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Ernest put his hand with the ring on it in his pocket, and walked back through the house. He nodded at a few people he knew, but didn't stop to talk. He'd already gotten more out of this party than he could have reasonably expected; no reason to push his luck. He exited the front door, and turned left towards the park.

Jessica's head finally cleared enough for her to stand back up. What had that been? She'd heard Ernest make a wish, and then...was that orgasm related to having granted a wish? It had to be, though she didn't remember her mother saying anything about that particular side effect. Everything kept getting more and more complicated. If only she had the ring back. Why did that creep Kevin have to pick the worst possible moment to try and perv on her?

She looked around the room, but Kevin had taken advantage of Jess's 'distraction' to make himself scarce. At least Ernest was...

...where was he, exactly?

Jess dashed to the window and looked outside. There were still plenty of revelers dotting the lawn and the deck, but Ernest didn't seem to be among them. This wasn't good at all. She had to find him, find him as quickly as possible and convince him to give her back the ring. Everything wasn't lost just yet, but she had to hurry.

She raced down the stairs, and nearly ran over Tiffany. "Sorry, sorry," Jess muttered after just pulling up short of crashing into her friend.

"No worries," Tiff said cheerfully, "That excited to play beer pong, huh? I was just coming to look for you -- I thought maybe you'd found something else to do."

Jess could feel her frustration rising, "No, no. I mean, no, I can't play right now. I have to find someone. You haven't seen Master around, have you?"

Master? Where had that come from?

She looked at Tiffany in horror, but all Tiffany said was, "Ernest? The dude from History last year? I mean, he was here, but I haven't seen him for a while. Maybe he's in the living room? What do you need him for anyway?"

Jess blinked. Normally, Tiff would have laughed, or said something sarcastic if Jess had called anyone 'Master', but Tiff was acting as if she hadn't heard anything out of the ordinary. Well, other than Jess looking frantically for Ernest.

"So, you don't know where Master is?"

Again! What on earth was going on?

"I told you, he might be in the living room. Or not. What's going on, Jess? Do you have, like, a Wikipedia emergency? Or did you find out that he has a really big co--"

"Tiff! I don't have time for jokes. Just tell him I'm looking for him if you see him, okay?"

"Whatever," Tiff rolled her eyes, then marched on her shapely legs back to the beer pong table.

Ernest hadn't gone more than two blocks when he heard the first crack of thunder. The wind began to pick up, blowing dead leaves across the sidewalk. He glanced at the sky. The weather report had said the storm was going to hold off until the morning, but it wasn't as if this would be the first time the forecast was wrong.

It wasn't raining yet, but a second thunderclap indicated that it soon would be. Still the better part of a mile to go, and with Ernest's luck, he'd be soaked by the time he got back to his house. He really should have thought this through better, Ernest thought with a sigh. Maybe, in some kind of cosmic balance way, this was the price for finding that expensive ring. He'd already found the silver lining (or at least, the gold-and-emerald one) -- now here came the clouds.

"Not your best plan, Ernest," the senior said to himself, "Wish I'd gotten a ride home. It's a little late for that though."

HONK

Ernest nearly jumped out of his skin, whirling around in surprise. A car had just pulled up next to him, though he hadn't heard an engine approaching. Maybe the thunder had drowned it out?

"Get in, dork, if you don't want to get soaked."

Ernest squinted. It was a black Corvette, the kind of expensive car that Ernest hadn't ever even been inside. Only one person he knew drove one: Jess's friend Tiffany. And, sure enough, it was Tiffany's black-haired form beckoning him to get inside.

"Tiffany? I thought you were back at the party."

Tiffany rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh, "I was. But I told you I'd give you a ride home, remember? Dunno why you're the kind of idiot who'd try to walk home in a thunderstorm anyway, but when I realized you'd left the party, I went to see if I could catch up with you."

Another peal of thunder sounded, followed by the first few drops of rain splashing onto the pavement.

"So get in, dork."