Sincerely, Carter (Sincerely Carter #1)(24)

“Not at all.” She handed me a shot. “Live a little, Ari. Since you’re not having sex and god knows the next time that’ll happen for you, you might as well experience something in life that feels good. Alcohol would be more than a great start.”

I tossed back two shots and winced, clenching my teeth together as the liquid burned my throat.

She handed me the other two cups, and as if she could read what was on my mind, she put up her hands in a fake surrender. “No, I’m not going to attempt to drive back tonight. We’ll catch a safety ride at the end and I’ll get my car tomorrow.”

“Great.” I finished off my shots and held my hand over my chest until the searing sensation went away.

“Ready for the next set?” Nicole asked, standing up.

“Oh, no. I have an early date with that guy Chris I told you about tomorrow, so I really shouldn’t drink that much. ”

“If I was Carter, I’m sure you’d happily agree to drink more with me right now...”

“If you were Carter, you’d know that I’m a super-lightweight.”

“Well, thank god I’m not him, huh?” She pulled me up and tugged me over to the bar again. This time, instead of sitting down to drink the next set, we drank them in front of the bartender, and he even joined us for two of them.

By the time the eighth one had entered my bloodstream, I was feeling loose and overly happy. And I wasn’t sure what came over me, but I ordered even more alcohol. Now unable to resist Nicole’s whines of “But everything is FREE!” I downed several mixed drinks, nameless concoctions, and at some point, I was pretty sure I drank a shot straight out of her cleavage.

Shit…

“Slip N’ Slide time!” Nicole yelled, pulling me across the yard.

“Yesssss…” I slurred, trying my hardest to walk in a straight line. “Slip…Slip N’ Slide time…”

“Come on, Ari! Stop dragging your feet!”

“I’m not…I’m not dragging…” I stopped. “Whoa….” The ground was rotating beneath my feet and I was pretty sure the blades of grass were trying to jump up and cut me.

“Ari?”

“I think I need…to sit…too many drinks.”

“Nah! You’ll be good once you hit the water!” She linked her arm in mine and practically herded me to the line.

“Ladies first.” The only guy standing in front of us turned around. “You two can go ahead.”

“Thank you very much.” Nicole batted her eyes. “Okay. You first, Queen Lightweight.”

I took a step forward, kicking at a dandelion that was dancing on the ground. I tried to find my balance, staring straight ahead at the massive yellow tarp.

“You just run and lunge for it…” the guy said behind me. “You also have to yell ‘EPIC’ as you slide. Josh’s rules not mine.”

“If I do this,” I said to Nicole, still trying to find my balance. “Can we sit down after?”

“Right after.”

“Okay….” I slowly kicked off my sandals and made a run for the tarp, yelling “EPIC” as my body hit the plastic and slid faster than ever.

When I reached the end of it, I could feel a sudden blast of cold water being tossed onto me.

“Epic with a capital E!” The frat guys above me shouted. Before I could yell at them and ask what the hell they were doing, I looked over to the other tarp and realized that they were throwing buckets of water on everyone who did it.

Laughing, I let them help me up and waited for Nicole to take her turn. Of course, to garner as much attention as possible, she took off her dress—exposing a bikini that barely covered her Double D breasts, before taking the plunge.

The guys at the end shouted in loud appreciation as she stood up and adjusted her top.

“What?” she asked, smiling. “It’s way more fun with a captive audience, don’t you think? Want to go again?”

“Shockingly, hell yes.”

We slid down the plastic over and over again—giggling like little girls each time, running over to the bar for more alcohol in between.

I gave no thoughts to the fact that my dress was soaking wet, that my once perfectly styled hair now resembled a mop, or that I was drunker than I’d ever been in my entire life. Also, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop laughing.

“Okay, I think we should try to get dry now,” Nicole pointed toward a bonfire that had just started. “I just overhead some guy saying they’re doing free Skittle shots inside. They’re also doing a power hour at midnight.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“It’s a great thing.” She smiled. “They turn off all the lights so we won’t have to guess much of anything if we see a cock we’re curious about. We can just cop a quick feel for ourselves.”

“You’re ridiculous!” I burst into laughter as I took a seat in front of the fire.

The bright flames flickered and hissed, and as I held my hands out for warmth, I spotted Carter walking onto the deck.

Dressed in a black muscle shirt and dark blue jeans, he raised a red cup to me and Nicole before taking a long sip. Close by his side was Tina, and her eyes were completely glued on his body.