Both Cleo and Epke had stayed over for this event. Early in the morning, Maya sneaked an ice box to her room and put her champagne bottles in it along with a bunch of ice cubes and plastic champagne cups. She wanted this New Year to be special, not like every lame New Year that she's had before. Epke's parents agreed to get some popcorn for the three and dropped a whole box worth of it. The three absolutely knew that this night was going to be a blast and a half.
So, late at night, as the three were watching Netflix in the living room, Coco approached them and said:
"Hey, guys! Me and Mymy are going to see the drone show downtown with mom and dad. Do you guys wanna come?"
"Nah, we wanna do our own thing here instead.", Maya replied. "Ain't that right?"
"Yea!", Cleo and Epke confirmed.
"Oh, that's okay.", Coco replied. "In case you guys can't see the show from here, we'll be recording the whole thing for you to see later."
"Nice, thank you!", Cleo said. "Have fun!"
Then, the rest of the family got themselves ready and drove off, leaving the entire household for Maya, Cleo and Epke. So, after the episode they were watching was over, Maya said:
"Hey, guys, now that we're alone and this episode is over, can I show you something I've been preparing for us?"
"Sure thing!", The other two replied.
"Ok, just hold on a minute."
Maya then went to her room and clumsily dragged the ice box to the living room. Maya then grabbed the lid.
"Aaaaaaand, behold!", Maya said as she opened the box, exposing all of the contents within it.
"No way!", Epke replied in enthusiasm. "You got champagne for us?"
"Yup!", Maya said.
"Wow, is this, like, the real thing?", Cleo asked, pretending to not know how she got those bottles and from whom. "And where did you find those?"
"Yup, it's real!", Maya replied. "As for where I got them, it's from my special source."
"You gotta share this source with us some day, Maya!", Epke said.
"One day, honey, one day!"
They then resumed watching their show. Soon later, they began hearing some noise coming from outside.
"Hey, what time is it, anyone?", Cleo asked.
"Let me see...", Epke said as he checked his watch. "Guys, it's ten minutes to midnight!"
"Oh shit, we gotta go outside, then!", Cleo stated. "Let's go, everyone!"
The three then went outside, Maya carrying the champagne box with herself. They then sat on the chairs near the pool, and Maya brought a small table over and put the ice box on it. It was very dark outside, so Maya turned the pool lights on. There, they waited until midnight arrived. Five minutes before the main event, Epke suddenly said:
"Hey, it's kinda boring out here without any music. Is there any way to get some tunes in here?"
"Yeah, I'll be setting up the speakers in the living room, hold on."
Maya then rushed to the living room and connected the speakers to the TV and then began streaming her Spotify playlist to it. The speakers were very quiet initially, so she turned them up until she was sure that it was audible from outside. Sure enough, when she went back, the other two were nodding along to the music.
"So...", Maya began. "How long until midnight?"
Epke then checked his watch.
"Three minutes.", He replied.
They then kept waiting for a bit longer. Soon enough, they saw drones flying around the sky. It was about to start! Epke checked his watch again.
"30 seconds, everyone!", He said.
Maya then put the champagne cups on the table and pulled the two bottles out of the box.
"Ayo, Cleo!", Maya said. "Wanna pop the second bottle?"
"Sure, Maya!", She said as she grabbed one of the bottles.
"15 seconds!", Epke continued. "14, 13, 12..."
Maya and Cleo then prepared to pop the champagne bottles.
"...11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5..."
The two then held the cork and began twisting the bottles.
"...4, 3, 2, 1...!"
POP!
POP!
"LET'S GOOOOOOOOO!", Epke screamed in excitement.
The other two then filled the cups with the champagne and grabbed them.
"Happy new year, guys!", Epke said as he prepared to toast.
"Happy new year!", The other two replied as they toasted and then drank it.
"Oh wow!", Epke said. "Whoever made this is an absolute pro!"
"Indeed!", Maya replied. "This is just amazing!"
They then watched the drone show up in the sky. Some drones formed the numbers "2020" in the middle of a Dutch flag, while others simulated firework explosions.
"You know, this is better than the normal fireworks.", Cleo said. "At least those drones can make cool visuals like those."
"Indeed!", Maya said as she poured herself another cup. "Plus they don't make those loud noises that fireworks do. Imagine how many dogs are happy right about now!"
