A Love Letter to Whiskey

B first sees Jamie as a teenager. She is running with her best friend, Jenna Kamp, and while trying to alert Jenna to the fact that there is an attractive boy running beside them, B and Jamie collide. B all but falls in love at first sight, but Jamie is attracted to Jenna instead. B is used to other boys falling for her beautiful friend, but this time, it particularly hurts her. A week later, Jenna and Jamie start dating, and B starts to become his friend.

B grew up relatively happy, believing that her separated parents were good friends before and after they dated. However, the summer before her sophomore year of high school, her mother accidentally told her that B’s father scared away all the men who tried to date her and that B was the product of him raping her. When B approached her father about it afterward, he was unapologetic and angry that her mother had told her. B has since struggled with the information and feels betrayed that neither parent previously told her about it.

Sometime after Jenna and Jamie start dating, B goes out surfing, which is a hobby that she uses to cope with her troubles. She runs into Jamie on the water, and the two joke around and bond over the fact that they both want to go to college in California rather than stay in their hometown in South Florida. When they get ready to leave, B’s car won’t start, so Jamie offers to drive her home.

As Jamie drives B home, she thinks about what she learned on social media during the first days of their acquaintance, including the fact that Jamie’s family is wealthy. The two bond over the fact that they both love classical music, and Jamie offers to drive B to a football game that Jenna is cheerleading at the following night. At the game, they talk about their plans for the future, including B’s indecision and Jamie’s fears that he won’t live up to his goals. B feels her interest in Jamie growing but is thrown off when she sees Jamie and Jenna kiss after the game.

On the drive home, B’s father calls and tells her that his mechanic doesn’t know what’s wrong with her car and that it is going to take at least a few weeks to fix it. Afterward, Jamie plays classical music to distract her from the tense conversation. He later asks her why she hates her real name, Brecks. She explains that it is the Irish word for “freckled” and that her mother named her that because counting her father’s freckles was the only way she made it through her assault. B doesn’t know why she tells Jamie these intimate details, but even so, Jamie offers her rides until her car is fixed. B declines, knowing that it would be a bad idea given her feelings for him. Nevertheless, when he texts her later, B accepts Jamie’s offer.

Jamie and B grow closer during their drives over the next three months, but Jamie and Jenna also fall in love during this time. During their winter break, shortly after B’s car gets fixed, Jamie asks her to go for a drive and shares his fears about growing up and graduating in a few months. Though Jamie admits that he would have called Jenna instead of B for a drive if Jenna weren’t out of town, he later texts B telling her that she is his best friend.

Less than a month before Jamie graduates, Jenna tells B that she is going to break up with him because he is going to college and she doesn’t want to have a long-distance relationship. B overreacts to this confession, and Jenna jokingly says that B should be the one going out with Jamie. A few days later, Jenna breaks up with Jamie, and neither girl hears from him again until the night of graduation.

B and Jenna, both juniors, hold a graduation party at B’s house while her mother is out of town. Several students show up to the party, including Jamie, who B notices is acting differently. B sees him watching her throughout the night before he finally approaches. Already drunk himself, he gets her to take a shot of whiskey with him, and B tells him that he is “practically whiskey on legs” given the coloring of his hair (48), skin, and eyes.

After the party, Jamie stays late to help B clean up. She’s worried that her mother will be upset when she returns, but Jamie gets B to go to the beach with him, knowing that she will be in trouble regardless of how much they clean. They talk about the future and Jamie’s breakup, and Jamie proposes that the two of them should marry if neither is married by the time they are 30. B agrees but knows their pact is pointless. 

B’s mother grounds her for the first month of summer for throwing the party. B still sees Jamie around town before he moves to California for college, but throughout the year, B tries to forget him.

After graduating from high school, B goes to Alder University in San Diego, the same city where Jamie is going to school. As she is checking into her campus housing, B runs into Jamie, who she mistakenly thought attended another college in the city. As she is reconnecting with Jamie, B runs into Ethan, her boyfriend of the past few months, who also happens to be Jamie’s roommate. 

Over the following weeks, Jamie avoids B, but she isn’t sure why. Missing her best friend since childhood, she calls Jenna, who now goes to New York University. In the past year, B forgave and reconnected with her mother and fully cut off her father. 

One day, Ethan invites B to a big party at a beach house, which Jamie will also be attending. B is overwhelmed by the noise, dancing, and drugs and goes outside to get some air, where she runs into Jamie. Jamie teases her about Ethan and offers to show her around San Diego and take her surfing, and she agrees.

B resists the first few times Jamie asks her to hang out but finally relents when he ambushes her at her dorm after work. Jamie takes her to a cat cafe for coffee because he knows that B hates cats, and he jokes that they are on a date. B starts to feel them settle into comfortable friendship again, but she also feels a different sort of spark between them. B is surprised when Jamie asks if she is still writing—a habit she only picked up the year she met him but has since become more interested in. Jamie gets B to start talking about her sex life with Ethan, and she mentions that Ethan doesn’t have the passion she wants in bed. After Jamie drops her off later that day, B can’t stop thinking about Jamie and her past feelings for him.

The next morning, Jamie wakes B up early to go surfing, something she hasn’t done in the two months she’s been in California. When Ethan texts her, she feels bad about not mentioning that she is with Jamie. Nevertheless, B has fun, though the larger California waves quickly tire her. Jamie seems disappointed when she mentions that she has to go home for a date with Ethan. As they are about to leave, Jamie admits that he avoided her for the first month after she arrived because he was trying to stop himself from kissing her, which he does now. Jamie apologizes afterward and calls himself selfish. Ethan calls as they drive back, and B tries to cancel their plans but ultimately just pushes their date back an hour. As B is about to leave, she and Jamie agree to stay friends, knowing that they can’t kiss again.