Irina had just turned nineteen and so was grateful for the wine her friend Annie served her at the barbecue. She was just finishing her third glass and was giggling happily in the corner while everyone around her socialized.
The hosts of the party, Annie and Bret, were much older than Irina and most of the other guests today. They all worked with Annie at the grocery store and, despite their age differences, many of the younger girls had become friends of hers. Bret teased Annie many times that they thought of her as their surrogate mother. Annie rolled her eyes at this and would punch him in the shoulder when he said it. Bret would only chuckle and walk away smiling.
Jennifer and Renee, two of the younger girls who worked with Annie, were watching Irina get drunk. Jennifer called Bret over from his place at the barbecue.
"How come we haven't been served any wine?" she asked petulantly.
Bret grinned and shook his head.
"We've been through this already," he said with a smile. "You're not old enough to drink."
"Oh come on!" Jennifer pouted. "I'll be eighteen next week. And Renee's already eighteen!"
"That's wonderful!" Bret said. "Congratulations. But the legal drinking age is nineteen, so I guess you're out of luck."
"Well what about Irina?" Renee whined. "She's only eighteen too!"
"Nope," Bret said. "She showed me her birth certificate. She turned nineteen three weeks ago."
"Well at least I don't get drunk after two glasses of wine," Jennifer said irritably.
Bret glanced over at Irina, watching her sink further and further into the couch and chuckled.
"I guess she's hit her limit," he said casually. "And how would you know if two glasses of wine won't get you drunk. You're not nineteen yet so you couldn't possibly know!"
Jennifer gave him an icy look and opened her mouth to speak but Bret cut her off.
"Ah ah!" he said while wagging his finger. "What I don't know can't get back to your parents!"
She opened her mouth wide in shock and gave him a scandalized look.
"You wouldn't!" she said.
Bret just grinned and handed her a hamburger.
"Best put that in your mouth instead of your foot," he said quietly.
"Oh my God!" Renee said with a guffaw.
Bret chuckled and went back to the barbecue where he resumed flipping burgers.
"What a bastard!" Jennifer said.
Renee laughed and Jennifer scowled at her.
"Maybe you'd better eat your burger," Renee said as Jennifer's mouth worked soundlessly. "You can't get into trouble if your mouth is full."
Jennifer bit into the burger without saying anything and then sighed in contentment as the flavor filled her mouth.
Bret returned to the kitchen to get more burgers where he found Annie filling glasses with various drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
Annie was forty-seven, though she looked like she was in her thirties. She had dark brown hair cut short in a sort of bob and stood almost five six. Her body was slender and shapely, despite her age.
Bret was fifty-one. He was good looking with blondish-brown hair but his body had a little too much paunch to it. Annie loved him though and kept telling him he looked great, so he didn't worry too much about it.
"You're going to have to watch what you serve Irina," he said. "She looks like she's about to pass out right on the couch."
Annie frowned and peered around the corner to see Irina drifting off.
"Oh dear!" she said. "She asked me for glass after glass and I didn't think to limit her. I forgot that she's so young and not used to drinking."
"Oh well," Bret said. "What's done is done. Take her into the bedroom and let her sleep it off. We can move her to the couch before we go to bed."
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Annie said. "Can you take her? I'm in the middle of serving a bunch of people."
"Yeah sure," Bret said.
He dropped the plate of raw burgers on the counter and washed his hands. Then he walked to the couch and smiled down at Irina.
He had to admit she looked pretty hot. She had light brown hair with highlights cut to above her shoulders and styled so that one eye was partially covered by her bangs. Both her eyes were closed now and she was breathing deeply and evenly with her mouth parted slightly. He knew she was dead to the world.
Her crop top was blue and her loose shorts were blue with white stripes. Bret thought they looked more like pajamas than something you'd wear out on the street.
He leaned down and whispered into her ear.
"Irina," he said.
She didn't show any sign that she'd heard him. He shook her shoulder slightly and still she didn't respond. He whispered to her again and came to the conclusion that nothing was going to wake her up.
With a final look around the room to ensure that no one was watching, he grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. He lifted her to her feet and she limply fell against him, whimpering softly at being disturbed from her sleep.
He walked her as best he could until they were around the corner leading to the bedroom. Once they were out of sight of the rest of the party-goers he hefted her over his shoulder and carried her slight form easily the rest of the way.
He laid her down on the bed and she sighed sleepily and curled into a fetal position. Bret looked down at her for a moment admiring how her clothes showed off her coltish body. She stood about five foot four and was very slender. Her legs were long and slim and her petite body was barely covered by her skimpy outfit.
Bret grinned quietly to himself and then left her there to sleep off the wine she'd drunk.
***************************************
Hours later after the last of the guests departed and the last of the dishes were washed, Bret and Annie, a little tipsy and amorous from the wine they'd drunk, stepped back in surprise upon discovering Irina's sleeping form in their bed.
"Oh my God!" Annie exclaimed. "I completely forgot about her!"