Jake returns to a nearly furious Danny

[NOTE: This chapter happens in parallel with Abbie's narrative.]

Jake returned holding the necks of five beer bottles in his fingers. He laid them out on the table. "Here you all go."

Danny glared at him. "Dude. New guy."

Jake looked at him. "Hey, I don't know you, so I'm not trying to cause trouble. Just seemed like she was looking for more than a phone call."

Danny smiled and shook his head. "Man, if this were college, I'd be fucking hot right now. So pissed."

"It's true," said Arthur. "He got in too many fights in school. Don't push it, man."

"What's your name again?" asked Rick.

"I'm Jake." He glanced back at Abbie who was still watching him from the bar. He sipped his beer.

The others drank their beers quietly.

"You know," said Jake again, after a bit of an awkward silence. "I don't know you all, and I kind of feel bad. This wasn't totally fair."

"Huh?" said Danny.

"I couldn't help myself. Clearly none of you remember meeting me in the hallways. Probably because Abbie's too fucking sexy to think about anything else. But ..."

"You're the little fucker who was with her," said Rick.

"I'm the little fucker," repeated Jake. "She's my date here. So ... yeah." He looked at Danny, who was still both pissed off and embarrassed -- but also relaxing a little.

Danny drank his beer and stared at Jake. "Why'd you let me go up to talk to her?"

Jake shrugged. "She's an adult. You're an adult. I'm not a babysitter."

"But ... if she's your girlfriend, or wife, or whatever -- I mean, what's going on there?" Danny was a combination of sincerely curious and a little bit hopeful that the door wasn't totally closed between he and Abbie.

"Hey, she gave you her number," said Arthur.

"Wait, that's true," said Danny. "She gave me her number. Is that her number?" He held out his phone to Jake and showed him. Jake nodded. "She gave me her real number?"

Jake shrugged again.

Danny finished his beer. "If this is more of the prank, then either you're like the evilest genius I ever saw, or this is royally fucked up." He turned to Phil. "Dude, who is this guy?"

Phil smiled and sipped his drink. "He's one of Staci's cousins, I guess. I don't know."

All the guys looked at Jake who just smiled in response. "I'm one of Staci's cousins." He smirked and took a long drink of his beer. The other men looked back up to the bar, and saw the women all toasting something together and laughing.

"Who knows what they're drinking to," said Arthur. "But here's to friends and friendship."

Danny let out a deep breath, working hard to shake off his frustration. "To friends and friendship." He nodded vaguely toward Jake, who chuckled.

The other men muttered, "to friends and friendship," and the lot of them drank their beers.

Danny looked back to Jake. "Okay," he said slowly. "So if this isn't a prank, if you're not setting me up for something stupid, then what would happen if I texted her?"