Saturday Night – Part 2
"Edward…what are you doing here? Are you lost?" Ed opened his mouth to speak but closed it again quickly in fear of Maria smelling the wine off his breath. "Edward are you ok?" She questioned him once more.
"Yeah-I'm-fine." He said in his most sober tone, still it was all slurred together and sounded like one word. Also he was red in the face and his eyes drooping down; witch ws always a dead giveaway. Ross got in a little closer.
"Edward, have you been drinking?" She saw right through it; Ed's notwithstanding feigned sobriety was no use against Maria.
"…Yeah." His expression turned kind of guilty, but not entirely, he tried his hardest to hold back a smirk. "Uh-little." She cocked her head to the side slightly.
"How much is a little?" Ed placed a hand on the door that the other two were behind.
"Two of those wine jugson the tables...split between the three of us." Ed panicked. "I mean just me! I drank them both! All of them, all luvit…shit…" He ratted on them; it was his dumb idea to come out here in the first place and they were going to get in trouble. "I just wanted to get some samwiches." Ross smiled warmly.
"It's ok Edward, you just go back to the room and I'll bring you some sandwiches." Ed was surprised.
"Yer, not mad?" She shook her head.
"I use to drink when I was younger too, I'd feel like a hypocrite if I got upset with you. If you get caught bay anyone else there's no guarantee that they'll be as lenient as me, so just behave and stay in there till you're ready to go home. Just come find me." Ed nodded and re-entered the room. Winry was polishing off another glass of wine.
"Lutnent Ross is going to get us food." Winry shot her fist up into the air and gave a shout!
"Yea!" She exclaimed in a cheerful tone. Tipping the glass straight up into the air she finished off the last of the wine in the glass. She looked at the vase. "Aww…it's gone, I wanted some more too." Ed shrugged as his teetering steps led him over to the coach. "You hear that Al…Al?" He was in a half sitting position with his head slumped off to the right in what looked like an unnatural manner. His arms were out at his sides palms up as if they were holding something up, his eyes were shut and his breathing was rather hoarse, it kind of sounded like he was snoring. "I think Al passed out." Ed examined his brother from across the coffee table.
"Seems so..." Ed leaned over the coffee table and pushed him onto his side then lifted his legs so they were on the coach. Al, the whole while, didn't even stir the slightest. "He'll be fine." He waved a hand at his brother. His quick brush with LT. Ross sobered him up surprisingly quickly, his speech ability had returned to him, but the dizziness stayed. Winry looked half heartedly at the empty vases.
"I wish I hadn't fallen asleep, you two drank most of it." Standing up she walked over to one of the serving trays she had originally took her glass off of. She looked around the cart; there was a glass bottle, about half the size of the wine vases and it was filled with a clear liquid. "Ah...nothing but water..." She felt the bottom of the glass. "And it's warm too. Oh well, I'm thirsty; for some reason the wine made me thirsty. You think drinking a liquid would make you not thirsty. I wonder if there's any ice around here." Ed listened to Winry prattle on about the warm water then buzz around the room looking for some ice.
10 minutes of searching, coupled with trying to keep balance, she found nothing. "Forget it." She took the top off the bottle and tilted it to her lips. To her dismay it was not water, the burning sensation met her lips and slit to the back of her throat and then all the way down to her stomach. "AH!" Se whipped her mouth furiously. "That's not water! If it is it went bad." Ed motioned for her to come over. "Here, try it. It tastes like crap." Ed raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, that's a good way to make me want to try it." He took the bottle from her hand and sniffed the contents. They smelled very strong. "This smells like rubbing alcohol." Winry covered her mouth; just then LT. Ross came back in the room with a big heaping plate of party sandwiches. Ed quickly hit the bottle between his legs and the couch he was sitting on.
"Here you go...hmm?" She looked at Alphonse. "Is he ok?" Ed nodded.
"Yeah, he just got tired." Ed smiled as he watched Lt Ross place the sandwiches on the table.
"They look so good!" Winry stumbled half way over to the table and flopped down on the floor, she then crawled the rest of the way. "So hungry." She grabbed a sandwich in each hand and proceeded to munch down them.
"That's hot…" Ed stated as he watched Winry gorge herself. Shaking his head he looked back to Lt. Ross. "What kinduv booze is clear and smells really bad; kind-a…kind of like rubbing alcohol?" Maria nodded.
"Vodka; but if you mix it you don't taste it as much…you don't have any do you?" Ed shook his head.
"No, I jus remember seeing it. Tha sall." Maria grabbed the empty jugs off the table and placed them under her arms.
"I'll take these back to the dining hall for you." She gave a sly glance to Edward. "You behave yourself Ed." Ed was a little confused. "I mean it." She looked at Winry who was still eating and then back to Edward. It took a second to sink in but Ed managed to catch on.
"Aaaaah… Don't worry, I won touch her." Winry looked up from her sandwiches.
"Touch who?" He placed a hand on her head.
"Play nice kids." She closed the door behind her. Ed watched the door close and with his eyes on the door still he reached for the jug of Vodka.
"Nice and drunk. Got ya'." Ed tilted the bottle upwards and took two big gulps of the burning liquid. He placed it down on the table and then keeled over in a coughing fit. "AH!" He grabbed a little sandwich and jammed it in his mouth to try and dull the taste. Upon swallowing the sandwich he allowed his tongue to hand out of his mouth.
"Pretty gross huh?" Winry nodded to herself. "At least you were expecting it I thought it was water so when I tasted it you wouldn't believe how surprised I was you should save some for Al." Ed gave her a strange glance.
"You shoo slow down weh you talk." Winry smiled.
Ed nodded as everyone listened intently. "I'm sorry for lying about the vodka. Anyway, everything after that is pretty fuzzy." Al agreed.
