Tyler Jane sat impatiently in the common room, checking her phone for the time and nervously bouncing her leg up and down while she waited for Erica and Savannah to return with the booze. The redhead had been quite skeptical of the blonde’s claims earlier that week, so when she heard from Erica that there was a school van and a fake ID involved, she was under the assumption that it was a disaster waiting to happen. But, surprisingly, she hadn’t heard anything from them in a few hours, so no news was good news. She hoped.
The girl had passed the time by rearranging the furniture to be more conducive to a large group of people- she stacked some chairs and hid them in a closet and moved one of the tables against the wall to be used for beer pong (or as a backup plan, water pong if they couldn’t get any beer…) with the box of ping pong balls she stole from the student center. She had begged another one of the students on the floor for their set of speakers, and luckily they obliged, so those sat in the far corner of the room already hooked up to her laptop.
Tyler Jane had spent a while getting ready after being rudely interrupted by Griffin, makeup complete and hair now straightened. Her outfit was a little more risque than usual- a bralette underneath of a sheer mesh black shirt and a pair of ripped jeans, but she knew she looked good and hoped as an added bonus that a certain someone would think so as well.
Erica pushed the common room door open with her hip, and slid in, Savannah right behind her. Arms occupied with keeping their collection of alcohol off the ground, Erica quickly deposited the ill-begotten gains on the island, breathing a sigh of relief. They’d made it.
“The drinks have arrived!” she said, gesturing to the liquor with a flourish of her hand. All in all, this had been considerably easier than she’d thought it would. The keys practically fell into her lap, but hopefully that meant nobody would be too suspicious when they turned up in a bush near the van’s usual parking space.
“Shots for good luck, ladies?” she asked, not even waiting for an answer before she pulled out one of the bottles of vodka and unscrewed the cap.
Savannah brought in the cases of Corona and coolers, since Erica was doing all the juggling with the collection of bottles. However, her prized acquisition, the personal bottle of Hpnotiq was safely stowed in her backpack. She set the softer booze selections down beside the table and by the time she was standing up, Erica was already kicking off what was sure to be a day and night of debauchery and nothing good.
It was exciting but also tense. There were parties held back in Stillwater, but as far as she remembered, she was the good girl serving as the designated driver. Maybe she would sneak in a cooler herself, but for the most part, she didn’t aim to get wasted. Tonight that was going to change. An entirely different side of Savannah was going to be unleashed.
Maybe I won’t have to think about every possible exit strategy when I’m drunk… Although I should have the water bottle and garbage pail ready to go bedside just in case.Savannah pulled out another fragile piece of their expedition rewards: a souvenir batch of four glasses that had various natural wonders of New Mexico on the sides. It seemed appropriate, and the gas station did have some chips that couldn’t be obtained from the vending machines here, so it was a worthwhile start.
“OK, but let me get some chase or something. I don’t think I can handle straight vodka on my first go.” She didn’t know that it most certainly wasn’t her first go with vodka, but for now, she reached for a bottle of cranberry juice she bought for the ride home. It was almost gone, but it would serve her purpose.
“OK. Hit me, Erica.”Tyler Jane breathed a sigh of relief as the girls appeared and her eyes lit up as she noticed the haul they had in tow. All feelings of doubt washed away as the redhead grinned at Erica, and then turned to Sav and nodded in approval.
“Color me impressed.” She stated simply- even if she was still a bit annoyed with her friend, she had to give her props. With the alcohol secured, a wild night was promised and delivered. She helped her friends set up the different liquors, beers, and ciders on the island in the community kitchen, and placed some solo cups and beers on the pong table. But when Erica asked if they wanted to take shots, all TJ could do was laugh as she dropped what she was doing.
“You read my mind, I want to get this party started already!” Erica grinned, bringing three of the shot glasses over and filling each one up. The vodka spilled over onto the counter as she handed TJ and Savannah their glasses, but for once, Erica let the mess stay. All problems from here on out were to be dealt with tomorrow. She raised her own glass and the three girls brought the shots together, the clinking of glass filling the room.
