Invincible

fifty

    Isaac shot him a glare.

    “Nu-uh. I was just- kidding, when I said that.” He poked a finger in Jared’s chest as if daring him to challenge the statement, and then a bright smile splashed loosely over his features. “I am fucking fantastic at holding my drink.”

 

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     About quarter of an hour later the three-man-party had attracted some attention and there were now two girls and another guy in their collection of chairs and tables. Isaac had apparently met them at the bar on his third trip up and one of the girls was blatantly into him, which was fucking weird, because Isaac drunk was- okay, Isaac drunk was, even Jared had to admit, kind of endearing. She was all over him like a fucking rash, hand on his chest at every opportunity and arm strung possessively round his neck. The new guy, on the other hand – and this was odd – was seemingly attracted to Cosmo… which just, no. Jared had no clue whether Cos’s sexual preferences stretched to guys, but frankly he was not gonna think about his brother getting off with anyone.

     Cosmo’s vodka bottle was back in the plastic bag by now and they were all, except Cos, holding drinks from the bar- even seemingly-innocent Isaac, who (when Jared had gestured questioningly at his newly-acquired Peach Schnapps) had merely smirked and tapped his nose.

    “Didn’t think you’d be the fake-ID type,” Jared pushed, nudging him a little. Isaac looked for a second like he wasn’t going to explain and then said,

    “Rosie took me out clubbing in the summer once, so I got one made. Also, because I’m like, a massive rebel, but you just never realised.”

     He grinned, and Jared grinned back- and then the weird drunk-pixie-loving stranger girl pulled on Isaac’s arm and said loudly,

    “Let’s dance, babe!”

     She dragged him to the empty dance floor, a sad eighties-cruise-ship affair next to the ferry’s bar, with purple flashing lights sweeping over it and an actual real-life disco ball hanging from the ceiling. The music playing was loud Christmas songs and the only other people near the bar now (it was around one am) were some middle-aged suit-wearers and a hen party in pink sparkly cowboy hats.

    ‘Last Christmas, I gave you my heart-’ crooned Wham from the speakers, and the girl who’d grabbed Isaac pulled him closer, nail-polished hands in his messy hair as he grinned at her. Jared could see his mouth shaping the words of the song, singing along as he moved to the beat, all messy movements and flushed cheeks. The hen party awwed loudly at the couple on the dance floor and then promptly joined them, obscuring Jared’s view of Isaac. His chest constricted a little, wondering if the new girl (Cora, she’d been called perhaps? Dora?) was kissing him. She’d looked like she was going to, which was fine, of course. She seemed normal enough (except for the really fucking awful fake tan, Jared’s mind added bitchily), and around their age. Jared just- he didn’t want Isaac’s drunk ass getting taken advantage of, that was all.

 

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    Soon they’d all migrated to the bar and the guy who’d been flirting with Cosmo was now getting off with one of the hen party ladies, while Cosmo attempted to chat-up the bartender.

     She didn’t look impressed (and probably thought he was drunk, when really he was utterly sober and these were just his ordinary pickup lines). Example:

    “Do you need a plaster? Cos I’m pretty sure you just fell from heaven.”

     Jared only narrowly resisted the urge to facepalm.

     Isaac, meanwhile, was still on the dance floor, neck now covered in hickies and lips bitten red thanks to an enthusiastic Cora/Dora, who still wasn’t showing any signs of letting up. Jared was trying his very fucking best not to watch.

     Suddenly the hen party’s bride-to-be screamed “everyone, shots on me!”, whirling her cowboy hat around her head with a bright white grin. Everybody crowded to the bar and the grumpy bartender doled out luminous blue shots to enthusiastic ‘whoop!’s of excitement. She even poured one for herself, as if dealing with them all (ie. Cosmo plus pick-up lines) alcohol-free was just not possible any more.

     Jared knocked back the shot and felt his throat burn, Isaac doing the same beside him and Cora/Dora downing hers before latching back onto Isaac’s mouth. Jared blinked. Fuck, whatever that blue stuff was it burnt like hell.

     The bartender - a short, bleached-blonde, black-waistcoated woman in her (late?) thirties who now introduced herself as Jolene – seemed a little less unimpressed by Cosmo’s flirting once she’d started drinking, and two of the hen party women dragged Jared onto the dance floor to dance ‘All I Want For Christmas is You’. His head felt heavy on his shoulders but he still wasn’t fucking drunk enough for this.

     Isaac spun past and grabbed his hand, lifting it into the air.

    “Smile, J, smile!” he sing-songed, beaming with kiss-swollen lips as he danced them around- and Jared did, then, but only because Isaac was smiles; he was smiles and light and electricity and everything good rolled up in one.

    And when Isaac smiled at you, you really had no choice but to smile back.