This is by far the longest ch. in this fic.Thanks again for the reviews. And I realize that Joanne has been hesitant now for a while with Maureen, but I just don't want her to all of a sudden be ok with it. Enjoy!

(Maureen's POV)

"Hey guys over here!" Mimi was standing up in her chair on the other end of the bar waving her hands around. It was obvious she's already started celebrating without us; Roger had to catch her as she lost her balance and nearly fell off of the chair.

Again Joanne and I were the last to arrive. Everyone was huddled around a table near the back of the bar; drinks in each of their hands. Mimi was obviously already drunk and it was apparent that Eden was quickly on her way. I went ahead to the bar to order drinks for Joanne and myself, while Joanne made her way over to the group.

The bar was packed tonight, people everywhere. It took me about five or ten minutes to make my way to the bar, get our drinks, and make it over to my friends. Joanne was sitting next to Eden, laughing about some story she was telling her. I walked over to them and set down beside Joanne handing her drink to her.

Soon a drunk Mimi was pouncing on my lap. "Hey honey. You finally made it," her breath reeked of alcohol, I wonder how many she has had already, "I think we should do a shot together," her eyes lit up at what she considered a brilliant plan. "What do you want?" It was like a kid in a candy store. "How about…" I could almost see the wheels in her head turning considering what she wanted. And being that she worked at the CatScratch she knew like every drink possible. "A buttery nipple, that's what we need!" Her excitement was almost too much. But it was her birthday and who I am to say no to a shot.

Roger bravely made his way up to the bar to get our shots; Mimi bouncing around all of us taking swigs from everyone else's drinks while she waited for hers. When Roger made it back finally, Mimi was again on my lap handing me my shot. We took them, she kissed me, and then was again on her feet dancing around.

"Hey Joanne you better watch out for Mimi, she just kissed your girl," Collins laughed at how funny he thought he was being and downed another beer. Joanne looked up from her conversation with Eden and looked over at Mimi who was now giving Mark a lap dance.

"I think Eden is the one who needs to worry," she chuckled as she pointed over at Mimi and Mark. Eden too was now laughing; probably at how scared Mark looked at the moment. Joanne looked over at me and smiled. I think she could tell that I was slightly feeling left out at the moment. Ever since we had gotten there she had been talking to Eden. She reached her arm around me and pulled me closer to her. I looked over to see Roger looking at us, he just smiled at me and went back to watching some crazy dance Mimi was now performing on the table.

The festivities continued, everyone's goal to get as drunk as possible I think. I had completely lost count of how many shots Mimi had thought up for all of us to try. I had taken about ten shots with her by now and I don't think we have taken the same one twice. Personal note don't ever take liquid cocaine again, ouch that was harsh.

Collins had passed out in his chair by now. About twelve empty beer bottles and some shot glasses sitting around him. Even though he had passed out this didn't stop a very drunk Mimi from dancing on him occasionally. She just kept repeating everyone gets a turn no matter if they are awake or not. And everyone did; well everyone except for Joanne. Even in her drunk state I think Mimi knew that giving Joanne a lap dance my not be the greatest thing right now. When Mimi would pass by Joanne without dancing for her, Joanne would smile at her and mouth thank you to her. I'm glad that Mimi would pass her up, first off because of how timid Joanne has been towards anyone touching her lately and plus if Mimi would have danced on her like that and Joanne wouldn't have been fidgeting then I might have got a little angry or jealous myself.

Mimi had finally made her way back over to me yet again and this time the lap dance got a little friendlier. Joanne kept eyeing me; I think to see what my response was to Mimi. I was a good girlfriend though; I played along a little just enough to get people to laugh at the scene, but nothing too much. Well until Mimi leaned over and starting making out with me.

Joanne was quickly pulling Mimi away from my lips, "hey now watch it that's my girlfriend you are making out with there," I could tell she was being half serious, but she was trying to say it like she was joking and really didn't care; she cared though I could tell. Which made me happy. It's not like she was mad, maybe just a little jealous. She grabbed a hold of me and pulled me out from underneath Mimi and right onto her lap. Mimi walked off in a huff back over to Mark; she knew that out of all of us Mark would get the most embarrassed so she found it funniest to torture him.

When Joanne had pulled me over onto her lap I caught this glare that Eden was shooting me. I wasn't sure why she hated me so much. It's not like I liked her either, but damn this chick really didn't like me for some reason. I think Joanne could feel the tension between us and the uneasiness that had come over my body.

"Are you ok?" She looked over up at me and whispered to me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I was trying to convince her of this. She seemed to be enjoying herself and I knew that if she knew I wasn't having a good time or wasn't feeling ok that she would want to leave. I did want to stay though, but I wanted to be around Joanne but I didn't want to be around Eden. Joanne returned to her conversation with Eden, but holding me a little tighter now. She was trying so hard and I loved her for it.

Collins had rejoined the living, but was bent over the toilet emptying out the contents of his stomach. Roger would occasionally go and check on him, coming back out with the most disgusted look on his face. Finally Collins came back over to the table with yet another beer he had stopped over at the bar and bought.

