Free South beach by Aimee Friedman

glam locales. Holly had never experienced this sensation before: Every person in the vicinity was going out to
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    have a good time. There were definitely no homebodies in South Beach. It was exhilarating and a little intimidating.
    By the time they reached Lincoln Road, an outdoor pedestrian mall full of trendy shops and cafés, Holly felt a little calmer. The group nabbed a big outdoor table at a restaurant on a bustling corner. They ordered a pitcher of sangria and a bunch of appetizers to share, then settled back to watch the parade of people.
    Alexa spotted musicians strumming their guitars in the street, mimes performing, and lots of wide-eyed wandering tourists. Alexa decided to come back here and take photographs of all the fascinating passersby. When she saw several more flashy couples -- usually a stunning, voluptuous younger woman and a well-dressed older man -- she smiled to herself.
    "What's up with all the sugar daddies?" Alexa asked the group at large. She reached over and grabbed a mini-slice of pizza from all the food in the center of the table. She and Holly hadn't had time for lunch that day, and Alexa was ravenous. She noticed that Holly, though, was only picking at her food and hadn't poured herself any sangria.
    "I think it's a South Beach thing," Kaitlin said. "There's a lot of bling here."
    "Last year we went to Daytona Beach for spring
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    break and it wasn't like that at all," Daisy said, nibbling on a chicken wing. "But, oh, my God, Daytona is amazing! Remember when those guys did body shots off us, Kait?"
    "Duh. Of course I remember. That was the best night of my life!" Kaitlin exclaimed, tossing back her red curls.
    Everyone at the table laughed, and Jonathan whistled loudly. Only Holly was silent.
    Kaitlin noticed Holly sitting quietly and leaned across the table, grinning.
    "Holly!" she said. "What's up? Haven't you ever done a body shot?"
    "Well..." Holly hedged. Done them? She'd never even heard of them before. She felt a dead-giveaway blush creeping into her cheeks.
    "Oh, my God, do you even know what they are?" Daisy squealed. The rest of the group broke up laughing again. Except for Alexa, who was watching Holly carefully.
    "Wow, welcome to reality!" Jonathan called to Holly from down the table. "What planet have you been living on?"
    "Hey, shut up, bro," Aaron said, jabbing his shoulder.
    "Yeah, shut up everyone," Alexa said imperiously. She leaned forward and squeezed Holly's elbow. It was embarrassing how innocent Holly could be, but
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    Alexa suddenly felt protective of her old friend. Holly pulled her elbow away, regarding Alexa suspiciously.
    "There are lots of ways to do a body shot," Alexa explained. "But I have a preferred method." She grinned. "You know when you do a tequila shot -- with the salt and the lime?" Holly didn't know, but she nodded, anyway.
    "Okay. So the guy puts some salt on your belly or your leg," Alexa went on, caressing her own leg to demonstrate. "Then he pours a shot of tequila on your stomach. He licks off the salt, and does the shot off you. If you want, you can hold the wedge of lime in your mouth for him to take out with his mouth when he's done. It's very sexy!" Alexa giggled, thinking back to her first body-shot experience, when she was in Turks and Caicos with Portia two summers ago. Sure, it had felt a little trashy, but it was definitely memorable.
    "I'll drink to that," Thomas said, reaching for the sangria pitcher. He'd already had three glasses.
    Holly nodded again. Body shots sounded disgusting to her, but she didn't say that. She was sure everyone already thought she was a total prude.
    "You have a lot to learn," Daisy said, patting Holly's shoulder. "But that's okay. We're gonna have fun teaching you."
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    Once again, Holly wondered if it was her imagination, but she thought she saw Aaron smiling.
    After dinner, the Flamingo group tried to get into Rumi, a swank-looking club off Lincoln Road, but the bouncer standing in front of the velvet