It started with a bottle of tequila. A bottles worth of shots should have done them for the night, but it was his birthday dammit and they could drink as much as they liked!
Jake slammed his second bottle of beer down on the table and laughed. "You know what we need? More crisps." He picked up the bowl and tipped it upside down, a few crumbs falling out onto the floor.
"Go get them yourself, you lazy tit!" Will called, smiling lazily as he reclined on the sofa with a glass of vodka and coke held tightly in one hand.
"Come with meeeeeeeeee!" Jake whined.
"Ugh, fine!" Will pushed himself to his feet, downing the rest of his drink and looking expectantly round at the rest of the party. Josh, who was fairly sober, was sat in the corner reading, and he glared up and the drunken blond.
"Really man? You want us to come out and get crisps?"
"Yeah, get your ass of the chair and have a little fun once in a while!" Jake grinned lop-sidedly.
"This is fun." Josh motioned with his book. Aaron slipped up behind him and plucked the book from his grip.
"You've read this fucking book twice already. Come on, dude." Aaron, second most sober after Josh, shut the book and put it on the shelf behind him. "I'm usually an advocate for reading but there's a time and a place!"
"I'm coming too." Evanz set his cup down on the table and smiled. He had been called up from Clophill to participate in the celebrations, with the promise of free room and board at Jake's place for the night, along with Will who'd caught the train up from London.
"Ugh, fine!" Josh whinged, standing up and grabbing his jacket. "Let's go."
The five of them wandered down the street to a supermarket, open late of Saturdays, in order to get some more snacks. They stumbled in, Jake and Will the drunkest of them all, with Evanz and Aaron not far behind. Only Josh, who had sulked the whole way there, had some degree of control of his mental faculties. Needless to say, shit was going to go down, whether they liked it or not.
It took a good ten minutes of blearily staggering around as Josh looked on and laughed at his four inebriated friends. Will bumped his shoulder on a shelf full of matches and candles and Josh grinned.
"Careful Will, you don't want to get... burned."
Will flipped him off and wandered off after Jake and Aaron who were looking in completely the wrong aisle.
"Morons. Snacks are over here!" Evanz slurred, popping his head out from the next aisle. The others walked over, they selected their food and, after some fumbling with change, they paid for the snacks and walked out of the shop.
"Guys! Guys! Let's go to the park!" Jake said, waving his arms around.
"Yeah, good idea!" Evanz agreed as he followed Jake towards the park.
"It's his birthday, why not?" Aaron shrugged and walked after them. Josh sighed, but trudged after them. Will brought up the rear.
"Ow! Aaraaraaron! You kicked me, that's why you won!"
"Fuck off, I'm the best!"
"MORTAL KOMBAT!"
"No biting! Evanz, what the fuck?!?"
"Finish him!"
"...fatality..."
When Jake woke up the next morning, that was where his memories ended.
"MORNING!"
Everyone who was lying on the floor and the sofa cringed and sat up, rubbing the sleep from their eyes. Josh smirked, highly satisfied with himself.
"Shut the fuck up." Aaron hissed, glaring up at Josh.
"What he said." Evanz groaned, holding his head as he tried to stand up and get water.
"Wanna hear a story? Once upon a time, there were four drunk assholes who were in the park trying to see who could roll down a hill fastest. Then, the argument over who won descended into a full on wrestling match. Luckily, they had one friend who was sober enough to film and take pictures of the whole event, to be used as blackmail in the future. The end." Josh grinned smugly, waving his phone teasingly in front of his friends face.
Jake moaned, pressing his fingers against his temple and wincing at Josh's loud voice.
"Fuck off..." Will murmured, flipping Josh off less enthusiastically than the night before. "Indoor voices please..."
The morning passed in a haze of painkillers and water and coffee (much to the disgust of Hollow, who refused the coffee in favour of tea). All in all, an average "morning after" feeling.
~~~
A/N Happy birthday Jakey boy! Many more to come :)
