Drunk Teuth

When Stella had said they would talk later, Eve had not really paid much attention. As the days had gone by she had even forgotten that the two of them had a conversation on pause. But her best friend had not.

Something that became apparent while Eve was over at Stella's house.

The two of them were in Stella's backyard, watching as Ryan burned steak on the grill while leaving it raw in the middle. Every time Stella's boyfriend cooked, the risk of an upset stomach was very high. But the man was very passionate about it, so they let him be. It was what they were currently doing, with Eve fighting the urge to clutch her stomach in agony at the thought of what she would be eating soon.

Next to Eve, Stella was sipping her juice, watching the disaster with a soft look in her eyes as her man continued to do some truly awful things to food. A few seconds later he nearly lost his eyebrows. Narrowly avoiding disaster by jumping backwards when a flame large enough to tower over him rose up.

"Are you okay, babe?" Stella called. The dark haired man turned to them, giving them a thumbs up and blowing a kiss in Stella's direction. Then he turned back to the roaring inferno and continued with his 'cooking'...most likely they would be eating ash for dinner.

So busy watching the spectacle that was an accountant trying to barbeque, Eve nearly missed Stella's words.

"Last time when we got drunk, you begged me to set you up on ten blind dates," Stella's tone was light, soft, and Eve almost thought that she had imagined her speaking. But Stella was looking at her expectantly, like the words would jog Eve's memory and she would start jumping and down, thanking Stella for reminding her.But Eve was too busy having an internal freak out to give any visible reaction to her friend's words.

"Come again," She finally managed, her voice raspy, as the pieces of her brain that controlled speech finally managed to get the message across. Unaware that Eve Felt as though she were being held underwater, Stella repeated her sentence. 

"I said, last weekend when you were drunk, you promised to let me set you up on ten blind dates," And there it was again. Even worse it was followed up by a hazy memory of her very drunk self begging Stella to do just that. "What do you mean ten blind dates? In case you haven't noticed, Stella, I am not exactly in any state to date anyone. I just need a bit more time to myself. I'll date again when the time is right," Stella shook her head, not backing down. 

"When will the time be right Eve? That jerk you called a boyfriend has been gone for two years now. You cannot stop trying to experience things in life. All because of one bad apple. He did not deserve you. And I will not sit back, and watch you throw away the best years of your life, crying over him," Her heart ached at the mention of her ex boyfriend, Gunther, just like it always did whenever she was reminded of him. It did not matter that it had been two years since their break up, it still hurt. That was the thing that Stella did not get. Eve was not avoiding dating because she was still hung up on her ex. 

Instead she was avoiding dating because she did not want to risk being hurt like that again. She had given her all to a man once before. Something that had resulted in her barely having enough left to pick up the pieces, and rebuild herself, when things had gone south. She was not about to put herself in that type of situation again.

"You cannot hold me to that Stella. I was drunk. The words of a drunk woman did not count," There was a pause long enough for Eve to think that Stella was dropping the whole thing, but it turned out that she was not so lucky.

" You said you would try to wiggle your way out of it, and came up with a counter measure against that,"

With those words Stella took her phone off her lap and handed it to Eve. 

"The proof is in the video labelled 'promise me'" Curiosity was what made Eve put aside her own drink and take the phone.

She tapped at the screen and scrolled through the gallery, not having to go too far to find what it was that she was looking for. After finding the video she pressed play, and had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from screaming. 

The video was a bit wobbly, whether it was because they were swaying in place, or because they were too drunk to hold the phone up properly, Eve did not know, and she did not care. What she cared about was the sight of her tear streaked face on screen.

"Listen to me, Stella. No matter what I do or what I say, take me on these dates. I am tired of being single. I do not want to die all alone. Don't let me die single!" Eve watched as her past self, her very drunk past self, screamed out the last bit. The words ended in a sob. The Eve on the screen crying freely as she downed a neon green drink. Ending the video, Eve looked over at her friend, and tried to sound unaffected.

"Like I said, I was just drunk and rambling. You can't hold me to something that I said while wasted," After briefly looking over at Ryan, who was still fighting the flames, Stella turned back to Eve.

"You see that disaster over there, that is my disaster and I love him more than anything," Stella began, and Eve just knew that she would have to fight hard to be able to withstand what was to come.

"I want you to have that. All this time I kept quiet because I thought you were happy single. But that video there is proof enough for me that you are not happy. I can't stand aside anymore. Please, give the blind dates a chance," Eve almost felt like caving, but she held on.

"No, Stella. I do not want to date, and I do not want you using that video to try and blackmail me. Let it go, I was drunk, that is all. It was not a cry for help,"

Taking another sip from her drink, Stella looked at Eve sadly.

"I am not blackmailing you. I simply want you to go out there and start living again. It breaks my heart to see you so cut off from everything. You are a wonderful person. You deserve better....please,"

Eve could be stubborn at times. Many people had told her that. But as far as she was concerned, she was not stubborn. She just did not like being pushed around.

If she really wanted to, Eve knew that she could out stubborn Stella on the dating issue. But there was a sadness in her best friend's eyes that made Eve pause.

Was Stella really that worried about her? Noticing the unshed tears in the other woman's eyes, Eve realized that she really was. Already knowing that she was going to regret caving, she huffed a breath.

"How many dates will I be going on again?"

It looked like it took monumental effort for Stella not to squeal and Eve was glad that she held it in.

"Does this mean you'll go?!" 

"Yes, I'll go," This time Stella did squeal, scaring both Eve and Ryan, the latter nearly dropping the charred meat shaped thing that he was holding. Before Stella could get carried away, Eve spoke up again.

"I'll go, but on condition that, if I keep going and I feel overwhelmed, I can stop," Stella seemed to hesitate over that but then she nodded slowly.

" Okay, okay I'm doing this to try and help not to trap you just give it a chance,"

"It's a done deal then," Eve agreed, and the two of them got up to go and help Ryan with the meat. Hopefully it would be edible.

It would be unfortunate if food poisoning kept Eve away from her blind dates...or maybe not.