Free More Than Okay by T.T. Kove

“There’s Jo.” Yvonne elbowed my side, and I turned around without thinking it over. It wasn’t very smooth, but now that I had turned around, I couldn’t very well turn back. And she was right, Jo was there, vending his way between the tables towards us. Tarjei, Yvonne’s ex-boyfriend, followed behind him.  
    “He’s joining us for drinks.” Tarjei nodded at Jo as he put his own and Yvonne’s drinks down on the table.  
    Jo sat down on the chair next to me and slid one of the two glasses he was carrying over to me. “Frozen margarita,” he explained, though he didn’t really have to. It was my very favourite cocktail, and though it wasn’t on the bar-menu, Jo always made it for me when I ordered anyway.  
    “Why’re you done so early?” I asked after taking a sip of the drink. Perfectly made, as per usual. Jo was an exceptional barman.  
    “It’s your birthday.” He grinned and bumped his shoulder with mine. “Thought I’d come celebrate as well.” He leaned in close to hug me and I was ashamed to say I clung to him, enjoying the small piece of intimacy we could have. “Happy birthday, love.” Oh, if only that sentiment could be true , in the proper sense of the word.  
    I caught Yvonne staring at me. She cocked one finely shaped, dark eyebrow. I grimaced at her, but when I saw that both Jo and Tarjei was looking at me, I turned my head away to enjoy my cocktail in peace. When I’d finished the cocktail, Yvonne downed the rest of her drink, then she got up from her seat and rounded the table to tug on my arm.  
    “Come on, let’s go do a couple of shots!” she called over the music.  
    I followed her willingly. I felt shots were an extremely good idea right about now. Jo and Tarjei stayed at the table.  
    “Tonight’s your night,” Yvonne said in my ear as we positioned ourself at the bar to await our turn. “He’s out with us. He’s drinking. Get him drunk and bang him, then it’ll be done.”  
    I laughed at that. Everything seemed to be so simple for Yvonne. Fuck them and all would be good. Maybe for her it was like that. I wasn’t like her though, and Jo wasn’t one of her conquests. Jo was my cousin, yet I was still madly in love with him. Had been for years . I couldn’t remember a time when I hadn’t had a crush on Jo. It must’ve been in my pre-teen years, because as soon as I started noticing blokes, I was noticing him .  
    Yvonne ordered Sambuca shots. Four of them. She paid before I’d managed to blink, then motioned to two of the glasses. “Come on. Let’s finish these, then get out of here. We need to find a dance floor!”  
    I downed first one shot, then the other. The alcohol burned going down, but nothing was as effective to loosen me up as shots were. As long as I didn’t take too many and end up being sick. Nothing was as mood-killer as being sick.  
    Yvonne didn’t ask the lads if they wanted to head off to another bar, she demanded it. So we headed up to the street above the one we were on, were the second most popular bar lay. The one we’d left was the most popular, but it’s one drawback was that it didn’t have a dance floor. They paid the cover, because none of them wanted me to pay, even if I insisted. Drawback to being the birthday girl, I suppose.  
    This place was even more crowded than the one we’d left, and I could swear someone touched my bum at one point over to the bar, but that was to be expected. This bar was a lot trashier than the first one, which was the town’s most classy.  
    “Jo!” Yvonne waved Jo over to her at the bar. “Shots!” Was all I could hear over the thumping music.  
    Tarjei grinned at me, then took my hand and led me out onto the dance floor. Now, if there was anything I knew how to do, it was to dance. I’d been dancing my entire life, and though it was ballet, contemporary and jazz, I had no problems dancing in a club. Tarjei was a good dancer too, and we always ended up dancing when we went out