“So, you’re finally through with us,” Veronica, one of the sound crew, said over the crowd of the bar.

“Yeah, part of the glory of being set designer,” Fenny nodded, “my job’s done by opening night. Unless of course something happens to my stuff. So if you decide you miss me, feel free to take to one of the backdrops with a hatchet or something.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Veronica laughed. “What happened to that friend of yours?”

“Paul? He went to get a drink, probably got caught by Sebastian again. I think there may be a bit of a one-sided student/teacher crush there,” Fenny smirked.

“I don’t blame him,” Veronica said with a cool smile, “he’s a cute guy. Nice accent too.”

“Yes, he’s devastatingly handsome and a great guy, but hands off, he’s married to my best friend.”

“Damn,” Veronica hissed with a snap of her fingers. “Speaking of taken men, where’s that man of yours?”

Fenny took a sip at her drink and shrugged. “Family emergency, he had to bolt.”

“Too bad.”

“No kidding.”

Paul hurried over to them and grabbed hold of Fenny’s arm. “Don’t let me out of your sight,” he demanded.

“Something wrong, Pauly?” she chirped.

“I’m being stalked by your tone-deaf star,” he grumbled.

“You said you’d offer him a dance though,” Fenny teased.

“That was before I knew he’d be so friendly,” Paul grimaced. “He’s kinda creepy. Wanna dance, Fen? Maybe that’d give him a subtle hint.”

“Me? No, not the best of plans,” Fenny chuckled. “I don’t dance.”

“Sure you do,” Paul said, setting his drink on the table behind them.

“Nope, I’m a klutz, remember? But Veronica would take you up on that offer, right Ronny?”

“Sure,” Veronica smiled shyly.

“Paul,” a voice chimed behind him. He turned and jumped back a foot at the sight of Sebastian. “Can I…talk to you a minute?” Sebastian asked, looking Paul up and down.

“Actually, I was just agreeing to a dance with this nice young lady,” Paul announced quickly as he grabbed Veronica’s hand. “Watch where you put your hands, I’m a MARRIED man,” he said, more for Sebastian’s benefit than Veronica’s.

Sebastian frowned after them. “I think that may have been a hint,” Fenny whispered to him and giggled as he stormed away. She leaned against the table and watched as Paul and Veronica danced to some wholly atrocious music she didn’t recognize, and wondered how long it would take before he embarrassed her with some raunchy pelvic thrusts.

Larry sauntered over to her, already half sloshed. Fenny raised her eyebrows at him and whatever amber liquid he had in his glass. “You look lonely,” he announced.

“You look drunk,” she announced.

“Nothing wrong with that,” he shrugged as Christian wandered up to them.

“Nice work, Fenny,” Christian giggled. “I nearly pissed myself when I saw what you did to the dream backdrop. Did nobody else notice?”

“Not that I know of,” she smiled. “At least a couple people in the audience noticed the other one though.”

“Other one?” Christian asked, surprised.

“Oh, I’ll let you figure that out yourself,” Fenny laughed.

“What’s wrong?” Larry asked blearily.

“Nothing dear,” Fenny soothed. “Don’t you go getting me in trouble,” Fenny scolded Christian teasingly. “Besides, it wasn’t me, it was Paul. Not that I tried to stop him, really.”

“You’ve got some strange friends,” Christian laughed as he finished off his bottle of beer.

“Yeah, Aussies, what do you expect?”

Christian nodded appreciatively. “Can I get you another drink?”

“Yeah, sure, thanks,” she smiled. “Just a 7-Up.”

“7-Up?” he gasped. “This is a party!”

“I don’t drink,” she announced.

“Stupid woman,” Larry groused.

“Hey, earlier today I was a genius,” she grumbled.

“You’re still stupid.”

“I love you too,” she announced and patted him on the shoulder as Christian shook his head and wandered away with her empty glass and his empty bottle.

“You wanna come in while I grab Lilly?” Brad asked and glanced over only to find Gina sound asleep in the passenger seat. “I’ll take that as a no,” he said quietly as he slid out of the car as gingerly as he could.

Ella opened the door before he got there, Lilly fidgeting sleepily in her arms, the car seat, diaper bag and portable playpen situated near the door. “Thanks so much Brad, I’m sorry—”

“Don’t apologize,” Brad chastised, grabbing Lilly’s supplies and heading for the car. “I’m sorry to hear about your dad.”

“Yeah,” she nodded vaguely. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Me too.”

“Oh, is that Fenny?”

“Hmm? Oh,” Brad chuckled as he followed Ella’s gaze to the front seat of the car. “No, that’s Gina, a friend of ours, she’s staying with us too.”

“I hate to be doing this when you’ve got houseguests,” Ella pouted.

“It’s fine,” Brad assured her firmly and buckled Lilly into her seat. “Fen could use the time with Lilly.”

“Thanks again,” Ella said softly.

