"So…" Zack started, after he had finished eating his pancakes from across the table.

"No," Trini interrupted quickly, already prepared for what he was going to say. She poured more syrup on her waffles, reinforcing the idea that brunch every Wednesday was a good idea.

"C'mon Trini, you have to come!" Zack whined.

She rolled her eyes, already irritated with the conversation. Zack had always been the one to push her into social events in high school, taking her to prom and semi formal, making sure she had a proper high school experience. In a way, it was sweet, but if he had paid any proper attention at each event, it was clear Trini hated social gatherings.

"I already said I would."

"No, you said you would just help set up and then leave before anyone got there," Zack pointed out, trying to get her to see that this compromise was unacceptable.

"Isn't that enough?" Trini asked, sticking one of her earbuds back into her ear after she'd finished her food. "You'll still get your present."

"C'mon, T," Zack pouted. He rested his head on his arms, looking up at her from across the table. "I'm turning legal. That means you can just drink and not have to interact with anybody."

Trini sighed. "Fine, if it means that you'll stop asking me to do this."

Zack beamed. "You're going to love it!"

She huffed, sticking her other earbud into her ear. "Fat chance."

"I didn't even know you knew this many people," Trini said, watching the party from the kitchen.

Zack grinned at her as he poured himself another cup of the spiked punch. "These aren't even half the guests."

Her eyebrows shot up, surprised. "And Billy knows about all this?"

Zack had decided to throw his birthday party at Billy's since his house wasn't exactly big enough to throw a proper party. Alternatively, he had thought about having a party by the minefield near his house, until Trini reminded him that that was illegal trespassing.

"Yeah, T, he's the one who made the invite list," he said, grabbing a cooler from the fridge. "Why don't you have a drink? Loosen up a little and socialize?"

Trini scowled, hating the idea of talking to strangers, but took the can anyway, not wanting to ruin Zack's good mood on his birthday.

"Good girl," he smiled, ruffling her hair. "I'm gonna play beer pong. Wanna come?"

She pretended to think about her answer, humming in thought. "Hm, fuck no."

He laughed. "Suit yourself. You gonna be okay here?"

"Yeah, I've got all the alcohol I need," she dismissed, waving her hand in the air to let him hang out with his other friends.

She stared at her cooler for a bit, before downing it quickly and grabbing the vodka from the table.

By the time Zack came back to check on her, he was the King of Beer Pong and Trini had just finished half a bottle of vodka.

"Zack!" Trini yelled, hugging him tightly. "You're back."

"Yeah," he chuckled, hesitantly hugging her back. She wasn't much of a hugger, so it was very unusual for her to hug, let alone initiate it. "Dude, how much did you drink?" He asked, letting her go.

"What-?" She started, but was interrupted by a girl walking into the kitchen.

"Holy fuck," Trini gasped, eyes widening. "Who is that?"

Zack looked down at her, confused, and followed her eyes to where she was staring.

He laughed again, grabbing Trini's shot glass from her hand to drink from it. "Dude you're fucked," he said, once he finished his shot, "why don't you get her number while you're still drunk enough to not care?"

"But she's too hot!" Trini yelled, forgetting to be discreet in her drunk state.

The girl turned around to look at them from the drink table then, wondering where the yelling was coming from. She made eye contact with the pair, suddenly walking towards them.

"Go for it," Zack whispered into her ear, before grabbing a drink from the counter and disappearing into the crowd outside.

"Hi, I'm Kimberly," the girl said, smiling prettily, hinting that she'd heard Trini's comment. She was a little taller than Trini by a few inches, and wore a short leather jacket despite the heat in the room. Trini could swear she saw her eyes sparkle as she spoke.

"Hi, I'm Trini," she hastily replied, trying not to sound too flustered in her drunk state.

If Trini was slurring her words, Kimberly was polite enough to pretend she didn't notice. "Nice. So how do you know Zack?"

"Middle school, high school."

"Oh, wow," she whistled, impressed, "day ones, huh?"

Trini nodded, agreeing. "Yeah. So how do you know him?"

