A group of the guys had gone to the bar to get us drinks while the rest of us slowly eased our way into the space, following Thad and Jim.

Jim was talking to someone who looked like the host of the proceedings while we looked at the group that was clearly enjoying ribbing a girl’s attempts at lip-synching to “Boogie Oogie Oogie”. I was smiling at Harley, as we stood next to each other, shoulder to shoulder, when the group of guys who’d gotten our drinks returned with a tray of beer bottles and an assortment of cocktails. I was the only one who’d asked for a glass of sparkling water. I was excited to be standing next to Harley, but was beginning to feel the effects of jet-lag set in. There was no way I could get alcohol into my system without dropping.

The other group started to filter out of the space as more of our larger group began to fill the room. As the other group slowly departed, many of us started to sit in chairs they vacated that were roughly circling the room. Jim hollered out, “Okay, the rules are we choose two couples who will compete against each other in a lip-synching contest. They won’t only be competing against each other, but they’ll be competing against the other couple also. The winning couple will be chosen by the audience, and the winning half of that couple gets to do da nasty with anyone they choose amongst the participating couples.” The guys were hollering at that and Jim was laughing, in response. But he hustled over to Carol and Marc who looked at him askance, mouths dropped open.

“No .. no I was just kidding. The winner gets to … do whatever to his/her partner, that’s it,” Jim said.

“Let’s do a first round with two couples first, ok? And then see how it goes, and choose two more couples, and so on, for other rounds?”

“I nominate Annie and Thad, of course!” someone shouted.

“And I nominate Harley and Aerin,” Annie shouted back quickly, pointing at me and Harley, as we relaxed in chairs facing each other, knees rubbing against each other, Michael and Katy flanking me.

We both straightened up, “Wha-a-a-tt?” Harley asked. “But we’re not a couple!”