Asher had had enough.

Maybe mixing vodka and tequila had not been the best idea, but if he had any kind of superpower, it was that alcohol never made him sick. Most of the time it only led him to make bad decisions, and in his opinion that was the better outcome.

Even so, he knew he had drunk a bit more than he should have, because his legs felt unsteady and when he stood up from Simon’s couch, he had to sit back down for a moment. His sister gave him a look that was not exactly pleasant, but Asher paid her no attention. Instead, he reached for a glass of water, because even in a state of this kind of drunkenness he knew that hydration was important.

“Next time you’re forbidden from giving toasts.” Although he continued to ignore Amanda, focusing on holding the glass steady, he still heard her voice.

Asher had given several toasts that evening. The first one was “to Simon’s sanity,” and over the course of the rest of their small party he found various other occasions and successes that needed to be toasted. To Serena’s detective skills after she managed to find a song from which Asher could not remember a single lyric, only the melody. To the fact that Jess had officially added Jeff and Charlie to their group chat, which was called Hot Mess Express for obvious reasons, and of course he had to drink with his friends to the fact that they were still an inseparable group and had each other’s backs.

He really loved these guys.

“Maybe he should eat something before you leave.”

Asher lifted his head and his gaze met Simon’s concerned one.

Jess and Serena had gone home first, Parker had left a little later, and Charlie and Jeff had said their goodbyes just moments ago. Only the Campos siblings remained in Simon’s apartment. Amanda had originally wanted to leave earlier, but when she saw the state her brother was in, she decided it would be better to wait for him.

“Stay with him, I’ll make him a sandwich.” Even though it was the blond guy’s apartment, it was Amanda who offered to make Asher something to eat.

That left the two of them alone in the small living room.

“Are you okay?” Simon asked after Asher finally finished the glass of water and set it down on the table.

“When am I not okay?” The brunette gave him a radiant smile. “Although I’m still offended that you think Parker looks better than me,” he declared in an overly serious tone.

“I never said that Parker looks better than you.” Simon sounded amused.

Asher thought about it for a moment, trying to recall all the words that had been said that evening, to make sure his offense was justified.

“Still.” He waved his hand when he realized he was not sure whether his friend had used those exact words. “You said I’m not your type.” He was more certain about that, since he had been less drunk then than he was this evening.

“You wanted to be my type?”

“I want to be everyone’s type,” Asher assured him without hesitation.

“Then you should start drinking less and taking better care of yourself,” Amanda’s voice came from the kitchen, making her brother realize that even though he could not see her, she had been able to hear their entire conversation without any trouble.

“She’s always listening.” He leaned closer to Simon and whispered. Or rather, he whispered the way little kids do when they think they are being quiet.

“She cares about you,” his friend replied in a normal tone, the amusement still there.

“Duh, she’s my sister.” It was a fact. No matter how much Amanda and Asher argued or teased each other, they always had each other’s backs. Besides, their closeness was also proved by the fact that they had the same friends.

“She’ll also strangle you the next time you get this drunk again.”

Asher pouted. “I was just celebrating,” he defended himself in a dejected voice, as if his friend had just scolded him, even though his tone was not angry or reproachful at all. “You’re my best friend and I love seeing you happy.” Then he stood up again, and although his legs wobbled slightly once more, this time he managed to keep his balance and successfully moved to Simon’s side. “I love you.” He wrapped his arms around his shoulders and rested his head on his shoulder.

The blond guy returned the awkward side hug and rested his head on his.

“Thanks, Ash. I love you too.” Even though he sounded much more sober, he knew that they both meant these confessions just as seriously.

“I still want to set Max’s apartment on fire,” Asher admitted after a moment of silence.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” his friend replied, and even though he protested, he laughed at the plan.

“Why not? We’d just have to put the keys in the microwave.” Then he suddenly pulled away, his eyes wide as if he had come to an exceptional realization. “We could put his boxers in the microwave and then tell the firefighters that he was trying to disinfect them and they caught fire. He’d end up with both embarrassment and a burned apartment.”

