Two

"Never have I ever had sex outside," I said, raising an eyebrow to my best friend Olivia.

"No way, you pretty much live outside. I don't buy it," she said, taking a sip. "You little hippie."

"I do, but my last boyfriend wasn't into that. But apparently yours was," I giggle.

We were tipsy at this point, a few shots in. I don't like being drunk. Something about not having control of my body freaks me out. But it's Olivia's birthday, and this is her idea of fun: vodka and stupid drinking games until we fall asleep at 3am drunk and wake up with pounding headaches.

"Not a boyfriend," she clarified. "That bonfire junior year at Derek Fisher's parents' lake house?"

"When you and Ryan went on a walk..." I nodded, remembering I knew something was up with them that night.

"So what's up with you, any new men in the life of Kate Watson?" she followed her question with a sip of her drink.

"Technically, yes," I said. "New neighbor. Cute new neighbor."

"Well did you get his number?" Olivia was starting to slur her words, and I was getting close.

"Yeah, his landline," I pulled up the contact on my phone. "See?"

"Well you should totally call him! Give me your phone!"

And before I could say anything, she was dialing the number and the phone was ringing. My mind was telling me this was a horrible, extremely messy idea. But for some reason my body was doing the opposite. And then he answered.

"Hello?" I heard from the phone.

Olivia put it on speaker and replied, "This must be the cute neighbor, I'm Olivia."

"Hello, Olivia. Calling from Kate's phone, I presume? And are you intoxicated?" He sounded both concerned and entertained at the same time.

"Calling from Kate's phone indeed. And also indeed intoxicated," she confirmed.

I didn't dare speak. I knew I'd make a definite fool out of myself no matter what I said. That seemed to be a pattern whenever I drank.

"So, who thought up the term 'cute neighbor boy'? Olivia or Kate?"

"Well, cute neighbor boy, I've never seen you. So that wouldn't be a valid judgement on my part having never seen you. You catch my drift?"

I face palmed. This has been the worst idea since we decided to deep fry mozzarella sticks while high senior year.

"Is she around?" he asked.

My eyes widened as I started vigorously shaking my head no, silently begging for Olivia to show me mercy, and thankfully she did.

"No, she's not." Thank god.

"Well, when she is, tell her she's cute too."

I felt heat rise to my cheeks, and I bit my lip trying not to reveal my smile.

"Will do," Olivia stated. "Bye cute neighbor boy." And then she's off the phone, staring a me with a smirk. She nudged my shoulder. "You hear that?"

"I did. And I feel like we're in the fifth grade, Olivia. This is ridiculous. But it does feel good to know he thinks I'm cute, I guess." And it did. I was still trying to hide the fact I was blushing uncontrollably and forcing myself not to smile.

***

The next morning went just as expected- a massive hangover and the overwhelming desire to stay in bed the entire day. Olivia had gotten up early for work and gone a couple hours before I woke up. I don't know how that girl does it. We thought we got lucky when her birthday fell on a Friday, but her boss called her into work a Saturday even after she'd said she couldn't because he's a proper ass and because apparently craft stores are particularly busy this time of year.

I was in her apartment downtown. Not my typical scene, but I thought it might be nice to have a walk around the city. Maybe have a coffee or something. I decided to stop in this cute little corner café a block from Olivia's building. After our hangovers, we typically have a drink this place calls the "hangover cure". I don't think it works and I'm not too sure what's in it, but it tastes pretty good nonetheless.

The bell on the top of the door dings as I step through the threshold, the scent of coffee beans immediately devouring me, which I love. Approaching the counter, I notice that I don't recognize the barista. It's a small, locally owned place that usually has the same two or three people working, so that's odd.

"Did you just start working here?" I ask, leaning on the counter and fiddling with my wallet.

He was tall, long brunette hair, golden brown eyes, and wore a denim button up shirt with the sleeves pushed up under his apron. He looked strangely familiar, but I knew I'd never seen him here.

"Actually, it's my first day. So I apologize in advance for my inevitable inadequateness," he smiled softly. "I'm Sam. They didn't make my name tag yet."

"I'm Kate, nice to meet you." I stick out my hand and he takes it. Shaking with the new barista, I realized after, might be a little weird. But he didn't act like it was. "So, I'll have the hangover cure, medium please."

"You're Kate, and you want the hangover cure," he repeated, staring at me.

Confused, I replied, "Um, yeah. Is that okay with you?"

"No, no, it's fine. But I think you have to be the girl my brother was telling me about the other day. You know Josh?"

The new barista is Josh's brother? And more importantly, Josh told his brother about me? Now I was dying to know what he said. So far, I can tell that he mentioned my name and the fact I was probably drunk last night.

"Yeah, that's me," I said. "So he mentioned me, huh?"

"He did. But I can't tell you what he said, that's bro code," he winked. "One medium hangover cure coming up."