Something in the Way You Move [O'J]

Party Time (Part 2)

Jessie's POV

Now that Callie is with us, we've locked all doors except the one we're facing. We've turned out the lights and are all hidden---quite the feat, seeing as there are tons of us! The only one that's not hidden is Callie, so we'll know when to jump out and scare the living shit out of him! A few minutes pass in silence as we wait for him. Soon, we hear the door creak open and Danny enters. "Damn, I knew I was forgetting something," Callie says boredly. Everyone knows he's here now.

He marches over to her and grabs her wrist. "Callie Elizabeth O'Shanahan, we are going home this instant," he commands sternly.

Callie's about to reply when she sneezes. The signal! Everyone jumps out and roars, "SURPRISE!" Danny jumps almost a mile into the air and whirls around, since we came out behind him. "So where are we going?" Callie asks, coming to join us.

"Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me!" Danny yells, laughing.

"That was the general idea!" I tell him as Mark and Glen run up to him and place a golden paper crown on his head. He sticks his tongue out at me and we all laugh.

"Danny, you know what time it is?" Glen asks.

"It's that magical time before a party can truly start," Mark says, not letting Danny answer, "The magical time of the Birthday Pounding!"

Danny looks up to the ceiling and groans, "Damn, I always forget about this!"

Everyone laughs again, and Glen says, "Now, for those of ye unfamiliar with The Script's Birthday Pounding, the birthday boy---in this case, Danny---stands between the other two, me and Mark, and we take turns pounding on his back until we've pounded him once for each year of his life! So in this case, we'll be pounding him...how old are you?"

"Thirty-three," Danny groans. Then he says, "Glen, I'm the same age as you!"

"Oh shut up and let the pounding begin!" Mark cries. He and Glen then take turns smacking Danny on the back, but not hard enough to cause him any lasting pain. We all chant as they do so, and soon enough, they reach thirty-three and let him go. They thrust a drink into his hand before he can let them have it, and the party begins in earnest, music blasting, dance floor filling, and everyone drinking. After many dances, an arm snakes around my waist and spins me around. I come face-to-face with a very, very drunk Danny. It takes him a few seconds to focus on me, and when he does he says, "Jess!" as if he was surprised that I was now facing him. He eyes me up and down and mumbles, "You look amazing t'night."

"You don't look half-bad yourself!" I tell him.

He chuckles deeply and asks, "Could I have this dance with the perfectest girlfriend in the world?" He pauses for a second before asking, "Is it perfectest or...or...or most perfect? No wait! It's most perfectest, I got it!" We share a laugh as a slower song comes on. We grab one of each other's hands, I put my other hand on his shoulder, and he puts his other hand on my waist. We waltz around the room with Danny leading. Despite how drunk he is, he can dance better than many can when they're sober. It's probably because he's drunk. It occurs to me we're most likely the center of attention, but I don't mind. At the end of the song, Danny leans down and kisses me and whispers, "Thank you," against my lips. We break apart as cheers, cat-calls, and wolf whistles start to go up.

Hours pass, crazy, fun-filled hours, and at around midnight, people start heading home. Eventually, at 2:18 in the morning, only Danny, Mark, Glen, Callie, and I are left. Mark and Glen turn to me and say, "Thanks for helping plan the party, Jess. We'll take him ho---DANNY, NO, PUT THAT DOWN!" I turn and look at Danny and see he's holding the knife used to cut the cake, looking over it curiously. He turns and looks in our general direction, swaying because he's that drunk, before dropping the knife onto the table. He stumbles over to us, following a many-turned path. He stops between us and slurs, "I' called me a fish." He leans heavily on Mark and repeats himself before looking over towards the table and yelling, "I'm no' a fish, ya fucker!"

"Tha's right, Danny, you're no' a fish. Come on, we have ta ge' home," Glen says.

"I'll take Callie with me since the three of you are all drunk off your asses," I tell them. Glen and Mark nod and Danny just stares at me blankly. After a few seconds, he pulls me towards him and kisses me passionately. He mumbles, "I love you, Jessie."

Did he just say that because he was drunk? I don't know. Maybe, but maybe not: he didn't slur his words when he said it... "I love you too, Dan," I whisper in his ear. He shivers and asks, "Come back to my place? Please?"

I know what he's really asking. I shake my head and I tell him, "Not tonight, Danny. I have to be up early in the morning." Even though I don't, I can't just reject him without an excuse.

"Oh, okay. See ya la'er," he mumbles. Mark and Glen each wrap an arm around his shoulders and the three of them stumble out of the room. I turn to Callie and ask, "Ready to go home?"

She nods blearily and I grab her hand and lead her outside. We catch a cab, since Callie's practically asleep on her feet. When we pull up in front of my flat, I pay the cabbie and carry her inside, since she fell asleep in the cab. I set her down on the guest bed and tuck her in before going to climb into my own bed. I fall asleep within seconds.

---------------------

So for those of you wondering, I got the idea of the birthday pounding from the birthday punches that we do (fun fun.).