A/N: Okay, so fair warning, I didn't proofread this at ALL. If I have time I'll go back and make any spelling/grammar updates but I wanted to get this super long chapter out. I figured that these guys deserved one or two more chapters before the proverbial shit hits the fan. So enjoy! Also reviews continue to motivate me to crank chapters out :)

ZPOV

The week between Christmas and New Year's Eve was a madhouse. A 24 hour bug seemed to be making the rounds and hitting everyone under the age of 18. Parents with three or four kids were coming in, all of them with the same symptoms. Even with Brick back from Florida, the hours were nonstop. Brick being more of an early bird, would get in at 5, get the families that had to get their kids checked out before heading to work, and then leave at 5 or 6; I'd get in at 10 and stay til 10 or later meeting with the families that took their kids in after work or dinner.

"Man it's like there's a power in the universe that does not want the kids of Bluebell to enjoy their winter break," I said to Wade as I walked in door. It was the first night I'd gotten back to the plantation before 2AM in three days. To be honest, it was both exhausting and exhilarating working like this. I wasn't used to these hours anymore. In the week leading up to Christmas I'd seen less patients the entire week, compared to the people I saw today alone. But even though I was readjusting to the 12 plus hour days, my body thrived on it. It was the same adrenaline rush that go me through all nighters in college, in med school, and 36 hour shifts in residency. The trick was to not sit or stop long enough to think about how tired I was – otherwise it was all over.

And over the past few days, Wade had been great. He'd understood why the past two nights I'd crashed at home and not gone to his place. But earlier I'd taken a five minute break and gone to the Rammer Jammer for an IV worth of coffee and he'd told me he was closing so he'd be up and to come over whenever I was done.

Sure enough, walking up the steps to his place, I saw him strumming his guitar through the screen door.

"Maybe there is," he agreed. "Maybe those were all the kids that we bad this year and Santa got mother nature to fuck them up," he joked, looking up at me as he plucked a few strings making a "womp womp" sound. I laughed and walked over to the sofa, plopping down beside him. "That's the best reasoning I've heard all day." He moved his guitar to the side, leaning it against the end table beside him. "See, you're not the only genius in this room."

I laughed a little more, the exhaustion hitting hard now that I wasn't moving. I yawned and Wade stood up, scooping me up in the process. "Where are we going?" I asked, blinking sleepy tears from my eyes.

"Bed," he said, carrying me bridal style to bed.

"But didn't you just get home? You're not tired are you?"

"A little. But I can hang out with you for a bit then go play video games til I'm ready to go to bed."

"You sure? I'm gonna be out in like two minutes anyway."

He laid me down, pulling the blankets over me. "I'm sure. Meatball won't be ready to play for another half hour anyway."

I yawned again and smiled, moving my hands down and sliding my pants off under the covers, kicking them into a lump at the end of the bed. I took my bra off under my shirt then shimmied the blouse off, reaching under my pillow for the Wade's shirt that had become my permanent sleep shirt.

"It's amazing. You can get undressed in less than thirty seconds, but it takes you an hour to do your hair and make up," he observed, laying down next to me still dressed but barefoot.

I rolled onto my side, curling up against him. "I feel like you'd be more upset if that timing was reversed," I grinned.

He laughed, nodding against the top of my head and placing a kissing into my hair. "That is very true."

I looked up at him, leaning up a bit and kissing him for what felt like the first time all day. When I went to pull back, his hand moved to my cheek pulling me back for more. I turned a little, readjusting as we kept kissing. Slowly we slid down on the bed so that our heads were on the same pillow and we were on our sides. I moved my leg over his hip, and his hand reached down to the back of my thigh, pinning it against him.

"Wade," I mumbled against his lips.

"Hm?" He asked as his lips roamed to my cheek and down my neck.

"Not that I don't want to, but it's past two, and I just spent 14 hours around sick kids and their parents," I sighed, leaning my head against his temple. He stopped moving down my neck and leaned his forehead on my shoulder.

"Okay," he nodded against me. "But just so you know, I'm expecting a ton of make up sex when we go away for New Year's," he said, pulling back to look at me.

"You'll have to pry me off you," I grinned.

