Breweries and Bonfire: Part 5

The breweries were a lot of fun. Being in a group, out in public, in the daylight steered us back to our normal hangouts. We spent the whole time teasing each other and recounting countless stories from over the years while naturally gravitating toward our actual significant others. It was a refreshing change of pace from the insane, sexual runaway train that had taken over the trip.

At one of the breweries, there was a beer pong table set up. It didn't take us long to take it over completely. Chelsea and I had a few epic battles with Robert and Ariel. We went up 2 games to one then Robert went absolutely on fire. Ariel hit a few timely shots and, after a long fourth game with multiple overtimes, they tied it up 2 games all. They then proceeded to wipe the floor with us in game five, making all six cups before we could make 2. Finally, we conceded and moved onto another brewery.

Around 9pm, as the sun dipped completely behind the horizon, we were finishing up a round of drinks and were left figuring out our next adventure.

"Bonfire!" Robert yelled.

"Ugh," Ariel scoffed. "How many bonfires can we do in one week?"

"Oh, c'mon!" Robert protested. "It's our last night!"

I kind of want to go dancing," Ariel said. She looked over at Liam who looked at Lauren who looked at me who looked at Chelsea who also looked at Liam.

"I could go dancing?" Liam said with a shrug.

"We should stick together," Lisa piped up. "It's our last night!"

"Lisa is right," I said. "Why don't we go dancing for a bit then head back and build a bonfire?" Everyone nodded and mumbled their agreements.

The Volcano Lounge was much busier than it was the night before. There wasn't much room on the dance floor and it quickly became hot and claustrophobic. The line to the bar was long and the bartenders were overwhelmed. That didn't stop Chelsea, Ariel, Chris and Liam from doing their best to have the time of their lives. The four switched partners back and forth. At one point Chelsea and Ariel started grinding on each other. Chris spun around and began jokingly backing up into Liam. It became clear that there was a divide among those of us who wanted to stay and dance and those of us who were over the bar and wanted to retreat back to a quieter location. We stuck it out for another drink before I called an Uber and Lisa, Lauren, Robert and I headed back to the house.

Robert and I did our best to set everything up. We brought down the four chairs then Robert got the fire going while I hauled down the cooler. When I got back with the cooler, I found Lisa and Lauren sitting on opposite sides of the fire while Robert got the first sparks of the fire going. I couldn't help but notice both girls looking at me, expectantly. I looked to Lauren, covered in that zip-up sweatshirt as usual with her pale, athletic legs flowing from a pair of tiny jean shorts. My attention turned to Lisa who was wearing a red Bulls basketball jersey with "Jordan" blazoned on the back. It was Chris' jersey, clearly at least a few sizes too large for her but it somehow hugged around her curves and flowed down past her hips to the tan of her thighs.

Oh, boy, I thought. How do I choose? Do I wait and see what Robert does? I told Lisa we would have another chance alone. I also promised Lauren we would sneak away together at some point. I hadn't exactly thought about the lack of time I would have to do both. I didn't think I'd find myself in this predicament where both of these incredible beauties were looking to me to fulfill a promise I had made earlier. A promise that came with some very obvious expectations.

I took a deep breath and did what I thought was right in the moment.