"Fuck it," I declared. "Let's get drunk."
"Hell yes, sister!" Savanna appeared in front of the three of us and held her red cup up to cheers with ours. Jade was apprehensive but just shrugged and tapped her plastic cup against all of ours and brought the cup up to her lips. We all finished the drinks like they were shots rather than full sized cups, and Savanna hurried over to the cabinet to pull out actual shot glasses.
"I am fully prepared to die tonight," Elle stated, watching Savanna fill up four shot glasses with Kettle One Vodka.
"Good! That may happen," Savanna giggled, handing us each a full glass.
"Alright, I wasn't really planning on getting sloshed tonight but YOLO, baby!" Jade told me, her words already slightly slurring from her three cups of the jungle juice. I was sure I didn't sound much better. We all hooted a cheer and threw back the shots with a laugh.
I lost track of the amount of alcohol that I had consumed and I was feeling fuzzy when Wes and Jackie began a third game, taking on two new opponents since they had one the previous two games. It had been less than one hour since we had gone our separate ways but he hadn't even tried to find me. He was too busy with her.
"I need to get fresh air," Elle slurred and stumbled, causing Jade to break out into a fit of giggles.
"Fresh air would be nice," I told them, slipping off my heels rather clumsily and grabbing onto Jade for support. "We can go outside, and Wes can stay in here with the seal."
"What seal? Where's the seal?" Savanna asked, shocked, and started looking around frantically, bumping her hip against the kitchen table in the process. "Ow!"
Jade giggled some more which made me start to laugh as well. We were all extremely drunk and Jade was turning out to be a giggler.
"Jackie claps like … a lot," I explained, pointing over at the ping-pong table. "Like a seal, ya know?"
Savanna nodded vigorously in understanding, "we should throw her a beach ball."
"Ohmigod! That would be so funny!" Elle exclaimed, smacking her hand against her leg as she laughed.
We managed to control ourselves for a few minutes as we stumbled through the house to the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. Elle and Savanna both ditched their heels back in the kitchen as well, and Jade was luckily wearing ballet flats.
"Ah! The grass feels so nice!" Elle exclaimed, flopping down on her back. "Lie with me, B!"
I plopped down beside her ungracefully and relished the feel of the cold grass on my back and the harsh breeze on my hot skin. It had snowed lightly a week earlier so the ground was solid beneath us. The harsh winter weather was upon us but according to weather reports it wouldn't snow again until after Christmas. I blamed global warming for our late winter.
"There's a beach ball in the pool!" Jade cried out, pointing towards the water. Savanna whipped her head in the direction Jade was pointing and made a run for it. Elle and I sat up and watched, amused, as Savanna and Jade found the long rod with the net at the end to clean the pool. Together they held the rod and fumbled as they tried to pull the beach ball to the edge.
"So close! Keep pulling, Jade!" Savanna grunted as the two of them continued to swipe the pool cleaner at the ball.
"Aha!" Jade yelled in triumph when the ball reached the edge. Savanna carefully got to her knees and pulled the ball out of the water, using Jade's leg to keep her unsteady balance from forcing her into the pool.
Elle and I cheered from our place on the grass and Savanna and Jade came over with the ball and placed it beside them as the joined us on the ground.
"The stars look so pretty," Elle slurred, pointing at one of many that lit up the night sky. "Those kind of look like Colin."
"I don't see it," Savanna told her, turning her head from side to side and squinting her eyes, trying to visualize Colin in the galaxy.
"I might just be really drunk," Jade proclaimed with a hiccup, "but there's definitely a small child right next to the airplane."
We all focused on the blinking red light that moved through the sky trying to find a small child in its mist.
"Wes sucks," I grumbled and closed my eyes. My head was spinning and my limbs felt like jelly. "I'm drunk."
"Me too," Elle claimed.
"Me three," Savanna and Jade stated at the same time, causing them to both giggle.
