Blame it on the Tequila by Fiona Cole (the reading strategies book txt) 📕

get into the whole fresh start belief. January first was just another day, exactly like the one before. Except, this time, it wasn’t. This time, January first would mark the first time I’d see Parker Callahan. Maybe even start the beginning of something more.

No parents trying to force us into the stepbrother-stepsister roles. No one telling us we’re wrong. No more stolen nights and forbidden touches. No hiding away or denying what we felt. No holding back.

No, at midnight tonight, I really would feel like a new woman. Hopefully, in the arms of the man, I’d always wanted.

I’d concocted the plan around two in the morning after he serenaded me. Watching him sing, even over the computer, brought forth more feelings than I’d realized were still there. I’d avoided talking to him because I didn’t want to be hurt again, but after talking to Rae and Vera, I wanted to at least try. I didn’t want to be scared forever. So, staring up at my ceiling, trying to track the fan whirring in circles in the dark, I came up with a plan to surprise him.

I’d messaged Aiken right then and there, asking him if he was able to get me a pass to Times Square on New Year’s Eve. I played up the business aspect and how I could take pictures and post them to my Instagram. Maybe even go live at midnight or something. I think I would have promised almost anything in that moment of heart-thumping planning. I’d fully been in the moment of making that wild idea come to fruition and ignoring any doubts.

Aiken might have been more excited about the idea than me. Probably focusing on that percent of profits he had in his contract. It took him a while, but he got the passes.

In that time, Parker and I talked on and off over the last month, busy with holidays and work. Mostly we texted, but there were times we Facetimed, and he always sang for me. Sometimes, I’d even dig out my paints, and if I closed my eyes and thought hard enough, I could imagine it was just like when we were teens.

I considered telling him what I was going to do about a million times, but I’d been riding too high on the thought of his face when I appeared to let it play out any differently than I imagined it. I’d been too high for any of the downfalls of my plan to reach me.

They reached me now.

“Did you tell him you’re coming?” Rae asked.

“No, I wanted to surprise him.”

Their reactions couldn’t have been different, and I wanted to block Vera’s raised brows and wide eyes from my mind. Instead, I focused on Rae as she clapped her hands, bouncing on her stiletto heels, her champagne jumpsuit sparkling under the dim, soft lighting. She might as well have heart eyes, and that was the positivity I needed right then.

“Are you sure that was a good idea?” Vera asked, not willing to be ignored. Usually, I was the voice of reason, but reason-be-damned.

“Well, I can’t do much about it now,” I said, laughing nervously.

“You could message him?” she suggested. “I’m just worried that maybe he might have someone with him—”

“He’s single,” I cut in. He admitted it himself. He wouldn’t have anyone with him.

“But maybe he has plans, and we’ll miss him.”

“Don’t ruin this moment, Vera,” Rae reprimanded.

“Then we miss him. I just…I just want to try,” I said, almost pleading with her to understand.

“I know, I know. I’m excited for you. I promise. I just have to say it. I know excitement can act like blinders, and I wanted to be a voice of reason. If you’re committed to this, then I’m here for you.”

“I can be the voice of reason,” Rae pouted.

Vera and I both laughed, quickly followed by Rae joining us.

“Maybe he’ll kiss you at midnight,” Vera said, leaving the land of reason and joining us in the land of excited oblivion. She sparkled just as much as Rae, only in a black sequin top.

“Maybe he’ll fuck you,” Rae said, looking like a kid in a candy shop. I winced but laughed, kind of liking the idea but not wanting to go into details like I knew Rae would. “I mean, I’m assuming that’s why you’re wearing the skirt. Easy access.”

“Oh, my god. I didn’t wear it for easy access.”

“Either way, it’s totally hot. And with the Doc Martin’s and his band T-shirt. So sexy.”

I looked down the bronze sequin skirt with a slit up to my mid-thigh exposing my black boots, and confidence had me standing a little taller. I’d thought about wearing a cute top but thought it’d be cheeky to wear one of his band shirts tucked into the high-waisted skirt.

“I’m going to go talk to a friend I see over there,” Nico interjected. I blinked, completely forgetting he was standing on the other side of Vera.

“Can’t handle a little girl talk?” Rae joked.

“I’ll pass.” He leaned down to press a lingering kiss to Vera’s red lips, uncaring she left some lipstick behind on his. “Behave.”

“Always.”

“I was talking to Rae,” he said.

“Always,” Rae copied Vera.

We snorted, and Nico shook his head before leaving us girls to gush.

Vera snagged another trio of glasses from a passing tray, handing one to each of us.

“Can we get three tequilas brought over? With lime and salt, please,” Rae requested before the waiter could walk away.

“Oh, no,” I said.

“Just a few to loosen you up. This is a night from a movie scene, and you can’t go walking around like you have a stick up your ass.”

“It is like a movie scene,” Vera agreed. “He’ll finish his last note and pass off his guitar, getting ready to walk off stage. But just then, he looks up, and everything stops.”

“Because there is the hottest bitch he’s ever seen,” Rae cut in. “Red hair flowing like the fiery goddess he always dreamed of. Your eyes lock, and a promise of the filthy