Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 80986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“Why wait until next week?” his buddy asked. “She can come over anytime.”
Hailey’s cheeks turned red, and she ducked her head to find the IPA they’d asked for. I couldn’t tell if she grabbed the right one, but I didn’t think her admirers would care. Or even notice, judging from the alcohol fumes radiating from them. Then three giggling girls approached the bar. Ignoring Hailey, they made a beeline straight for me.
When I was done getting their drinks, I caught Hailey looking around the room with wide eyes. There was movement everywhere as people danced, jumped, and swayed to the deafening music.
Her jaw dropped, those perfect pink lips forming a circle as she looked off to the right. I followed her gaze to see what had surprised her.
It was Grant. I should’ve known. He was so tall that his head was visible above the dancers. But when there was a break in the crowd, I could see the two women who were grinding against him. One was smashing her breasts against his chest, and the other was attempting to twerk, rubbing her ass against him, but she kept turning to hang on his arm and say things into his ear that made him grin.
Hailey watched, mesmerized, as if she had never seen anything like that before. Probably she hadn’t. Those girls were hungry, and they wanted Grant. They were practically climbing their way up his tall body. And he was in his element. Here he was free to be the carefree frat boy persona he often projected. Only a few of us, Theo included, knew there was more to him than that.
But not tonight. He was in party mode.
A guy in a cowboy hat came up, touched the rim of his hat, and ordered a drink from Hailey. She finally pulled her gaze away from Grant and his admirers on the dance floor.
But I kept watching them. Those girls were hot. There was no getting around it. They were all legs and boobs in their short little dresses.
Hailey looked hot too, but there was a big difference. She looked sexy and beautiful. Those young women just looked sexy. It was an entirely different thing.
Two of my frat brothers I hadn’t seen since the spring semester came over, and I went around the bar to give them a one-armed hug. That was the norm for frat brothers who genuinely liked each other but were secretly too insecure in their manhood to actually embrace. I didn’t count myself among that number, but I went with the flow.
Scott asked who my friend was, and I introduced him to Hailey. He nudged his buddy, Steve. “Looks like we picked the wrong summer to intern at that law firm in New York.” I was pretty sure that last part had been brought up to impress my junior bartender.
Steve couldn’t take his eyes off of Hailey, but he still managed to ask for a Frat H2O.
“What’s that?” Hailey asked. I told the guys to come back in five minutes. School was in session.
“Our signature drink. I’ll teach you to make it, but you can only give it to members of our fraternity.”
She looked worried. “How will I know who they are?”
“They’ll be the drunkest ones,” I said, glancing at Grant who was still grinding his hips against random women on the dance floor. Then I motioned Hailey closer. “I’ll teach you to make it, but you can’t tell anyone else how.” Technically, I wasn’t supposed to even tell her, but hey, it was the powers that be that decided she’d be working this party in the first place.
I showed her where the ingredients were. She watched with wide, heavily made-up eyes as I poured a generous amount of vodka in a cup. “Then the white grape juice.”
She laughed. “Can I have some of that by itself?”
“Maybe later. Next, you pour out a capful from one of these white bottles down here. That’s the secret ingredient.”
“What is it?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you.” She pouted, her adorable lower lip jutting out. But what I’d said was true—I couldn’t tell her. Mainly because I didn’t know what it was myself. Those unlabeled bottles were just always down there, and whenever someone new learned to make the drink, we showed them where they were.
Next, I stirred in the tonic water. “This provides the fizz and a little bitterness to cut the sugar from the juice. When we make it for ourselves, using real glasses, we add a slice of lime on the rim. But not with plastic cups.”
She peered at the drink. “It looks like water. It doesn’t smell like it, but it looks like it.”
“That’s why it’s called Frat H2O. Legend has it that the brothers who invented it made sure it was clear so that if they wanted to, they could bring it into class in water bottles.”