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just deer blood, Liz,” Rob added, nodding to the shot glasses in his hands.
    “See, I knew I’d heard something about blood!” She must have felt better about her mistake as she yelled over the club music. She laughed before grabbing her shot glass from the bar. “What else is in it?”
    “Quit asking questions, Half-Pint, live it up a little bit.” I spoke as I squeezed past her for my glass. I realized I’d slipped again and called her by that old nickname when everyone looked at me curiously. I shrugged before lifting the shot into the air, in between my friends. “Cheers to a night where we don’t have to fucking spell out the goddamn swear words!”
    We all whooped it up before finally chanting, “Cheers!” We laughed, clinking our glasses together and downing them in one fell swoop. I hated to admit it, but I’d forgotten how fuckin’ awesome Jägerbombs were.
    “That was good!” Elizabeth cried in excitement. “I think I want another one!”
    I laughed and motioned for the bartender to bring us another round. I could tell that the night was shaping up to be a good one, and I was already prepping myself for an amazing Rob story in the morning. I’m sure he would find some sort of trouble or chaos to get himself into. And, seriously, the dude could tell a story. It helped that his epicness could not be contained, so he constantly found himself in precarious positions.
    We sucked back another quick shot before the five of us made our way out onto the already packed dance floor. People were shoulder to shoulder and the music was thumping. We immediately lost ourselves into the crowd—the five of us gathered in a small circle all moving together. Emma and Elizabeth were actually acting like sisters and having a great time as they danced. Rob kept entertaining us with his typical asinine moves. Really, who did the ‘Elaine’ or the ‘shopping cart’ at a club?
    Shane made the trip to the bar for our beers. Rob followed suit and eventually it all became a blur. The beers kept coming and pretty soon I’d lost count of how many we’d had and began to feel that familiar fuzz creeping in. At some point, I lost track of Rob. I was sure he’d found someone or something that piqued his interest. I knew he’d find his way back to us—he always did—and then he’d have a story to tell.
    Emma and Shane ultimately lost themselves in one another, leaving Elizabeth and I to our own devices. I watched while they stood among the sea of people, no longer dancing to the beat of the club music. Instead, they swayed close together, their eyes locked, totally oblivious to the world around them. Elizabeth was next to me, her eyes closed as she moved her hips to the beat. I tapped her elbow to get her attention and nodded towards the happy couple.
    “Awww!” she yelled over the music. With a jerk of my head, I motioned for her to follow me to the bar and she giggled in response. I felt her grab onto the back of my shirt as we pushed our way through the crowd. I was reminded of her doing the same exact thing when Em and I took her to the fair when she was younger.
    We’d only been fourteen at the time, but Mr. and Mrs. Sloan had thought we were responsible enough to take Elizabeth. She was nine and thought she was hot shit walking around the dirty fairgrounds with us. I’d thought it was cute that she’d been over zealous every time she saw someone she went to school with, but Em had found it annoying. Eventually it became overcrowded and Emma started to freak out. Back then she’d hated crowds and started to hastily push her way from one attraction to the next. That was when Elizabeth had decided to latch onto my shirt. I liked feeling needed.
    Once we reached the bar I asked her what she wanted but the combination of the booze, her tiny frame, and the loud music prevented her from hearing me. I leaned over to her ear and a little louder I asked, “What do you want?!”
    Her head turned towards me and her eyes