started off well

As you enter the party you find you're the first pair. Jeff and his long time girlfriend Jan were playing host and immediately plied you with drinks and the pizza that had arrived moments earlier. Usually you would just have had a beer but Jeff's been fancying himself a bit of a "mixologist" recently, boasting about his killer old fashioned, and you decided to take him up on one. At you request Sammy agreed that one sounded lovely. Jeff was ecstatic at the opportunity.

When looked at your group of friends Jeff was always the one that most people would pick out as not belonging. While you, James and Rich were your traditional quiet nerd types that struggle to even handle small talk Jeff was on the football team, and seemed to be able to make anyone like him. Which helped a lot with his job as senior vice ambassador of business to business sales or something. You never really understood what he did but you could tell it was a powerful position. Deep down though you knew Jeff was as big of a geek as any of you. Well, maybe except James.

James was a lot like you, classic science fiction nerd who had mellowed a little with age but had struggled finding something else to pivot into that he cared much about. He also did programming as a career but for him it was less of a means to an end and more of a genuine calling. He contributed to open source software and had the same effect on his fellow programmers as they had on people who occasionally forget how to double click or open an email. He'll explain some new advance method he's using to reduce load time by 0.4% and your eye will glaze over but you're all glad he does what he does.

Finally there was Brian. Brian was an accountant and the member of the group you knew the least about. He was a good enough dude but always kept to himself. He had moved to the school district your senior year of high school and was a good fit for your friends but rarely talked about himself. You were excited to see who he brought. Jan was practically and honorary member of the group, at least on board game night. But You knew so little about Brian that you struggled to guess who he'd bring. You doubted James would bring anyone at all.