"Hey man, weren't you just throwing up?" Mark questioned him as he saw Collins drinking again.

"Just had to clear out some room; ready for round two now." Collins let out this devilish laugh as he began chugging yet another beer.

"Do they ever come up for air?" I looked over to see what Mark was talking about. Mimi was straddling Roger in his chair; they'd been making out for quite some time now. "Hey you two…get a room!" Mark shoved Roger in the shoulder; neither Roger nor Mimi looked appreciative of the interruption.

"You're just jealous cause your girlfriend has been talking to Joanne all night," Mimi shot off. She was probably right though, I knew I was. Mimi found this quite funny when Mark didn't respond and was soon again on her feet dancing. This time though she pulled Collins to his feet dancing around the bar with her. Two drunk ass people dancing, what a sight.

"Hey baby I'm going to get something else to drink, you want something?" I had been out of something to drink for awhile now and couldn't take just sitting in silence only getting to speak a few words to Joanne every now and then.

She looked down to her glass realizing that she too was holding an empty glass. "Oh yeah that would be great. You have money?"

"Yeah, don't worry I got it." I stood up and walked through the maze of people to make my way up to the bar. While I was standing there I felt an arm reach around my shoulder.

"Not having much fun are you?" Mark was obviously not enjoying himself too much either. I could see the absolute boredom on his face right now.

"No, it's fine." Who am I kidding? Even though I was glad to be out celebrating Mimi's birthday with her, I still would rather be other places right now.

"Come on Maureen, it's me. Joanne has totally been ignoring you for the most part and it's killing you. It's killing you even more that she's been nonstop talking to Eden." He was giving me that you're not fooling me look. "I hate that you two don't get along Maureen."

The bartender handed me my change then and I just scuffed, "it's not my fault," as I grabbed a hold of our drinks and walked back over to the table. I walked back over to find that only Joanne and Eden were sitting at the table. "Where'd everyone go?"

"Oh Mimi and Collins are still somewhere dancing," Joanne's eyes were wondering the place looking for them, "and Roger saw some guy he knew and went over to talk to him." She grabbed the drink from my hand, took a large gulp of it, "thanks baby." I sat down beside her preparing myself to yet again sit in silence. But almost as soon as I sat down beside her, Joanne's hand was rubbing the top of my leg. Since she initiated it, I felt as though she was giving me permission to cuddle up a little closer, so I did. I reached my arm around her waist, my hand resting on her hip and laid my head on her shoulder.

Of course though I didn't get to enjoy that long because here came Mimi again with shots in her hands. "Hey girls, look what I have." She was waving around the shot glasses, causing a little bit of the alcohol to pour out of them. This time she had gotten four shots, one for each of the girls she said.

"What is this?" Eden was questioning whether or not she wanted to take this one, especially after she smelled how strong the alcohol was in it.

"It's called a four horseman," Mimi got this little devilish grin on her face, I too was now worried. "Just take it." She lifted her shot glass in the air so we could toast before shooting them. "Here's to my birthday," she looked over to Eden, apparently we all had to make our own toasts.

"To my new friends"

Oh it's my turn…think, "To life"

"To Maureen," Joanne turned and faced me, raising her shot glass to me.

Each of us took this horrid shot, I can safely say the strongest drink we'd had all night. I'm pretty sure that it is just four straight liquors, I surprised none of us gagged after taking it. But what happened after we took our shots surprised me even more. Joanne leaned over towards me and kissed me. And it wasn't one of these little pecks either, it was a deep sensual kiss, the first one we'd shared in days. As she pulled away from me moments later she whispered, "thank you," in my ear. I could feel tears coming on, I hated getting emotional drunk.

After a few awes could be heard from our friends Mimi was on the table, apparently she had an announcement to make. "Guys I have a great idea," she was smiling from ear to ear, giggling at the thought of her idea, "let's go back to Roger's." This was the great idea. We all kind of looked at each other wondering why this was such a great idea, we are always getting drunk in the loft. "Please, please, it's MY birthday." One thing I've learned is that you never argue with a drunk birthday girl. So we all quickly finished our drinks and headed back to the loft to continue the celebration.

(Maureen's POV)

After a very entertaining subway ride, we finally made it back to the loft. I think Mark was the only fully sober one of the group, poor guy. As soon as we walked into the loft Mimi was grabbing cups and the vodka and whiskey bottles. This can't be good.

"Who wants some?" Like any of us had a choice. She was pouring all seven of us glasses before any of us had a chance to respond. "Ok now everyone sit down, we are going to play a game." You could hear almost everyone grumble at the idea of playing a drinking game. But for some reason drunk Mimi loved playing drinking games. We all sat down in somewhat of a circle. Collins, Eden, and Mark managed to scurry to the couch and squeeze in together. Roger claimed the seat for him, which Mimi joined him on. This left Joanne and me with the floor. I sat down first, this way she could sit as far or close to me as she wanted to. Joanne came over and sat down right beside me laying her head over on my shoulder. Of course I quickly had my arm around her holding her as close to me as I could.