He said it so seriously, and Simon listened attentively without interrupting him, but when silence fell, he could not hold it in and burst out laughing. Not only because Asher amused him with his imagination and stupid idea, but also because it made him remember their first year, when they lived together in the dorms.

“You’d better not put anything in the microwave.” Amanda reminded them of her presence again, and before her brother could protest, she placed a plate with a prepared sandwich into his hands.

“Have I told you that you’re the best sister ever?”

The brunette rolled her eyes. “Every time you’re drunk.”

“Still.”

Then he lowered his head back to the plate and paid it more attention, lifting the sandwich and biting into it with enthusiasm. The moment he tasted the mustard on his tongue, he moaned loudly between mouthfuls.

His sister might have been annoyed that he was holding them up, but she still made sure to put everything he liked into the sandwich.

“Don’t choke, idiot,” she warned him when she saw him taking bites that were far too big.

“I won’t,” he replied with his mouth full, which made his sister pull a disgusted face.

While Asher ate, Amanda and Simon talked about nothing — about his shifts at the bar, hers at the café, about lectures that were too long and, on the other hand, about the ones that reassured them that they wanted to stay in school.

The brunette barely listened to them, focusing only on his sandwich and sobering up. With how used his body was to alcohol, food, another glass of water, and then stepping out into the cold of the night half an hour later were the last things he needed to clear his head again. Even so, his sister insisted that they walk home together so he would sober up completely and she would not have to worry about him lying down and choking on his vomit if she left him there alone.

“Fucking cold.”

Neither of them was dressed for a walk through the city at night, even though they had arrived at different times. Since Amanda had come earlier, back when it was warmer outside, she was wearing only a thin sweater, which did not help her at all now, no matter how tightly she wrapped it around her body.

After a few more steps, Asher automatically took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

“For the sandwich,” he said, even though it was not necessary at all.

Without the jacket, he was left in a T-shirt, and the night cold immediately raised goosebumps on his arms, but he did not complain. The alcohol was warming him from the inside less and less, but he tried to look at it positively and believed that thanks to the cold clearing his head, at least he would not have a headache in the morning.

When they arrived in front of the apartment building where Asher lived, the first thing Amanda did was make sure her brother had his keys with him.

“I’m not an idiot.” He waved the bundle of metal keys in front of her nose after pulling them out of the back pocket of his jeans.

“You are,” his sister assured him immediately. “You’re just an idiot with keys.”

He rolled his eyes. “Have you already called an Uber?”

“A moment ago.”

Knowing her, she had once again used the option to get a female driver, so they would be standing there a bit longer. 

Since she had made sure he got home safely, he did the same and continued standing in the cold in front of the building.

“Do you have a cigarette?” he asked her.

From the look Amanda gave him, the answer was clear.

“Unbelievable,” the brunette muttered under her breath.

Asher did not usually smoke, but when he drank, he occasionally lit one. This habit was not frequent enough for him to buy a pack, though, so he would look for someone willing to share if he was going out.

In the silence, broken only by the occasional chattering of the brown-haired man’s teeth, they stood there for a few more minutes until a car pulled up and Amanda made sure the right driver had arrived.

“Don’t fall asleep on your stomach,” were the last words she gave her brother in farewell, and he rolled his eyes before flipping her off and turning toward the entrance of the building.

Amanda did not give him his jacket back, he realized when he went inside and immediately felt the change in temperature. Even worse, after climbing the stairs rather than waiting for the elevator, he realized something else. As he stood in front of his own door, fiddling with the keys between his fingers instead of putting them into the lock, he did not feel tired at all. The long walk and the cold had woken him up enough that he began to feel like the night was still young and that he had to do something about it.

All of his usual friends were home, and since they had all said their goodbyes about an hour earlier, he did not feel like he could call any of them or just show up at their place. Even so, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and opened social media to check whether any of them might still be online.

To his surprise, he immediately saw one name with a green indicator glowing next to it.

