This party had moved to the back room of the lodge. The back room was lovely; nearly solid windows on one wall with the exception of a fireplace in the center. The minimalistic staircase to one side of the room lead upstairs and it was true this room was much cooler than the front one; most likely because the oven had been on in the front room. The bottle of wine the four of them had just engulfed was already starting to take hold.
"I'm gonna make this real easy. You two take that couch 'cause ya know how much I love this chair. And hurry up with that wine will ya?" Reno said watching Tseng take entirely too long with the bottle
"Relax, Reno. It's my birthday remember? I'm allowed to read this entire bottle before I give it to you." Tseng said.
"Boss, I only hope that when I'm thirty-six, I get half as lucky as you have." Reno said finally getting the bottle he wanted. "Now, 'Lena…you've barely scraped thirty so you gotta ways to go."
"Huh?" Elena questioned sniffing the wine in her glass.
"Well, hell girl, you just turned thirty this year!" Reno said filling his glass a little fuller than what he should have. Tseng laughed at him.
"What the hell, Reno! I'm thirty-four!" Elena said.
"What the…no you're not! You're thirty!" Reno argued her. " 'Lena, 'Lena, 'Lena…you're drunk, you gotta be…because you're thirty! You're not thirty-four!" Elena looked at Tseng and shook her head.
"Reno…first. I think you're already a little drunker than you thought you were because you're leaving off the E in my name. Next, I was born in 1976…I am thirty-four years old!" Elena insisted as she tasted the Noir.
"Tseng, how the hell old is the woman you're fuckin'?" Reno asked.
"She's thirty-four." Tseng said still laughing at Reno and emptying the contents of his pockets on the nearby in table.
"Rude! Hey Rude!" Reno yelled at him. "Did you know that 'Lena is thirty-four?"
"Hold on a minute!" Rude yelled back. They noticed the lights go out in the front of the lodge.
"What are you yelling about?" Rude asked.
"Did you know that 'Lena is thirty-four?" Reno asked handing the bottle over to Rude.
"You are? I thought you were thirty-two." Rude admitted. Now that obvious lack of attention to detail had been exposed, Elena decided it was entirely too cold back here and so she left to put more clothes on. She went back down the hallway toward the front of the lodge and turned the lamp on in the room she had claimed as hers. She was quite surprised at the presence of Tseng's stuff scattered about. She wondered how it had gotten in here but shit, she didn't question it. She pulled her suitcase over and unzipped it, searching for something that would work. Once she had what she wanted she put Tseng's luggage on the floor and sat down in its place. She didn't change right away. Instead she stared at the suit beside her. He had obviously changed in a hurry. Elena looked around as if someone were watching her before picking up his shirt and jacket and burying her nose in the fabric. His scent was the sweetest poison to her and even though she was already drenched in his scent, she somehow couldn't get enough of it. She let a heavy sigh escape her as she put his clothes back in place beside her. Elena changed out of her dress and reluctantly folded Tseng's shirt and placed it on top of his suit. Frankly, she never wanted to take it off but perhaps she could exchange it for him instead.
" 'Lena! 'Leeeena! Before you come back in here get Tseng's man purse out of the front room!" Reno yelled at her. Elena did what Reno asked of her and returned to the back room.
"This is a laptop bag, stupid." Elena said to Reno as she handed the bag over to Tseng.
"No! He carries it too much for it to be a laptop bag." Rude insisted.
"Do you know how often I have my laptop with me?" Tseng said digging through it for his cell phone charger.
"I think that's an excuse for you to carry that bag all the time." Rude said. The four of them were nearly through this bottle of wine already.
"Rude, you're just jealous because you have no reason to have a laptop with you most of the day." Elena said picking up her glass and leaning over against Tseng. He put one arm around her and finished his glass off with the other.
"So, I'm gonna' ask…are you two…like a couple now or are you just sleepin' together? I mean, can I go up to people and say stuff like this is my boss and his girlfriend?" Reno asked.
"Yes, you can do that." Tseng promised him.
"I've been thinking about this. I don't understand why you two never got together sooner because you two have so much in common that it's frightening." Rude said.
"I don't think either of us can really figure that out either. I think it's a matter of I never told him how I felt about him and vice versa." Elena said.
"Yeah, I think that's quite true." Tseng said. "Rude, will you go get another bottle?" Tseng asked him.
