It felt like finals were flying by, and I hadn't even noticed. Every day was a rigidly structured routine, courtesy of Louis and Angela's grand study plan. Sometimes that involved strictly doing nothing at all, since certain days were scheduled purely for rest. We'd either hang out together those days and have fun, or phone each other to make sure we weren't flailing at notes we'd already studied. I was fairly certain that rule was for Sue's sake - we'd had to stage an intervention at her house a few times.
But it had been a lot of fun. Maybe it shouldn't have, and maybe I should have been a bit more stressed about school. But every exam along the way went great for me, and when we weren't with Angela, Sue, Ellie and Sara, Louis and I spent most of our off-days alone together. Doing incredibly fun, incredibly nerdy stuff. It was almost one of the happiest times of my life, and I was sad it would all be over so soon.
We only had one final left, and we were going out in style. AP maths was two days away, and John's birthday evening - and the morning recovery period, for those of us who would need it - lined up with the enforced rest period that Louis and Angela had scheduled in. The morning before, and the night before that, we'd do our final cramming for that exam.
But for now, we were supposed to be relaxing and enjoying ourselves. So we were at a dive bar, where Ellie and Sara chatted about their dresses for the Matric dance, Melissa and I were trading sarcastic barbs and dirty jokes, and John and Louis were throwing back shots like someone was paying them for it.
I wasn't drinking, because I was driving again, but I almost felt like I didn't need to. I was too happy to care. Sure, the place was noisy, and the floors didn't look like they'd ever been cleaned. The tables were kind of sticky, and the only other people in there - a skeletal couple who were covered in tattoos, and an incredibly old guy who was unironically wearing a cowboy hat - kept giving us dirty looks.
But the burly, hairy bartender was just happy we were all there, and all eighteen, so he'd kind of given us the run of the place. He was busy setting up the karaoke machine, at John's request, when three more people walked inside. One was Gary, who made a beeline to where Ellie and I were standing. He wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up off her feet and giving her a kiss. I laughed, and wondered if she'd instructed him to be that dramatic, or if he just knew she liked that sort of thing.
The other two people were a bit of a surprise, but kind of a nice one. Jess, dressed in a sequinned top that looked way too classy for this place, and Vince, about as ready for it as anyone else in his casual beachwear. John got up as he saw them, and walked over, giving them each a hug. I looked over to Ellie, who smiled mischievously at me as she dangled off Gary's arm.
"Glad you're finally using your meddling powers for good." I grinned.
"I felt like mixing things up. Watch." She nodded towards the group.
Melissa and Louis had gone over too. Jess and Melissa hugged - which was something that I'd never seen, even before the drama. After Louis and Vince had talked for a bit, Jes dragged Louis off to have a fairly serious-looking conversation with him.
After that, it was more or less one big, happy blur of activity. I spent most of the time chatting to Gary, who was the other designated driver for the evening. We commiserated over being the only two who weren't drinking. We had a good time though, and I liked him more and more. He seemed smart, if pretty quiet. I'd occasionally lose him to Ellie's need for affection, but I didn't mind just sitting down and soaking in the atmosphere.
The karaoke machine was also eventually set up, and the real fun began. It consisted of almost everyone getting reluctantly pressured into singing something, interspersed with John taking every other turn. I did a duet of Take Me or Leave Me, from Rent, with Mel. Which both of us mangled. Ellie and Jess sang some Taylor Swift song together, Vince rapped something I wasn't even vaguely familiar with, and Louis and Gary both flat out refused.
John didn't have a half-bad singing voice, although he and Louis kept up their drinking pace, so the songs more and more frequently became love songs that he sang a bit sluringly while staring at Sara. Which, at least, she seemed to be enjoying - smiling up at him and occasionally whooping.
"I love you baby!" he yelled, after he'd finished his latest song.
"I love you too!" She laughed.
Melissa shook her head. "Ugh. Sickening."
"If you think that's bad." Sara grinned. "We're about to do a duet. And he's choosing."
She got up, laughing while Melissa made gagging noises. Louis slid down in the booth next to me, sighing heavily and leaning his head on my shoulder. He seemed a bit unsteady.
"Flagging, are we?" I put my arm around his shoulders, and tried to hold him stead.
"John's already making fun of me for not keeping up with him. But he's twice my size, and he didn't have to wake up at dawn for a study session."
I laughed. "You're not complaining about that, are you? If I remember right, you're the one that shifted everything earlier - and forced me to wake up early - just so we'd have time to get ready for tonight."
"Yeah..." He chuckled. "Sorry about that. I'm fine, I think. But if John makes me have one more shot, I'll die."
"Well, don't let him. He seems pretty busy, anyway." I nodded to the little makeshift stage where he and Sara stood as they serenaded each other. "You should have a Coke or something."
"Yeah, that's a good idea."
I settled him back against the seat, and took my arm off of him. "Here, I'll go get you one."
"No, it's okay." He sprang up, wobbling slightly for an instant before stabilising. "You're driving us home, and I haven't paid for a thing all night. I'll get you something - you want a Coke too?"
"Yeah, sure." I shrugged. He smiled, and headed off to the bar.
"You're our ride home?" Melissa asked.
"Yeah, to John's place, right? Didn't Louis tell you?"