"That better be the case," he nodded, returning the smile. "Anything less and I'm gonna think you're through with me."

"Not a chance," I said leaning in to kiss him again. I didn't see that ever happening.

WPOV

When I say that Zoe and I did not have sex, of any kind, for almost a week, I'm not exaggerating. And it was hell. Zoe was working around the clock, and I tried really hard to understand. But seriously, where the hell was Brick? Bluebell and the surrounding area was not that fucking populated. Zoe shouldn't have had to work over 12 hours a day for that long.

Now, this isn't to say that I'm a sex addict and need it every day. But when you're with someone and you maintain a daily sex life, having that abruptly change isn't a good thing, and for me, doesn't make me an all together pleasant man to be around. However, when New Year's Eve came around, I was counting down the minutes, and planning the ways I'd destroy Brick if he convinced Zoe not to go away with me for the next two days.

At one in the afternoon, Zoe strolled in grinning. "Hey," I greeted, pausing mid-inventory check.

"Whatcha doin?" She asked peering over the counter.

"Just checking to see how many bottles of champagne we have for the people that like being cliché on New Year's."

She laughed and sat back on a chair. "Well, do you think you can take a quick, five, maybe ten, minute break?"

I looked from the sheet of paper, up to her. "Really?"

A huge smile spread across her face. "I'm officially done until January 3rd," she announced. Thank god.

"Then we're not taking five minutes," I said, shoving the inventory sheet and pen into the drawer beside the register. "Wanda I'll be back in an hour!" I hollered, over to where she was taking a lunch order. Without looking up from her pad of paper, she lifted a hand, waving me off.

We didn't drive the extra twenty feet to my place, instead we pulled up to her place and ran up her stairs, both of us laughing and peeling our clothes off along the way. As we made it through the doorway that separated her foyer from her bedroom, I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her against me. She continued to laugh as she pushed down my boxers and I lifted her up and pressed her against the doorframe.

I'm not proud of how long I lasted, but I did manage to outlast her – barely. The two times that followed in the short window of time we had, took more and more time, solely because of how male anatomy works. We had eventually made it to her bed, making a quick stop for round two against her desk. By the time we finished the third go round an hour and a half had passed from the time I left the bar, and I did not want to get out of bed for anything. Her hands were still running up and down my damp back, and we were kissing like we had all the time in the world.

"Babe," I started to say against her lips. "I'm going to have to get back to work and finish inventory so we can take off before we hit a ton of traffic."

She sighed against me, and nodded. "Okay, but five more minutes," she asked. I laughed a little against her. "I think I can spare that."

Twenty minutes later I was tying my shoes as she knelt behind me on the bed in her short silk robe, kissing and nipping at my neck with her arms wrapped around my stomach. I really didn't want to go. I turned to meet her lips. Did I mention I really didn't want to leave?

"Okay, so I'll meet you in an hour?" I asked, pulling back.

"Yea," she nodded, moving her arms and letting me get up. She got up as well, following me to the door. "The car's all packed?" she asked as I opened the door.

"Yea, we're all set. I grabbed your bag before I drove in this morning."

"This is going to be a good vacation," she predicted, biting her lip and holding in a smile.

I took a step closer to her, dipping my head thinking that I'd go in for a quick kiss goodbye, but there was no such thing when I knew she was naked under that flimsy bathrobe. She moaned against me, which snapped me out of it. I was five seconds from taking her again.

"Okay," I breathed, forcing myself to pull back. "I'll see you in an hour."

She laughed a little and nodded. "I'll see you in an hour." Let me tell you, that was the longest fucking hour of my life.

Zoe and I were on the road just after four, and I spent pretty much the entire time laughing at-slash-with her.

"I've decided," she declared after we'd left Daphne and had hopped on Interstate 10, going west. "That since you've already serenaded me in a vehicle, I'm going to serenade you," she said turning to look at me.

"Is that so?" I smirked, glancing at her out of the corner of my eye.

"Yes, and while I may not be musically inclined, that should just prove how much I love you, that I would completely humiliated myself for your enjoyment."

I laughed and nodded. "I would enjoy that, yes," I agreed.