"You got it." Rude said disappearing back down the hall momentarily.
"You know what I just remembered? I left a plate of seafood stuffed mushrooms in the fridge at home. I knew I had forgotten something! Damn it, those would have been so good with the salad!" Elena said as Tseng interlaced his fingers with hers.
"Is there anything you can't make!" Reno asked.
"I have to say, I can make a lot of stuff. Oh, Rude boy! You picked a white!" Elena said excitedly as Rude poured it in the 'appropriate' glass. He took Tseng's wallet off the in table in the process.
"Now that we're on our fourth bottle it's time to go through Tseng's wallet." Rude said. This would officially be the drunk bottle
"What the…why are you going through my wallet?" Tseng asked.
"Because you slept with Elena and because I can. Okay, let's look here…driver's license, Shinra ID card…well, one of them. Insurance card, oooh whose phone number is scribbled on this little piece of paper?" Rude asked.
"You better put every bit of that back where you found it! And that's Rufus' chauffeur." Tseng said.
"What the hell! I don't even have this number!" Rude complained. "Two credit cards and some kind of card that gets you a free bottle of wine after you buy twelve…imagine that." Rude said sarcastically.
"Oh my god! I have one of those!" Elena said excitedly. "I'm on number seven."
"Shit, you were made for each other." Reno said just as sarcastically.
"Look at this, look at this…a key card to Rufus' condo. My god, he must think you are a hundred times more reliable than me and Reno." Rude said.
"I am a hundred times more reliable than you and Reno!" Tseng said laughing at him.
"Why do you have five hundred gil in cash? You gonna' pay Elena with this?" Rude asked putting everything back in Tseng's wallet.
"I like to have cash on hand and you can't a price on Elena." Tseng said.
"Damn 'Lena you musta' given it to him like nothin' else." Reno said. "Ya' know what? Hell, who wouldn't sleep with 'Lena? She's so adorable and she's the only girl I know that can rock a short haircut. Damn it, I am so drunk right now." Reno confessed. He was always the first to be drunk because he drank so quickly. It didn't take them long to get through the fourth bottle. While Rude had gone to get bottle number five Reno's phone rang. "Oh my god! It's Rufus. Everyone act sober! Act like…act like we normally do!" Reno said digging his phone out of his pocket. "We haven't been drinkin' at all!" Reno said as he answered the phone.
"Oh my god Reno! Give me that!" Elena said getting up and walking over to Reno, snatching the phone from his hand. Rude had returned, bottle in hand. "Hello Rufus." Elena said.
"It's not phone sex Elena! Give me that!" Rude said trading her the phone for the bottle.
"What the hell! All I said was hello Rufus!" Elena said sinking back into Tseng's arms.
"She won't sleep with you she's already doin' that with Tseng!" Rude said into the phone. He obviously thought Elena's hello was a sensual one.
"Oh my…give me that!" Tseng said holding a hand out to Rude. "Hi." Tseng greeted Rufus.
"Oooooh that's how I should have answered the damn phone!" Reno said disappointed in himself.
"Oh, you've been trying to call me? Sorry, my phone's…it's…" Tseng was having a little bit of trouble thinking of the word "…it needs charged." He finally said. "Thanks. Yeah, yeah we're up here in Healen for the night. What, the thing about Elena? Yeah, we're dating as of about three hours ago. No, see we kind of slept together and then we talked about our relationship. You're right but I've known Elena for like...what...four years? So, it's okay to do everything out of order. What! No! Aerith Gainsborough was...she was...okay, so maybe at one point I was a little hung up on her. Yes, Rufus I know Elena is...wait what! When you met Elena you told Rude that eventually I would end up with her! Hey...hey, there has always been a reason we park our cars beside each other. She knows I'm not going to hit her car doors and vice versa! That was never my secret way of getting to see her at least once every day! Okay, fine...maybe I did look forward to seeing her but she has always protected my car! "Elena is about six inches from me, why? Okay." Rufus wants to talk to you. Tseng said handing the phone over to her.
"What!" Elena demanded of him. "Because he's the sexiest man alive. Whatever, you go to hell, sir. Oh my god! I'm not telling you how many men I've been with before him...Four, okay! What do you mean that's lame! I don't sleep with everything, sir. Aww, you are so mean to me. Shut up Rufus, every man lies about how many women he's been with. The general rule is subtract two from the total number and that's how many women a man has really been with. Like Reno for instance, he always tells other guys ten when the real number is eight." Elena said logically.
