After coming home yesterday and taking a nap, Leina started cooking again. She made some excellent ground beef Japanese curry for her houseguests--yes, Leina hosted dinner. It was the first time in seven years of knowing Tony that she had ever hosted him for dinner. He responded well, however, eating four bowls of the scrumptious porridge over rice and consuming about a dozen stalks of asparagus to balance out the meal. Also present were Joe, Andy, Sanders, Angie, and Erica, but for some reason the entire Aptus posse declined the invitation. It was a good thing, too, because the ancient bottle of Hennessey would likely have been drained even faster had there been a few more glasses in which to pour it.
Finally, it was time to go out.
Leina at the last moment did not wear the little black dress--she wore some red-pink shirt with big holes in the shoulders and at the top of the back. It may have required a sticky-bra underneath because the straps of a typical one would have been showing, and none were. She was also wearing pants.
Two cars were taken to Element. The car with our protagonist was much slower in arrival but didn't realize it and they waited outside for some time until it was realized that the second car had already arrived. Element was pretty full for a Sunday night, and less Asian than a typical crowd. It was a little slow, at first, but Tigger showed up soon, and Katrina (not Dodson), Claire and her husband were also there.
Leina and Sanders and Erica were already really faded by the time we arrived at the bar, and the fact that we snuck in almost a half-bottle of Hennessey did not improve matters. It was to the consternation of (though little surprise to) many when almost half of the dinner party bailed at 11:00, leaving Sanders with a full glass of cognac, which he finished almost by himself, to his detriment. Leina started with a cosmo, wound up drinking a Manhattan on the rocks(!) at some point, and found a little room for a shot and whatever else she was being handed that night. Dancing was not insane, as Leina was noticing certain members of the opposite sex, who were also noticing her.
Xochi was there, Khalil, Raymond, Mari, David, Nicole Dare, Raphael, Keith, and a bunch of other people (including social work friends) who your narrator did not know well). Serena was there! Notably absent were Joelle and Paulie and a different David and Aptus posse Nicole, who claimed she was sick, though all were skeptical of that.
Leina had a grand time and just didn't want to say goodbye to a certain boy or two (or three) but she eventually did. She got in the car on the way home and suddenly insisted on making like a dog on a fire hydrant somewhere near Dubois Circle. The remaining crew was Sanders, who could barely stand up, Erica, who had yelled herself hoarse cursing the lame friends she had who couldn't make it till 11:30, and your narrator, who had stayed sober enough to accurately chronicle the evening's festivities including some super late mobile phone use which Leina claims not to remember.
It was a good night.