And for over the next hour, she did. She started with "Over the Rainbow," then started rapping some Nicki Minaj, then, in what she called a tribute to the people of Bluebell, she pelted out "Sweet Home Alabama". There was a bunch of Journey and Bon Jovi, and some stuff I had heard once or twice on the radio, but couldn't identify by name or artist. The best though, was when she sang the Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood duet, "Remind Me"- primarily because every time she tried to hit a high note her voice cracked like a boy going through puberty. She really was an awful singer, but damn if she didn't keep me entertained.

We stopped just past Biloxi to get gas and so she could get some water. I was waiting for her outside the car, stretching my legs for as long as I could before we started on the last leg of the trip. It was about another hour, hour and a half to the Big Easy if we didn't hit any major traffic which was highly unlikely since the area around New Orleans was a cluster fuck to drive through. I waited a few minutes more before she walked out of the convenience store, and up to me.

"So? What do you think? Next American Idol?" She laughed as I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"Oh, at the very least. I'm thinkin you'd sweep the Country Music Awards."

"Don't forget the Grammy's," she smiled, getting on her toes to meet my lips without me having to bend down.

I grabbed the water bottle from her hand, tossing it through my open window onto the seat and sliding her arms up and around my neck. I pulled her closer, deepening the kiss, and leaning down to get her off the balls of her feet. I felt her smile under the kiss as we kept going, making out like neither of us cared who saw. Someone whistled at us as they walked by, causing us to both laugh but we still didn't stop. I turned, moving so she was leaning against the car, and I took the opportunity to hook my hand under her knee, pulling it up to my waist. I couldn't get over that she wasn't complaining or being all uptight about being somewhere so open and doing what we were doing. If anything she was egging me on by pushing her hips against mine.

"Get a room!" Someone else shouted behind us. We started laughing again, but this time she did pull back. "Maybe we should."

"It's like you're reading my mind doc," I smirked.

And by room, that actually meant pulling off to the side of the highway and going at it in my car about ten miles from where we'd gotten gas. She was flushed the rest of the drive, her hair a mess, and her bra somewhere under my seat. We listened to the radio the rest of the way, my hand over hers on the stick shift, guiding her hands to the gears I needed. "You know I love you like crazy right?" She said, shooting me that smile that knocked the wind out of me. "I've never sang for anyone before, and before you, I'd never thought of having sex in a car."

"And now you've done both, multiple times," I acknowledged, turning to look at her and winking.

ZPOV

I didn't know what had gotten into me but at some point on New Year's Eve I decided I wanted to let my hedonistic side. I wanted to see what it felt like to not be the overly cautious one. I could take risks! I mean, I'd moved to Bluebell on a whim to work for a guy I'd met for ten minutes over five years ago. I could throw caution to the wind... with some persuasion. And what better time to act adventurous than on New Year's in New Orleans? Am I right? Yes, yes I am.

For the next three days, I wanted to ignore the voice in my head that always held me back from letting go. The one that told me that doing reckless things, that stepping outside my comfort zone would likely impact my career, that it would make people look at me differently. Maybe I needed more of that, maybe people needed to see that there was a Zoe Hart that could be fun and spontaneous, not just serious and mother-hen like. And maybe I needed to prove that I hadn't completely pigeon holed myself in my career, into always being the responsible one.

Of course, I was not telling Wade any of this. If I did I could only imagine the crazy stuff he'd try to get me to do. And I needed baby steps to ease into the more carefree lifestyle.

We pulled up to the hotel and after arguing over valet parking, he finally relented and let the valet take his car, leaving us to go inside to check in.

After getting to our room, I showered and Wade stretched out on the bed to watch some TV. I walked back into the room, wrapped in a towel and feeling his eyes on me. "So what's the plan tonight?" I asked unzipping my bag and searching for something to wear.

"I dunno doc, go out?"

I turned my head back to look at him. "Yea, I think that goes without saying." I grabbed undergarments, jeans, and decided on tank top and sweater since it was unseasonably warm out, and walked towards the bathroom. Wade jumped up and grabbed my wrist, making my clothes drop to the floor.