Asher never thought too much before doing something, so instead of sending a message, he simply pressed the call button and brought the phone to his ear.

“Asher? Is everything okay?”

“I’m bored,” the brunette said bluntly.

“Yeah?”

“Do you wanna come over?” he suggested.

For a few seconds, there was silence on the other end, then some rustling, and then he finally got an answer. “Sure. Send me the address.”

And so he did.

After ending the call, Asher finally put the keys into the lock and stepped into his apartment. Without all the boxes of Simon’s things, it looked empty, but given how bad he was at keeping things tidy, it was only a matter of time before something else filled the floor space.

He wondered what to do, because now that Jeff was on his way, sleep was out of the question, not that it had been his original plan, and he still felt full from the sandwich he had eaten at Simon’s place. 

In the end, he decided to grab a clean set of clothes from the bedroom and take a quick shower to warm up.

He had just managed to pull on sweatpants, not bothering with underwear, and an oversized T-shirt that always exposed his collarbone when there was a knock, signaling that his visitor had arrived.

“Hey,” he greeted as he opened the door and found a twenty-one-year-old man with dark blond hair standing there. In this light, it looked almost brown, but Asher had seen him long enough earlier to know that his strands were more golden than they seemed at first glance.

“Hey, dude.”

As it turned out, Jeff had also had time to change at home and probably shower as well. On top of that, just like Asher, he no longer looked like he was under the influence of alcohol.

“Come in.”

Asher stepped away from the door to let him inside.

“When did you leave Simon’s?”

“I called you the moment I got home,” the brunette admitted plainly.

“Really?”

“Amanda made me walk so I’d sober up,” he revealed, rolling his eyes.

Jeff looked amused for a moment and ran his gaze over the other man, probably searching for frostbite after that confession.

“So it’s just the two of us here?”

“Does that bother you?” Asher returned the question.

Judging by the blond guy’s smile, he did not have a problem with it, even though they had only just met.

“Nah.” He shrugged. “What’s the plan?”

Asher paused and thought about it. Until now, he had not had time to think about what they would actually do once his new friend arrived, but like in most situations in his life, he decided to improvise.

“I have a bottle of tequila for special occasions.”

“Is this a special occasion?” Jeff sounded amused, but definitely not like he was planning to protest more drinking.

“It could be,” Asher replied, and without waiting for an answer, he headed straight for the kitchen to find the bottle of golden liquid he had set aside.

“You can toss your jacket wherever,” he said while rummaging through the cabinets to find shot glasses and the bottle, and he heard footsteps behind him that could belong to only one person.

When he turned around, holding everything he needed in his hands, he saw that the blond guy had listened and draped his dark jacket over the back of a chair.

“Do you need help?”

“I have bad news. I’m not sure I have a chaser,” Asher answered in his own way.

“If water comes out of your tap, you always have a chaser,” Jeff shot back promptly, and his words brought a smile to the apartment tenant’s face.

“Where have you been all my life?” Asher laughed briefly. “I’ll leave this in the living room.” He lifted what he was holding to indicate it. “There are glasses above the sink.”

Luckily, Jeff was not one of those people who felt shy about rummaging through other people’s cabinets, so after Asher left the bottle and shot glasses on the table, he found him filling one of the large glasses with tap water and then doing the same with another.

With the necessary water, they both moved into the living room, and Asher successfully found the remote hidden under a couch cushion.

“Do you play?” he asked Jeff after turning on the TV and moving to the small table where the controllers lay next to the PlayStation.

“What do you have?”

“NHL, GTA, The Last of Us, Battlefield, and It Takes Two,” he listed the games he currently had on the shelf. He usually swapped them with Parker, and these were the ones installed at the moment.

“It Takes Two?” Jeff knew exactly which one did not quite fit the list like the others.

“Amanda made me buy it. We didn’t get through a single level,” Asher explained right away. Then he turned with a challenging smile instead of being embarrassed about having a game more commonly played by couples in his collection. “Want to try?”

“Why not.”