"No, Louis never tells me anything." She scoffed. "Usually not until it's too late, anyway."
"How is it too late?" I chuckled. "That's such a dramatic thing to say."
She grinned ruefully. "Ellie's a bad influence."
"Yeah, she is." I laughed. "She seems to be having fun."
"Yeah." She looked across at them, and back to me. "That Gary guy's cool. And it's great to have Vince and Jess here. Almost like old times, except..."
"No Eric."
"Yeah, fuck that guy." She grimaced. "Sorry. Probably shouldn't bring him up. But since I already have... Are you talking to him at all? Louis said he might have done a dad-is-here disappearing act."
I blinked. I'd almost forgotten that Louis and Ellie were still the only people who knew about what I'd done with Eric and Nick. It made it kind of hard to answer. I was mostly over it now, but remembering that it had happened still caused me to feel a vague pang of guilt. "Uh, no. We haven't talked."
"Sorry. He's... he's so frustrating."
"Yeah, I think he's just got problems. Nothing I have to put up with, though." I shrugged.
"Exactly. Let him sort his own shit out. Think you'd ever take him back? If he became less of a train wreck, or something."
"No." I shook my head. "I think we'd have to start over, in a way that's not really possible now."
"Yeah, I get what you mean." She nodded. "You seeing anyone at all?"
I grinned. "Are you flirting with me, Mel?"
"No." She laughed. "Shut up. If I was flirting with you, you'd know it. Because you'd be uncomfortable. Anyway, here's Louis with your Coke. I'm going to go chat to Jess for a sec."
Louis set the drinks down in front of us, and collapsed onto me again. I let out a small chuckle, and put my arm around him again. He looked up at me. "What?"
"Nothing. I'm just having a good time."
It was really pretty amazing. The place was disgusting, and the three patrons who we were annoying weren't exactly being welcoming. But I was hanging out with a bunch of people I thought were pretty cool. I hadn't drunk a drop, but I was still all warm and fuzzy on the inside, and so happy to be around them. Even Jess, even knowing what she had done. I blamed Eric more for that anyway.
"Yeah, I'm having a good time too." Louis sighed happily, and twisted his head back into my shoulder. "Remind me to thank Ellie. This was exactly what I wanted. You know. When I tried with Eric and Nick..."
"Yeah, I know. You just wanted all your friends together again."
"Yeah. Jess apologised to me, by the way."
"Oh, cool. For what?"
"Old stuff. She's been bit off with me, ever since my thing with Eric. It was really nice to hear her say it. I didn't know how much I needed that."
"That's great." I squeezed his shoulder.
"Yeah. Eric's not here, I guess. So it's not all like my friends are back. But fuck him." He tensed. "Or, I mean-"
"No, I agree. Eric can go to hell." I squeezed him against me. "All the best people are here, anyway. Right?"
"Right." He said sleepily. "Not Sue and Angela. We like them too."
"We do. But Angela isn't eighteen yet, and Sue's still stressing about the final, so..."
"Yeah, so they're probably studying and getting way ahead of me. And you don't have to worry about that, because you're so fucking smart with maths."
"And only with maths. And hey." I shook him lightly. "Don't get all maudlin on me. You'll be fine. I'll help you with all that stuff tomorrow. You're staying over at my house tomorrow, right?"
"Uh, maybe? I think my mom said something about going to a work party that was right down the street from you, though. So either way, I'll be there late and could use the help."
"Sure." I laughed. "Now, do you think Jon's going to throw up in my car?"
Louis chuckled. "I hope not. He's usually pretty good with holding his liquor."
"Yeah, well, he better."
"Just point his head out of the window." He laughed. "It'll be fine."
I grinned, and checked the time on my phone. It was getting late, so the bar would be closing soon anyway. I doubt anyone really had energy to keep going after we left - Louis was flagging, and it was kind of shocking that John was even still alive. That was half of the people I had to give a lift home, anyway. So this would be over for me as soon as they needed to go home. I didn't really see us seeking out another bar.
The bartender was nice enough to do a last call. Most places like this, they'd just kick you out, but he'd clearly been very happy with the evening's tips, so he was still being nice. Vincent and John - against everyone's advice - each had three more shots, and then we all decided to call it a night. We marched out to the car, Louis hanging off of me, and Gary helping to support John.
John tried to head for the passenger seat, but Ellie very skilfully got in his way as she kissed Gary goodbye, and then beat him to it before he'd even had time to realise. So John got in behind me, Louis got in the middle seat and Mel sat behind Ellie, and we waved our goodbyes to the others and I got ready to drive off.
Once we'd all piled into our seats, I was pretty nervous. Cleaning John's puke out of my car would really suck, but he was also sitting directly behind me, so if he was a projectile-vomiting kind of guy, I was doomed. Louis was sitting in the middle, and I could see his face in the rear-view mirror. He didn't look worried, and that was at least reassuring.
With one last nervous look back, I started the car, and we were on our way. I tried to drive slowly and steadily, taking corners at a snail's pace and keeping a very firm grip on my steering wheel.
"God, you drive like my grandma." Melissa laughed.
"I don't want John to vomit on me. Or in my car."
Louis looked up and smiled at me through the mirror. "He's going to be fine. Aren't you, buddy?"
"Yeah." John inhaled deeply.
