despite the party vibe, awkward conversations

"This girl is it, bro!" said Dominic. "And her friend's hot too!" Dominic looked over at Michelle who was giving him a glare.

They all took sips from their beers, and there was a brief moment of an awkward silence. The initial wave of meeting each other had faded, and ... now what?

"So ..." said Tyler, trying to rekindle the conversation. "Abbie, you like to talk about sex, huh?"

"Mm-hm," said Abbie with a grin. "Don't you?"

Tyler shrugged. "Sure. I mean, I'd rather do it than talk about it, you know?"

Dominic snickered. "Yeah, man. Fuck or be fucked, am I right?" He held up his beer to get a vague toast from Stefan.

"That doesn't make any fucking sense," snapped Michelle. "Am I alone here?" she asked, looking at the others. "Seriously, that didn't make any fucking sense."

Everyone else laughed, but Dominic was disappointed. He had been watching Michelle, and found her both riveting and terrifying all at once. He had no expectations, but he imagined a world in which they hit it off, flirted a little, and then starting tearing each other's clothes off. He also imagined a version where Michelle berated him and fucked Tyler instead, but that was standard Dominic head-case drama. He was (cautiously) hopeful that the first version would be closer to the truth.

"I just mean," said Dominic, "that you gotta be protractive about it."

Michelle closed her eyes and giggled. She looked back up at Dominic. "Pro-active."

"Huh?" Dominic was confused.

"The word is 'pro-active,' not 'protractive."

Dominic fell back onto the couch, dejected. "What the fuck did I say?"

"Protractive," said Tyler. Abbie chuckled at him.

"What does that mean?" Dominic wailed.

Michelle shook her head, but patted Dominic on the leg. "Nothing. It's not a word."

"Oh, fuck me," mumbled Dominic, and focused the remainder of his attention on his beer.

"And what about you, Abbie?" said Tyler. "You don't work here, of course. Are you just visiting?"

Abbie drank more of her beer, then set the bottle down. "Just here for a few days. I'm going to a wedding on Sunday." Michelle nodded, implying that the same story applied to her.

"Is the wedding here?" asked Tyler. "We have a fancy ballroom, good place for a reception."

Abbie looked at Michelle. "You know, I have no idea. I'm a 'plus one,' so I don't really know the details."

"Yeah," agreed Michelle. "My husband is in the groom's party. He made all the arrangements."

"Husband?" said Dominic, a fresh wave of concern flooding his soul.

Michelle leaned over to him and took his face in her hands. Pulling him toward her, she planted an aggressive, wet, and forceful kiss on his lips. The others stared for a few seconds, then Tyler started to chuckle. Finally, after what was long enough to be both arousing and mildly awkward to witness, Michelle and Dominic broke their kiss.

"If I wanted you to talk about my husband, I'd tell you to talk about my husband." She patted Dominic's cheek.

Stefan stared at Abbie. "And what about your husband?"

"I don't have a husband," Abbie said with a smile.

"Okay," Stefan answered, sitting back on the sofa.

Tyler let out a big sigh. "Clearly no one's leaving, so let's assume that we're all cool." He looked around to each of the others, and no one argued.