“To an excellent night filled with only a few bad decisions!” She threw the shot back, grimacing as the bitter liquid moved through her.
As Savannah took the shot, the vodka instantly burned her tongue. With no sugar or flavoring to dull the pure distilled alcohol hitting her mouth, there was a noticeable twinge of pain. Her eyes bugged out slightly, her cheeks puffed up. It was almost as if she wasn’t ready for the taste of it, like she was hoping muscle memory would allow her to take the shot with the same grace she always had, but that was not the case here.
She quickly grabbed the bottle of juice and chased it down immediately to get the acrid taste out of her mouth. The cranberries were sort of doing the job but she could still feel it on the roof of her mouth.
“Ugh… I… I kinda wish I grabbed a better bottle,” she eked out as she threw another big gulp of Ocean Spray past her lips.
“Don’t think it would have helped deal with… that, but still…”Tyler Jane said a little prayer to herself before tilting back her head and shooting the shot with almost no hesitation. Vodka turned to fire as it passed over her lips and down her throat and adrenaline began to course through her veins. As she slammed the glass back down on the table she smirked devilishly- whatever that feeling was, it was incredible, and she wanted
more. But, the redhead knew better than to take another shot in that moment. This was a marathon, not a sprint, and she didn’t need to get too drunk before everyone showed up. Speaking of everyone...
“I vote we hide a bottle or two somewhere for ourselves- all of this alcohol will be gone before midnight if everyone shows up.”“Seconded!” Erica called out, picking up two bottles and stowing them above the fridge, as far back as they could go. She glanced down at her outfit, and shook her head. This was, “steal a school van” attire, not “get a hot guy to stare at you all night” attire.
“Okay, I definitely can’t wear this,” she said, making her way back to the entrance.
“I’m gonna change real quick, come grab me if somebody hot shows up. Oh, and Sav, you better start on the Hypnotiq, unless you want the rabble to get a hold of it.” Her dark hair was the last they could see of her, before she slipped into her room.
“No! This one is mine!” Sav asserted as she held her backpack tight against a retreating Erica.
“I mean, we’ll see how generous I get later, I guess.” Erica’s mention about outfits caused Savannah to look down at herself. She would be a little more upset with it, but apparently “go break the law” wear was pretty close to “do regular Savannah things” wear. Both were good for blending in, anyway.
“I just hope it tastes good. It’s going to really suck if I built my hopes up for nothing.”Tyler Jane watched as Erica disappeared down the hallway back to her dorm, leaving the redhead alone with Savannah for the first time since their… altercation on Monday. You could cut the awkwardness in the air with a knife, but being the good sport that she was, TJ nonchalantly continued the conversation.
“I personally don’t think any alcohol actually tastes good, except whiskey when you’re 60 and smoke from a pipe.” She popped the ‘p’ at the end of her statement playfully, taking a look at the haul once more. There was vodka, tequila, rum… you name it, Savannah and Erica got it.
“How much did all of this cost you guys anyway? It seriously looks like you bought the whole store.” “Well, factoring in the mix and everything, it was about $200,” Savannah admitted.
“But I was able to cover it. The prize for the scavenger hunt was a $75 credit card for each team member and I was able to talk Wesley and Talya into contributing their cards for the booze tab.” She dragged the oo’s on booze in an attempt to sound cool. Or maybe it was just to get more air in her mouth as the effects of the vodka still were affecting her.
“Of course, when Wesley told me he already knew about the party, that’s when I kinda put the press on. He said, everyone in school knew, TJ! Everyone! I don’t even know how everyone knew!” Cool gave way to that sense of paranoia again.
”I mean, I wasn’t going to tell anyone about this except for Wesley and Talya and now it’s like the entire school is coming and I don’t even know if $200 is enough booze and… and…” Savannah was starting to panic. She was feeling trapped again. Like the booze would run out and she would be blamed and be the scapegoat and have to leave the school and ruin her chances of getting to A&M and maybe she should just start drinking the Hpnotiq now. She collapsed onto a nearby chair and reached inside her bag and procured the neon blue bottle that she was saving for herself.