“Things’ll be ok,” Brad whispered and wrapped her in a hug. “Let me know how everything goes, don’t hesitate to call, I’ll keep Lil as long as you need.”

She nodded and patted his shoulder before heading to her car. Brad slipped behind the wheel and started the engine, Gina and Lilly still sound asleep.

“Can you tie it in a knot with your tongue?” Paul asked as he sat across from Fenny, who was twirling the cherry in what remained of her drink.

“Can you?” she countered.

“I’ve never ordered anything with a cherry in it,” he declared, then realized he’d lost his drink. “Cherries are for wimps.”

“Are we speaking literally or symbolically?”

Paul raised an eyebrow at her and smiled devilishly. “Either way. So, are we having a good time?”

“Not really,” Fenny sighed as she took another drink and popped the cherry into her mouth. “Everyone here’s annoying. Except us. The music’s crap. I mean Pink? Really. Never trust anyone with only one name. Cher. Bono. Madonna. And never name yourself an adjective.”

“Good advice,” Paul nodded.

An upbeat song with muffled guitars and a heavy drum beat came on.

Things are never gonna be the way you want

Where’s it gonna get you acting serious

Things are never gonna be quite what you want

“Oh, I love this song,” Fenny cooed. “Let’s dance!”

“But I thought you didn’t—”

“Don’t be a spoil sport,” she whined and dragged him to his feet. Fenny was as graceful as a tranquilized ox as she bobbed her head back and forth in what looked like an odd sort of head banging as she sang along with the chorus.

I’m on my feet I’m on the floor I’m good to go

And all I need is just to hear a song I know

I wanna always feel like part of this was mine

I wanna fall in love tonight

She paused and shook her head, looking a bit woozy. “Fen, sit down,” he said as he tried not to laugh. “Please. Before you hurt yourself.”

With a pout she flumped into the booth next to him, arms folded across her chest. “Hey, do you remember Australia?” she asked, suddenly perking up.

“Could you be a bit more specific?”

“Remember when we first met? At the art gallery. You told me about your penis.”

“Yes I did,” he laughed.

“That was the strangest pickup line I ever got,” she giggled. “You were gonna show it to me, weren’t you?”

“What?” Paul asked as Fenny smiled sloppily at him.

“Your dick.”

“Fenny!” Paul gasped.

“Well you were, weren’t you?”

Paul frowned at Fenny as she giggled into her glass. Something was definitely wrong. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear she was getting drunk.

He grabbed her half-empty glass and took a sip. “Hey,” she protested, and reached across the table. “Paul cooties.” She giggled at herself.

Paul scowled into the glass. It certainly didn’t taste like ordinary 7-Up. So this was what Fenny looked like tipsy. He debated whether or not to let her continue with the spiked drink—at this rate, she could end up table dancing by the time she got to the bottom of the glass. But as much fun as that might have been, he knew he couldn’t do something like that to poor inebriated Fenny. “You don’t need anymore of this,” he announced.

“Why not?”

“Where’d you get it?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Did you get it from the bartender?”

“Should I have?”

“You’ve been watching too much Whose Line,” Paul laughed. “Enough with the questions. Just tell me where you got the drink.”

“Christian and Sebastian brought it to me.”

“Should’ve guessed,” Paul mused. “Come on, I’ll buy you a clean drink.”

Brad knocked on the window and Gina jolted awake. “We’re home,” he announced. She nodded blearily and stepped out of the car, wiping her eyes and rubbing her neck. “You awake enough to take Lilly upstairs for me?”

“Sure,” she nodded, holding out her hands to take the sleeping child. “So did Fen get a proper introduction to Lilly yet?”

“Yeah,” Brad grumbled as he hoisted Lilly’s things out of the car. “They didn’t take to each other as well as I hoped.”

“Do you blame Fenny?” Gina asked as they trudged up the stairs. “I mean it was like an instant family, just add liquor, cover, and let simmer for a few months.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Brad huffed and unlocked the door.

“I’m just saying that someone like Fen isn’t going to jump into something like that. Maybe if you gave her some time.”

“That’s what Paul said,” Brad sighed.

“Paul’s a smart man. Is Lilly sleeping through the night yet?” Gina asked as she handed Lilly back to Brad.

“No, she’s teething…”

“I wish you luck then. I should get some sleep. You need help setting up the cot?”

“No, I’ve got it, thanks. See you in the morning.”

“Night,” Gina yawned and headed for the guestroom. She quickly changed into her pajamas and curled up in bed. By all accounts she should have been exhausted and slipped straight into sleep. But she was lonely. She’d flown halfway across the world to be with Paul, and he was out having a ball with Fenny, and she was still alone. Gina couldn’t get comfortable without his body in bed with her.