"What is it?" Roger reluctantly asked. He knew that if he wasn't cooperative he wouldn't be having any type of fun later tonight.

"It's called never ever have I ever." She seemed completely ecstatic about the idea of playing this game. "Everyone takes a turn saying something they have never done, if you have done that you have to drink."

"Mark is still going to be sober as sober gets after this, that's not fair," Roger laughed as he looked over at Mark who didn't find it as funny.

"Let's just get this over with," Mark was not thrilled at all about this game. With our group it wasn't going to be someone getting made fun of for doing something, it was going to be someone getting made fun of for not doing something.

"I'll start, I'll start." Mimi was way too excited for this. "Never ever have I ever," she scanned the room trying to figure out what to say, "had sex with a girl." She laughed purposively looking at Joanne and me.

"Cheers," Joanne lifted her glass to me and we toasted before we had to drink.

"Roger your turn."

"Oh Mimi do I have to?" It was very obvious Roger did not want to be playing this game.

"Please baby," Mimi was leaning over close to him, rubbing this leg and nibbling his ear.

"Fine then. Never ever have I ever slept with a guy," he gave Mimi a little smirk thinking he had out smarted her on this one. This time when Joanne drank she wasn't as open about the fact that she had to.

Collins was next and wouldn't he be the one to come up with a question that started an in-depth conversation. "Never ever have I ever had sex in a public place." He smiled proud of his question looking around the room to see who all would drink. Roger, Mimi, Joanne, and I were the only ones to drink. "Details, details."

Mimi was quickly telling everyone how Roger and her had sex just last week in the bathroom of Duane Reede and about how just not a month ago in the dressing room of Macys. "It's not like we can afford anything in there, but we were in the mood and thought that would be a fun place to try." She started laughing reaching over and kissing Roger; Collins soon was throwing a pillow at them.

"Ok Maureen what about you? I know you have to have a million stories for us." Everyone except for myself and Joanne chuckled at the statement. I resented the statement and I'm sure Joanne didn't want to hear me tell everyone about it.

"Well…." I was trying to think of the last time Joanne and I had sex in public. I hadn't with anyone else since before I was with Mark…he was never into that sort of thing.

"About three weeks ago," I hear Joanne pipe up, "in the elevator of our building." She looked over to me smiling and winked at me.

"The elevator," Eden was in total shock I think, "must have been quick."

"Well the elevator broke while we were in there, so what else you going to do to pass the time?" I was in total shock that Joanne was openly telling people about this; I liked it though.

Our game continued on for a while longer; some people coming up with some crazy questions. And of course it always helped when you knew something crazy someone did because you could just say that knowing that would out their little "secret".

However, Eden, who was totally wasted, decided to push the envelope a little far when her turn finally came around one time. "Never ever have I ever cheated on my boyfriend," she paused looking straight at me before adding, "or girlfriend." Everyone froze, no one spoke a word. Joanne's face dropped; she had been having such a great time laughing and smiling, then Eden has to ask this, what a bitch. "No one?" I could see her eyes staring right at me.

"Hey Eden," Mark was quietly trying to get her to just let it go.

"No, that's ok," I started. I glared over to Eden, pissed off look covering my face, "But just to set the record straight I've never cheated on Joanne if that's what you were wondering," I reached over and touched Joanne's knee as I took a swig of my vodka. Yes, I'd cheated on Mark, but never Joanne. If she was trying to make it look like I had cheated on Joanne, I wasn't going to let her have the satisfaction. And how dare she anyway, Joanne was suppose to be one of her best friends and here she goes and asks a question like that. Joanne looked up at me and grinned; placing her hand on top of mine.

Our game continued a little while longer until almost everyone was passed out except for Collins and myself. Even Mark amazingly enough had gotten drunk and passed out on the couch with Eden. Roger and Mimi were curled up together on the seat and Joanne was passed out on the floor.

"Well hey Collins I'm going to get her home," I was ready to pass out myself and really didn't want the both of us sleeping on this cold hard floor; I'd rather be in our big soft warm bed.

"You going to be ok?"

"Yeah, sure no problem." I bent over and woke Joanne up, helping her to her feet. She stumbled around a bit on her own before she let me take a hold of her to help her. Everyone else looked comfortable enough and Collins made his way to Mark's old room and went to bed.

We made it back to our apartment with no problems. Joanne probably won't remember leaving Roger's and coming back here because I basically carried her most of the way home. When we got back to the apartment each of us changed; her changing in the bathroom, me changing in the bedroom. We each crawled in on our sides of the bed and she was quickly out again. Tonight felt like we made some progress, maybe not too much but you have to start somewhere I guess. I laid there for awhile running my hands threw her hair, watching her sleep until I too eventually passed out.

Ok so how was it? The next ch. you'll find out why Eden isn't so fond of Maureen. Any ideas or something you'd like to see more or less of, let me know. I'll be more than willing to try to incorporate it in. Please review! Thanks for reading!