"I don't know. I mean we could just stay in," he smirked.

I rolled my eyes. "We should go out. We're on vacation."

He huffed. "Fine, we can go out. But tomorrow we're not leaving this room til we have to go to the Monster Truck rally."

"Deal," I agreed, pulling him closer by his belt loop.

His hands ran across my shoulders and down my arms, his eyes following the movement of his hands, sending a shiver down my spine. Even over a month later, every time he touched me no matter how innocently, my heart pounded a hundred times harder than normal. Lately I'd been wishing I was better at expressing how I felt about it. I'd been so emotionally stunted my entire life, that even when the chief at New York Hospital said I needed to improve my bedside manner part of me had dismissed it. The only reason I'd decided to try the whole GP thing was to be eligible for the fellowship in a year. And yet here I was five months later, cursing myself for not being more social growing up, not learning how to be vulnerable, how to open myself up to someone.

"I don't remember what I wanted to be when I grew up, before I decided to be a doctor," I spat out. His eyes moved up to mine and he gave me a confused look. "What?"

I took a deep breath. "You know how everyone, when they were little wanted to be everything under the sun, at some point? I didn't. When I was 10, I decided I was going to be a surgeon like my dad. I don't remember what I wanted to be, before then."

"Oh," he grinned, still looking a bit confused.

"What did you want to be?"

He shrugged. "Um... a pirate," he nodded as if memories were flooding back to him. "Then an army ranger. Then, after I realized you had to be really disciplined to do that kinda thing, I wanted to be a race car driver."

"And now? Are you what you wanted to be?" I asked.

"I don't know, maybe, I guess." He paused. "Over the last few years I've been toying with the idea of opening my own bar."

I smiled up at him. "That would be awesome. You could call it Wade's," I said, waving my hand in an arch.

He puffed out a laugh and nodded. "Yea, maybe."

I reached down, starting to inch his t-shirt up. He dropped his hands from where they'd be gliding up and down my arms, and pull his shirt the rest of the way off. Just looking at his body made me weak in the knees.

"You sure you don't want to be a firefighter?" I teased, openly checking him out.

"Does that do it for you?" He laughed, picking me up and throwing me over his shoulder. I squeaked and tried to pull down the towel to keep my butt covered. "When we get back, I'll see if I can borrow a uniform from someone at the station," he added.

"Don't forget the hat," I laughed as he dumped me onto the bed and slid over me. He chuckled, looking down at me. "Can't forget the hat," he reiterated, untying the loose knot holding my towel in place and biting his lip as he gave me the twice over. "Lord, woman."

I felt myself blush and squirmed under him. "What?"

"I am such a lucky man," he replied, his eyes still raking over me before making their way back up to my eyes. I reached up, cupping his jaw and pulling him closer for a kiss.

No, I was the lucky one.

Unlike earlier in the car, we took our time in the hotel room, laughing as he grunted when we switched positions and he got the remote jammed into his back.

Wade made it easy to be yourself. Maybe it was because he wasn't ashamed to be 100% true to himself 100% of the time. He was unapologetic for the good, bad, and ugly sides of himself and he owned up to it. It was one of the reasons I loved him so much. He was unlike anyone I'd dated. Out of the handful of guys in my history, all of them had been hung up on being some quintessential type of man. They all had molded themselves into some societal stereotype. And it wasn't just them; I was that way too. I did everything I could, led the life exactly how I thought a serious doctor, nay, surgeon should be. I was technical, precise, intensely passionate about my career, devoted – possibly to a fault. Wade was making me see that it's okay to have layers, to be more than just one thing. It wasn't even about being a surgeon or doctor, it was about being more than my job. Other than a well educated female doctor, who was Zoe Hart? I was hoping this weekend would shed some light on that. And it already had – bad road trip singer, Zoe Hart.

At around eight, we ambled out of the hotel towards the French Quarter ready to take on New Year's Eve. It was a madhouse already, with people completely trashed and blowing out roll-up blow horns and plastic kazoos while ambling down the street. Wade and I ducked into one of the few bars that didn't have a huge line or hefty cover charge and squeezed into the jam packed bar. His hand surrounded mine tightly as we weaved through the crowd toward the bar.

