Chapter 1
Sierra
“To never having to take another test for as long as we live,” Kara said, holding her glass of champagne into the air. “Well, except for pregnancy and STD tests, Felicity,” she added.
I giggled as Felicity rolled her eyes and held her glass next to Kara’s. “We still have to recertify, but whatever. To us.”
We clinked our glasses together and guzzled down the cold champagne. I was starting to feel a little tipsy. The other two girls, of course, didn’t feel a thing. I wasn’t as good at drinking as they were.
They would always call me a lightweight, which seemed painfully ironic because I had at least twenty pounds on both of them. But, when it came to alcohol, I liked to practice moderation. I knew too well what an excess of drink could do to a person.
“For a nurse,” I said to Kara, “you’re fairly judgmental about other people’s sex lives,” I joked.
“Says the prude,” she replied, pouring another round. “Sierra, if I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed that you were a virgin.”
“Me?” I squealed. “Why?”
“Because you never seem to have an interest in any guy. Meanwhile, Felicity and I are chasing after anyone who looks remotely male. Just for once, I’d like to see you bring someone home for the night.”
“Who knows,” I said dreamily. “Maybe tonight’s the night.”
They both cackled in response. I felt like I should take offense to the fact that the very thought of me getting with a guy was hilarious.
“I hope so,” Felicity said. “This may be our last big vacation together. We can hardly get our shifts to line up, so I can’t imagine that we’ll ever be able to get an entire week off at the same time. We have to go all out and get all the partying out of our system.”
“Agreed,” Kara said solemnly.
“You guys, we’re going to have more opportunities to party,” I said.
“Not like this,” Felicity said. “That’s why you can’t let us down, Sierra.”
“Me?” I asked. “What does this have to do with me?”
“I won’t be able to find closure on this stage of my life if I can’t see you go completely wild tonight,” she answered.
I scoffed. I knew that once we really got the party going, they would become too absorbed into their own little worlds to care about what I was doing. We would go to a club, and I’d be sure to lose them both at some point during the night. With Kara, I was likely to find her crying in the bathroom after drinking one too many shots, and Felicity would have her mouth pressed against some stranger’s mouth. For as wild as the pair of them could be, they were anything but unpredictable.
“I told you,” Kara said to Felicity.
“Told her what?” I asked.
“I told her that you would talk a big game about hooking up with guys and having a bunch of drinks, but in the end, you’d come back to the room early to go to bed. What time did you predict she’d be tucked in?”
“Eleven-thirty,” Felicity answered, looking at her watch.
“It’s already nine and we haven’t even gotten dressed to go out yet,” I said defensively. “Do you really think I’m going to call it quits after two and a half hours?”
They looked at each other and burst into laughter. I was starting to feel like they were ganging up on me.
“I’m going to prove both of you wrong,” I said, standing up from my hotel bed. “This is going to be the wildest night of our lives.”
Felicity cheered as Kara stuck another bottle in the ice bucket. “Good,” Kara said. “Let’s get ready to go out.”
We scurried around the hotel room my dad paid for as a nursing school graduation gift. It was way nicer than anything I could afford, so I was extremely appreciative of it. I was exhausted from all of my studying, and I was excited to blow off a little steam.
Kara and Felicity worked together to straighten my long, frizzy hair. I had my parents to thank for my wild Italian hair. My complexion was perfect for sitting out around the pool all day, but my wild, uncontrollable hair was a family curse. That, plus my love for big, starchy meals. My blue eyed, blonde haired friends never had these problems.
“You look incredible,” Kara gushed once I put on my skin-tight black dress. I placed my hands on my wide hips, hoping the color would at least be slimming.
“You’re absolutely going to get some tonight,” Felicity agreed. I had my doubts, but I cleared my belongings from my bed, just in case. If someone happened to come back with me, I wanted to at least be able to pretend I wasn’t a huge slob.
Once we got ready, it was time to hit the town. Felicity found a nightclub nearby so we squeezed into the backseat of a cab and sped off into the night.
The girls and I danced in the sweltering club until the wee hours of the morning. Sure, I drank more than I usually did on a night out, but nothing really happened on the dance floor. I was really hoping I’d meet a guy to go off with for a little fun if just to prove to my friends that I wasn’t the sad prude. At different times throughout the night, I saw both Kara and Felicity grinding up on good-looking guys. I knew I wasn’t stunning like they were, but it would have been nice to be found attractive by someone.
I had fun, but eventually, I wanted to leave the club. It was just too hot and crowded in there. Of course, I couldn’t be the first one to suggest we leave, and thankfully, Kara made the first move. A little after midnight, we made our way out into the cool night air. I was relieved that we had left the club, but I was still feeling like I had missed my chance to make something happen.
“What now?” Felicity asked, taking her heels off on the sidewalk outside the bar.
“Should we find another club?” Kara asked.
I grimaced. “Can we get a bite to eat first?” I asked. “I need some time to cool down before I go back in there,” I said. That, plus the alcohol in my empty stomach was a perfect recipe for a disastrous hangover.
We found a stand selling french fries and took the takeout box to a park bench. I dug into our late night snack as I watched girls in tight dresses like mine stumble their way across the street. We were all just trying to do the same thing—have one night so wild that we could go back to our boring lives and still feel satisfied.
“The guys at that club were kinda cute, right?” Felicity asked.
Kara chuckled. “They were okay at best. I wonder if we just picked the wrong bar. Should keep going down the street and stop whenever we find something good?”
“No,” Felicity said, dropping her fry back into the container. “I know exactly what we should do next.”
I followed her gaze across the street. Now I knew what that strange buzzing sound was.
“Yes!” Kara shrieked. “Let’s get tattoos!”
Both of their heads whipped toward me with expectant faces, as if they knew that my reaction was going to prove some point.
“Sure,” I said casually, eating another french fry. “Let’s do it.”
Their mouths dropped open. “Really?” Kara asked.
“Why not? This is the kind of thing you do when you have a massive party night in Vegas, right?”
I got up and tossed our empty takeout box in the trash can. Felicity and Kara hesitantly got up after me.
“Is this really happening?” Felicity asked, a look of pure delight on her face.
“Let’s fucking do it!” I exclaimed, feeling a wild energy come over me.
The three of us linked arms and crossed the street to go to the tattoo parlor, Felicity and Kara gushing over my sudden change of personality. It felt good to let loose for once in my life. I spent so much of my time trying to be responsible and take care of everyone else, that I never took the time to relax and think about myself. I was about to start a new and demanding career. I deserved to go wild, even if it was just for one night.
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