Kimberly frowned, taking a moment to think about it. "I don't know, actually. Probably through a party or something."

"Cool," Trini said, unsure about how to continue the conversation. "I'm Trini, by the way."

"Kimberly," the girl repeated, trying to hold back a laugh. She held her hand out, gesturing to shake hands, if only to humour the shorter girl.

Trini stared dumbly at her hand. It could've been ten minutes or ten seconds before Kimberly awkwardly spoke again, unsure about what to do with her hand.

"Sorry, do you not like touch-?"

"-Oh, I'm so sorry," Trini interrupted, realizing she hadn't made to shake Kimberly's hands. "I'd shake your hand, but my hands are sweaty from talking to you."

Kimberly retracted her hand, recovering quickly from feeling awkward not even a second before. She smiled again, her words coming out in a laugh. "Sweetheart, how much have you had to drink?"

"Enough to tell you that you're really pretty," Trini said, before she could consider what was really wrong with that sentence.

The taller girl actually laughed at that, her face red. Trini wasn't sure if it was from drinking too much, or from her comment.

"Thanks. You're not too bad yourself," she replied, winking at Trini. "Hey," she said suddenly. "Do you wanna play beer pong? I need a teammate- they're playing teams now."

"Okay," Trini instantly agreed. She grabbed Kimberly's hand, hoping Zack wouldn't point out her willingness to play beer pong with a stranger, but not with him.

"I hope you're good at this," Kimberly said, biting her lip as she looked at Trini. "The stakes are high tonight, and I'm highly competitive."

"Yeah," Tommy, a member of the other team hollered out, "whichever team loses has to make out!"

His teammate laughed, high fiving Tommy.

Trini frowned, disgusted. On one hand, she was excited by the prospect of kissing Kimberly, but on the other, she was put off by the very seemingly dumb jock who got off to the ideas of two girls kissing.

Kimberly noticed her reaction, pretending to be hurt. "Wow, I can't believe the idea of making out with me is that repulsive to you."

"It's not that I don't wanna make out with you," Trini started, her eyes widening in realization. "I mean, not that I do wanna make out with you- or, uh, you know what I mean."

Kimberly didn't, if she was being honest. But she felt bad for the girl, who looked like she was about to burst, and took pity. Instead of proper teasing, she decided to go for an amused smile instead to lessen the embarrassment she was sure the other girl was experiencing.

"I just mean that guy over there," the shorter girl continued, whispering, "he sounds like a douche."

"Tommy-?" Kimberly trailed, surprised that someone could think he was douche. Oh. She realized how what he said could be misinterpreted. "No, no, he's a sweetheart! I've known him since kindergarten. He just really likes Jason."

"Jason?" Trini questioned.

"His teammate," Kimberly clarified.

"Are you guys ready or what?" Jason yelled loudly, finally retrieving the ball from under the sofa to hand to Kimberly.

"Your go," Kimberly said, letting Trini take the first turn.

Trini gulped, simultaneously wanting to lose to make out with her teammate, but also wanting to win so as not to embarrass herself. She took a deep breath, before throwing the ball across the table. It sailed in a neat arc, landing cleanly on the floor. She'd missed completely.

"Shit," she cursed.

"Wow," Kimberly whispered, teasing in a low voice. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that you maybe want to lose."

Trini shivered, goosebumps forming on her neck where Kimberly had breathed.

As it turns out, they didn't lose.

By some sort of miracle, (or maybe misfortune, Trini hadn't decided yet) Trini had surprisingly good hand eye coordination when intoxicated. That, or the fact that Jason and Tommy really wanted to lose. In hindsight, the latter of the two theories would make more sense, since it would properly add up to explain Kimberly's earlier comment of "[Tommy] really lik[ing] Jason."

Regardless, the night ended with them as the victors, and Kimberly leaving the party not too long after because she had work in the morning.

The next day, Trini woke up with her head pounding and her throat dry, regrets coming back to her one by one in quick flashes. "Oh God," she groaned to herself, cringing when she remembered every single awkward detail from the night before.

And she didn't even get her number.