The Likelihood Of You by Holly Jukes

Author:Holly Jukes [Jukes, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-02-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter nineteen

Florence

Addy and I got to Nate’s apartment half an hour later than we were supposed to, which had nothing to do with being fashionably late. It turns out we were both quite bad timekeepers and don’t make good party guests. Sure, we have all the blister plasters, tampons and lip gloss flavours in our purses, but can we stick to a schedule? We absolutely can’t.

To soften the blow, we stopped at a local liquor store on the way over and picked up a few bottles that would last us the night.

I’ve never been a big drinker, apart from that one Christmas where I had one too many tequila shots, it certainly wasn’t my chosen pastime.

Saying that, whilst I was getting ready and pacing the living room floor so much that I left smokey tire marks, I’d worked up a craving for one cocktail in particular, a certain Italian beverage that, since my girl’s trip to Rome one summer during uni, I’d not stopped dreaming about. And luckily, as we were pursuing the fluorescent-lit aisles, my eyes locked onto the glowing orange bottle sitting lonesome on one of the dusty shelves. Addy had quizzed me on what it was, and when I described it as drinking the nectar of the Gods, she dragged me to the cashier to pay.

As we approached the door, Addy knocked as best she could with the bag of oranges and rosemary in her hand (it wasn’t an Aperol Spritz without oranges and rosemary), and it swung open a second later.

“Well, well…if it isn’t my favourite ladies!” Nate laughed, clearly a few drinks deep already, but not so sloppy that we knew the night would end quicker than we thought. “Come in, come in.”

Addy and I both passed each other sceptical looks, purely because seeing Nate’s smile beam was concerning, especially for a man who used a tiny smirk to show his excitement. But he was merry, and that was all we cared about.

“Thanks, Nate!” I squeaked, because the second my eyes adjusted to the sight of his small kingdom of an apartment, I could barely breathe.

Nate took the bags from Addy as we stumbled from the entryway and into the living area, where he placed the bags on a glass coffee table that sat in the centre of two luxurious green sofas, overlooking a skyline view of the city, similar to Jacobs.

Running his name through my head made me wobble, and I hadn’t even had any alcohol yet, which reminded me.

“Hey, Nate?” I shouted over my shoulder, before turning to find Nate and Addy talking, like functioning adults with no angst between them, before both heads shot to face me. “Where’s your kitchen? I’ll whip us up some cocktails.”

“Oh, sure… just through that door, the second door on the right.” He said with a hazy smile.

“Thanks.”

I found the kitchen, and my breath was stolen for the second time tonight, when my eyes locked on to the smorgasbord of party food across the dark wood island, enough to feed a small village.

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