"I don't remember doing anything else. I actually woke up in the hall and went home in the morning. Same with Winry." Ed sighed in relief.
"I was wondering what happened to you two." Ed looked over to Maria. "Aside from asking for the drive I have no other memories. Do you think you can fill in the rest?" Maria began to speak.
"After I heard Edward left the building, I went after him; I met up with him on the stairs of the dorms."
"Do you need some help?" Ed was sitting on the stairs with both hands still on the railing and his head slumped down.
"Yu sai yud drime." His speech was nearly inaudible.
"I can't understand you Edward. Let me help you to your room." She took his left arm and slung it over her shoulder and placed her right arm around his waist. She stood him up and they began to walk up the stairs. "So Edward, did you have fun?" He nodded as best he could. "I really don't think you should do this again, it's too risky." He nodded again, it seemed that was the only thing he could do. They headed down the hall and rounded a corner.
"You know Roy has been trynna kill the plant ouside his office for two yeers." Maria laughed a little.
"What makes you say that?" Ed smiled.
"I cameere to get my watch…and I saw him talking to it. He said 'I munna kill you, you ugly lil bastard. I iddin't want you here in the firs place.' He poured out his flaks he keeps in his desk innu it. And randomly dumps coffee innit when noones lookin' I think it's made it stronger!" Ed leaned backward and laughed, almost throwing off Maria's balance. She laughed out loud.
"Oh my! That explains the strong scent of coffee every time I walk by." She giggled and they regained their stability. "So is this your room?" They stopped in front of a door. Edward looked up at the numbers and squinted; then he covered one eye with his free automail hand.
"Mmmm…Yea." He turned the knob and leaned in to go in the room but lost his balance and tugged Maria into the room.
"Careful Ed." She propped him against the wall and shut the door. "Get to bed." She helped him across the room and he flopped down on the mattress; one leg still hanging over the edge of the bed. The minutes passed quietly with Maria sitting silently by Edward's bedside. He seemed to be muttering something in his sleep; she wanted to stay by his side in case anything should happen to him. Ed shot up, propping himself up with his arms.
"Help me to the bathroom…" He said rather quickly. Without a hitch Maria took hold of Edward in her arms and led him to the bathroom that was in his dorm room. Ed all the while was covering his mouth.
"Can you manage on your own?" He nodded and went in and shut the door behind himself. Ross sat on the edge of his bed and awaited his return. "It's awful warm in here." Removing her coat she continued to wait. She heard a loud thud and then a jiggle of a door knob. Ed came out of the bathroom and leaned against the door frame. In an attempt to get back to his bed he tried to walk on his own but instead came crashing down on a little coffee table that was situated outside the bathroom door. His right arm, considering it was made out of metal, crushed the poor table and knocked one of the legs off.
"Ah…" Ed fell forward and passed out cold on the floor.
"Edward!" Maria quickly picked the table up and tried to prop it against the wall. "Dammit." She noticed the broken leg, she grabbed a paper weight that was on the table before and nailed the leg back on. "There." Quickly checking on Edward to see if he was breathing she tried to pick him up; not realizing the automail was as heavy as it was she didn't get very far. "Edward, get up." She shook him a little; there was no response. "Ah dammit." After a six minute struggle she finally managed to get him back on the bed. Grabbing a bucket from the other side of the room she placed it at the head of the bed on the floor. "Ed, I need you to stay on your side…can you hear me?"
"Mm-hmm." He nodded, but only slightly.
"If you feel sick there's a bucket by your head, ok?" He nodded once again. Propping him on his side with a pillow she stood up.
"Thanks…" He said very quietly. Maria smiled.
"Get some sleep; you're going to need it. I'm leaving now, ok?" He nodded and fell into a deep sleep. With that she left the room.
"After that I went right back to the banquette."
"Now that that's all sorted out, we can breathe easy knowing nothing bad happened." Roy announced quite happy with the way things turned out. Ed nodded.
"Maybe so, but I blacked out...That's kind of scary, what if I had done something stupid that I might regret." Breda waved a hand at him.
"That's why we have a rule amongst us here, 'What happens in a blackout stays in the blackout'. That's the way it's been for years and probably always will be. Because anything can happen in a blackout."
"Anything." All the older members of Mustang's staff, along with Mustang, all said as if on cue. Al and Ed looked at one another. Al raised a finger and pointed at them.
"By anything...what exactly do you mean?" A forbidden question that should be asked by none. There was a moment of silence. Then one of them piped up.
"Like, throwing up on your girlfriends lap when you've only been dating for a week because you were too tired to move." Kane began.
"Or pushing your friends' car over the edge of a cliff because he took the last beer." Falman added.
"Or trying to give yourself a Mohawk with a straight blade razor because your buddies said it was a good idea." Roy continued.
"Or shaving a prize winning poodle because you thought he looked like a fag with that stupid continental cut." Breda added.
"Or making out with another guy for 100 cens because you wanted one more shot of rum." Havoc said regretfully. They all turned to Riza who hesitated.
"...Or strip teasing a waiter at a fancy restaurant because you didn't feel like leaving him a real tip." Riza said with a twinge of shame in her voice. Ed and all were in a state of shock; the militaries elite, the upper crust, the cream of the crop, turned into idiots by drink. It was truly a sorry sight. Ed was bewildered.
"You really didn't have to get us to do the dishes to get us to not drink...you should have just told us that." Al agreed.
"I doubt I'll drink again." They all hung their heads in shame; the teenagers had figured it out years before any of them ever did.
"Can't say that's ever happened to me." Maria smiled.
"Same..." Denny added.
There you have it! The end! I hope you liked it! By the way, I would like to thank my friend Red for giving me the perfect position to put Al in when he passed out. It's a shame she won't remember it; it was priceless.