Dressed & Ready.

You finished buttoning up your shirt and checked out your profile in the mirror. You didn't often dress smart-casual, but thought you did well. You walked into the loungeroom and looked over at Emily who was finishing putting on her boots. She stood up and smiled at you.

"Hey good looking." She said with a grin. She was wearing a long-sleeve red top (which, like most of her clothes, was pretty tight around the chest), and a black skirt, stockings and boots.

"Ready hun?" You asked as you sheepishly collected your belongings.

"Yeah, let's go." She said as she walked to the door. She had a gift-bag in her hand, prettily decorated with a bow and small card.

"What's that for?" You asked.

"Well we can't go without getting a birthday present." Emily said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, of course." You said, only just finding out there was a birthday.

You walked out the door and headed to your car. It was your fiance's friend after all, so you'd be the driver for the night. It wasn't that far to drive and you arrived there pretty quickly, which was good. Emily insisted on arriving 'fashionably late', so there was already a crowd when you arrived. You didn't realise it was going to be a big party, and it looked like there was already twenty cars parked on the street, and it was only nine o'clock.

"Jesus, quite an event..." You muttered, not really liking the party scene as much as most.

"It'll be fun. Come on." Emily said as she got out of the car. You followed her inside. The house was pretty packed and the music was turned up loud. Two things you found distasteful.

"Go get us a drink!" Emily shouted in your ear. You nodded you understanding and navigated your way through the busy loungeroom until you reached the kitchen. There were several coolers full of beers and wine. You took several minutes to find a wineglass from one of the cupboards and pour the wine.

"Hey bro, how have you been?" You heard a man speak loudly over the music. You looked over in the direction of the voice, pretty nonchalantly as you hardly knew anyone here.

You recognised the man as Wendy's on and off boyfriend. He was a tall, muscular guy you've met a couple of times, but you didn't know him well. "Oh... hey Dan." You said. You even struggled to remember his name.

"How you doin'?" He asked with a grin.

"Not too bad thanks." You responded lamely. "How about you?" You asked, needing to shout to be heard.

"Yeah alright, just enjoying my birthday, you know? Thanks for coming by the way." He said with a grin.

Oh. You thought. You didn't even know it was his birthday, but you smiled and nodded.

"Of course. Thanks for inviting me." You said.

He laughed then shrugged. "I actually told Wendy to invite Emily. I'm glad you could come too though." He said. You felt slightly insulted, but you were almost certain he didn't mean to offend you... He was just a little bit slow.

"Ah... Well, thanks for the hospitality either way." You shouted.

"Hospital...?" He asked with a frown. You almost scoffed but caught yourself.

"Anyway, I have to get back to Emily. She's waiting on me for a drink." You said, shrugging as you gave your excuse to leave the brain-dead conversation.

"Yeah, later bro!" Dan shouted back.

You soon found Emily chatting with Wendy and gave her the wine, though she already found and finished a cider by the time you got back. You drank slowly and sociably, unable to really tear away from Emily at any point, as you didn't know anyone there. You spent the next couple of hours listening to her talk to random friends of Wendy and barely finishing a second beer. She had near ten drinks by that point and was quite clearly drunk. The house had really filled in by then. You guessed there to be at least a hundred people.

"Hey baby..." Emily shouted as she leaned against you.

"Could you get me another wine?" She asked.

"Alright hun... Don't wander off!" You shouted back before heading to the kitchen. It took you five minutes to get a wine because of people standing around and chatting in front of the drinks. You headed back to where Emily was and couldn't see her. You spent the next couple of minutes walking around carefully, trying to find your fiance, then eventually headed upstairs. You'd thought it was 'off limits', but sure enough there were a few people up there. With the music from downstairs not as loud, you heard your fiance's voice.

"No way!" She laughed. The voice came from around the corner, down a hallway.

"For real! Wendy was considering it, but I guess women can be jealous." You heard a man talk. You quietly remained still beside the staircase as you listened.

"Not all women!" She shouted playfully.

"Sure... I bet you're the type too." Another man said.

"No I'm not! Mark and I are very open in our relationship." He stated boldly.

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed it..." You heard a third guy speak, who you identified as Dan.

"Well, it's true." Emily said firmly.

"Lucky Mark." You heard the first guy say. "Damn it, we should have asked you to be the stripper!" He laughed.

"Oh my god! No way." Emily laughed too.

"Why not? You just said that you had an open relationship. I guess you were lying after all, huh? Haha!" Dan shouted triumphantly.

You frowned as the conversation steered in a bad direction. You wanted to interject.