Free Ready To Go by Stephanie Mann Page B

give her a small push into the seat.
    “Where are you headed?” the driver asked.
    “Motel south of here,” he replied. “I forget the name. It’s in a chain?”
    “Super 8?” the driver asked, starting to move the car forward.
    “Probably,” Daniel said.
    Nicole was definitely right that she couldn’t hold her drinks. She kept laughing for no reason, and kept trying to stand up. She seemed to have forgotten she was wearing a seatbelt, despite having enough sense to put it on herself.
    “You are a crazy girl,” Daniel commented as he watched her. He knew he was a little drunk as well, but this girl was way beyond him.
    “I know,” she laughed. “Hey! You like me!” She felt that exact moment was the right time to point out the obvious, but she couldn’t say why. On some level, she knew she was drunk, but she was enjoying being silly too much to care.
    “Random,” he remarked, but before he could say any more, she had leaned over to him and planted her lips against his, or tried to. She kind of missed his mouth, awkwardly ended up kissing his upper lip and his nose. Her breath smelled more fruity than boozey. He placed his hand on the back of her head to gently push her down so her lips lined up better with his. He let the fuzziness from the alcohol take over his mind as he kissed her, not worrying about what she’d think when she was sober. Acting like this, she probably wouldn’t even remember kissing him. And her lips were soft and she tasted like sugar.
    He was brought back to reality when he heard the click of a seatbelt and the driver yelling, “You, girl! Stay in your seat!” He pushed Nicole away and rebuckled her seatbelt for her, as she all the while kept giggling and reaching for him again.
    “At the hotel,” he promised in a low voice. Her eyes lit up at the idea, and he wondered if he accidentally had just agreed to more than he meant. He wanted to kiss her, that couldn’t bring too much harm, but what did she want?
    He found out when they got back to the hotel and into Daniel’s room. He wasn’t going to bother asking her for her room key. She was too drunk to care about that. So he took her in his room, leading her around by his arm around her waist. She was all over him every chance she could get, hugging him and kissing his cheek every time they stopped walking for a second. Sometimes, he’d turn to return a kiss, taking pleasure in the feeling of her body pressing against his.
    He directed her to sit on his bed as he shut the door behind them. “I gotta piss,” he mumbled between kisses.
    After relieving himself, he came out of the bathroom to find Nicole still on the bed, but now completely nude. Okay, that was a surprise. As much as he wanted her, he was sober enough to know this was too far.
    “You need to put your clothes on,” he said.
    She pouted. “Don’t wanna.”
    “Come on, you don’t really want this.” He sat on the bed beside her, but made no move to touch her. He didn’t stop himself from looking, though, and she noticed.
    “You want me,” she said in a singsong tone.
    “Not like this,” he replied.
    “I owe you!” she said. “’Cause you’re driving me.”
    “I still want to be able to drive you, and you’re not going to let me if we do this. It’s not going to end well.” He sighed. “This isn’t okay.”
    “You want me,” she repeated. She sat up and hugged him from behind, her breasts against his back. He didn’t move as she rubbed her hand along his arm, moved her touch lower. “I know you want me ‘cause I can feel it.”
    He stood up abruptly. Her hand had gone to a dangerous place there. “ No ,” he said, not shouting, but stern, as if scolding a child. She brought her knees to her chest and lowered her head. He wasn’t sure what she was doing until he heard a small sniffle. “Oh, no, don’t cry, please don’t cry.”
    “You think I’m ugly,” she mumbled. “You don’t think I’m worth anything.”
    “Don’t think