My senior year of college, I was part of a small, tight-knit group of friends who had taken classes together all summer. We mostly hung out at the big apartment shared by about five in the group, and there were maybe seven of us.
The main extrovert of the group who really tied us all together, Clara, had her 21st birthday coming up. This girl had planned all of the 21st parties all year, all the house parties, and barely mentioned her own upcoming big day. Well, the rest of us got together and decided to plan a night out that she would love.
Clara was a beautiful girl with big blue eyes, wavy blonde hair, and curves to die for. More than anything though, she had a ready smile and just wanted the whole atmosphere around her to be happy all the time.
Clara and I had gotten close through our college years, but especially over the summer going into senior year. We were pretty much inseparable at this point and I was all but bouncing leading up to her birthday night out. I went over to the apartment with everyone else to get ready, helping pick her outfit and finish up with hair and makeup.
We all made our way down to the first bar of the night. It was pretty quiet that early on, so we had the space mostly to ourselves. The group broke off into music selection, drink ordering, playing pool, all the fun stuff. Clara popped up next to me all of a sudden at the bar with a dazzling grin.
"Hi," she simpered at me with batted eyelashes, "don't shots sound like so much fun? What do you think, tequila?"
I grinned right back, caught up immediately in her energy. "You got it babe. How many do you want?"
She jumped off the bar stool and leaned into me, making a show of counting all our friends and both of us twice. I wrapped an arm around her and giggled, whispering in her ear, "Great job. Maybe we should just check with everyone though. Would you mind seeing who's in?"
She nodded with a serious look and charged off, asking each person and coming back with all of the personalized drink orders. Nobody was willing to do shots this early in the night after we had all pre-gamed at the apartment while getting ready. I ordered each of us tequila shots anyway just to see that smile again. I got to see the smile and a little happy wiggle. She cheers-ed with me, threw the shot back like a pro, gave me a quick side-hug, and danced away to her own beat.
I was sitting at the bar by myself nursing a drink, but staring at her was a whole activity in itself. This girl was like a torch, barely touching each person before lighting them up too. Soon our whole group was belting out a terrible rendition of a classic song and bouncing around, all with carefree smiles.
Soon enough, Clara hooked my elbow and towed me into the bathroom with her. I finished washing my hands first and stood behind her in the mirror, touching up her hair and telling her how beautiful she looked. I didn't pause to think before slipping my arms around her waist and leaning in to kiss her neck very, very lightly. She turned into me almost immediately and the kiss became something unexpected, passionate and sweet. We stayed locked in the kiss for what felt like minutes, but could only have been a few seconds. I moved my hands to her hips and pushed her back against the sink, resting my forehead against hers. We were both breathing hard and smiling like lunatics. I let her go to touch up her lip gloss and walked back out to the bar.