Page 21 of A Solid Guide to Surviving a Situationship

Bodies moving in waves.

And for the first time that night, my problems felt… small.

“Okay!” Andi clapped her hands once as we sat down. “Birthday rules.”

Mel groaned. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Too bad,” Andi said as the server placed six shot glasses neatly in a row and a metal bucket that held the liquor. “No more talking about… you know. Just us and this.”

Tequila.

Honey leaned closer to inspect them and gasped dramatically. “Oh, we’re starting strong tonight.”

Andi picked up one of the glasses and raised it in the air.

“To James!”

Everyone grabbed a shot.

“To James!” Andre repeated.

“To healing!” Honey added.

“And to forgetting men who deserves to be forgotten!” Mel finished.

They all looked at me, waiting for my toast speech.

“To bad decisions!” I said.

Glasses clinked.

Then we all drank.

The tequila burned all the way down my throat.

“See?” Andi said proudly. “Therapy.”

Mel laughed nervously. “I’m not sure tequila counts as therapy.”

“Anything that helps you forget the guy who hurt you counts as therapy,” Honey declared.

Andre poured another round from the tequila bottle… then another… then another.

And somewhere between the music, the alcohol, and my friends yelling over the noise, the heaviness in my chest slowly disappeared.

My body relaxed.

My thoughts blurred.

After the fifth shot, I leaned back against the couch and stared down at the dance floor below.

Bodies moved like a single organism under the flashing lights.

The music throbbed in my chest. And then⁠—

Moments later, I was dancing in the middle of the dance floor.

Honey dragged me there, of course. She was already performing like the dance floor belonged to her.