Chapter 2: Tequila is Better than People.

8:40 AM, July 17th

Sitka: Did your friend Elsa Kay have any history of mental problems?

Meg: Nooooo. She was the only one of us that had her shit together. She's one of the richest women I know, she drives a fucking awesome car, she pays her taxes. I mean sometimes she had random spells of anxiety attacks. Not to mention the OCD. Or the paranoia…hehe. But, hey, if you don't have something wrong with your brain then what good are ya?

3:00 PM, July 10th

Frozen.

Every bone in Elsa Kay's body, every synapse in her brain, every muscle just...stopped. She wasn't sure how much time passed with her standing there, staring at her pint-sized boyfriend with eyes that looked like they had just witnessed a giant tarantula eating a small child.

Someone cleared their throat. Elsa turned her head to the crowd.

There was Meg subtlety shaking her head no. And there was Nakoma, making a less subtle slicing motion across her neck. Elsa just stared at them, her brain whirling.

From what Meg and Nakoma knew about their best friend, was that she never liked things to take things further. Whenever they asked if Elsa would ever marry Felix, she would scoff and roll her eyes, as if suggesting such a thing was even more ridiculous than a UFO crash landing in her kitchen. "Honestly, I'd rather have Felix as a boyfriend for the rest of my life. The word husband is too formal." she would always say. Or, "I am much too busy to think about trivial things like marriage."

But Nakoma and Meg knew better.

Elsa was terrified. And there was no way in hell that she was ready for a gigantic commitment with already so much on her plate.

"Shit." Nakoma whispered through the breath-holding silence, staring at Felix who was still on one knee. The ring poised in his hand looked as if he held a small star. "This is not going to end well."

Meg nodded slowly. "Poor Munchkin." She whispered, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Who's Munchkin?"

Nakoma and Meg jumped at the new voice, then relaxed when they saw it was Elsa's little sister, Anna. The two women suddenly wondered what Anna's opinion of Felix was. The sixteen year old never really had a say in anything, she was forced to keep her head down and let her family do things for her.

Nakoma, still staring at the petrified Elsa and her anxious boyfriend, answered the red-headed teenager. "We call Felix that. Because he's nice to everyone and is like the size of a stepstool."

Anna stifled a giggle, and Elsa's head shot towards her. Startled, Anna met Elsa's gaze, her green eyes wide.

For another long pause, Elsa just stared at her younger sibling, not breaking eye contact.

"Elsa?" Felix whispered, nervously chuckingly. "You can take your time, sweetie. Just let me know, ok?" He said, desperation coating his every word.

Closing her eyes, Elsa turned her head back to Felix.

"Yes." She said, a trembling smile waning across her face. "I will marry you, Felix."

Relief poured off of the little engineer in waves, which in turn affected the audience. Every one almost collectively exhaled, then cheered as Felix leapt into her arms, embracing Elsa in a hug.

All of Elsa's employees, friends and family had smiles on their faces as the couple kissed. All except Meg, Nakoma, and unknowingly to them, Anna.

They just couldn't shake the feeling that Elsa did not make the right decision.

9:00 PM, July 10th

"Tequila is better than people, Nako, dontcha think it's true?" Meg sang, swaying a shot cup of the famous clear liquid in front of her Powhatan friend.

Nakoma glared at her roommate, and sipped from a glass of water. "I have work at nine tomorrow. You know that."

Meg moved down the mahogany bar of Happy's Pub, the destination Elsa chose for a small 'engagement party' that night. She put an arm around Elsa, who was circling the rim of an empty glass of champagne with her perfectly manicured finger.

"Yes people will beat you and curse you and cheat you. Everyone of them sucks except you." She gave the shot glass a lovingly gaze, then lowered it in front of Elsa. Elsa quickly shook her head, and shoved it away.

The twenty five year old teacher was not deterred. "But people confess when they drink it, Nako don't you think I'm riiiiiiiggght?"

A spark of realization crossed Nakoma's face. Elsa had avoided the subject of her fiance the entire time they were at the bar, which was thirty minutes. When Elsa slipped into 'silent but deadly' mode, it was as if her true feelings were shoved into a box, then the box was put in a lead safe, thrown into an underwater volcano with sharks with laser eyes guarding it. Bottling up herself was not healthy, they knew she was prone to nervous breakdowns.

Elsa needed to confess two things before her mind imploded. A) Why she agreed to marry Felix and B) What the situation was with her fucked up family. And she would let the answers go only if she got shit faced with her friends.

Nakoma took a deep breath, and stared at the shot glass in Meg's hand.

"Fuck it." She sighed, snathced the glass from Meg, then chugged it.

Elsa and Meg stared at her with wide eyes. Nakoma wiped her mouth, her face puckered in disgust. "You guys. Go." She wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her v-neck teal t-shirt.

Meg looked at Elsa. "Let's do it."

Elsa bit her lip, then sighed. "Ok." She said quietly. Meg smirked, and patted Elsa on the back. She called the bartender over, and he poured them exactly what Meg had ordered.

Six shots of the crazy juice.

Nakoma's mouth dropped. "Hell no. I can barely do one. Get those things away from here." She pointed a wobbly finger at the six glasses.

Meg shrugged. "I'm doing one. I gotta call us a cab to get us home safely."

Immediately, Elsa and Nakoma complained, and Meg put her hands up in defense. "Alright, alright. Each of us do two, then we'll have a couple beers and see what the hell happens, ok? Great." Before they could answer, Meg held up her shot. "To Elsa, a beautiful boss ass bitch."

Well, when she put it that way, the girls couldn't let the shots go to way. To do so would be a tremendous dishonor to the toast. Elsa put on a shaky smile, and held up her small glass. "Cheers." She said weakly. Then, all at the same time the women lifted the drink to their lips and let the liquid burn down their throats.