Chapter Twenty-Five: Tequila – In Food & From The Bottle

"I could have sworn we discussed your calling me at work," I said, as soon as she picked up, not even bothering with the 'pleasantries'.

"You drew attention to me in a meeting. I was with Mac!" I added, hoping my last comment would maybe stress my point.

It didn't really matter that it was a small, tiny, insy little lie – that I was working a case with Hawkes and not the boss – 'cos it didn't work anyway.

I could practically 'feel' her grinning on the other end; she'd no care in the world.

"Hurry home, okay?" I heard her say, and I can't help but smile at the words, and the sultry tone with which she speaks them.

x


"Babe, I got dinner," I shouted, as I kicked the door closed behind me and walked into the apartment, balancing the boxes in my hands as I dropped my keys on the counter, on the way passed.

"Yay!" Cindy exclaimed, as she came into view.

She smiled, walking over to me and kissing me on the lips, "What is it?"

I grinned, pure glee represented on my face as I took great pleasure in telling her simply, "Bugs."

She eyed me up, "Are you for real?"

I laughed, nodding my head.

Cindy looked a tad sceptical, "Alright… "

"Oh, come on, they're not that bad," I told her with a smile. "Plus, Montana was more than happy to try a bit of everything – can't let a country girl like her go an upstage you like that, now can you, Cind?"

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever Messer."

I laughed again, "Come on Cind, at least try a centipede – seriously you'll love it. Tastes like your two favourite things."

"And what, pray tell, are my two favourite things, Danny?" she asked, raising herself up on her tiptoes, so her face was almost touching mine.

I grinned mischievously back at her, before saying, "Worms and tequila."

She swatted me, making an angry face, and I stuck my tongue out playfully between my teeth as she dropped back down on her heels.

Cindy made a face at me again, and replied, "First off, I was eight. An second; we all know that was Donnie's fault for turning me into a tom-boy in the first place – I mean, honestly, d'you really think I'd have been eating worms if I had actual girl friends, don't think so."

I laughed out loud, "Oh come on, Cind – I'm sure Flack did his best to give you equal opportunities in life – after all, I've been in his bedroom, and no sane straight man paints his bedroom purple."

"It's indigo – and you know as well as I do, that the black and navy in there well outweighs everything else," Flack's voice joined us then. "Besides I'm not afraid to say I'm in touch with my feminine side"

I laughed again, smirking at my friend as I told him, "Yeah, Flack, but there is such a thing as being too in touch with it."

"An you my friend, are seriously beginning to verge on the gay-side," I added. "Ya know what I mean?"

"Don't know what you mean," he answered me simply, and I smirked once more.

And then he produced a pizza box from behind his back, smiling at us both.

"You up for some decent food, Cind?" he asked, with a wide smile.

"Aw now, Flack, why you gotta go an do something like that, huh?" I asked, as Cindy grinned at us.

"Dunno," he replied, shrugging slightly, before adding, "Must be all that 'gayness' in me – helps me know what a woman really wants."

"Ain't that right Cind?" he said, directing it towards the blonde in front of him, who'd already grabbed a piece and had begun munching on it.

"What?" she mumbled.

And then she smiled at me, and reached over and put her hand in one of the boxes I'd placed on the counter between the kitchen and living room – 'open plan' – and lifted out a long thin, crawling beastie, and swiftly dropped it into her mouth.

"You're right, babe," she told me then, as Flack grimaced. "Tastes like tequila."

And she grinned at me, before reaching in for another one.

x

The next night, and the four of us had gone out. That is, Flack, Cind, Aiden, and me. Though, I think some of us would rather forget it, to be honest. Not to name anyone in particular, but Aid had a mother of a hangover the next day – much to all of our delight and amusement.

"Dunno if I can keep goin' like this for much longer, Aid," Cindy murmured.

But her 'partner' was having none of it, "Sure ya can, Cind. Now, do it! Drink!"

"Easy for you ta say, 'think I'm gonna be sick..." Cindy slurred – though only a little, and considering the amount she'd had to drink already, that was quite an achievement in itself.

And she couldn't help but laugh as Aiden tried to push another shooter into her hand.

"Come on, you'll go down in history for this!" she told the blonde, and shoved the small glass filled with her favorite drink in between her fingers.

Cind groaned slightly, muttering, "I'm already part of history, an I didn't need to pass out for it neither."

And she grabbed the glass and threw her head back as she let the alcohol burn down her throat; and then she inhaled as if she was suffocating – causing us only a little concern – and went into a whirlwind of laughter.

People stationed around us – who'd either been watching the 'contest' from the start of had just joined – began to clap and cheer, and Flack an I wolf-whistled, as Cindy finished off one more than the stranger she was 'competing' against. The bartender took another pair of shot glasses from under the counter and filled them with the unusually strong drink. Cind casually reached for it as the man across from her, almost fazing out of consciousness, tried to do the same. But instead, he ended up snatching air several times until his friend helped him to grab the real glass.

Cind laughed when she saw this. Sure she was drunk. But not as much as her opponent was; he was nearly gone.

