Lets take this elsewhere

"Hey Gary, that game you were telling me about before, we could play that on someones tv right? My apartment is a couple miles away, lets get an uber and go play!" Gary is too stunned by Ellie's kiss to process what you said, but Ellie gets his attention with her followup offer.

"I live just down the block, lets all go back to my place. I have plenty of booze there as well."

"Um, am I invited too?" Gary asks.

"Of course you are Gary, you wouldn't leave me at the mercy of all these women, would you?"

"Yeah, c'mon, show us that game." Ellie invites Gary back to her place with the rest of you and you see him attempt to subtly shift a bulge in his pants. You would feel bad for the guy if he wasn't such a painful reminder of you from last week. You close out your tab, with Gary getting one last shot before doing the same.

"Listen man, I know we just met but I like you. Can I be honest with you?" Gary didn't wait for an answer "I have a huge crush on Ellie. Do you think I might have a chance?" He looked at you expectantly.

"I don't know. I met her about an hour before I met you, so I don't really know her all that well either. You seem like a good enough guy when you aren't putting yourself down. Show some confidence. Once we get to her place get some more liquid courage in you, and maybe make a move. Nothing too aggressive, and if she isn't receptive you need to accept that. A no right now doesn't necesarily mean a no forever, but if you start ranting about how good of a guy you are that isn't going to change her mind in a good way." Gary nodded along, and you hoped that he would take your comment about liquid courage to heart at the very least.

"Okay man. Thanks. You are my best friend." After your tabs were paid you stepped outside to meet up with the ladies, only to find them being harrassed by a group of guys.

"Hey there fellas, how are you doing tonight?" You step up to Maisie's side.

"Fuck off loser, can't you see these girls are busy talking to us?" One of the guys sneered at you.

"Actually friend, they were just about to leave, with us." Gary stepped between Ellie and a guy who had been trying to grab her arm.

"Fat chance of that dumbass, now scram." The guy Gary confronted swung a fist at Gary's stomach but Gary deflected it, somehow moving so the creeps fist connected with a wooden support beam for the deck above. "You fucking asshole!" The guy screamed at Gary and lunged. Once again Gary simply took a step and his assailant tripped, knocking one of his friends down.

The other two guys jumped in to defend their friends and got a faceful of pepper spray for their trouble. Ellie pulled back her fist closed around the aerosol can and smiled at Gary.

"Damn, my hero." You left the guys to sort themselves out and made your way to Ellie's house. "Where did you learn to fight like that?" Ellie asked Gary.

"I ummm. I took a lot of self defence classes after high school since I got bullied so much. Never had a chance to use any of my training though. I am sorry that happened." Gary looked sheepish.

"You are sorry? I am just glad you were there. And you didn't even hit them back! Such a gentleman." Ellie was laying it on pretty thick, could she actually be starting to like Gary? As the six of you walked Ellie and Melanie took the lead. Gary fell into step behind Ellie and you could see him trying and failing at not stsring at Ellie's ass. You walked arm in arm with Maisie and you were having the same issue. Holly walked next to Maisie and chatted quietly with her sister.

A couple minutes of walking later you made it to a small apartment building and Ellie showed you all in. "Sorry about the mess, I wasn't expecting visitors." Her apartment was spotless.

Ellie and Melanie retreated to the kitchen to get drinks while you and Gary set up the tv to play jackbox games. You figured out how to turn jackbox into drinking games, and the next couple hours were so much fun, you almost forgot you weren't just hanging out with friends until Gary made his move.

Ellie had gone to the kitchen to grab another drink and Gary stumbled after her. You moved so you could hear them better.

"Hey, uh, Ellie. Thanks for inviting me out tonight. This has been so much fun. I really like hanging out with you. Maybe we could, uh, do it some more sometime?" Gary took a large drink.

"Absolutely, you fit in pretty well, I will have to have all you over more often."

"Oh, I uh, actually was hoping to hang out just the two of us. One on one. Maybe grab food sometime, or catch a movie."

"Oh. Gary. I don't know if that is a good idea. You are a great guy, but I don't know if I am in the right headspace to be dating right now." You hear Gary take a deep breath and collect himself.

"Ok Ellie. I understand." Gary walks back into the living room with a bottle of tequila in hand. He is oblivious to the fact that anybody overheard him get rejected, but he doesn't try to hide it when he starts drinking straight from the bottle. It doesn't take long from that point for him to get wasted, and when Ellie taps you om the shoulder you see that he is barely conscious. Now is the time.

"Hey Gary, do you want to see a magic trick?" Gary blinks and takes a moment to figure out who is talking to him.

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

"I can make Holly transform into a trading card. Watch. Holly, card." Holly is standing in front of you one second, and the next is in your hand as you catch the falling card.

"Woah. How did you do that." Gary looks on in awe.

"Magic. You can do it too, just turn to one of them, say 'I know about the curse, turn into a card just like Holly' and she will have to do it."

"Yeah, sure. I can just say 'Ellie, I know about the curse, turn into a card just like her' and.... holy shit, it worked." Gary was staring at the card on the ground where his crush had been a second ago. He stood to go grab the card but stumbled, falling to the ground. Not letting that stop him, he crawled over until he picked her up and stared at her picture. You couldn't see it, but you could imagine how sexy she looked.

"Can I see her card dude?" You ask.