Chapter 5: The Party Wraps

The barman made last call at 11:45. He only had one taker for a final beer but that did not mean the guests did not imbibe. When he packed up what booze remained the four boxes he wheeled into the house fit into one. He left Thomas a bottle of tequila with no more than a shot or two and a bottle of rum with just a little bit more. Thomas helped him carry his table to his van and gave him a generous tip for his services. The caterer had wrapped up and left by 10:30 and left what little food remained in the kitchen.

Before Gabriela left she made an effort to find Thomas.

“Is Matt OK?” she asked. “It was only a game.”

Thomas immediately agreed and tried to convince her that Matt was fine.

“A lot of times Matt will talk a big game and his mouth will get him into trouble. Tonight, it was both his big mouth and his drinking too much. Normally, he doesn’t drink as much, but with an open bar he over did it.”

Tammy heard the end of the conversation and stopped.

“Yeah, Matt’s a fucking tool sometimes, most of the time, but he’s got a good heart. He’ll be fine. He’ll probably be more embarrassed than anything tomorrow.”

Gabriela hugged Thomas and thanked him for the wonderful party.

“I thought he had grown out of the excessive drinking,” stated Tammy.

Thomas turned toward his sister with a look of disbelief.

“Pot? Kettle?” he said.

“Hey, in my defense, I haven’t been so shitfaced that I puked in about a year.”

“I think it’s been almost that long since Matt last tossed his cookies from booze.”

Tammy said, “Kind of bad timing. I wanted to see his dick. The last time was in high school when we played spin the bottle. He was so nervous I could barely see anything through his pubes.”

“Sorry, I can’t help you there,” said Thomas.

“Ready to go?” asked Billie as she and Gabriela joined the conversation.

“Are any of you six OK to drive? Do you need to stay here tonight?”

“Yeah, we are fine. My date is sober. He didn’t drink anything at all tonight,” said Gabriela.

Thomas looked at her in surprise. The others were nodding their agreement.

Gabriela shrugged. “I told him it was best if he did not drink so he could safely drive us all home. And more importantly, I didn’t want him too drunk to get it up and fuck me good after the party.”

“That’s my girl,” hollered Tammy with a high five to Gabriela.

Denise joined the group.

Thomas clarified, “Gabriela’s date did not drink tonight, ostensibly because he could get them home safely, but the real reason was that Gabriela wanted to get laid tonight.”

Billie and Tammy high-fived again. Gabriela blushed slightly.

“Ah, that makes sense,” said Denise.

Tammy, Billie, and Gabriela took turns giving Denise and Thomas hugs before heading to the door to catch up with their dates.

“Be careful on the way home,” Thomas called.

Denise said, “And have fun.” She winked and grinned in Gabriela’s direction.

The last to leave were Cindi and Charles.

“Can we help clean up a little before we go?” asked Charles.

“No, we’re good,” insisted Denise.

“We’re just really glad you could make it,” added Thomas.

“It was a great party. We were in the kitchen and missed Matt’s show but heard it,” laughed Cindi.

“The four of us will have to get together again soon. You and Denise don’t see each other very often. Maybe dinner in a week or two?” suggested Charles as he looked to Cindi.