Chapter 10 – Wide Awake

“I literally have the most rotten luck in the world,” Adeline said to her reflection in her car's rearview mirror.

She had agreed to come to Lance's party, and she had actually been a little excited about it – until tonight.

He hadn't given her much notice about the party and with her schedule she couldn't fit costume shopping in, so she had no choice but to order one online that Friday and have it sent overnight. It had cost her a small fortune, but she loved the costume and knew she would look great in it.

When the box came and she opened it, she was shocked. Her amazing and modest nurse costume had morphed into something she was convinced only a hooker would wear.

The first thing she had done was to try it on and look in the mirror, thinking maybe it wouldn't be so bad. The second thing she had done was call the company, hoping that they could work miracles and exchange it for something less showy in time for the party. The third thing she had done was cry a little inside when she realized that nothing could be done.

When she finished, she gave herself a pep talk, went out and bought a pair of knee-high stockings and white boots, and coined her new motto for the night.

“Embrace the slutty nurse deep down inside of you, Addy,” she told her reflection.

She expected the eyes staring back at her to show confidence, but instead they looked defeated.

“Hey,” she said to her deflated inner ego. “At least you'll make an impression.”

She stepped out of her car and walked up to the building pulling her skirt down the whole way, and all she could think was how glad she was that there would be alcohol.

She felt a little safer in the elevator, until it stopped on the second floor to let someone on – and she was less than shocked when the same businessman from a few weeks ago stepped on, clad in workout clothes instead of his usual business suit.

“Of course,” she groaned out loud. Not surprisingly, he looked over at her, wide-eyed.

“Hi,” she said with a smile. “You can stare. It's okay.”

He didn't say a word as the elevator stopped and opened its doors to the third floor.

“Hope you enjoyed the show,” she said to him as she stepped off. “Have a happy Halloween.”

She smiled to herself as she walked down the hallway to Lance's apartment. Her inner ego was feeling a bit more confident as she knocked on his door.

“He...”

Lance's voice trailed as he opened the door to the full view of Adeline.

“Addy. Wow. Hi.”

“Hi,” she said, not being able to help herself from smiling. She watched his eyes trail from her face down.

“You look...um...”

“Lance,” she said, snapping her fingers in front of him, then pointing at her eyes. “My eyes are up here.”

“Yes,” he said. “Yes, they are.”

“Can I come in, or do I have to stand out here in the hallway?”

“Yeah,” he said, shaking off his residual shock and stepping out of her way. “Sorry, come in.”

She stepped into his entryway and looked around. He had a relatively small gathering of people, but his apartment was still packed to its full capacity. Suddenly she felt self-conscious, but all it took was one more look at him for that to go away.

“You look...amazing,” he said to her.

“I look like a whore,” she said. “I ordered something a little more modest, but they made a mistake. Apparently the gods of the universe thought I would look better in this. I have the worst luck in the world.”

“Then I must have the best luck in the world,” he said with a smile, his eyes fixated on her.

She raised her eyebrows at him.

“I said that out loud,” he said. “I'm sorry. I'm an idiot.”

“At least you're not the only one in the room,” she said to him, feeling several pairs of eyes from the room on various parts of her body. “I need a drink.”

“Suddenly, I do too,” he said. “Come with me, they're over here.”

He walked through the living room full of people, watching his guests' reactions as they saw her. He found himself getting upset at the number of heads that turned to look at her. About halfway through the living room he reached back and grabbed her hand in his.

The action surprised her and made her even more self-conscious. It wasn't like when he had grabbed her hand to lead her to the dance floor a couple nights ago. The people in the room weren't sizing up her and her immodesty; they were sizing both of them up.

Adeline wondered to herself if Lance noticed that they were now the center of attention. She wondered if he cared; he didn't seem to care much about the opinions of others any other time. It should have made her feel better that he had taken some of the attention off her outfit, but now she wondered what these people thought of them.

He maneuvered them through the people and into the kitchen, where there was no one to watch them.

“What's up with the costume?” he said as he poured both of them a drink.

“I didn't have much warning about the party. I never could have made it to a costume shop so I had to order online, and...well, yeah.”

“What were you going for?” he asked.

“Not this,” she said. “Something a little more--”

She stuttered, searching for the right word.

“Rigid?” he asked. “Uptight? Boring?”

She kicked him in the leg as he handed her a glass, and he chuckled.

“I was thinking understated.” She looked over his costume. He was wearing shiny dress shoes with pressed black dress pants, held up by black suspenders over a crisp white shirt, all topped off with a fedora, slightly tipped to one side. “What about you? What are you supposed to be then – Al Capone?”

“This is Joey's convoluted idea,” he said. “I made the mistake of saying yes when he asked if we could coordinate costumes this year, for the fun of it. We're supposed to be gangsters or something. I had a suit jacket but it's about a million degrees in here, so I ditched it. And the hat...”

“I like it,” she said. “It's classic – and kind of sexy.”

He lifted his eyebrows, but as he was about to respond to her he felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder.

