Free 21 Dares: A Florida Suspense Mystery by JC Gatlin

town.”
    “Sweet
Home Alabama,” the waiter said. He was a thin man with black, slick-backed hair
that was parted in the middle. McKenzie looked up at him with a shocked
expression on her face. He smiled at her. “The movie you were referring to.
It’s called Sweet Home Alabama.”
    “Yeah,
I guess so,” McKenzie said. The waiter nodded and took everyone’s order. When
he left, Rocky put down his menu.  
    “I
hear it’s your birthday.” He grinned briefly with no trace of possible deception.
    McKenzie
squealed. “It’s Abbie’s twenty-first birthday today and she’s going to blow off
her afternoon classes and we’re going to order a bottle of sake and get stoned
hammered, like in the old days.”
    “Well
cool. Happy birthday.” Rocky reached across the table and took Abbie’s hand.
McKenzie slapped it away.  
    “To
be honest, we never drank in the old days,” Abbie said. “And my birthday isn’t
until tomorrow.”
    Rocky’s
face brightened with amusement. “Well, cool anyway. My Happy Birthday still
stands, even if it’s a day early. So how do you and McKenzie know each other?”
    “My
grandmother and her grandmother—” Abbie started, but McKenzie cut in.
    “Abbie
lived with her grandparents in Pembroke Pines and when I was growing up, I
would visit my grandparents who lived down the street from them,” McKenzie said. The
waiter brought out three plates with spicy tuna, yellowtail
and prawn tempura , and a large, winding dragon roll. Next
to that he set down wasabi and shoyu. Rocky picked up a set of chopsticks as
the waiter filled the three wine glasses. McKenzie kept talking. “ I saw Abbie
every summer and it was my job to drag her out of her room
and away from her books and get her a little tan before school started
again.”
    “My
grandmother made it McKenzie’s personal mission to get me out of my room,” Abbie
added. “So she would encourage me to hang-out and do stuff—”
    “Like
roller skating!” McKenzie slammed her hands on the table.   “Remember how we would go to the Galaxy
Skateway with those boys?”
    Abbie managed a nod. “ I remember you and some boys
laughing every time I—”
    “Oh,
Abbie had the moves, let me tell you.” McKenzie turned to speak directly to Rocky.
“She could do this thing where her legs would come up from under her and she
would literally fly three feet in the air, do a backwards somersault and land
on her derriere. It was a sight, lemme tell you.” McKenzie laughed , scooping up a dragon roll and
popping it into her mouth. She then looked at her wine glass as if noticing it
for the first time. “ Oh, sake.”
    Rocky brought a white linen napkin to his
mouth and wiped his lips. Then he stood, poured out the last of the sake into his and McKenzie’s glasses.
      “And remember that night we went to the
drive-in?” McKenzie popped a California Roll in her mouth, chewed slowly
until it was gone. She wiped rice from her chin and continued. “ She’d
had her eye on this boy named Patrick who—”
    “That
wasn’t funny. That wasn’t a good time for me.” Abbie buried her face in her hand and sighed.
    “Why,
Bookworm. Are you embarrassed?” She
stabbed at the Dragon Roll again and took a sip of sake. “ Patrick was
too old for you. Anyway, he would’ve never considered going out with you in the
first place. That’s what makes it so funny.”
    Abbie
looked up and glared. “It wasn’t funny for me. I was humiliated.”
    McKenzie
leaned forward. “Because his girlfriend had no idea you where even there.” She
touched Abbie’s arm as she talked. “And when you got in the truck with him and
Melanie, I still laugh today when I think about it. You shoulda seen Melanie’s
face when Abbie climbed in the truck with Patrick. And then when she took
Patrick’s hand, I thought Melanie was going to explode!” McKenzie fell back into her seat and
burst into laughter that drew the attention of people at nearby tables.
    “Maybe we should