Page 30 of Wedding Games
‘No!’ yelled Zoe, as Fiona screamed, ‘Yes!’
Sam stepped between them. ‘Cocktails before cock, ladies. The night is yet young.’
Steve appeared the most disappointed but rallied quickly.
‘Right, who’s ready to be shaken but not stirred?’
‘Yes,but how muchexactlyis a dash,’ Valentina asked Steve, ten minutes later.
She was making a Long Island Iced Tea and had carefully lined up all the ingredients along the bar.
‘Well,’ Steve began. ‘It’s like a wee splash—’
‘It depends on your size,’ Zoe interrupted, sloshing vodka into a cocktail shaker. ‘I’m two inches taller than most men, so proportionally I need to add more of everything.’
Steve cleared his throat. ‘Actually—’
‘It’s scientific fact,’ Zoe continued, now adding gin. ‘I read it somewhere—oh fuck!’
The cocktail shaker had reached max capacity, and alcohol was overflowing.
‘Don’t worry!’ Fiona cried. ‘I’ve got this.’
She reached forward, slurped from the shaker, and lifted it to gulp more of the contents.
‘Oi!’ Zoe yelled.
Fiona put it down and started coughing. ‘Jesus wept!’ She thumped herself in the chest. ‘That’s strong.’
‘Would it be twenty millilitres or thirty?’ Valentina asked Steve.
‘What?’ he replied, staring at Zoe as she poured tequila into her shaker.
‘A dash,’ Valentina replied. ‘How many millilitres?’
‘Er—’
‘Sam—I mean Morag!’ Zoe yelled to her friend at the end of the bar. ‘Worra you making?’
‘Magic,’ Sam replied. ‘I’m reinventing the wheel.’
‘With what?’
‘Tomato juice and Bailey’s,’ Sam replied.
‘Jesus Christ,’ Steve muttered. ‘Er, Morag, that’s not a great combination.’
Sam pulled a face. ‘Says who? Recipes are merely suggestions. I think this is going to be a huge success.’
‘I—’ Steve began.
‘Have you ever tried it?’ Sam asked, her eyes narrowing.
He hesitated.
‘Aha!’ Sam cried, a look of victory on her face. ‘See this?’ She pointed at the drink, then at herself. ‘This is geniusism at work.’
Her drink looked like someone had been put through a blender, then decanted into a tumbler. Zoe tried not to gag as her friend downed it in one.
