Shots, shots, shots!

Charlotte's evil smile widened as she reached into her second bag and brought out three shot glasses in each hand, one for every person in the bachelorette party, followed by a big bottle of expensive-looking tequila. For whatever reason, Charlotte had pulled the label off, but the contents were obvious. It had been Melody and Charlotte's favorite drink back in college. "Well, first we're all going to do a few shots of this. Each. What kind of bachelorette party is it if we don't get totally fucking smashed, am I right ladies? And once we're done, we'll all be on our way to the ship's bar, on the main deck, to continue the party there."

Mariah shook her head, not even entertaining the idea. "No, no, no," she said. "You know what kind of lightweights you all are. No way am I letting you get that drunk before we even get to the bar. At least at the bar they'll **** you to pace yourselves." She crossed her arms over her chest, looking Charlotte square in the eye, clearly thinking that her input might actually have some sort of effect on Charlotte's plan. She had no idea how wrong she was.

Charlotte literally laughed in her teetotalling friend's face. "Look, Mar," she said, too self-confidently for Mariah's liking. "I can't **** you to drink this. But think of it this way: this is the last time our six sexy selves will be together and single like this for the rest of our lives. Not only that, but we're going to be in an enclosed environment. We're on a ship, in the middle of the ocean! This won't be like that time in senior year when I stole your car and nearly crossed state lines. No one will be running away, and the ship's staff is here to make sure that none of us get in serious trouble." The maid of honor tapped her immaculately manicured and painted fingernails on the bottle, looking across the table at Mariah with a mischievous look on her face. "So why don't you have the first shot? That way maybe we'll all feel a little more comfortable."

Mariah eyed the bottle carefully, as if Charlotte was somehow trying to trick her. She looked around the table, first at Samantha, who looked as apprehensive as she was, and then at Melody, who they had all gathered to celebrate. Melody didn't look worried at all. She actually looked like she agreed with her old roommate, and she was looking hopefully at Mariah. There was a silent plea in her eyes, telling her not to ruin this evening by being the fun police like she always did.

Mariah grabbed the bottle from Charlotte's unscrewing the top and taking a long swig of it without even pouring it into the shot glass. That made even Charlotte's eyes widen in surprise. Mariah slammed it down on the table with a heavy thunk. God, how it burned. Now, Mariah hadn't had any liquor in years, but she didn't remember it hurting this much back in college. Drinking really did get harder with age, apparently. She clenched her eyes and her jaw, riding out the fiery sensation of tequila, and then shook her head. "Woo!" she screamed, throwing her arms up over her head. It felt a little fake to her, and the others could tell, but she knew that it was better to fake it rather than to ruin everybody else's fun-- at least until the end of this cruise. "Come on, girls, let's do this!"

The others gleefully did as she said, with Charlotte pouring them all shots from the enormous bottle. Each one of them downed them quickly, even the anxious Samantha, though the smaller brunette was struggling to keep up with the others' pace. As soon as one glass was emptied, Charlotte filled it again, until both the hands pouring the bottle and the hands holding the shot glasses were both shaking furiously. By the last round of shots, more of the booze ended up on the table than it did in the glasses themselves, and everyone involved was absolutely hammered.

The girls had ended up on the floor by this point in a puddle of laughter, massages, and insane small talk. Brooke had her hands on Melody's shoulders, which Emma was watching with interest, and Charlotte was draining the last of the clear bottle's contents into her mouth off on her own. Samantha kept fiddling with her clothes, almost as if they didn't fit right, forcing Mariah to keep slapping her hands.

"This stuff tastes weird," Melody babbled to herself. "Where'd you get this stuff, Char?"

Charlotte giggled, unable to contain herself. "Uhhh, Mexico," she said. "I bought it just for your party, Mel. Because of how much of the stuff we drank back in freshman year!" She hid the wrapper deeper in the bag, the one that said: MOLLYDEW ABSINTHE DISTILLERY, 80% **** CONTENT.