Abbie, who joins Staci and her friends at the bar

[NOTE: This chapter happens in parallel with Jake's narrative.]

Abbie watched Jake go. She kept watching for a bit longer than one might have expected. It took Staci interrupting her gaze to get back Abbie's attention.

"He's not going far," Staci said.

"What's that?" asked Abbie, turning around.

"Your guy. He's totally smitten with you. He's not going anywhere."

Abbie laughed. "Oh, I just ... like looking at him, that's all."

"Of course," said Staci. "He's sweet. And cute. Hang on to those types. They're rare."

"Like Phil!" said Abbie, looking to steer the attention away from her.

Staci nodded. "Like Phil. I got real lucky." She looked down the bar toward her other friends. "Let me introduce you. Come on."

They walked to the end of the bar. The women there stood up, and each hugged Staci, who then turned back to Abbie.

"This is my new friend Abbie. She's here with a cousin of mine. Abbie, this is Melanie one of my best friends from college. And this is Emily, one of my best friends from high school."

Abbie smiled and shook hands with each of them. "Very nice to meet you both."

Melanie was shorter than Abbie, and had long strawberry blonde curls that went almost down to her waist. She was a little heavier than Abbie with larger breasts, and had a confident devil-may-care attitude that Abbie found quite sexy. She wore a purple and teal patterned dress that emphasized her cleavage, and low heels. Wire-rimmed glasses framed her green eyes, and she appeared to be covered in freckles, at least, every part of her that Abbie could see.

"Good to meet you, Abbie. I love your dress!" Without putting on a false performance, Melanie was sincere and not the least bit overbearing.

"Thanks!" said Abbie, twirling around. "I just got it last week. I had no idea what this weekend would be like, so I way over-packed with too many options."

"No such thing," said Staci. "Gotta be ready for anything, right?"

"Right!" said Abbie.

She turned to Emily, who was shyer than Melanie. She wore a cream-colored silk blouse over a black skirt that stopped just above her knees. She wore open-toed sandals, and sported a pink pedicure that matched her dyed hair. Emily had several piercings in each ear, at least twenty in total, rings, studs, gems. As Abbie took her in, she was slightly amused to notice that despite an abundance of piercings in her ears, Emily seemed to wear no other jewelry, no rings, bracelets, or necklaces.

Abbie smiled at Emily. "Am I being too obvious if I tell you how much I like your hair?"

Emily twirled her hair playfully. "Not at all. I'd be kind of foolish to do this and not expect -- or hope! -- people might notice it." She touched the pink roots. "First time I've done this color, though. It's all fresh for Staci's big day!"

"It looks great," said Staci.

Without prompting, the bartender lined up a row of shots in front of the women.

"What's this?" asked Abbie.

"Oh, I told the bartender before that I liked pink starburst," said Staci with a smile, leaning over to collect a glass. "These shots are literally called that, and literally taste just like one. Except, you know, with ****."

"You want to try one?" asked Melanie.

"Definitely," said Abbie. She took a glass, as did the other two women.

"To pink," said Emily, "and hoping that the only pink things tomorrow will be my hair and more of these cocktails."

"To pink," said Staci. The four women lifted their shots and swallowed them back.

Abbie found the flavor extremely strong, and squinted her eyes shut tight as she recovered from the tang. "Wow, that's quite a flavor!"

Staci laughed. "Too much for you?"

"Not at all -- I was just ... not expecting it to be quite so ... strong!"

"Gotta be honest, both the Reynolds family and the Kaplan family enjoy their cocktails."

Melanie snickered. "And this member of the O'Reilly family is thrilled to be here for the ride."

As they put their glasses down, they noticed some movement a little further down the bar. Abbie looked to her right and saw Kei Okazaki, who she had previously met in the hallway. She took a step toward her.

"Kei, right?" Abbie asked.

Kei nodded.

"Just saying hi -- we met in the hallway earlier. I'm Abbie."

"Ah, right." Kei had a deep voice, rather quiet. "Nice to meet you. Again." She was a bit cold, a bit aloof. Abbie debated whether to double down and try to engage her in more conversation, but just then both she and Kei were distracted by the sound of someone approaching.

"Hey Kei," said Aguri, who Abbie had also met earlier. "The guys are being stupid. I need another drink. You want anything?"