a random patron

The crowd cheered and laughed. Wyatt noted something odd about the laughter. It was like there was an inside joke going on that he didn't understand.

"Oh, you all know how this works!" said the auctioneer. "Friends, we will choose this young lady's dance party by random drawing!" A nearby assistant held out a large black velvet bag. The auctioneer continued. "You all received a ticket on your way in. Each ticket has a unique number. If your number is drawn, you will join us for the first dance!"

The audience clapped again, and everyone bustled about to find their tickets.

"Oh Christ, I thought these were for, like, coat check or something," said Jan.

"You didn't check a coat," Terrence commented.

"Well, what did you think they were for?" Jan snapped. Terrence shrugged and sighed.

Kayla looked at her ticket with a worried expression on her face. "I don't even ... what if they call my number?"

Damien, who had been calmly watching the proceedings, turned to Kayla. "Then you dance. It's not hard."

Kayla looked at him, certain that there was more at stake.

"I'll dance with her," exclaimed Kat. "She's cute."

Wyatt eyed Damien suspiciously. "I know you're being all sly and shit, and I know you believe this is a good place to be and that we're going to have fun. But there's something you're not telling us."

"There's probably a lot you're not telling us," added Terrence.

Damien chuckled. "You're probably right." He sighed and looked out across the room. Then he turned back to his friends. "Where's your sense of adventure? Don't you want to live a little? Don't you want to shake up the dull monotony of your life?"

"My life is not dull," sat Kat with a heavy dose of sass. "I live. I live a lot."

Damien smiled at her. "Then you'll fit in here just fine."

Jan gripped Terrence's hand but looked at Damien. "I have a feeling I'm not going to like you tomorrow."

"Or maybe you'll be eternally grateful," Damien said with a wink.

Terrence rolled his eyes. "Oh, what the fuck does that mean?"

Kat held up her glass. "Come on, you losers. Raise a glass. To adventure!"

Her friends picked up their glasses, some more slowly than others. Kayla was the last to do so, and she was not the least bit enthused by her sister's aggressive energy.

"Adventure, adventure, adventure!" continued Kat, almost like a mantra, and perhaps like words of self-encouragement as well.

The auctioneer got everyone's attention again with a rap of his gavel. "Our winner gets to draw the ticket. Madam, would you step over here, please?" He gestured to the redhead, who followed around to the side of the podium.

His assistant held out the black velvet bag. The redhead couldn't see into the bag, but reached in with one hand. She fished around for a bit, and then drew out a ticket. She handed it to the auctioneer, who began to read off the number.

As he read the eight digits of the ticket number, each of Damien's friends -- Wyatt, Jan, Kayla, and Kat -- all followed along, but soon recognized that theirs was not the ticket being called.

"Aw, fuck," said Kat. "Well, maybe I'll win something else tonight."

Kayla had been holding her breath through the first three digits, but then the fourth didn't match, and she exhaled dramatically. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! That made me so nervous!"

Jan nudged her fiancé. "Good thing we can just sit back and watch, right, Ter?"

Terrence was silent. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked up from his ticket, first making eye contact with Jan, but then surveying his group.

"No," said Jan. "No, you're fucking with us."

Terrence shook his head. "I'm not. That's my number that he called."