She takes a long sip from her beer, and I can tell she's trying to be braver than she is. She must really love her parents.

"That's cool. It's like the two of us could raise hell here and no one would ever know about it or worry about us while we're doing it." That's the story of my life every day, but I'm used to Jess' parents always wanting to know where she is at every minute. "Will Ezra report back to his parents?"

"No," she says and shakes her head. "He made the same deal with his parents. They trusted us to make this trip together and keep each other safe."

As if on cue, Ezra hoots from the bar after taking a shot. I look at Harper, and she just smiles and lifts her shoulders as if to say, "Oh, well."

"Looks like he's having fun," I say. "Maybe we should join him?" I feel bad that she's stuck hanging out with me, but at the same time, I'm pretty sure she'd be a third wheel if I weren't around.

"Let him do his thing," she says, watching her best friend. "We have spent so much time together a little time apart might be good for us."

"Sounds reasonable," I tell her.

We stay in the water for another hour. When it gets murky from the sunscreen and too many bodies, we decide to head back to the bar for one more shot, then back to our room to get ready for the meeting.

As predicted, the second shot goes down much smoother, and I'm feeling amazing when we climb out of the pool and head to the chair where we left her shorts.

"Weren't they right here?" she asks, searching around the area I'm sure we left them.

"Yes. Right on the chair. I remember it was the broken one." I noticed one of the straps was broken when we dropped her shorts off. This is the chair, but there's no sign of her shorts. And if her shorts are missing, then so are our phones.

"What are we going to do?" she asks. Her feet stumble a little from the panic and the shots. I steady her with my hand at her waist.

"We'll go report it to the hotel manager. Maybe they'll call the police." 

***Thank you for reading, voting and commenting! Hope you  are enjoying the story so far. Please check out The First Dance, my entry in the #WriteWithZo contest**