“Adeline!” Joey said. Like Lance said, he was dressed in the same way, with the addition of the black suit jacket and a smirk. “You made it. Wow. It's good to see you. Very good.”

“Hey Joey,” she said, smiling.

“Are you hiding her, Lance?” Joey turned to Lance. “You two are back here, in the kitchen, all cozy, together...alone.”

“Joey...”

“Lance was showing me to the drinks, here,” Adeline said. “And we got to chatting about my costume disaster.”

“Disaster?” Joey looked at Lance with a smile, then looked to Adeline. “What disaster? I think you look great!”

Lance could tell that Joey was putting on a show for him, spurred on by their conversation at the coffee shop.

“Well, thank you Joey.” Adeline's face perked up with added confidence. “It was supposed to be more understated than this, but this is what I ended up with. I don't usually wear things like this.”

“You look sexy,” Joey said to her. “One hot babe.”

Lance caught Joey looking briefly over at him with a smug look.

Adeline felt herself blushing. “Joey, we hardly know each other – but flirt harder, please.”

“Joey, shouldn't you go find your wife?” Lance asked, pushing Joey's arm away slightly. “You know, Kelly? Ring a bell?”

“Vaguely,” Joey said, his eyes fixated on Adeline.

“You know, Fatone, the woman you have two daughters with...”

Lance looked from Adeline to Joey, and when he continued staring without saying anything, Lance grabbed his arm and pinched.

“Ow,” Joey yelped, grabbing his arm. “Fine, I'm going, I'm going. But Adeline, I have a piece of advice for you – don't get too drunk.”

“Oh Joey,” she said with a smile. “I don't just plan to get drunk – I plan to get totally sloshed. It's been one of those weeks.”

Joey turned to Lance and smiled. “You've found your drunk girl.”

“Get outta here,” Lance responded, pushing him by the shoulder most of the way out of the kitchen.

After a few minutes, Adeline realized that Joanna and Jamie-Lynn were at the party, so she disappeared into the crowd to find them, in one of the corners of Lance's living room.

And she stayed there, two hours, while he watched. His guests tried to come over and start conversation with him, but they usually left after they noticed he was too distracted. After his wife had left the party early, Joey eventually found himself at Lance's side again.

“Have you memorized every curve of her body yet?”

His attention was broken quickly as he looked over at Joey.

“What?”

“I've been standing here about five minutes, but you've been so busy watching Addy you haven't noticed me once,” Joey said. “I'm assuming you're trying to commit every curve, cranny and birth mark on her body to memory so I don't take offense at it.”

“Sorry, Joe. I'm keeping an eye on him.” Lance pointed at the man next to Joanna, her fiance Nick. “His eyes have barely left her body all night, and he keeps touching her.”

“I've noticed that. I've also noticed he keeps smiling at her, and talking to her too. What a cad!” Joey said sarcastically. “Wow, Lance, seriously?”

“What? Look at how she's dressed.”

“I saw. Oh trust me, I saw. I also see that Joanna isn't dressed much differently, and that Nick isn't paying any more attention to Addy than he is Joanna and Jamie-Lynn. They're having a conversation, which is what most people do at a party – most people except you, that is. You stare at corners.”

“I'm looking out for her,” Lance responded. “She's not used to this kind of attention.”

Joey looked at his friend, who was once again staring in the corner.

“Pathetic,” he said with a shake of his head.

Almost an hour later, Joey had finally managed to distract Lance enough to start up a conversation with someone else when the three girls came rushing over to them.

“Lance,” Adeline said as she leaned forward on his arm, unsteady on her feet.

He waited for her to finish her sentence, but she never did.

“She's drunk, isn't she?” Joey asked Joanna.

“Maybe a little,” Joanna said.

“Maybe a little,” Adeline said to Lance, holding her fingers a few centimeters apart, drawing out every word. He could smell the strong alcohol wafting off her clothes.

“God, Joanna, she's flammable,” he said. “What's she been drinking?”

Joanna held up both arms in an exaggerated shrug. “A little of this, a little of that.”

“Joanna might be a little too drunk herself to have noticed,” Jamie-Lynn said.

“Joey!” Adeline stumbled over and flung her arm over Joey's shoulders, giving him a small kiss on the cheek.

“Whew, Addy!” Joey said, smelling the alcohol. “Good thing it's not the Fourth of July. Sparklers don't light as easy as you would. How many have you had?”

“A couple,” she responded.

“Cans of gasoline, maybe,” Joey said. He took the half-full drink glass she had and handed it over to Lance. “Maybe it's time to get you home and in bed. Let's you and me go grab a cab, shall we?”

“No!” Adeline cried. “Joanna and Jamie and me, we're going to sing k-karaoke.”

“Karaoke!” Joanna yelled, and grabbed Adeline by the arm. The two of them ran off, and Jamie-Lynn stepped up to Lance and Joey calmly.

“You're really going to let them do this?” Joey asked her.

“I have to get my kicks somehow,” she said with a smile, and walked off to the other two girls.

