A universal threat to friendships.

That Saturday was a busy day of work, something I was thankful for. It was distracting and left no time to think about anything other than the next order. It wasn’t ridiculously hectic, but starting at 3:00 pm we never had more than one or two empty tables.

“Okay, as much as I love hogging the tips, now you really need to hire more people,” I told Maria as I walked past her carrying a tray of used cups and plates.

“I know, I know!” She groaned while preparing two large cups of coffee. “I’ll put up the posters on Monday.”

By now it wasn’t just girls from my school that came to the shop. Couples on dates, adults with laptops coming over to get work done with a cup of coffee, people who came here to read books… It was surprising that, for as many customers as we had, the atmosphere remained relatively quiet. It was nice.

“When I do hire more people, I’ll be counting on you to teach them the ropes, okay?”

“...” I didn’t answer, escaping with the excuse of delivering yet another order.

Would I still be working here in the near future? If I accepted Mr. Allen’s deal, I wouldn’t need to. And even if I didn’t accept it, it was possible I might need to change jobs, be it due to location on pay.

More problems, more changes, more decisions. Is this what adulting is? I don’t like it. And then after work I’d be meeting the girls at Diana’s house.

This might come as a shock, but… I almost didn’t want to go. I was tired and knew going to see them would inevitably turn into more discussion about the things we had to do, our options and inevitabilities. I’d have to tell them about Mr. Allen’s offer, too, and I wasn’t even sure I was ready for that. I still hadn’t made up my own mind about it.

Regardless, I still went to see them. Not just because I promised I would, but because no matter what it was that we had to talk about, seeing them always made me happy. Besides, the quicker we figured all this out, the better.

I took a bus to Diana’s house and got there at around 9:00 pm. Late, but I knew the girls went to Diana’s in Sarah’s SUV. We could drive back and not worry about buses.

I knocked on the door, but got a little worried when it took a bit too long for anyone to answer. I knocked again, louder this time, and Diana came out to… greet me?

“I’m… so sorry about this,” she said with an apologetic smile. Her face was a little flushed, her eyelid droopy and I could hear loud chatter from the living room.

“W-What do you mean?”

“NOELLE, YOU BITCH!” Sarah screamed.

“BITE ME!” Noelle answered.

Red was barking.

My jaw dropped and, stunned, I followed Diana to the living room. The girls were all gathered around the table in the middle of a game of Monopoly, each one with a different drink in front of them. Some glasses were… emptier than others, but all their faces were pretty flustered as well. Red was half-jumping and barking until he saw me.

Mila saw me, and with pleading eyes pointed a finger at the redhead. “Oliver, stop her! Noelle is ruining us! Grace is enabling her, I’m in serious debt, Sarah is gonna **** someone and Alice is in jail!”

“I needed those $200!” Alice cried with her face against the table.

I turned my gaze to Diana, pleading for elaboration. The older woman was smiling and giggling softly. “We’ve been playing for two hours. I made some drinks, things got louder and now Noelle owns half the board.”

“This is what power tastes like, and I like it!” Noelle said giddily as she placed another hotel on one of her properties. I think I should note that HER glass was completely empty, and dirty with something like chocolate in it.

“The dream is dead and Noelle became an evil corporate tycoon…” Alice lamented, sniffing softly. “It can’t get worse.”

Grace, meanwhile, was casually leaning back on her chair, nursing a glass of whiskey on the rocks and smiling happily. “I’m just enjoying the chaos. I didn’t know monopoly was this fun.”

“Says you! You’re in second place!” Sarah told her.

“Learn to invest.”

“Fuck you.”

Grace raised her glass. “Cheers.”

“This is what I meant,” Diana said, still giggling. “I think I broke them.”

I couldn’t take it anymore. The whole scene was just too much. I burst out laughing to the point my stomach hurt. Of all the things I was expecting, coming to a drunk game of Monopoly was NOT on the list.

“So I guess I’m the designated driver, huh?” I said. I didn’t mind. The girls were clearly having a good time.

“No, Oliver, drink with us!” Mila said cheerfully, raising her glass. “We’re staying over!”

I blinked. “Stay… Huh?”

“I have enough space for everyone,” Diana said. “I’m more than happy to let you all stay. We decided before we started drinking. I don’t want to send you off drunk. They already called their homes.”

“Shee? She says it’s fine!” Noelle said with a bit of a slur.

I swallowed. “H-How much has Noelle had?”

“Two mudslides,” Alice said, giggling and giving me a V with her fingers. “She’s SUCH a lightweight. I bet it’s because she’s so tiny!”

Noelle pouted and gave Alice a very weak shove. “Sh-Shut up! Like you have any room to talk!”

“Excuse me, I…” Alice paused, cleared her throat, took a deep breath and continued. “...am completely fine.” So she said, and in a very composed tone, but she was swaying on her seat a bit. That and her eyelids were drooping more than anyone else’s.

“Yeah, you two are only allowed water for a while,” Sarah said, sighing with her arms crossed and looking over the two girls with worry. “Neither of you is used to drinking. Do as I say or tomorrow’s hangover is going to be MEMORABLE.”

“Let them have it. There’s no better way to learn,” Grace said, chuckling and taking another sip of her drink.

Mila winced and made a disgusted face, covering her mouth with her hand. “God, I remember my first hangover. I don’t wish that on anybody.”

“I’ll make sure none of you goes overboard,” Diana said. “So? What do you say? Stay?”

Those pleading eyes were NOT fair game.

“I need to make a call.”

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