"I know it's not glamorous but we should probably eat something before we start drinking," he suggested. I barely heard him, so I just nodded in agreement. "What do you want..." he said but I didn't catch the end of it.

"What?!" I shouted over the conversations around us.

He made the motion of a drink with his hand. "Wine," I tried to mouth out, but based on his facial reaction he didn't know what I was saying. I leaned in, cupping my hand around his ear. "Wine," I said as loudly as I could. He pulled back and gave me the thumbs up before leaving me to hold our seats while he went to grab food and drinks.

Not lying, I think it took twenty minutes for him to get back to the table, a beer and wine in hand but no food. Good thing because I was about to put together a search party. "Sorry!" He shouted. "It look me awhile to flag down the bartended." I smiled, waving it off. "No worries. Thanks for grabbing them."

He nodded, leaning in and giving me a quick kiss, sliding his lips over to my ear. "You look really beautiful tonight by the way," he complimented, pulling back and smiling widely at me. I leaned forward, half-yelling in his ear. "You look really good too."

Our drinks went down quickly from there, and I followed him to the bar for the next round, squeezing tightly between him and the edge of the bar.

"Another wine?" He asked dipping his head beside my ear. I shook my head. "What do you want then?" He pressed.

"Shots?" I asked. His eyes widened and I could tell he was laughing even though I couldn't hear it.

"You sure?"

I nodded again, laughing at how shocked he seemed.

"Any particular kind?"

"Not gin."

He laughed, leaning in closer, his lips brushing my ear. "People don't really do shots of gin."

I shrugged. "Your choice then."

I didn't hear what he ordered, but when the clear liquid arrived – all four of them, I guessed it was tequila based on the side of limes and salt shaker the bartender left behind. I twisted a little looking at him and holding up four fingers, questioningly.

"I figured it would be easier to order a couple at a time. If you don't like it, you don't have to do the second one."

I turned around so my back was pressed against the bar and I was facing him. He handed me the salt and I licked the fleshy part of the back of my hand, just below my thumb and sprinkled salt onto the wet patch. He followed suit and put the salt on the table reaching for the limes and shot glasses. We clinked the tiny cups, licked the salt off our respective hands, tossed the drink back and sucking the lime wedge. I flinched at the bite from the fruit, but managed to get it down surprisingly easily. He raised an eyebrow to ask if I wanted the other. I nodded and he handed it to me. This time, he brushed my hair off to my left side, and inched the strap of my tank top to the edge of my shoulder. He dragged his tongue along my exposed skin and sprinkled the salt. I felt my heart begin to race like it had earlier. He grabbed his drink, raising it to me before sucking the salt off my shoulder and drinking down the shot in half a second, not bothering with the lime.

I laughed at his expression, and he laughed presumably and my laughing. He leaned down giving me a quick kiss before handing me the salt. He pulled on his collar exposing a couple inches of his shoulder, while also looking like he was choking himself. He smirked, challenging me, but even experimental Zoe wasn't ready for that – yet. I shook my head and he shrugged. I did my second the same way I'd done the first, and Wade waved to get a couple more.

After the third shot, I was already starting to feel it. I hardly ever drank liquor, and coupled with the fact that I hadn't eaten since breakfast, it was going to be an early night if I didn't pace myself. "Can you finish this round for me?" I whisper-yelled into his ear. "I think I need to eat more, first."

He nodded, doing them in quick succession before nodding his head toward the doors. I nodded, and he grabbed my hand, squeezing it firmly as he led us back out.

Even though it was over an hour later, the alcohol in me made it feel just as warm as it had been later. The fresh air felt good though, and as we started walking down the narrow streets my ears began to clear. "Our best bet is either another bar, or fast food," he said, turning to look at me as we rounded a corner.

"Whichever," I shrugged. "I just need something in my stomach – we both probably do."

"Yea," he agreed. "I could eat."

We wound up finding a slightly less crowded bar, a ways off the main area of the French Quarter. It was still really busy, but less of an already-wasted crowd for the most part.

