How to Hold Your Alcohol
"So, who's gonna drive us home?" Edd asked, glancing at the building he was bound for and returning to the road.
"Not me," came Tom and Tamara's voices, not surprisingly.
"I'll do it," Ell answered, gripping Edd's shoulder from her seat behind him. "I'm not really in the mood to drink." He nodded curtly to tell her he heard, looked up and down the dark street, and pulled into the car park.
"I am so looking forward to a White Russian," Tamara said. "This place has the best."
"Straight up whiskey for me," Tori sighed. "It's been a week."
"Well, it's over now, isn't it?" Matt said, kissing her cheek so that she snorted a little with laughter.
Tom gagged next to them. "Please, keep the PDA to a minimum until I'm drunk."
"Oh shut up."
Their argument was stopped in its making as Edd turned off the engine. The seven of them that were there (Matilda didn't want to go, opting instead to watch a few movies back at home) piled out of the car and made their into O'Brien's Irish Pub and Restaurant.
Edd, Matt, Tord, and Tori wandered around for a little, though Tom and Tamara wasted no time making their way immediately to the little bar. The rooms were warm and hazy. The distinct scents of coddle and fish and chips fragranced every inch of the place, and people sat socializing at tables and the bar. A small Irish band played on the little stage, a dozen or so patrons singing alongside the mic.
Eventually, all seven regrouped at the bar. Tom was downing his third shot, and Tamara was just getting a plate of chips and onion rings. Two shot glasses were sitting by her elbow as she looked at Edd and motioned for him to sit beside her. Ell sat with Tord and Tom, pacifying herself with a plain Coke as Tom grinned lazily at her and Tord glared daggers at him. And, true to her word, the first thing Tori did was get a shot of whiskey.
As the minutes passed to an hour, and the hour a couple, things settled into their groove. Tom and Tord had their arms draped around each other's shoulders, Tom laughing at Tord's slurred Norwegian. Ell had left to go sit by the band after the both of them had kissed either side of her face at the same time, making her go beet red and fear for her sanity. Edd and Tamara were resting tipsily up against each other, Tamara's head resting in the crook of Edd's neck, the both of them looking at their entwined fingers and giggling, still downing drink after drink.
Matt and Tori were a different story. Matt sat nervously next to the tiny Norwegian, occasionally taking a sip of his margherita as she herself downed three shots of tequila, gin, and whiskey, and a Bloody Mary. She spoke at random points, talking about her boring day-job, mentioning somebody named Paulina and screaming at a nonexistent Patty to bring her the right paperwork, then sobbing into Matt's shoulder as she recounted a car accident she had seen that week before slamming her empty shot glass against the counter and ordering a Guinness, which was now halfway empty.
"Tori," Matt said quietly, taking her hand as she set the bottle down for the second time. "You have beautiful eyes."
"You're drunk," Tori slurred. "An' du ser vakker ut..."
"Officer! I promise!… Thad I'm not a sink as you drunk I am," came Tom's voice a couple seats away.
"You're one to talk," Matt tittered as Tori leaned up against him, throwing her arms over his shoulders. She hummed in agreement and kissed him.
"'Ey, Ginger!" Matt didn't hear the extremely drunk man against the wall, he was too focused on holding the little Norwegian kissing him. "Oi! You! Pedophile!"
Matt felt as Tori tensed suddenly under his hands, breaking the kiss as she turned slowly to look at the inebriated man, sizing him up. She stared for a moment at his scruffy beard his tweed cap and lit cigarette before saying in a freezing voice, "What did you just say?"
"You 'erd me, kid," said the man before jabbing his friend in the ribs and adding, "Though I bet a little girl like you wou'n't know wha' a pedophile is!"
They were laughing for only a few moments before Tori launched herself at him, punching every inch of him that she could reach as he raised his arms in defence. A few other patrons cheered at the show, raising their glasses as she screamed insults at him in both English and Norwegian.
Ten minutes later, Ell had managed to round up everyone and was pulling out of the car park. There was a sleepy, drunken silence that did not quite hide the tense one under it. Tom was passed out in the passenger seat. Tamara's head lolled on Edd's shoulder as he gazed vaguely out the window. And Matt and Tori sat still together, their hands woven together.
"Why?" He asked after a moment. Tori looked at him slowly, tears once again filling her silvery-grey eyes.
"The man I love doesn't get called a pedophile. Not ever, never on my watch."
They were asleep in the back of the car soon after, warm hands still entwined.
A/N So… Yeah. I've actually never been inside of a bar (and I never plan to either :P), and I've never been inside a legit Irish pub. I've been in pubs, but never at night, just during, like, lunch hour. So, I got no idea how accurate this would be :P And by accurate, I just mean believable XD
Lots of references to the song "The Dodgy Pint" by Gaelic Storm happened while writing this XD I love them, they're great. Go listen to them, they're addictive.
So… Yeah! Bye, I guess. Talk sometime later.
Send me a request or prompt, plz!