ASMTD Ch. 08

Everyone laughs except Leo, who sits in his seat fuming. Signe and Valter ask if the Obama thing is real and I laugh so hard I nearly choke on the only sip of my drink I managed to save. The conversation turns more to personalities and identities, who we are and what we do, before someone announces the crawl is officially on the move.

The Italian men from the bar are nowhere to be seen, and I thank my lucky stars for that. We walk for fifteen minutes to a bus stop and get on the public transit. The night's weird, I'm riding a nice buzz, but Leo is still in a mood. I plop on his lap as he sits on the bus and twine my hands around his neck. "If you're not having fun, go back to the hostel."

If it's possible, he gets angrier. "And leave you with these assholes? No."

"Then stop being a kill joy. You're ruining the mood."

"You told me to sit. Like a fucking dog, Rai."

"Well you had me on all fours this afternoon, remember?" I whisper loudly. "I think we're even."

His lips quirk and he pushes a curl out of my face, wrist trailing the top of my breast. "You're drunk."

"I should hope so or I just wasted a bunch of money."

He laughs and we're good again. Just like that.

Half an hour later we arrive in the middle of nowhere, and everything screams danger as we walk up a twisting hill into the forest. Leo's hand tightens on mine, and I squeeze back reassuringly. The climb evens and we come to a giant outdoor party with electronic music, strobe lights, half naked dancers, and baskets of liquor wandering around. A woman slaps neon green wrist bands on the six of us and we go into the party, hitting up the bar for another round of drinks. The price is a little steep and I forgo my gin and tonic in favor of air, but Signe and Valter brush aside my concern and buy the round.

Mac tries to talk, but her words don't carry and we all find ourselves yelling "What?" again and again. Finally, I give up and tug Leo onto the dance floor. The lights are blinding, music deafening, and strangely it's all perfect. My senses overload, and I don't feel my body. I'm one bee in a massive hive with no sense of self or independance. It's freeing.

Drinks are shoved into my hands, and I know I'm way past the point of fun and into stupid drunk, but Leo's behind me. I know he's got me, that he's with me as liquor pours down my throat and the world hazes.

"Rai?" he yells into my ear, waking me from the trance. He's in front of me and I have no clue how he got there.

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"Perfect. Why?"

"Because we have an 8AM train and it's three right now."

Awareness tumbles back fast and I take a breath in only to get a lung full of second hand smoke and overwhelming body odor. "Where's Mac and Joe?"

Leo shrugs and leans down close to my ear. "Lost them a while ago, but the Swedes are over there."

"Okay, I want to say goodbye to everyone and then we can leave." It's another half an hour of goodbyes and searching for friends before we go. Mac joins us, having lost Joe. She's slurring, stumbling drunk, railing about how mad she is at the Canadian for leaving her horny. I sober up enough to help get her down the massive hill and onto the main road. Leo hails us a cab, and an hour later we've tucked Mac into her bed and are in our own.

"You need to drink water," Leo chides, taking off my shoes.

I groan, spreading my arms across the duvet before curling into myself. "I'm not thirsty."

"Rai."

"Leo."

I think I fall asleep, because the next thing I know there's a glass pressed to my lips. "Drink, kultaseni."

I swallow dutifully, but a few drops miss my mouth and land on my breasts. When he pulls the cup back, I ask, "What's that mean anyway?"

"Kultaseni?"

"Mm-hmm."

"My darling." He kisses my closed eyelids. "My sweetheart."

"You're weird, Leo." I'm fading fast, and not at all sure what I'm saying.

Leo's hand traces over my ankle, removing my shoes, then over my back, removing my bra. I sigh as he settles behind me and wraps an arm around my waist. Words press into my skin, but I can't hear them. Can't hear anything.