We were able to find a seat near two other 2-person tables and ordered some sliders and fries to go with our drinks – another beer for him and glass of wine for me. We talked between bites, about Lavon, speculating over what he and "AB" as Lavon had started calling Annabelle ,were up to. We'd seen him briefly at the bar before we took off, and he said that the two of them were planning to grab dinner and ring in the new year at his place. It was sounding very date-ish to me.

"He's just doing his thing. I'm happy for him," Wade said, stuffing two fries into his mouth.

"Oh, me too!" I semi-shouted. "I just didn't realize how close they were getting. I was just surprised."

"Well you have been kinda busy lately, doc," he noted with a half smile.

"True," I agreed, finishing off my slider. "I just thought he would have stopped by and told me, or texted me... something."

We finished our drinks before we were done eating, and grazed on the fries until we were satisfied.

"More shots?" I asked after we'd been siting for a bit, people watching.

He laughed. "Who are you? This is like Clark Kent and Superman. There's Dr. Hart, wine drinker and queen of Bluebellian health, and this New Orleans Zoe, tequila shot taking, and greasy bar food eating."

I rolled my eyes, getting up. "Are you coming Kinsella? This round is on me."

"Like hell it is," he said following me to the bar. "Only women that are trying to get in my pants get to buy me drinks."

"What?" I said, cracking up. "You realize you just made yourself sound like a man-whore, right?"

He shrugged, grinning. "I've been called worse."

"Plus how do you know I don't want to get in your pants?"

"Ahh," he trailed off, pinning me between him and the bar again, even though this time it wasn't necessary – there was still room at the bar for both of us.

"I meant only girls I don't care if I sleep with, buy me the drinks," he clarified, sliding his arms around my waist as I turned to face the bar. "And I happen to care a ton about sleeping with you."

I leaned against his chest and ordered four shots of tequila, turning to look at him. "Wild child Zoe Hart folks!" He yelled looking around the bar and pointing at me. A couple people turned their heads holding up their shot glasses. I laughed, holding mine up.

Wade reached over me to grab his and down it before I had even taken mine. I turned to face him for another shot, which we pounded back quickly. By the fourth of the night, I was starting to feel pretty good. Wade had made friends with the couple sitting next to where we were leaning, Billy and Jackie. They were from, of all places, New York. Well, they were originally from Texas but lived in New York now, for work. They'd been married for two years, together three and had spent every New Year's in the Big Easy as a sort of tradition. See how much Wade could get out of people so easily? I was so glad he was a bartender and not wasting the gift on some shitty desk job.

"So how long ya'll been together?" Jackie asked, swapping seats with Billy to talk to me while Wade just talked behind Jackie to Billy.

"Just over a month," I said, waving down the bartender with my hand. "But I have a feeling we'll be here next year, like you guys." She smiled. "Aww, that's so sweet." She swatted Wade's arm. "Your girl here has got eyes and plans for you two," she hinted.

"Is that so?" Wade asked turning to look at me. "Like what?"

I shrugged, not feeling quite confident enough to repeat myself.

Jackie laughed. "She predicts that ya'll be here next new year's celebrating, like Billy and I."

He grinned, leaning and kissing my temple. "Yea, I'm up for that."

I bit my lip, smiling up at him like an idiot. His grin grew and he leaned down to kiss me. I moved my hand to his jaw, keeping the kiss going and hearing Jackie laugh and Billy whistle at us. Wade and I laughed and slowly pulled apart.

"So Wade tells me you're a doctor," Billy said, leaning over Jackie. I nodded. "Yea, a General Practitioner," I confirmed. Weird, I'd always called myself a surgeon as a default.

"Oh, Wade here said you were some kind of heart surgeon."

"Oh, yea, I mean, I was training to be. I did my residency at New York Hospital, but moved down here to do some primary care work."

"Wow, that's a big change. You thinking of going back to New York eventually? My family has a history of bad hearts; it'd be great to know someone that could fix them up," he laughed.

Did I plan on going back to New York? I mean, I guess... but lately, I hadn't really thought about it. I felt Wade suck in a breath behind me, and I leaned my head back against his chest. "No, right now I'm happy where I am," I told him honestly.

Wade audibly exhaled just as another round of shots were placed in front of us.

