Lady Luck

You know, if you think about it, luck is just defined as people being too lazy to do the maths on every single possibility. Bird shits on your car? It's not the endless equations of the universe, it's bad luck. Bump into a cute girl at the coffee shop and find out you have tonnes in common? It's not statistical likelihood, it's luck being on your side.

I say this, because right now, I feel damn lucky. Riding high on my successful mediation of Echo and Andi, I return to the party to see it going surprisingly well, I guess people will brush off any drama if you play music and stick a beer in their hand. This gives me the chance to enjoy a drink of my own and look around for the others.

I eventually find Marie, Rosie, and Sienna sitting on the deck, well, two of them are, Sienna appears to be sitting on a guy's lap and furiously making out with him. "There you are!" Rosie exclaims, noticing my approach. "We were starting to think you guys were having a threesome or something."

I wish. "One half of the mission accomplished." I explain, trying not to make it too obvious, though I think Sienna's too busy to think about our conversation anyway. "Where's love's young dream?"

Marie responds by pointing over her shoulder towards the shore, where two silhouetted figures move gracefully around each other. It's hard to tell, but I think they're dancing, as in, real, actual, ballroom dancing. "They were here a couple of minutes ago, then Poppy said she didn't know how to dance, Ty offered to teach her, she led him over there... It was all very cute. Wait, not cute, that's not it... Sickening, yep, that's the word." My cousin explains, before swigging her beer.

Huh... Apparently the other half of the mission mostly took care of itself in my absence. I suppose it's easy for me to forget I'm not the centre of everyone else's world... I mean, I set up the party that gave them a chance to have their little date, so maybe some credit goes to me.

"What about you two, then? Seems romance is in the air, no one catch your fancy?" I smirk, gesturing towards Sienna and her victim.

"Despite their best efforts." Marie sighs, leaving a bit unsure what she means. "Rosie here's been getting entire platoons of suitors, pretty sure the amount she's shot down constitutes a small war." Well, now that I think about it, my sister's fan club has grown to preposterous proportions, it may well have contributed to the massive turnout.

Rosie exhales, shaking her head. "None of them actually like me though, they either just want to fuck me or they think I'll give them an in with Andi. I know I said I was getting more open with dating, but... I mean, I've got to have some standards."

Can't say that I'm upset at the concept of my sister not banging every piece of shit that comes her way, but it's a bit sad that she has to be so isolated. "You'll find someone that meets those standards eventually, if not, I'm sure Trish mentioned something about her family having arranged marriages, we'll just ship you off to another continent." I joke, causing Rosie to snort.

"Don't remind my Mum of that, she could probably get her own country if she traded me for it." Marie smirks. "Out of curiosity, how long can people snog for before taking a breath?" She adds, causing Sienna to take notice.

"Longer than that, probably. Run along now." She responds, dismounting her partner and pushing him off of the bench they were sat on. He happily acquiesces to her demand and scurries away. "You'd think at least one of these guys would be good enough to stop me getting bored."

Guess there's more than a few of us being left out in the cold... Which doesn't help distract me from my internal strife. One of those two girls was making me feel this way... And I don't know which. Fuck, some people struggle to fall in love once, here I am not even able to figure out who... Wait, did I just say love?

Fuck that. ****. **** is the answer.

*

I awaken in a cold place, I'm not sure how I got here... Or where here is... But I know the throbbing in my head isn't helping my confusion. I try to open my eyes, but the light burns my sight away. I opt to lay a little longer, as more and more of my senses return to me, the smell of coffee, the sound of phones, the taste of vomit.

I eventually summon the strength to sit myself up, leaning against the wall behind me, and try to look around, but my vision's blurry, I'm struggling to make anything out. "Look who's alive." A voice grumbles from nearby, wait, I recognise it.

"Typhon?" I recall. "Where are we?" I ask, still trying to get my head together.

"You don't remember? You got hammered, when the party ended you wandered into town, I only just found you when they picked you up... And, well... They assumed I was up to no good. They've seen me before." He explains, as my sight begins to coalesce. "We're in the drunk tank. Cops threw us in here."

I finally begin to see our surroundings, the concrete wall behind us surrounded by solid metal bars, beyond them is what looks similar to an office building, with the expected level of hubbub.

Well... Fuck.