(For Sydney)
The party started early over at our friend's house that evening. He has a basement bar that rivals the size of most common establishments in the area with the noted exception that there is no tab to pay at the end of the evening and there is typically a guest room to sleep in once the festivities have wound down. Little did we know that this night, the festivities would continue on into the wee hours of the morning and see the break of dawn before we slept. Brian's place has a swimming pool and a hot tub just outside of the basement bar that provide for great poolside lounging during the afternoon, then music and cocktails in the evening, leading to an occasional dip in the hot tub right before hitting the sack. Tonight, the crowd was pretty large as it was the last night before Brian moved out of town and shut down the speak easy we had all come to love and enjoy. Plenty of couples and singles were there early in the afternoon sunning themselves by the pool and starting in on the cocktails. Most notably, there was a large number of single young women that were coming by to send Brian off to California and get one last hug from his rather built frame, no doubt to feed their fantasies later on that had been unfulfilled during their friendship with him.
Burgers and dogs were cooking on the grill in the early evening providing a base of food for the reckless drinking that would soon ensue, just like all of the past parties we had witnessed. We met lots of new people that had come out of the woodwork to send Brian off. We knew that some of these people we would never see again and some would become our friends even when Brian was across the country making his new life. George and Mary were a young couple that we met through a friend that we really hit it off with early on in the evening. It's nice to make new couple friends that share the same "lack of filter" that we have after we have had a couple of cocktails. They had brought along a couple of Mary's girlfriends that needed a night out. One of which was Allison, a petit brunette that stood about 5'9 with curves in all the right places.
Allison was 30 years old, a professional lobbyist that was on vacation from Washington, smart as a whip, able to tend bar as well as she could talk politics. This was a delight since Brian was no where to be found, most likely behind closed doors with one of his "friends". So with Brian neglecting the bar, Allison took over and was slinging cocktails like a pro. Sydney and I spent a large portion of the evening hanging out at the bar, handling DJ duties and dancing around the basement a bit trying to get others to shake their asses along with us. You see Sydney is quite free when we are partying. She shakes off the responsibilities for the night (and the following morning) and just cuts loose to have a good time. This tends to get everyone else in party mode and the place is hopping.
I was sitting at the bar, chatting up Allison and changing tracks while watching Sydney dance and shake with the other girls in the basement. The party was in full swing now. Allison leaned over to me and told me that Sydney really new how to dance and get a crowd moving, and that she was enjoying the show. I just agreed and grinned, knowing that I was Sydney's guy and I was proud to be there with her.
I downed a couple of rum and cokes before heading outside for a smoke. Outside, the picture was a little calmer due to the music only being played inside. I could hear the beat and knew that they were all having fun. Someone had turned on the hot tub for later and a couple of people were catching an early soak at dusk. I enjoyed my smoke with the slight buzz from the rum playing in my head and slightly numbing my lips.
On the way back into the basement I saw Sydney, still dancing, grinding hips with one of the other girls that had come to the party. Sydney is pretty good at putting on a show in my opinion (others have commented much to the same effect). I stepped back up to the computer that was playing the music and setup a few more tracks to run on autopilot while I visited and people watched. Allison leaned over and asked me if Sydney and I were planning on staying the night as she had arranged to do the same and would love to go to breakfast with us in the morning before she had to head to the airport. I took this as a sign that Allison thought that we were fun people to hang out with and might want to get to know us better.
Just about that time, Sydney ran out of the dancing energy that she has so much of, and sauntered over to the bar for a refill and some rest. Allison gladly made her a tall Kettle and Coke and offered her a stool. Sydney and I spent the next hour people watching and chatting with Allison, getting to know her. Allison was in town for a few days on business and decided to stay the weekend to hang out with friends in Atlanta. She had recently dumped a loser of a boyfriend and had decided that her career was going to be her main focus for a while. Sydney and I shared our stories with her and after much laughter and conversation, Sydney mentioned that the hot tub sounded good right about now. Allison agreed and we all went off to find some towels and suits from our overnight bags.