Page 3 of Soaring and Saucy

“Just try to have fun and live a little,” Lila countered, smiling as they all started to pile out of the car. “We only mean the best for you and want you to have as much fun as us. I plan on checking in, dropping my bag in my room, and marching directly into the middle of that throng of hot, white uniforms over there.”

Natalie whistled loudly to get their attention – and sure enough, several heads turned in their direction. Oh yes, her friends were planning on ‘partying’ hard this weekend, which made her the chaperone.

“Let’s go check in,” Stephanie urged, tugging on an arm as both women waved happily toward the men.

“We’re on our way, boys!”

“No, we’re not…”

“I’m a thirsty girl, and I see me a nice tall glass of water…”

“You should be on meds…”

“I am – birth control,” Lila quipped, and both women burst out laughing as they waltzed inside, linking arms with Stephanie and dragging her with them. “Come on. I need to forget just how bad my life sucks…”

Heaven help me. It’s going to be a long weekend.

2

TROPHY

New York City

Chug! Chug! Chug!

Lance choked on the keg stand and nearly inhaled a lungful of Coors Lite – which had to be the nastiest beer on the planet. He was on an adrenaline high and needed to burn off some energy after the evening’s events. One of his buddies in the squadron needed backup when his wife was nearly kidnapped earlier in the night. The team of friends, brothers, and aviators had all stepped up to open a can of…

Whoops!

He carefully swallowed to keep from snorting the rancid beer that was being funneled into him. Beer chasing liquor, you get sicker quicker, he thought idly and fought back a smile, clamping his lips around the funnel, realizing that at this rate – they were all gonna be sick, no matter what they drank tonight.

The big ‘daddy’ of the group, Orion, was sitting back, sipping a pint of Guinness that looked like motor oil. Tic-Tak hitting the hard stuff, laughing and slapping the table hard every time he took a shot of tequila. Moonbeam was drinking Kamikaze shots but looked like a pansy with the bluish-green liquid that was sure to stain something when he puked later in the alley.

“Keep going! You got this!” Ohio was screaming beside him, pumping his fist in the air as Pasteur held the funnel, laughing wildly from where he was standing on one of the barstools beside him – dumping in more beer. Yeah, it was getting pretty wild in here, and the evening was still early in his opinion.

Lance had been practicing to be a ‘well-behaved adult’ for a little while now… but things were going off the rails tonight!

He was here to party – hard.

Lance went from balancing on both hands atop the keg where he was perched holding himself steady, to lifting one hand to give the other sailor a thumbs-up… completely entertaining his audience.

They exploded in chatter, laughter, and applause around him. Yeah, months of working out was paying off this evening, and he just needed to keep it together for a few more moments while he downed this… and done!

He let his feet fall forward, nearly doing a somersault off the metal keg and threw his hands in the air for recognition. Shaking his sweaty head, he screamed at the ceiling, arching his back and flexing his muscles.

“WHOOOOOO YEAH! Take that! Your boy’s got mad skills!” and let out another wild shout. Orion and Memphis accused him of being an attention whore, but that only sounded obscene and completely untrue – well, sorta.

He was more of a ‘lame liquid trendsetter,’ a ‘leader among losers,’ the ‘Pied Piper of problems’… and paused as he saw the three women sitting at the end of the bar talking to Shellac.

Heaven help them, Lance grinned, looking at their faces. That man was ornerier than he was when Shellac got drunk – and Shellac was definitely tipping the liver scales of liquid libations. The other aviator was three sheets to the wind ten minutes ago before Lance started his keg stand… there was no telling now.

My bro needs a wingman, he mused and smoothed back his hair, tucking in his shirt – and hesitated. Crap! Where’s my dang jacket? Only to look over and see Orion patting a stack of jackets on the chairback beside him, smirking knowingly.

Lance held up both fists, giving him two thumbs-up, before kissing each thumb playfully, grinning drunkenly, and laughing wildly.

Orion simply shook his head and then pushed Moonbeam’s head back upright before he hit the table. The man was utterly loaded and going down soon. He’s not the only one, Lance mused, wobbling slightly, as he walked toward Shellac, already hearing the man run his mouth.

“So there I was, in my Horny… I mean, Hornet,” Shellac winked, grinning sloppily at his new ‘friends.’ “I was flying over open water with no one around, no coms, my engine was failing, and the enemy was shooting at me… my canopy was frozen, and it was looking pretty dire, ladies.”

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