A couple of weeks after the party, as September gave way to October, I arrived at the Y on a chilly Saturday morning in a bit of a rush. Ever since I had received a slightly concerning bit of news at my internship the previous day, my mind had been largely occupied with figuring out a solution to the problem, to the point where I had almost forgotten that I had to teach lessons.
"Where have you been?" Quinn asked curiously, staring at me as I gasped for breath.
"Long story, no time now," I panted, dashing off to the changing rooms to get ready for lessons. I only just made it in time. Trying to push my problem to the back of my mind, I began the usual routine with my first and second classes. As the third class began, though, I found myself co-teaching a class with Quinn. "What's the deal?" I asked. "We don't usually teach this class together.
"I know," Quinn replied. "But Andrew can't work the Saturday mornings anymore, so his classes have to be divided up in some way. This class is too big for one instructor to handle, so we'll be teaching it together."
"Sounds like it'll be fun!" I smiled. This particular lesson occupied a forty-five-minute block, as opposed to the usual thirty, and it was a bunch of swimmers in the Star levels, meaning that we as instructors had very little to do apart from teaching them first aid skills and improving their swimming technique. After sending the class to do their warm-up of twenty lengths of the pool, Quinn turned to me again.
"So what happened this morning? How come you were almost late? You're always pretty early for your shifts," he asked again. I didn't answer right away; firstly, I was undecided on how much I should talk about this issue to anyone, and secondly I wasn't sure just how much Quinn could help me with this anyway. After an internal battle for a minute or two, I decided it couldn't hurt to hear a friend's opinion.
"Well, I realize that this is still pretty far away," I began, "but my internship is having a staff party on December 6th, and-" I broke off as Quinn interjected.
"Wait, wait, hold on," he stopped me. "You have a problem regarding a Christmas party?"
"Yeah."
"So what are you worried about then?" he said.
"Let me finish," I said with a little chuckle. "Anyway, the planning for this party has to be done well in advance, like in terms of where it'll be, how much food and drink to order for everyone, that kind of stuff." He motioned for me to go on. "Problem is, I found out yesterday that they've ordered a ton of champagne, and it's this special imported crap so they can't send it back, and they can't keep the untouched bottles for long or the champagne will go bad."
Quinn laughed. "Extra alcohol? How's that a problem, especially for you?"
"The alcohol isn't the issue," I explained. "The problem is that because of all the alcohol ordered, and because they want it all to be finished at the party, they're saying everyone has to bring a guest."
"A guest," Quinn repeated, looking confused.
"Like a date to the party."
"Ohhhh," he said, a look of understanding crossing his face at last. At that moment, Brandon arrived, beside us.
"What's the gossip, assholes?" he grinned. I retold the story again for his benefit, remembering his story from the party the other night; I realized that maybe Brandon would be able to help me find a solution.
"So," he said thoughtfully after I had finished, "You need to find a date to this party, and you don't know who to ask?"
"Not just that, I don't know how to ask," I added glumly. Both Quinn and Brandon looked at me in confusion.