Jackie laughed, downing a shot of whiskey. "You better keep this one close Wade, she's drinkin for someone who weighs twice her side."

"C'mon J, let's go dance," Billy said after taking his shot and nudging his head towards the small dance floor by the jukebox. He extended his hand, and she took it. "Ya'll sticking around?" She asked as Billy twirled her.

I glanced up at Wade and shrugged. "Yea, I think so."

"Great, catch you guys in a few," she giggled as Billy led her across the bar.

"So, you're really happy where you're at, in the tiny little town?" Wade asked again as I turned to face him.

"Yea," I nodded. "I am."

"Even though we're nothing like New York, and your job is just about as opposite as you can get from being a big hospital surgeon?"

I stretched my arms, wrapping them around his neck. "There's something to be said for Bluebell," I said waxing nostalgia even though we hadn't even been gone twelve hours. "And my neighbors," I added with a smile.

He puffed out a laugh and reached for the salt. I dropped my arms and we toasted Bluebell for all it's quirks before doing the full tequila shot with lime.

The alcohol was hitting me harder now, and the heat from the increasing amount of people filling the bar was making me cheeks warmer by the minute. "Order another couple shots," I smiled. Wade looked at me inquisitively. "You sure? It's not even 10:30." I nodded, and he waved down the bartender to order another two. By the time we got the next round, the bar was almost as crowded as the one we had left earlier that night.

He handed me the salt shaker and I leaned forward, surprising him when I ran my tongue over the side of his neck, sprinkling salt against it. I pulled back and he chuckled, handing me a shot. "Ready doc?" I beamed, taking it from him and moving my mouth over his neck, sucking and lightly biting his skin. I felt, more than heard, him let out a low moan. His hand came up and pressed against the back of my head, threading his fingers through my hair as I worked over his neck. "Fuck Zoe," he breathed close to my ear.

I pulled back to take my shot, smiling proudly.

Wade took a couple more shots after that, and when we were down to the last two, I'd had around six and he was closer to the eight range.

I felt completely free and while I was sure 70% of it was the alcohol, I was almost as sure the other 30% had to do with the person I was with. Anytime an overthinking or self-doubt thought popped into my head, I kissed Wade. Anytime, I started wondering if I was acting like an idiot, I kissed Wade. Kissing Wade was the solution that night.

I dragged Wade onto the dance floor where we saw Billy and Jackie. They were still drinking and dancing away. We danced for awhile, working up a sweat not by how much we were dancing, but by the sheer amount of people. The countdown to midnight started shortly after, and Wade wrapped his arms around my waist. "Let's come back next year," he said into my ear, bringing up the conversation from earlier.

"And the year after that," I added. He pulled back, looking at me as if to see if he'd heard right. I leaned forward, moving my mouth to his ear again. "Or we can go somewhere else that year."

"3...2..1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

The bar erupted and Auld Lang Syne started blasting over the speakers and the crowd sang along. But Wade and I weren't singing, we were to busy having our first kiss of the new year.

I don't remember how we got back to the hotel. I remember that Jackie, Billy, Wade and I did one more round of shots (or was it two?) and Billy gave us his card so we could stay in touch. And I vaguely remember Jackie getting sick and Billy getting them a cab (maybe?)

Either way, when the fluorescent lights of our hotel room were turned on, I felt my body start to wake up from its drunken stupor.

"What time is it?" I asked, swaying to the bed and falling face down onto it.

"Um... 3:48," he said with one eye covered.

I looked at him and started laughing. "You're drunk,"

"I'm glad I got that medically diagnosed," he said, flopping down next to me. I kicked off my shoes and rolled onto my side, facing away from him.

"Can you undo my bra?"

He laughed and I felt him sit up, pushing my tank top up and unhooking my bra. I somehow wiggled out of it and rolled onto my other side, curling up to Wade.

"I had a lot of fun tonight."

"Me too," he agreed, yawning. "Good night Babe," he said, wrapping his arms tightly around me.

"Goodnight Wade."

And in minutes we were passed out, a tangle of limbs and clothes that smelled like alcohol and sweat.

A great start to what I hoped would be an even better year.