The redhead sighed as she listened to the blonde ramble on, noticing that she was beginning to spin out of control. Even though she had only known the girl for a few months, and she was still annoyed with her, Tyler Jane was quite intuitive, and knew when Savannah needed to be brought back down to earth.
“Hey, hey,” She consoled,
“It’s going to be fine. There’s plenty of alcohol, and if we run out, then we run out. Not the end of the world.” TJ stated, shrugging. She had known that this party would not stay a secret or exclusive thing for long, and that was fine with her.
“This is supposed to be fun, Sav.” She emphasized the word fun, before taking the Hpnotiq from the blonde’s hands and pouring her a shot.
The Texan let out a soft whimper as TJ took the bottle out of her hands, but calmed down a little when the liquid hit a shot glass that was then offered back to her. She didn’t hesitate to take the hit of alcohol this time, quickly downing it, almost letting it bypass her tongue entirely, but she could still taste the tropical hints that made this a much easier drink to swallow.
“Oh wow. That’s better than I thought it was going to be…” she admitted.
“It’s almost like fruit punch.”She let out a sigh.
“TJ, I’m sorry. I nearly blew this, and if it wasn’t for getting all that money from the scavenger hunt, I don’t think I would have been able to pull off this kind of heist. I shouldn’t have shot my big mouth off. I’m sorry.”Tyler Jane couldn’t help but dissolve into a smile as Savannah mused about the Hpnotiq she had been desiring since Monday. As quickly as the girl had taken the shot an apology flowed out, mostly unexpected, but not completely surprising to the redhead.
“I know.” She stated matter of factly, not arguing the fact that the blonde had over compromised and put herself in a difficult position.
“You were lucky that the stars aligned, or else we’d be having a different conversation entirely. I didn’t like how you acted on Monday- that’s not the Savannah I know.”With a small nod, she decided to put the issue behind them now that she had said her part and gotten her point across.
“Consider it water under the bridge. After all, you pulled off the heist of the century, so I can’t stay annoyed forever.”A weak smile crossed Savannah’s face. Tyler Jane had a point. For all the stressing and stupid stuff said on Monday and continued throughout the week, they were here now. They had a bunch of alcohol stashed in the common room. They had kitschy shot glasses. The Hpnotiq didn’t want to make her throw up. Things were looking up. It’s like TJ said. This
WAS supposed to be a fun night.
“Thanks, TJ,” she mustered as she finally was able to stand back up. She wasn’t shaking any more at the very least.
“Hey, maybe before everyone gets here, you can give me a quick beer pong lesson? I’m… kind of a newbie when it comes to it.” This was a lie. Not that Savannah knew it was a lie. She was to be feared with a ping-pong ball in her hand if she was back in Austin. Of course, they played with much harsher penalties for sunk shots than just a couple sips of beer. Even now, it looked like Savannah was going to cling to her blue lifeboat for dear life tonight.
“Yes, but on one condition…” Tyler Jane paused before smirking once more,
“You let me try a little bit of that Hpnotiq.”
In a laboratory hidden in the depths of the Academic Building, a large group of scientists sat at various monitors. It had seemed they had rigged cameras to show off almost every angle of the common room- from the entrance, to the kitchen, to even the hallway that led to the first floor dorm rooms. They would have a front row seat to the evening’s unsanctioned event, and would be meticulously observing every part of it. And in the very center of the room, positioned in front of the largest set of monitors, were Dr’s Wayman and Hagerty, coffee cups in one hand and pencils in the other.
The scientists watched through the cameras as Subject #24, after taking another shot of alcohol, showed Subject #19 how to play the game. The redhead exclaimed as the blonde sunk a shot on her first try, appearing shocked.
“Psh, you don't need lessons, Sav. You're a natural!”
“I’m sure it was just luck or something…”
The two doctor’s looked at each other and nodded. Tonight would be an interesting look at how alcohol affected each of the test subjects, and they couldn’t wait to catalog their findings. 
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