Lance and Joey watched as Joanna and Adeline clambered their way onto a table against one wall in the room with the help of Jamie-Lynn, who stayed on the floor.

“Since when do I have karaoke at my parties?” Lance asked Joey.

The man shrugged and both looked back over at the girls. Jamie-Lynn had found a CD and put it in the stereo, pushing a couple buttons to get to the song she wanted.

When they heard the first notes of “I Kissed a Girl” come out full blast, both of them looked at each other.

“Oh no,” Lance said, shaking his head.

They watched in semi-horror as the two women sang every word of the song, sans microphones, while dancing back-to-back on top of the table. The attention of every male in the room was hooked as they moved in ways that Lance had only typically seen from exotic dancers. As drunk as they were, both girls only stumbled a couple of times, and Jamie-Lynn was standing at the bottom of the table waiting to catch them, quickly going back to laughing and having a good time when they were balanced again.

“What a train wreck,” Lance said to Joey as he watched the sight in front of him.

“I can't look away,” Joey said. “Hey, let's get them to do 'Genie in a Bottle', yeah?”

“Joey!”

“Sorry. Had to try.”

As the two sang about soft skin and red lips, Lance noticed Adeline was looking straight at him with a seductive look in her eyes. He knew she was inebriated and had no idea what she was doing. He knew she would regret this in the morning when she found out. He wished he could control the stares of the other men in the room.

But he was secretly enjoying watching it himself.

As the song ended, Joey and Lance walked over to the table. Both girls were stumbling more now than ever.

“Let's do some Gaga next!” Adeline stuttered to Joanna, who Joey was helping off the table.

“Oh no.” Lance grabbed Adeline's arm and gently started pulling her down off the table. “No Gaga tonight.”

“I want it bad, your bad romance,” Adeline sang as Lance held her up.

“She's basted like a Thanksgiving turkey,” Joey said.

“Basted? She's marinated. I think it's time to call this party over.”

“I'll get everybody out of here,” Joey said, handing over Joanna's arm to Jamie-Lynn.

“I'll find Nick and get Joanna home,” she said as Joey walked off. “Lance, this was a great party.”

“Yeah, remind me in the morning when I'm replaying this train wreck,” he said.

Adeline, threatening to collapse to the ground, was clinging to his neck tightly. As everyone started to clear out, Lance tried to pull her over to the couch, but she was too heavy and uncooperative. He held her up in place and five minutes later when most of the guests were gone, Joey walked over.

“Want me to help you get her home?”

“She's dead weight,” he said. “Her apartment is a fourth floor. There's no way we're getting her into a cab and up to her apartment, even with the two of us.”

“True,” Joey said. “She's had enough alcohol to kill two frat houses by now. Let's get her to the couch and call it a night.”

They each grabbed an arm and threw it over their shoulder and carried her over to the couch. She collapsed in a heap, throwing her head back with a drunk groan.

“I'm so dizzy,” she drawled out.

“That will be one fun hangover tomorrow,” Joey said to Lance. “It's late, I'm out. Kelly will have a good laugh at what she missed.”

He walked Joey to the door to see him out, and turned back to look at Adeline after he closed the door. He expected to see her passed out, but to his surprise, she was wide awake.

“Lance, come s-s-sit with me,” she said, stumbling over her words. He looked at her and all he could do was shake his head and chuckle.

He grabbed a blanket and extra pillow out of one of the hall closets before he walked back into the living room and to the couch. He threw the pillow against the arm next to her, and the blanket on top of it.

“I made a fool out of myself tonight, didn't I?” she asked as he sat next to her.

“A little,” he said.

“I won't remember any of it in the morning, will I?”

He smiled. “Probably not. That's the blessing and the curse of alcohol.”

She groaned. “I'm never drinking again.”

“Says every person, until they sober up. You should probably lay down and sleep it off, Addy. I'd tell you you'll feel better in the morning, but – well, you won't.”

“Can I ask you a question, Lance?”

He looked at her, and she looked him directly in the eyes.

“This may just be drunk r-ramblings,” she said, still stuttering. “I don't know if it will even make any sense. Do you think there's a difference between bad decisions and bad decisions you make while you're drunk?”

“You're right,” he said with a smile. “That is drunk ramblings, and it doesn't make any sense.”

“You know that people say when you're drunk, you have no inhibitions?”

He nodded, surprised she could speak so coherently, and almost philosophically.

“Do you think it's possible that the bad decisions you make while you're drunk are actually good decisions that you're too scared to make when you're sober?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, sometimes. You can't really be afraid when you're drunk.”

She looked over at him.

“Why?” he asked. “What decision did you have to make, Addy?”

She grabbed him by the suspenders and pulled him all the way down to her. His lips fell against hers and she pulled him in more until they were locked against each other's lips. She reached behind him and grasped gently onto his hair with one hand, kissing him longer and more passionately than he remembered a few nights ago.

“I kissed a boy and I liked it,” she whispered after she released his lips. “I hope my husband don't mind it.”