Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2)(63)

They got to the restaurant and met up with Jasmine and Kate, who remembered Cassie a lot better than Krista did, though they were obviously wondering how she ended up hanging out with all of them.

Krista had already decided she wasn’t going to tell them about Sean and last night just yet, which she told Cassie. If they weren’t working with her, it would’ve been different, but she didn’t want gossip, and Kate was liable to let something slip, especially with Marcus on the scene. That guy could ferret out information better than anyone.

Dinner was delicious, as expected. It was a tapas place that never really changed their menu, but never really had to. The place was always busy, even on weekdays.

After they left, they just sort of picked a bar at random and kept going from there. Some bars were better than others, and some had more potent drinks than others, but all were fun in their own way. In one bar, which by rights was a dive bar, Cassie started on margaritas.

“Ooooh, Cassie be careful with this bar and margaritas,” Krista warned. “They don’t mess around here.”

“It’s only $7, though. For a pint glass full! How potent can it be and still make money?”

“Honey,” Jasmine said, stepping up, “we are in the Mission in a dive bar that has been here forever. Rent is cheap, their upkeep looks nonexistent, and they have a big clientele. They can afford to over pour. And they do. Seriously.”

“But they make it from scratch. The bartender told me he makes a mean margarita,” she persisted.

“Uh-oh, the bartender likes her. We are f**ked,” Kate said from behind them. She shoved her way through the wall of women, got to the bar, and ordered four margaritas. The middle-aged, though still emo/punk, bartender smiled and got to work.

“We might as well all sink with the ship, huh?” Kate said, putting money on the bar.

Krista shook her head, careful not to sigh. Sean would find four puddles of women when he finally got there.

Sure enough, not only did the bartender always have a heavy hand, he made these drinks especially strong. They shouldn’t have gone up for the second, but they were also extremely delicious. After two, they were all tossed.

“Let’s move on,” Krista yelled over the music.

“Where?” Jasmine yelled back.

“Elbow Room. We need to dance off some of this alcohol!”

Kate nodded, unceremoniously yanked Cassie to her feet, and away they went. It wasn’t until they were stumbling down the street that Krista heard her phone.

“Oh crap!” Krista said, remembering that she was supposed to be watching the time. She had no idea how long they lingered over those margaritas, just that it wasn’t long enough.

Everyone stopped and looked.

“Go ahead, I’ll be there in a minute.” Krista gave Cassie a longish look that thankfully Jaz and Kate were too drunk to catch.

“Is that that Paul guy again?” Cassie asked.

Thank God for her good memory and quick thinking under fire.

“Yeah,” Krista rolled her eyes. “He won’t let it rest.”

Kate groaned and pulled Cassie along behind her. “You know where we’ll be.”

“No shots!” Krista yelled after them. When Kate started to get drunk, she jumped on the shot train and the night went black quicker than a power outage.

Krista had missed the call, so she called Sean back, seeing that it was half past ten.

“Hello?” he sounded irritated.

“Sorry! I’m sorry! We had these super strong margaritas and I lost track of time.”

“You sound like you had a truck load of margaritas.”

“Two actually. Well, beer before that, but the bartender liked Cassie, and we were at Kilowatz, and you know Kilowatz, so Kate said we’d all have one. So we did. Then the bartender bought us all a round, so we drank that. Then we tipped him a good tip and left. But don’t worry, I didn’t tell him where we were going next. Cassie is in the protective folds of womanhood.”

There was silence.

“Hello?” Krista asked, checking to see if her phone was still on. It was. And connected.

“Are you mad?” she asked quietly—as quietly as a drunk person could talk, anyway.

“Mad, no. Worried, yes. Should I walk into this drunken woman fest?”

“Yes, please. I want to see you. I didn’t tell Jaz and Kate about us, so you have to play it cool. And I know, no sex. I’ll try to remember. If you have any friends, though, you might bring them.”

“I’m not enough for you?”

“You’re funnier in person, which isn’t saying much.”

He laughed, “Okay. Where will you be?”

“Kilowatz. No wait, we just left there. ELBOW ROOM, Elbow Room. They are already there. You might just come in. Time is flying, yo. I told them not to get the margaritas from that place! They wouldn’t listen. Your sister is sure stubborn.”

Sean was laughing again. “Okay. I look forward to seeing you.”

“Who doesn’t? Ciao!”

She stumbled her way to Elbow Room, got let in with no charge--probably due to boob oozing everywhere—and found the girls on the dance floor. She immediately joined in.

After an amount of time that a drunk person is incapable of measuring, Kate grabbed her arm and dragged her to the bar. She yelled, “--who is here!!”