Fenny sat at the bar drinking a Pepsi – from a can – and, as Paul had demanded, munched on one of the terrible sandwiches someone thought would be a good idea for the party, with the hopes of maybe diluting the alcohol in her system. It was bad enough Paul was going to have to explain to Brad why he was bringing Fenny home tipsy, she couldn’t be rip-roaring drunk.

“Paul,” Fenny breathed.

“Yes Fen,” he sighed.

“You look so hot in that suit.”

“Thanks, you don’t look half bad yourself,” he smiled.

“No,” she said, her voice dipping to a soft, sultry tone. “You really look hot.”

“Fenella, you’re drunk,” Paul declared.

“I am not,” she said defiantly. “No, I’m…liberated.”

“No, you’re shit faced.”

She slipped off her stool and stood next to Paul, one arm wrapped around his, the other hand stroking the velvet of the front of his jacket. She leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear, “I’d like to rip this suit off you.”

“FEN!” Paul yelped.

“What?” she asked innocently.

“Let’s get you home to Brad,” he smirked.

“I’m sorry, Pauly,” she sulked and her eyelids began to droop.

Gina glanced at the clock for the third time in ten minutes, and it was still almost midnight. It would be better to get up and watch television than lay in bed and feel miserable. She crawled out of bed and headed for the living room, where Brad was sitting on the couch watching The Learning Channel. “What’s on?”

Brad jumped up in the air and spun to face her. “Don’t do that,” he gasped. “I thought you were asleep.”

“Sorry,” she chuckled as she sat next to him. “Shouldn’t have taken that nap in the car. Now I can’t sleep, so I thought I’d see what you were up to. What’re we watching?”

“Oh, just something on the history of sex.”

“Did I miss the Kama Sutra?” Gina perked.

“Yeah, you did. Sorry,” Brad smiled. “They’re up to cyber sex now, and it’s creeping me out.”

“Ew,” she cringed. “I don’t want some guy talking about covering me in chocolate sauce via the internet, thanks.”

“It’s a lot more fun if they’re actually there to lick it off,” Brad smirked.

“You sound like a man who speaks from experience,” Gina chimed.

“If you’re not sure, I guess there actually are things Fenny doesn’t tell you.”

“I’ll have to ask her about that then,” she smiled.

“You never licked chocolate sauce off Paul?”

“Braddles, you name it, Paul and I have probably done it,” Gina said triumphantly.

“Really?”

“Well, within reason. Like, none of this auto-erotic asphyxiation or anything strange like that.”

“So all of Paul’s teasing, about the Kama Sutra,” Brad prompted.

“Well it’s not like we keep a copy under the bed or something,” she giggled. “Really, it’s all about the foreplay and the location. Like the chocolate sauce, you know.”

“Location, huh?” Brad mused.

“You ever done it in water?” Gina asked.

“Not unless the shower counts.”

“No, I’m talking out in public, like a watering hole or a lake or something.”

“No I haven’t,” Brad smiled. “But, oh man, it sounds like fun.”

“You’ve got the whole near-weightless thing with the water and pleasant little splashy noises and everything goes all slick…Oh it’s fun. Let’s see, what else is there. Well, I know you were tied to a bed once and didn’t enjoy it very much.”

“Oh it was an enjoyable idea,” Brad grinned, “just not enjoyable company.”

“I’m trying to envision Fen as the type of girl who’d tie a man down and put on a pair of stilettos and wield a whip, but I’m not seeing it.”

“She has her dominant moments,” Brad nodded. “I take it you’re the whips and chains type? Leather corset and the whole deal?”

Gina shrugged noncommittally, her dreams about him flicking through her mind as she smiled to herself. “I’ll bet you and Fen did it in the Whose Line dressing room.”

“There’s an idea,” Brad mused. “They say being aware you could be caught heightens the experience.”

“Try it sometime,” Gina chuckled. “What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done?”

He thought a moment before answering with a lopsided smile. “When we were first dating, Fen and I played strip billiards. I think you can see where that’s leading.”

“Doesn’t that fuck up the felt on the table?” Gina asked.

“Sully never complained.”

“Sully? You did it on her brother’s pool table? You sly bugger,” she giggled.

“You should try it,” Brad laughed.

“On the same table? I don’t think so!” Gina gasped and they laughed together. The program came back from a commercial and flitted through a summary of the show. “Did they go over fantasies?”

“Role playing,” Brad nodded. “Women dressed up as nurses, guys that play plumber.”

“I’m happy enough with just a guy in a tux,” Gina smirked. Brad looked at her, Gina looked at him, still clad in his tuxedo, and they glanced away, realizing what had just happened. Both were a bit flushed, and Brad looked like he wanted a cold shower as much as she did. “I should get back to bed,” Gina flustered.

“I should check on Lilly,” Brad announced, and they scurried from the room.

Gina lay back in bed, covered to the chin in the covers, cursing herself. Now not only did she have her dreams to cope with, but the image of him sprawled out, naked, on a pool table. “God, Paul, I hope you get home soon.”