Styled as a French Tudor mansion, the hotel stood out on the landscape. I wondered when the building was constructed. Had it always been a hotel? Then I shook myself. We were on the search for alcohol, not architectural history.
Carly held open the door, and we walked into the lobby. The bar was off to one side and nearly empty. We easily found two stools.
“I never know what to order.” Carly tapped her foot on the leg of the stool.
“Well, what do you like?” I couldn’t deny a spark of excitement that came over me at her comment.
“That’s the problem. I like fruity, sweet drinks, but I feel weird ordering them.” She glanced at the cocktail menu, but I could tell she wasn’t paying attention to the list.
“You don’t have to feel weird. You should order what you like.” If she knew half the weird drinks people ordered from me, she wouldn’t be so concerned. I decided not to tell her about the sixty-year-old guy who ordered a blow job shot from me the night before. I wasn’t sure who it was more awkward for.
She set down the menu. “I want to pick something more sophisticated.”
“Sophisticated but still a little on the sweet side? Are you into tart?”
“I like tart. Do you have a suggestion? Is it possible to have both sophisticated and sweet?” She looked hopeful. She was kind of naive for twenty-one, but who was I to pass judgment?
“Sure…do you ever drink cosmos?”
“One of my friends gets them out a lot. Are they good?”
“I think you’ll like it.”
“Is that what you’re going to get?” She tapped her French-manicured fingernails on the bar top.
“No, but that shouldn’t stop you.”
“Oh? What are you getting?”
“Probably just a Jack and Coke.” Normally I’d hold off on the Coke, but I wanted the sugar.
“I always thought that was a guy drink.” She flipped through the menu again.
I laughed. “A lot of men drink it, but I wouldn’t call it a guy’s drink.”
“Maybe I’ll get one too then.”
“You sure? I think you should try a cosmo. I have a feeling it’s perfect for you.” I wanted to steer her away from the overly sweet drinks, and if prepared well, the lime juice usually did a good job of masking the vodka taste.
“All right. I’ll trust you on it.”
After a few minutes we were able to get the bartender’s attention away from a football game he was watching on his phone. Despite his preoccupation with the game, he was quick to get our drinks once we ordered them. He was a guy in his mid-thirties with a deep tan, and a slight accent I couldn’t place, but it was from somewhere up north. He smiled as he set down the drinks—a cosmo for Carly and my Jack and Coke. “Are you here for the wedding?”
I sipped my drink, trying to relax. “Yeah.”
“Are you girls in the wedding party?”
“No, but her date is.” I didn’t miss the way Carly emphasized “date.” It’s like she was afraid I was going to leave her brother for this guy.
“Oh, yeah? That’s never fun.”
I nodded. “Definitely not.”
As soon as the bartender walked off, Carly jumped back in to conversation. “What did you think of your room? I heard Colin got a suite.”
“It’s nice.” I thought about the two-room suite. Colin made a big deal emphasizing how I got the bed and he’d sleep on the pull-out couch. I didn’t get it. We’d have to sleep together eventually, right? Apparently I was his girlfriend already, didn’t that imply sex?
“I made sure my room is super far from yours. I don’t want to hear you guys.”
I coughed on my drink. “I wouldn’t worry about that.”
“Why not? This is an old place. The walls are thin.”
I looked at her half-full glass. Was she this open when she wasn’t even drunk yet? “This is your brother we’re talking about…”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t want a room next to yours.”
I figured telling his sister we hadn’t even slept together yet would be kind of weird, so I only smiled.
“I wish I had a date. I never have a date to these things.”
“He’d just be bored.”
“No, he wouldn’t be if he were hanging out with us.”
She seemed so convinced about it that I wondered if she had anyone in mind. “Are you dating anyone?”
“Nope. I can’t seem to keep a decent relationship alive.”
“You’re still young.”
“You’re only a year older than me.”
“Yeah, and I’m single.”
“Umm, no, you’re not.”
“Oh yeah. Right.” The response had come out automatically. “Like I said, Colin and I are new, we haven’t crossed into real relationship territory.”
“Does he know that? I get the feeling that you guys are on different pages.”
“I don’t see why we would be.”
“Well, he doesn’t think you guys are just hooking up if that’s what you think it is.”
“Uh, yeah, that’s not it.” That would involve us having sex.
“Wait a second.” She grinned. “He hasn’t sealed the deal yet, has he?”
“Sealed the deal?”
“Yeah. That’s why you told me not to worry about having a room near yours. And that’s why you don’t consider you guys serious. You’re the kind of girl who only considers a relationship serious if you’re having sex.” With that statement, our conversation went from strange to horribly uncomfortable.
“Can we not talk about this?”
“Why? It’s just girl talk.”
“Yeah, and we don’t even know each other.”
“We will. You’re going to keep dating my brother.”
“So you’re suddenly confident?”
“Not suddenly.” She finished off her cosmo. “You were right. I love this.”
I smiled. “Good.” I loved when I matched a drink right. After striking out on Lyle’s so often, I was starting to doubt myself.
We ordered another round of drinks, and thankfully the conversation moved far away from my nonexistent sex life with Colin. We talked about how ready she was to be done with college, and how she had no idea what she wanted to do. It turned out we had more in common than I thought.