The three then laughed and drank some more champagne. Soon enough, both bottles were half-full, and Maya was already feeling a lot drunker than usual. Even though this was a good enough place for Maya to be in, she still wanted some more, so she grabbed one of the bottles and said:
"Hey, guys! Wanna bet I can drink this whole bottle?"
"Uhm...", Epke said, a bit worried. "Isn't that a bit dangerous? You're already acting a bit drunk."
"Ha! This is almost nothing!", Maya smugly replied. "I've done a lot worse before!"
"Whatever, Maya, go for it!", Cleo said.
Maya then approached the bottle to her mouth and began to drink it all. She managed to do it very quickly and in one go. Both Epke and Cleo were very impressed.
"No way!", Epke said in disbelief. "You actually fucking did it, Maya!"
"How is it even possible?", Cleo said, also in disbelief.
"As I said before, I've drank less than this before!", Maya said, her words starting to slur a lot. "This was absolutely nothing!"
Maya started feeling herself getting extremely intoxicated, almost unable to respond to her surroundings. The whole world felt like it was spinning, and she had to put more effort in staying up.
"Well, I wouldn't say that's nothing-", Cleo was about to say.
"CAN IT!", Maya yelled very smugly. "You haven't even seen all that I can do! I am an absolute beast! I am in... vinc...-"
Maya then fell to the floor and passed out. Epke and Cleo both gasped and ran up to her. She was still breathing, yet didn't seem to move any part of her body.
"Maya? Maya?", Epke said. "Are you ok?"
Maya did not respond.
"I think she fell asleep.", Cleo said. "Let's just get her to bed."
The two then lifted Maya up, placed her on her bed in a recovery position and covered her up. Epke then gave her a goodnight kiss and then went back to the living room with Cleo, turning the music down so the neighbors don't complain.
"Are you sure she's gonna be okay?", Epke asked Cleo, very worried.
"Calm down, Epke!", Cleo assured him. "She was still breathing, plus we put her in a position that won't kill her if she pukes. The worst that could happen is her waking up with an ungodly hangover."
"Well, in either case, I'll sleep next to her in case anything happens.", Epke replied.
"Great idea! Now, let's just forget about that and enjoy the rest of the night."
They then spent the rest of the night watching some Netflix, with Cleo soon falling asleep as well. Then, Epke grabbed his sleeping bag, sneaked into Maya's room, and laid down. So far, Maya still seemed to be fine, so he managed to calm down enough to fall asleep.
The next day...
Maya wakes up. She's suffering from her worst withdrawal ever. She kept hearing screams all around her, spiders seemed to be crawling all over her walls, the sun almost blinded her, her body temperature felt like she was in the middle of the Arctic, and her shakes almost made it impossible to grab the moonshine bottle below her bed. After chugging down a huge amount of it, she finally snapped back to reality, and realized that Epke was sleeping right next to her.
"Wait, why is he h-", Maya thought before realizing that she, yet again, blacked out. "Oooooh no! This is bad! Fuck, I'm such an imbecile!"
She then put her face on the pillow and grunted in pure shame.
"Why the fuck did I do that?", She thought to herself. "I should've just stopped at a couple of cups, goddamnit!"
She then laid down for a couple more minutes, lamenting her stupid choice, and then got to distract herself with her phone. Luckily, it was early in the morning, so she still had a lot of distraction time. A couple of hours later, Epke woke up and looked at Maya.
"Good morning, babe!", He said.
"Heyyyy!", Maya replied.
"Fuck, it's such a relief to see you awake!", He continued. "And thank God you didn't vomit!"
"What, did I, like, pass out or something?"
"Yeah, Maya, right after drinking that bottle too! It spooked the shit out of me!"
"Well, look, I'm sorry, babe, I did not mean to scare you! I mean it!"
"It's ok, Maya, calm down! You just did something stupid. Just be careful next time you drink, ok?"
"Alright, I guess... anyway, let's get something to eat, I'm kinda hungry right now."
The two then went to the kitchen and grabbed something to eat. Later, both Mymy and Coco came in to eat, and so did Cleo shortly later. The five of them then got to have some fun together and, later, in the evening, Cleo and Epke went back to their respective homes. It was tough for Cleo to sneak the bottles that she bought from Mymy to her car without anyone else catching her, but she managed to do it regardless.
Maya used this day as a reminder to focus more on not blacking out or passing out on alcohol ever again. Once again, just drink enough to get through the day. No more mistakes!