The rest of us sat around the fire awkwardly as Annie and Blake argued loud enough for us to hear it around the corner of the house. They had been going at it for a solid five minutes now, and it was really killing the party mood.
"Fuck it, if you're going to be like this, I'm going home. I'll see you at the house," Blake said as he came storming around the corner. He marched straight to his car without so much as waving goodbye and drove off without a word. Annie rejoined the party, and we all pretended not to have noticed the argument or Blake's departure.
The party continued around her, a few games of beer pong got started and the s'mores got toasted. Annie didn't seem to care. She sat in front of the fire, just staring into it and drinking beer after beer for a solid ten or fifteen minutes without being disturbed. Finally, Lynn talked to her and convinced her to have some fun with us, and she did get up and play a game or two with us. Once she was up, her mood improved pretty quick, and before long you wouldn't have been able to tell the argument had happened in the first place.
I didn't really know Annie all that well, she was a collateral friend by way of several mutual friends, including Lynn. She was in her mid-twenties, a year or two older than me, and attractive. I know she worked at a hospital but she wasn't a doctor or nurse. Other than that, and of course the fact that she was dating Blake, I really didn't know anything else about her.
Annie paired up with me for some beer pong and we made a surprisingly good team. An hour and a dozen beers later, we were undefeated in six straight games, and well on the way to a seventh. We knocked out 6 cups to the other team's 2 in the first part of the game. And then, one of the other team hit his stride. First, they both landed a cup, then the hotshot landed a second on the buyback. He called heating up, and we took our turn, Annie getting another cup while I missed. On their turn, the hotshot landed his third cup. On fire, and now only one cup behind. Hotshot sank the last four cups in a row in the most amazing streak I think I've ever seen. We had a chance to rebuttal, but Annie and I both choked. We had finally been knocked off the table after almost an hour and half or domination.
Having bonded over our shared victory for the last 80 minutes, Annie and I sat down next to the fire together, laughing and drinking and getting to know each other better. The party started to wind down, those who were going home went home, and those who were spending the night started to find couches or guest beds to pass out on. I decided it was time for me to pass out too, so I said good night to Annie and found a guest bed to pass out in.
