Friday afternoon has finally arrived, and yet another long work week was coming to an end. I wasn't really looking forward to anything in particular this weekend, other than the 2 days off from work.
On my way home I decided to make a few phone calls to see what my friends had planned for the weekend. When I got in touch with Jim, he seemed surprised when I told him I didn't have any plans.
"You mean Carol didn't call and invite you to our party tomorrow evening," he asked.
"Hell no she didn't call. What's the occasion," I countered.
"Nothing special. We just wanted to have a few people over. You know me, I will probably have a bunch of food and booze there, and we will probably light off fireworks after dark," Jim informed me.
"Is this a guy only thing or do I need to find a date to bring with me? Not that it really matters, I will be there anyhow," I mentioned.
"Carol will be there, and I am sure some of the other wives will show up as well. Don't feel like you need to bring someone, she will just hang with the other ladies anyhow like usual. Just bring your ass over," he told me.
After another long week, I needed to get out on the weekend and Jim throwing a party was perfect. I knew I didn't really need to bring a date, and it was probably best that I didn't. So, I decided not to bother calling any of my female friends to ask them.
On Saturday morning I decided to sleep in since I knew that it would be a late night. The last time I attended a party with Jim & the guys it lasted until 5am. While I wasn't sure I wanted to be out that late this weekend, I thought I should prepare as though I would be.
After getting a late start, the day seemed to fly by. I was able to get in a quick workout shortly after waking up. After that I ran a few errands and before I knew it, the time was 5pm. I quickly showered, threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before heading off to Jim's house. Remembering Jim mentioning fireworks, I grabbed what I had left at my place and threw them in the car.
Upon arriving at Jim's house I unloaded the beer and fireworks from my car. Jim sure didn't make it easy on my this time because he had everything setup way out in the rear of his yard. Now when I say way out, I mean way out. He owns over 10 acres and most of it is open space. His house is near the front of the lot, and for some reason he had his tent setup about 80% of the way to the back.
As I lugged the stuff out to the tent, I noticed the usual split in where everyone was. The guys were spread across the yard playing horseshoes and tossing a football around. In the meantime the ladies were sitting on the patio drinking an assortment of mixed drinks.
After dropping everything off at the tent, I made my way to the patio. I said a quick hello to all the ladies and even asked if they would join in the fun out in the yard this time. Most of them chuckled and seemed disinterested so I made my stay there short. I then made my way out to say hey to all the guys out in the yard.
After a while it started to get dark. We decided to end both games for the meantime, even though Jim had spotlights in the yard, so we could fire up the grill and get some food ready. Jim and I both got the grill going, and Carol brought out plates of food for us to prepare.
"It's nice of you guys to get some food ready for us ladies before we all start getting a bit tipsy," Carol joked.
"We definitely wouldn't want that," Jim quipped.
"If being tipsy would help get you ladies to join us out here instead of just sitting on the patio maybe we should hold off on the food," I replied.
After my reply, Carol just shook her head and turned to walk away. I wasn't exactly sure what to think of that. I took a quick look at Jim and he just shrugged his shoulders and told me not to worry about it.
For the next 90 minutes or so we cooked, ate and drank. The alcohol was definitely flowing during dinner and continued well after we finished the food. As the ladies brought the extra food inside and started to cleanup some of the dishes, the guys started to break out the fireworks.
