Page 71 of The Attraction

Come to think of it, Forrest has done exactly the same, which is not a bad thing.

Actually, it’s been a very sexually satisfying time, and I’m all for that.

Who am I kidding, it’s been more than that.

Tori crashes into Elouise, losing her balance a bit, but we all catch her and continue singing at the top of our voices.

There is one thing that is always a surety when most of us have alcohol in our body, and that’s that we will say things we normally wouldn’t.

“We need to find Cherie a man! She needs a dick to take home and bounce on like the rest of us will be tonight,” I shout out to them all, and Elouise gasps at me.

“Harper, you can’t say that.” But then she puts her hands up over her mouth and drunk giggles.

“Yes!” Tori screams “Ten points for whoever picks out the hottest guy in the room if he’s single.”

“That’s enough, ladies. I’m fine on my own, truly.” Cherie is trying to get everyone’s attention as we are all spinning around, looking across the room in the dim light.

“But are you really? Be honest.” I see a little flinch from Cherie that I don’t think anyone else noticed. I don’t think she is as happy on her own as she tries to make out she is. “I mean, look at me. I swore off men for my whole life, yet a dreamlike dick can change that. Even if it’s just temporarily.”

Cherie rolls her eyes at me, and then Felisha grabs my hand. “Okay, that’s enough from you. Time to get you home. I know what’s about to happen, and nobody needs to witness that.” Felisha now drags me off the dance floor, with the protests of the girls yelling at her from behind us.

“Forrest, you need to take her home. Things are about to get ugly—in a funny way but still ugly.” Felisha dumps me in his lap.

“Wheeeeee!” I call out as my feet lift off the ground and my body falls back a bit, until his arms wrap me up and stop me from falling.

“She is such a party pooper.” I point at Felisha who is now talking to Flynn, and I can see that Rem and Nic are making their way onto the dance floor too, convincing the girls that it’s time to call it a night.

The closer they get to us, I can hear Tori protesting loudly. “No, we can’t go, we have to find Cherie a pogo-stick hook-up.” Oh yeah, Tori has had enough to drink too. This is getting good.

“What the hell?” Nic looks down at her.

“Yeah, you know, a man with a dick she can bounce up and down on all night.” I giggle as I join in, reaching forward to high-five Tori’s hand, my partner in crime in getting Cherie some action tonight.

“Christ,” Forrest growls. “Get the cars here now.” He looks to Rem who is already on it.

“ETA two minutes,” Rem replies, and before I can say anything, Forrest stands with me in his lap and puts my feet on the floor.

Elouise giggles. “That’s funny, Rem, a pogo-stick dick, you know, like when she…” Rem’s hand is over Elouise’s mouth before she can finish her sentence.

“I don’t need an explanation, El.” Rem eyes her but doesn’t take his hand off her mouth yet.

“Oh, and you all have a go at me. This is gold.” Flynn guides Felisha to start walking to the exit too.

“What, it’s my birthday, we have been partying. Isn’t that we came here for? You know, to party at my party. Lots of partying. Oh, I like the word party, don’t you, Forrest? Party hard!” I yell above the music, and all the girls cry out, “Party hard!” in unison.

“Yeah, baby, this is what I wanted for you, to party, maybe just not so much the hard part, but I’m sure I’ll get the blame for letting you do that in the morning. Nothing like waking up on your fortieth birthday with a hangover, I guess.” Forrest walks me outside, and the crisp night air hits me, and that’s when reality also slaps me. My head is a little dizzy, and I can feel the alcohol now taking full effect. But I don’t care. I had a great night.

As Forrest helps me into one of the cars, I hear him talking to Cherie. “Sorry about that. You know they just want you to be as happy as they are.”

“It’s all fine, and what makes you think I don’t want that too?” Her laughter starts getting a little further away, but I don’t care. She is obviously not as drunk as I am because she sounds like she can say a normal sentence.

“Told you so!” I scream out the door, and everyone else starts laughing too, especially the girls.

“Move over to the other seat.” Forrest just shakes his head at me but smiles at the same time.

And as soon as we are seated and the car is pulling away from the curb, I drop my head onto his shoulder.

“In case I forget when we get home, thank you. No one has ever thrown me a party before.” Sure, I had children’s parties, but I never let Felisha do it after my father left. I didn’t want to be the center of any attention.

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