"Jinx!" Jade shouted, punching Savanna in the arm.
"Ow!" Savanna whined, rubbing her arm where Jade had hit her.
"Oops, sorry," Jade giggled. "Let's take another shot!"
"I don't know if I can swallow anymore alcohol tonight," Elle said, sitting up. "But let's do it anyways."
We all stood, trying to regain a semblance of balance and headed inside.
"Wait!" Savanna shouted causing us to all stop in our tracks. "The beach ball!"
She ran back to where she had placed it, tripping over her own foot and face planting into the grass. Her dress rode up and her ass was on display.
"Fuck." She cursed, glaring at the three of us as we laughed in hysterics. Savanna grabbed the ball and pushed past us into the house. As we made our way back to the kitchen I was pleased to see that Wes and Jackie were no longer playing beer pong side by side. My happiness was short lived however when I noticed that they were instead standing beside each other in a line of five people on each side of the table playing a game of flip cup. Jackie cheered Wes on while he fumbled with the cup, trying to get it to flip over.
"Asshole," I muttered to myself and joined the girls in the kitchen. Someone had used up all of the Kettle One so Savanna searched through the cabinets of alcohol before she landed her sights on a half empty bottle of Patron Silver. I groaned, hating the taste of tequila.
"Suck it up, Lane." Elle teased, attempting to climb onto the counter. After a few attempts she finally got it and settled on the edge, her feet dangling in front of her.
Savanna finished filling up the shot glasses and the liquid sloshed over the side a little bit as she handed one to each of us. We all held up our glasses, waiting on Savanna to make a toast like usual. She smiled wickedly, "To throwing this beach ball at the slutty seal!"
"Here, here!" we cried out, tossing back the shot. I grimaced and coughed as the liquor burned my throat.
"Brooke, you wanna do the honor?" Jade slurred as she placed her empty shot glass on the counter and hiccupped once more.
"No, no, no!" I told them. "I just want to watch."
"I'll do it!" Elle exclaimed, grabbing the beach ball from the tiled floor and tucking it under her arm unsuccessfully. The ball was too big so after a few attempts she cursed at it and held it against her chest.
"We need a game plan … right?" Savanna asked, her words slow and garbled from the alcohol we had consumed.
"I'm armed," Elle proclaimed, "and ready!"
"We'll just, like, go in and throw it at her," I shrugged, leaning against the wall in support.
"Okay," Savanna agreed, nodding her head vehemently. "I like it. Good thinking, Brookelyn."
"Let's do this ladies!" Jade declared, pushing away from the counter and leading the way. I laughed at the drunken scene we were making, fully aware of our immaturity in the moment. Blame it on the a-a-alcohol, as Jamie Foxx said best.
We followed Jade into the living room where the tables were set up and took a seat on the sofa facing the game. Savanna nudged aside a guy sitting on one of the cushions and squished herself in between him and Jade. I perched myself on the armrest beside Jade. Elle stood beside me watching the game, a determined look in her eyes. I stared at Wes and he looked up and flashed me a wide grin with a nod of his head. I kept my face neutral, pissed off at him. His eyebrows furrowed and he cocked his head to the side in question. I just stared at him unwavering, until his attention was turned back to the game as they restarted. I watched as three people on his team drank from the cup and flipped it before it was Wes's turn. Jackie squeezed his arm as he downed the beer from the cup and I narrowed my eyes at the side of her head. He flipped the cup after three tries and Jackie, the last one in line, lifted the cup to her lips before it was her turn to get the cup to flip over. Everyone in the room was cheering for the two teams, focused on the game. No one noticed when Elle took that precise moment to throw the ball at Jackie's head as hard as she could. It was a beach ball so it wasn't going to do much damage but the cup fell from her hand and she choked on the beer in her mouth and it spilled down the front of her low cut blouse. The ball bounced away from her and someone picked it up tossing it in the air and hitting it towards people, ensuing a new game.