“Are you nuts? There’s no way I’m drinking that!” Julia wrinkles her nose at the tequila shots I just plopped down on the table. The club is noisy, and the heavy bass in the music is making my lungs dance along with the house beat. It’s been over a year since I’ve gone out to the bar like this.

It blows my mind that this is how I used to spend every weekend, usually both on Friday and Saturday. It’s only a quarter to eleven, and I’m already tired. The music seems too loud. The kids on the floor look too young. And the lines at the bar are too long.

The only reason I’m sticking it out is because, in the entire time I’ve known Julia, we’ve never gone out on the town like this. She’s always been too serious and too focused on school to let loose. It’s nice to see her buzzing a little and relaxing for once.

“Awww, c’mon, now you’re starting to sound like Paula and Tina.”

We started the night at a nice Italian restaurant with all the bridesmaids. However, Julia’s brothers are all older than her, with kids. So their wives weren’t up for an all-nighter of clubbing and drinks. Tina, Parker’s sister, did stick it out with us until about an hour ago, but she ditched us when she saw the line to get in here.

Julia looks at the shot, half of which is pooled around the thin glass from when I hit it down on the table, then looks at me. “Okay, but this is the last one.” Her hand hovers over the edge of the shot glass as she waits for me to agree.

“Oh, all right. No more shots.”

“No more drinking at all. There’s no way I’m going to keep up with you, and I don’t want to suffer for trying.” Julia is a lightweight. A slice of rum cake at Christmas probably gets her tipsy.

“Do you wanna go home?” My heart sinks and my fingers pinch against the cool glass, teasing me with a mouthful of tequila. We’ve never hung out like this before, and now that Julia is a few days away from being Mrs. McGregor, I know we won’t be doing this in the future either.

“No, no. I’m not saying that. I just don’t want to drink anymore. I’m still having fun, though.”

“Okay then, you ready?”

Julia nods at me, and she steels herself.

“Three, two, one!”

We clink the miniature glasses together, spilling a little more booze on the table. The tequila tastes like oily fire down my throat. Julia’s face twists into a knot while she struggles to swallow the liquor swirling around on her tongue.

“This isn’t a wine tasting, don’t savor it! Just swallow it.” You’d think I handed her a slug from how much effort she’s using to get it down.

“Ugh! How the hell does anyone drink that?” Her eyes water and she sticks out her tongue in disgust.

“Oh, come on. It wasn’t that bad,” I tease. I’m still surprised she drank the damned thing. When I bought the shots, I figured there was a seventy percent chance that I was going to have to drink both.

“Hey, do you remember when we used to have sleepovers in high school?” Julia tilts her head and smiles as days from our not-so-distant youth dance over her eyes.

“Yeah, you were a goody-goody then too.” I laugh. “Always making us turn out the lights by ten and telling me to keep it down.”

“It’s true.” Julia’s eyes soften, and she leans her head against her fist. “I’ve never had the guts to live life like you, always taking risks and having faith that it’ll all work out.”

“Well, I think we can both see whose plan was better.” I turn my palm up to her, like I’m offering her an hors d’oeuvre at one of the many galas she goes to now. “You’ve done well for yourself. You’ve gotten promoted, like what? Three times now?”

“Four.” She looks at the table bashfully.

“See? Four. That’s incredible. You should be proud of everything you’ve accomplished so far. Besides, the best is still ahead of you.”

“Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m not happy. Honestly, I’ve never been happier in my life.”

“It shows.” Her happiness adds gloss to her hair and shine to her eyes that she never had before she met Parker.

“Thanks.” Julia flashes a quick smile like the sun peeking out from behind a cloud for a moment. “Hey, so, do you remember how we would play ‘truth or dare’?”

The image flashes back to me. Julia is sitting cross-legged in her flannel pajamas at 9:00 p.m. “Truth,” she would say. Every damned time. I would roll my eyes. Of course she chose truth. She always chose truth. It would be fine if she led a scandalous life or had some juicy secrets to share. However, the most enticing piece of information that game ever taught me about her was that she sometimes thought about what it would be like to kiss our high school quarterback.

“You’d think I blocked it out since it was so boring.”

We laugh. She knows exactly what I’m talking about.

“I know, I know.” She waves her hands in surrender. “I wasn’t as adventurous as you, okay?”

“You’d never do any dare. Like, not even sneak down to the fridge to get some cake or something.”

“Well, you never chose truth. It’s like you wanted me to dare you to jump across the rooftops or something. You always had way more guts than me.” Julia’s eyes lower back down to her hands and her lower lip twitches.

“Are you okay?” I reach across and graze my fingers over her arm. It was probably a good call that she refused any more drinks. She’s getting all bleary-eyed over some silly slumber party games.