They both took the next shot at the same time. But while Cindy slammed the shot-glass upside down on the wet tabletop, the guy didn't. And, in one single motion, he fell backwards like a log of timber and his friends were the cushioning in his plummet to the floor.

Aiden jumped to her feet, though wobbled slightly when she stood, and grabbed Cind in a hug as she congratulated her friend on winning.

"Cind, you won! You were amazing, totally beat that guy's ass in there!"

Cind smirked, "Aid, I beat every guy's ass in there."

Aiden lips tugged upwards brightly as I grinned at my girlfriend, and she gave me a lazy smile in response. Why Flack and I let her do stuff like that was beyond me, but for what it was worth – she made a pile of money out of it. None of which the rest of us got any of, however. Though I figured it was kinda fair, seeing as we hadn't actually done anything – besides, she was my girlfriend. Her money was my money – sorta – so didn't bother me.

Aiden took the money off the counter, all five hundred of it, grinning at the others standing around, before pocketing it. I walked over to help Cindy up, as she held onto me and I guided her out, following Flack and Aiden, as we left the bar.

Though, I might like to add, Flack and I had nothing – absolutely nothing – to do with the illegal gambling that occurred in the bar that night. We were merely casual drinkers, who coincidentally happened to be in the same drinking establishment as two fine ladies looking to make some money – drinking, not in the way you're thinking – and it's not really our fault there was such a ruckus from a crowd of people nearby that we couldn't hear what was going on, nevermind witness it ourselves, now was it?

x

"Who would've thought that we could get five hundred bucks for drinking tequila?" Aiden pondered out loud as we walked along the street.

" 'Scuse me Aid, but we?" Cind asked then, before adding, "And me, since it was my idea to go there in the first place"

The brunette grinned at her, while Cind smiled back.

And then she turned to us and said, "Told you it wouldn't be borin' goin' to one to a white-collar bar. When they drink, they get stupid an serious, an that's how they lose money!"

And Aiden grinned at that, before carrying on, "Besides, me an Cind always have fun on our night's out – didn't think we'd go an take you somewhere crap did you?"

"We should do this next week," she then suggested with a gleeful smile.

"Yeah… right," Cind replied sarcastically – good to see the alcohol hadn't affected her too much, was beginning to worry there. Yeah… right.

"Think 'bout it, Cind," Aiden tried to coax her as she swayed about the sidewalk. "We could make five hundred a night, doin' that, why the Hell not?"

"Because Cindy could get alcohol poisoning, go into a coma, and die?" she offered, making me smile, as she held onto my hand, while my arm was draped across her shoulders.

Aiden shook her head, "Nah, sorry Cind, you'll have ta find a better excuse than that. Else we'll be doin' this again next time,"

"Who's this 'we' you keep talking 'bout?" Cindy asked then, with a raise of the eyebrow.

"Last I checked, I was the only one drinking in that game," and she reached over and plucked the load of bills from Aiden's fingers with a smirk.

"Hey!" Aiden protested, and Cindy gave her a look, making her mutter, "Fine!"

Cindy grinned at her, before handing her some notes, and then slipping the rest into my blazer pocket, which was hanging loosely from her small frame in an attempt to keep her warm; leaving me to suffer from the cool wind of the city – obviously. Cos that's the kind of caring boyfriend I am.

Aiden grinned at her, which Cindy returned with one of her own, and then they both burst out laughing at the whole scenario that had just occurred.

"Can't believe you're not completely passed out," Aiden breathed out in slight disbelief. "Think that's the most you've drank when we've been out – well, in one sittin' anyway."

"I got a good alcohol tolerance, 'told you that," Cindy answered with a smile and a twinkling in her eyes.

"Yeah, an abnormal level of tolerance. I mean, argh! You completely drank him under the table, all of 'em – was so amazing!" Aiden beamed at Cindy, who ducked her head slightly – an we all stopped short, thinking she was going to be sick.

But instead, she just raised it black up again, with a smile, and answered, "Had my good luck charms with me, ain't that right boys?"

And Flack grinned at her; while I smirked, and leaned down to kiss her.

Oddly enough, tequila was slowly becoming my favourite taste, wonder why that was!

x

Then, of course, being drunk and all, Aiden decided it would be fun to start telling some stories 'bout our time in the lab – those she hadn't already spilled before, that is. Which then lead onto Cindy recalling hilarious memories about her an Flack's childhood – usually to the expense of Flack himself –, which in turn led onto more stories about me.

"We watched the videos after, of you stuck in there," Flack's voice filled the cool night.

"An Dan, I swear, as soon as we heard your reaction to the guy, we all cracked up," he told us, his face breaking out into a grin. "I mean, the guy opens the door, an Danny's first words are 'It was you? You could've opened the door this whole time?' "

And, obviously, they all cracked up at this.

"Aw, Danny," Cindy said, bumping me, with a grin. "You're such a drama queen."

I nudged her back then, but couldn't help the smile that crept onto my face.

Damn woman, wish she'd stop doing that. I was quite happy not being happy all the time, quite happy indeed. Course, you couldn't really be unhappy round Cind for very long, 'less of course something big had happened – but it hadn't, so we were stuck in happy land for the time being.


TBC…

Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think – means a lot!
Steph
xxx