Chapter 4: Fire
"Ander, my man. Are you ready?" Christian asked as he lit up a cigarette.
Ander took a puff from his own cigarette stick. "I don't know. This whole thing is just stupid."
It was Saturday night and they were waiting for Guzmán and Polo outside of Club54.
"I saved your ass and I didn't even get a thank you," Christian pronounced with a dramatic sigh.
"Thanks, man."
"No problem. I couldn't bear to see your pretty face vandalized," Christian teased.
"It probably will still happen tonight," Ander pointed out.
"So what happened anyway? How did you get tangled up with San Patricio people?"
"I was at a club that was apparently San Patricio's home base. And I may have kissed Matteo's girlfriend..."
Christian laughed. "Good job. Next time try to pick someone with a less influential boyfriend, eh?"
Ander shrugged.
"And there are plenty of beautiful girls at Las Encinas. Take your pick, man. I know I've got my sights set on Carla."
"Follow your own advice and pick someone who isn't dating Leopoldo Benavent Villada, eh?" Ander grinned.
"Damn, you're right." Christian grinned back. "Anyway, about tonight. You know I'm a pro at drinking. You and Polo are not too bad either. I think we will win over those San Patricio jerks."
Ander chuckled. "I'll be sure to keep your positivity in mind when Matteo punches me in the gut."
"Ah, Ander. You're so negative. You need to lighten up."
"Do you have something for me, Christian?"
"What do you want? Coke? I can hook you up with my dealer."
Ander nodded. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. His name is Omar. I'll send you his contact."
"What's up, boys?" A familiar husky voice crooned.
Ander and Christian turned to see Carla walking to them, with Lu behind her.
"Hey hey. You girls are looking smokin' hot. As always," Christian said with a wide grin.
Lu rolled her eyes and chose to ignore Christian. Evidently she still saw him as an outsider, even though he, Samuel and Nadia had been at Las Encinas for three weeks.
"Ander, honey, are you okay?" Lu placed an arm on Ander's arm.
"If you need us to do anything, just say so," Carla added.
"Everything is fine. Don't worry," Ander told the two girls, though he appreciated their concern. "Just steer clear from us when the San Patricio people arrive later, okay?"
The five of them – Ander, Guzmán, Polo, Carla and Lu – had known one another since they were kids and had a special bond. Ander knew that they were all feeling protective over him. That was the problem. He was protective over them too, and he didn't want any harm to come to his friends.
"Do you think this Reina girl will show up tonight?" Lu asked. "I checked her Instagram. She's gorgeous, but please, why does she sound like she hates the world?"
Ander scrunched up his face. He didn't expect his friends to start looking into Reina. She wasn't even a significant presence in his life. She was... just a mistake.
"It doesn't matter," Ander said dismissively. "Let's just get this over with."
As if on cue, Guzmán and Polo appeared.
"Let's do this, boys," Guzmán said with a mischievous glint in his blue eyes.
It was almost 11pm when the three San Patricio boys turned up at Club54: Matteo, Noel and Eric.
"So it's three against three. Christian, you can be the referee tonight," Guzmán instructed Christian as the Las Encinas and San Patricio boys faced each other in the middle of the club.
"What? No way," Matteo growled. "He's one of you guys."
"We should've known that you Las Encinas losers would play dirty again – even before the competition began," Eric added angrily.
"Pipe down, boys."
Ander recognized that voice. Reina.
She walked right up and stopped beside Christian. With all eyes on her, she lifted her chin up and announced, "I'll be co-referee with him."
She nodded carelessly at Christian.
"Christian," he supplied his name with a flourish.
"Whatever." Reina rolled her eyes. "So anyway, this will make things fair for everyone. Cool?"
Each head nodded.
Ander noticed that Reina had not even glanced his way once. Which was fine. He had bigger problems to worry about now, as it was.
The first tray of shots had just been placed on a tall table – whisky and tequila. Not Ander's favorite combination of spirits, but he didn't intend to taste much of it anyway. He would just gulp it down as quickly as possible.
All six boys stepped forward, grabbed a shot glass each, and waited for the cue to start.
"Ready?" Reina called out. "And... Go!"
The first shot was easy to swallow. And the second. And third.
Ander's throat started burning at the fourth shot, but everyone else seemed fine.
By then, a crowd had formed around them, curious. Lu and Carla were right in front of the crowd, holding each other's hand as they watched anxiously.
At the sixth shot, Guzmán started grimacing. He let out a cough and shook his head, but soldiered on.
When shot number eight came, Eric slammed a hand on the table. Then he started swaying slightly.
"Uh oh, looks like we have our first casualty," Christian observed.
"Eric? You okay?" Noel asked.
Eric didn't answer. Instead, he made a dash in the direction of the washrooms.
The crowd saw and went, "Oooooooh."
Reina frowned, obviously not pleased. "Let's carry on," she said sternly.
After ten minutes, there were only three contestants left: Ander, Polo and Matteo. Guzmán was the next to throw in the towel followed by Noel.
Ander was ready to puke at this point. He didn't want another freaking whisky and tequila shot.
Glancing at Polo, he was sure his friend felt the same. But Polo flashed him a thumbs up sign, and Ander smiled. They were going to push through even if it meant both of them passing out on the floor eventually. Las Encinas never gave up.
"GO ANDER! GO POLO!" Lu and Carla shouted.
"MATTEO, KNOCK THEM DEAD!" Kate and Emilia, who had shown up just a short while ago, yelled in return.
"All right, all right." Christian signaled for the crowd to quiet down. He turned to Reina and whispered something to her. She nodded.
"So we are down to our last three drinkers," Christian said. "And for this final round, we have prepared something more special."
What now?! Ander sighed to himself, ready for the worst.
"Yes. As you can see, the waiter has just brought out nine shots of flaming B-52s," Reina announced. "Each shot contains Irish cream, orange liqueur and coffee liqueur – topped by a blazing flame on top. Delicious."
Matteo didn't seem to agree with his girlfriend as he eyed the shot glasses in front of him, visibly swallowing his saliva.
"On the count of three, each of you will need to drink up the three shots continuously," Christian said, "The first person to finish his three shots will win."
"Ready?" Reina flashed Matteo a worried glance for a second, then retained her composure. "One, two... Three! Go!"
Ander tipped his head back and took the first flaming B-52 shot.
Done.
Second shot – shit, it really burned as it slid down his throat.
His surroundings started to spin. And judging by how his stomach felt, it definitely didn't like housing so many different types of alcohol at the moment.
"Oh, Polo is out!" Christian shouted over the excited noise from the crowd.
Ander couldn't even muster the strength to turn around to check on Polo.
He gripped the very last shot glass in his hand, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to drink it. It was at this very moment that he swore never to take another alcoholic shot in his life, ever again. It tasted shitty and it made him feel shitty.
Come on, Ander. He squeezed his eyes shut and brought the glass to his lips. The dizziness in his head intensified, but he tried to ignore it. Just. One. More. Shot.
The second the hot liquid touched his lips, Ander spat it out on reflex. He couldn't help it. His body was rejecting any further alcohol intake.
"And Ander is out!" Reina exclaimed.
"Hang on, Matteo isn't drinking his final shot yet..." Christian pronounced. "Oh look! Matteo has dropped his glass. And is he falling down..?! Someone catch him!"
The next thing Ander saw was Matteo sitting slumped on the floor, almost passed out.
"Did.. I.. win?" Ander muttered, before his knees buckled and he too ended up on the floor.