"How the fuck did I get in to this conversation!" Reno asked through his laughter.
"Okay, bye. Here's Tseng again. Yes, I love you too Rufus." Elena said sarcastically. She handed the phone back to Tseng.
"Huh? No, Elena didn't have to use the formula on me because I told her that had it not just been me and her I would have lied and added two. Yes, that's truthful…seven is the truthful number. What do you mean I'm just as lame as Elena! Whatever Rufus, I'm not even gonna tackle that one with you. Are you serious? Where are they? Why do you keep condoms in there? No fuckin' way, they are? God, you know what to buy Rufus. I'm impressed. Oh, you learned about that kind from me? Oh, okay. Yeah, what do you need? Alright, and where is the spare key? Oh...put it...wait...give it to the doorman and he will put it in my deposit box. Yeah...yeah...okay. Sunday? Shit, hold on Rufus...I've had a lot of wine and there is no way in hell I will remember that…that flight number or the time." Reno and Rude were laughing hysterically in the background as Tseng dug into his laptop bag for a piece of paper and a pen. "Alright, go ahead. Okay...okay. Got it. Alright, Rufus we'll see you Sunday." Tseng hung up Reno's phone and threw it back at a laughing Reno. Needless to say, he didn't at all catch it.
"Will you come with me Sunday to pick up Lenora from the airport? He has dinner reservations for us as well...actually he's calling and adding you to the reservation." Tseng asked Elena.
"Oh my god! I get to meet Lenora! I will not tell her what I did on her boat." she said pouring another glass of wine.
"You know she's probably done a lot worse on that boat. It's probably why it's named after her." Tseng said. Elena laughed.
"What the hell is so funny!" she demanded of Reno and Rude.
"Holy shit that's the funniest conversation I've ever heard in my freakin' life!" Rude howled.
"God, Rude boy you're so drunk." Elena said.
"Oh shit, the part with the cars! It's funny because it's so fuckin' true! And you both drive the same kinda' car." Reno said holding his glass out towards Elena.
"You moron! No we don't! I drive a SUV and Tseng drives a sedan!" Elena said standing up to fill Reno's glass. "Woo, stood up too fast."
"I don't care! They're both luxury cars!" Reno said.
"God, do you realize that Rufus actually likes you? And I don't mean in a gay way. I mean…I mean he actually likes you as a friend. Tseng, hey Tseng…Rufus Shinra likes hanging out with you." Rude said.
"Hey listen…listen. I know my phone is in the floor. Make sure I leave it there 'cause its times like these that I could call my ex. No one let me call her! Do you people hear me!" Reno said nearly laying upside down in that stupid chair.
"Why is she still in your phone! I'm deleting her!" Tseng said leaning over into the floor to get Reno's phone.
"Yeah, that girl was a bitch, Reno." Elena said. "We won't let you call her."
"She wasn't always a bitch. You all just met her when she started getting all clingy and paranoid." Rude said.
"But OH MY GOD was she good in bed." Reno said loudly.
"So, hey are you gonna go out with that girl that waitresses at the pub in town or not?" Elena asked.
"I don't know." Reno said.
"Why wouldn't you? She's hot and she obviously likes you." Rude said.
"How the hell do you know that?" Reno insisted.
"Because she always asks about you when I'm there alone or if I'm with Tseng or Elena." Rude.
"Why the hell didn't any of you tell me!" Reno asked.
"We thought you knew she liked you." Rude said.
"No, I didn't know dumbass! Okay, so Tseng you and your piece of ass are gonna go out with me and that chick that works the pub next week. Now, I get to pick all the stuff. Nothing…that you know…you two would like. We're goin' someplace that has beer on the menu." Reno said meaning to point at Tseng and Elena…he was pointing at the staircase instead.
"You're pointing the wrong way you stupid fuck." Elena told him.
" 'Lena, 'Lena, 'Lena…shut your mouth or shove his cock in it!" Reno scolded her.
"Reno, you're pointing at me now." Rude said laughing at Reno. If he would have just sat up in that chair everything would have been fine.
"There, there…how's this?" Reno said finally pointing in the right direction.
"Theeeere ya go!" Rude told him. Oh the things that alcohol influence…good times, good times.