“You know what?” Her head snaps back up with a mischievous glint that looks so unfamiliar in her dark chocolate eyes. “Let’s play right now. Except we’ll do the opposite, okay?”

“Ugh, you want to play truth or dare?”

“Yeah, but this time you dare me to do something, okay? But you have to answer a question. Sound fair?”

A smile spreads across my lips as I look around the crowded night club trying to think of what I should dare her to do. My eyes rest on the bar. More specifically, the bartender.

“Okay, I’ve got something.” It’s hard not to laugh when she already looks so worried. “You see the dime piece behind the counter?” I nod at the sexy, young hottie slinging cocktails for the swooning crowd of young ladies hovering around the bar. “I dare you to try to flirt some free drinks out of him.”

Julia bites her lip and twirls her engagement ring around her finger. “No, I can’t. It’s just, well, I wouldn’t feel right about it with Parker…”

I let the air deflate from my lungs in a long, exaggerated sigh. “Fine.” My eyes skim back over the club. What the hell am I supposed to dare her to do? She won’t flirt with anyone. She won’t drink. My search stops as my gaze falls on the eight-foot dance platforms near the end of the crowded, pulsing dance floor. “I dare you”—the words roll around in my mouth like an expensive scotch—“to dance on one of those stages.” I point to the towering platform under a bright spotlight. “For one whole song. That’s my dare.” I smirk. There’s no way she can weasel her way out of this one.

Julia shakes her head from side to side, staring at the booty-shaking, attention-seeking whores competing with each other on the small stages.

“If you don’t want to do that one, then…”

“No, wait. Wait.” She pulls a deep breath into her lungs and grips the side of the table as she slides her chair back across the floor. “I’ll do it.”

My eyes nearly pop out of my head as I watch her get swallowed by the crowd on the floor and spat out the other side by the stairs leading up to the elevated stage. Even from here, I can see her push her shoulders back and throw her chin out bravely as she makes her way to the top.

It’s hard not to cringe as she awkwardly stands at the top with her arms crossed like she’s trying to fold in on herself. Her hips sway a little, and her arms loosen up until they’re swinging by her sides. Before long, she’s shaking her ass up there like she does this every Friday night.

Bubbles of laughter surface from inside me. It’s so strange to see Julia grab the railing of the stage and grind back against the air like a horny cat. As soon as the song changes, she stands up straight and immediately slinks away. She looks so proud of herself when she sits back down at the table, it’s impossible not to laugh.

“Wow, I didn’t think that was going to happen. You’ve got some serious moves on you,” I tease her.

“That was pretty fun.” She laughs. “I can’t believe I did that.”

“Well, that makes two of us.”

“Hey, so now it’s time for you. You have to answer a question truthfully, okay?”

God, if she was willing to get up there and dance like that with everyone watching, I’m worried about what it is she wants to know. “Uh, yeah. All right.”

“I wanna know your secret. How do you just shut it off? Like, you live your life like you never worry about tomorrow. Here I am, worrying about ten years’ worth of tomorrows, but you’ve never been like that. How do you just have confidence that it’s all going to work out? How do you live like such a free spirit? I seriously want to know. I need some of that in my life.”

I’m sure she means it as a compliment, but her words sting as sure as a slap in the face would. “I don’t.” Now it’s my turn to look at my hands.

“Isabella! You said you’d answer truthfully.” Julia sighs in exasperation.

“I am! Listen, I’m telling you the truth, okay? I don’t live life without worries. I worry too. All the time actually. Especially since you’ve…” I stare at the empty shot glasses and try to collect my thoughts.

“Since I what?”

“I dunno. Since you graduated college, I guess. I mean, you have everything so together, Julia. You got your degrees, left minimum wage behind, got engaged, have your career. Look at me! I’m still working the same job we had as teenagers, there’s no man who wants more than just a night with me, and I can’t get a career because I didn’t go to college. I do worry. I am worried. I wish I were more like you.”

The thumping base fills the silent space between us as we both stare at the table. “Hey”—Julia grabs my hand and squeezes it tight—“don’t talk like it’s too late or something. It isn’t. You can have all that stuff too, you know. I can help you figure out school. We can work on the man. The job will come. Don’t be so down on yourself. I wasn’t asking you this to make you feel shitty. I asked because, well, I guess I want to be more like you too. Don’t sell yourself short, Isabella.” She shakes my hands, and I finally meet her pleading eyes. “You have a lot more to offer than you think.”

Do I?

It’s been almost two years since Julia left the diner, and here I am only a couple of years away from thirty and still working for minimum wage, on my feet all day. I’ve watched the gap grow between us since Julia and Parker got engaged, a gap that is going to grow into a chasm when they get married.

“Come on.” Julia stands up, tugging me to my feet by the hand. “Let’s get out of here, okay?”

“Okay.”