Page 31 of Wedding Games
There was a brief pause as everyone stared at Sam.
Her triumphant look faltered to be replaced by one of abject alarm. Without another word, she stepped off the bar stool and ran for the toilets.
Steve sighed and ran his hands through his hair.
‘Okay,’ said Valentina. ‘I’m going to split the difference and go for twenty-five millilitres.’
‘Have you got any more vodka?’ Fiona asked. ‘Zoe and I have run out.’
‘Er, yes. What cocktail were you making?’ he asked her.
Fiona shrugged. ‘Don’t know. I’m just here to get shitfaced.’
Within an hour,Valentina was buzzed, Zoe was properly drunk, and Fiona was off her tits. Sam was the least drunk of them all, mainly due to vomiting up her experimental drinks.
‘You shure you okay?’ Zoe slurred, squinting into her friend’s eyes as she tried to remember if they’d always been brown.
‘Yeah, I’m fine. It was a tactical chunder. I just need to catch up with you all.’ Sam turned to Steve. ‘Please can I have something small and powerful before we leave?’
Steve quickly mixed a drink and presented it to her. He seemed extremely relieved the women were now leaving.
‘This is a new drink. Small and powerful, just like you.’ He winked. ‘I’m calling it the “Sam Adamson”.’
Sam did a double take.
‘This isn’t Sam Adamson,’ said Zoe, throwing her arms around her friend. ‘This is Morag from Kinloch. She’s in her sixties and runs the post office.’
Sam necked the drink. ‘What gave it away?’ she frowned.
‘I was at the ceilidh at the end of filmingBraveheart 2, your accent slips the drunker you get, and your nose is starting to fall off.’
‘Bollocks!’ Sam turned to Valentina. ‘Deirdre, can you fix my face?’
‘Of course, chica,’ Valentina replied. ‘I mean, och, aye, I can, lassie.’
Steve laughed. ‘I know you’re Valentina Valverde.’
‘¡Mierda!’
‘Fuck’s sake,’ Sam huffed. ‘I thought these disguises were foolproof.’
‘It’s brighter in here, and I’m not as drunk as a punter,’ said Steve as Valentina smoothed the edges of Sam’s nose. ‘You’ll be fine in the club. Go have fun.’
The club waseverything it needed to be. The lighting was low, the music was loud, and the floor was sticky. Thursday was student’s night, so the space was packed with horny young people taking advantage of the cheap drinks and each other. A large group of lads dressed in matching kilts and t-shirts had taken over one corner of the room. Zoe couldn’t make out what the t-shirts said, but she doubted it was particularly polite.
Launching herself onto the dancefloor, she could feel how drunk she was. As she spun in circles, the room spun faster. She held Sam’s hand for balance.
‘You okay?’ Sam yelled.
She nodded vigorously then stumbled. Valentina and Fiona caught her before she fell.
‘Why don’t we do the rest of the scavenger hunt? Valentina shouted.
Fiona was looking at her phone and frowning. ‘Yes. I don’t know what’s happened to the bloody stripper. He should have been here by now.’
Zoe’s stomach lurched as her mind was assaulted by the mental image of a strange man waving his willy in her face.
‘Fi, please, I don’t want a stripper.’
