Chapter Nine
The party was well underway when Jensen and Rosey showed up.
Jensen stopped to knock on the door and Rosey laughed and shook his head. “No, man, we don’t knock here.”
Rosey pushed the door open and the music from the stereo practically knocked Jensen on his ass. “Oh, yeah, this is more like it.”
“Nope. That’s it. No. I don’t care anymore. I am getting so beyond drunk I will forget I live here.” These were the last sober words to escape Sandy’s mouth for a long while. Down the hatch she drank not one, two, but three shots in her first gulp. “Let’s have fun, boys and girls.”
Jensen smirked as he walked past, impressed by this tiny girl that could obviously hold her own with the boys, and also the lack of filter between her brain and her lips amused him.
The other girls, Genevieve and Sophia joined her in shots, and some of the boys battled each other over a game of pool in the corner. They called him over and Christian shoved a cue into his hand before Jensen had a chance to answer weather he wanted to play or not.
He was sizing up the room and just kind of all taking it in when Steve yelled at him, “Jensen, it’s your shot!” It startled him, causing him to nearly lost balance against his pool cue.
“And next week is Long Lost Friends week. Again.” Sophia moaned from somewhere near the corner.
“Is it just me or does it sometimes feel like that movie Groundhog Day around here?” Sandy moaned herself, looking around the room, the same people as always.
Genevieve leaned her back against the kitchen counter. “No, it does. But face it, we have a job to do. It’s worth the name on the resume. From here on out it’s smooth sailing. You have to rough life a little in order to get the goods. It’ll be worth it.”
“How do you manage to keep your head up all the time? Have you been hitting whip its?” Sophia cynically joked.
“No. Although…” Genevieve replied, and the girls collectively laughed.
“It’s not that I want much, just some change. A change of scenery, of people, of behavior. I never got to do things without thinking first. I don’t want to be that way one more day of my life.” Sandy vented, calling to Tom for a margarita and two Vegas bombs, her favorite shot. She tried to make it look like it was split for each of the girls, but he wasn’t fooled even a little.
“We all have bad days at work, Sandy. No need to get all dramatic and run away all the time.” Sophia was one who could call her on her bullshit and get away with it.
Genevieve kept staring out into the crowd of people, and at someone against the opposite wall who continued to stare back and eventually smiled, held up his drink in a cheer.
“Oh my God. Look who the hell managed to sneak in.” Genevieve gaped, turning around to the girls who simultaneous turned to look at the guy.
“That asshole. Do you think Tom saw him?”
“Hell no! If he had seen him, he wouldn’t be leaning on that wall like it was his job. Shit.”
“Sophie, good evening! Funny seeing you here. G, how you doing?” Ian hugged them both. “And who is this gorgeous girl you brought with you?”
“Ian, you remember Sandy. She’s over at that bazaar with Jared?”
“Oh yeah, how have you been, Sandy? Did you change your hair?”
Sandy started to feel woozy and immediately lost her balance in her high heels, falling face first into his chest, which, unlike most male chests, was incredibly ripped. “Wow. Party foul. Sorry about that.”
He laughed, helping her to her balance. “Same old Sandy. Still enjoys a drink now and then. Lucky you haven’t gotten in trouble for that yet.”
“Oh come on, like you can preach the virtues of being sober in this place. Your hobby was seeing how drunk you could get before the guests thought you were the worst Jack Sparrow in the park.”
Ian had the courtesy to flinch. “All right, fair enough. You got me there. So, what’s next for you after this?”
“There is no after this. I plan to age out of this bitch. And then, I will go somewhere and be a sad, bitter old princess trying to reclaim my glory days. Speaking of, what are you doing these days?”
“Actually, I kind of got on the straight and narrow, realized what an ass I had been when I was working here. And ti’s why I’m back. Got the good old House of Mouse to agree to give me another chance at a job. I mean, it won’t be Flynn Rider again, but I might be able to work my way up that way again.”
“Really?” Sandy was starting to sway again. “Hey, uh, I need some fresh air I think.”
Sophia and Genevieve moved to help her, but Ian got to her arm first. “Nah, you guys go have fun, I’ll take her out for a bit.”
“I’m fine. “ Sandy waved them away and looped her arm in Ian’s. “You go. I’m good.”
Against their better judgments, the other two woman let them go together and went back to see what everyone else was up to.
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