In Perpetuity

Chaos theory's weird if you think about it too long. An action affects another action, which in turn affects another action, cause and effect, yeah, makes sense. Then you start to get meta with it, a butterfly flapping its wings creates a hurricane on the other side of the Earth? I mean, it's a good metaphor, but... How? i know it's not meant to be literal, there are thousands of factors to hurricanes happening but in that case... Why blame the butterfly?

Also, why are they not called 'flutterby's? They don't like butter, but they do flutter by.

I've had a few drinks.

I don't think it's noticeable.

"Scarlet, you shit-faced already?" Trish's voice asks me. The party's gotten... A little out of control. We're in the living room with Anya, Skye, Jenny, and Rob, the others seem to have spread into the kitchen and upstairs. I can hear Elise and Henry laughing in the kitchen, who knows who else is where... Sure as heck not me.

"I'm not that bad, just had a long day, I'll bounce back." I reassure my sister-in-law. "I've kinda got to, thanks to Jasper."

Trish laughs at my comment, seemly feeling better about my state of sobriety.

"Hey, at least we'll be there to help!" Skye chirps up. "Right, Rob?" She continues.

"Oh, so what you actually mean is 'please, wonderful big brother, help me move all the heavy stuff.' That right?" Rob responds, rolling his eyes. I mean, it would be nice to have more people, but me and Rob have never been that close... I wouldn't blame him for not helping out.

Skye laughs off his response. "Yeah, right! More like we need you to bait Jen in, that way she'll use that freaky super-woman strength of hers." She responds. Rob looks offended as he turns to my half-sister, who just shrugs in agreement. Can confirm, crazy strong, I've been slapped enough times to know that.

"It's actually really annoying, you're like a rake, but you lift like a bodybuilder. Good bones, I guess." Trish agrees.

"Good boning, more like. Getting that vitality boost!" Anya snorts.

There's a couple of seconds of quiet after that comment. See, none of us really know how far Rob and Jenny have gone... And with Jenny's history, no one wants to make her feel pressured into anything, so it's kind of a 'don't mention the war' scenario... But Anya looks like she's had enough booze to forget that fact.

"Maybe a little." Jenny smirks innocently, taking a sip of her drink, she's only on water but I can tell that sip tastes sweet. This comment relaxes us all a little, no clue if she's telling the truth or not, but at least she can joke about it. "Try not to be too jealous, Anya." She adds.

My favourite hairdresser apparently enjoys Jenny's verbal riposte, bursting out in laughter. "I'm perfectly satisfied, thank you very much!" She answers, putting her arm around Skye. So, my half-sister is making jokes about banging her boyfriend, who used to go out with my sister, in front of his sister, who's my sister-in-law's ex and is in a poly relationship including my brother's ex...

I'm either too drunk for this or not drunk enough.

I stand and pardon myself from the room. I need hugs... But for my brain. I wander through to the kitchen to find Gabriel and Elise locked in an intense arm wrestling match, watched by Rouge, Henry, and Jessie. My entrance appears to distract Elise, as Gabriel manages a swift victory, forcing her arm to the table.

"I thought you'd put up a challenge!" He boasts, which seems rather unlike him, but when you get engaged it makes sense to be pretty chipper.

Elise shakes her wrist to relieve the shock before responding. "It's not my fault! An angel walked in and I thought I'd died." She grins, giving me my cue to come closer.

"Don't blame me, you're probably tired from all your planning." I chortle sitting on Elise's lap. "Besides, it's good to save your strength, big day tomorrow." I add, my arm wrapping around her shoulders. "And a big night tonight." I add with what I thought was a whisper.

"See, this, but all the time, those are your new tenants, no take-backs, it's your problem now." Rouge snorts, patting Jessie on the back. "You might need to get the band to play louder, honestly, the noise these two make!"

I look round to my sister with a disapproving face, before flipping her off with serious intent... We're not that loud... Usually...

"Sounds like a feature! Maybe I'll give the band the night off and just let the crowd listen in." Jessie mocks me, receiving an equally unamused look. "I'm kidding, you'd have to involve a literal jackhammer to be louder than the bar."

"Don't give them ideas!" Henry interjects. "I've heard about some of the things they get up to, wouldn't put it past them!" He adds.

I turn to Henry, my face now contorted from disapproving to irritated.

"Leave the birthday girl alone, it's not her fault I'm irresistible." Elise chips in. Much better... And she's not wrong there.

"Hmm... How about you put your dignity where your mouth is?" Henry cuts in, his smile harbouring evil intent. "If you're that confident, then you'll have nothing to fear by playing strip poker!"

Say what?

Rouge and Jessie jointly 'oooh' at Henry's proposition. Personally... I've never gotten strip poker, I guess curiosity is a powerful force... I'd be lying if I said I'd never wondered what some of our friends look like naked, but never enough to actually play a game about it... I wonder if Elise-

"You're on." She answers bluntly.

Oh, okay, I guess it's happening.

"Fuck it, I'm in." Rouge announces.

So... Even more people...

"Go on then, only thing I care about keeping on is this ring." Gabriel decides.

Even him? But he's the most shy person I know!

"Aah, why not, you can see my tits online anyway." Jessie concurs.

Wait, she's done topless modelling? I mean, I believe her, but... Wait, my mind's getting distracted, and everyone's looking at me. ME? No way, I can't strip in front of my friends, that's way more than I can handle.

"I'll play too." My mouth speaks on its own. Fuck! Need to calm down, my mouth answering for me has usually worked out in my favour. It can't lead me wrong this time, can it?

"Cool, I'll see if the others want to join." Henry confirms as he stands and exits the room. Oh. The others. More people. What have I done?

Damn that fucking flutterby!