As Yasmine stared at the group for a moment, her eyes went back to the smiling face of Marla beckoning her over. When she finally got close, Marla hugged her like they hadn’t seen each other in forever. Unable to keep from smiling, Yasmine returned the hug before the two separated.

“I am so happy that you are coming with us. Let me introduce you to everyone before we head out,” Marla said as she turned Yasmine around, keeping an arm around her shoulder. “You, of course, know my son Ethan.” The man smiled sweetly and gave a small wave. Yasmine shyly nodded back.

She was quickly introduced to several people from around the office who agreed to go out and celebrate her joining the team. All of them were very kind and welcoming. Some had the same twang in their voice as Marla, but others just seemed to speak without any accent at all. Once they were all introduced, they all headed out, piling into two vans with, "Official city use only" marked on the side. She was pretty sure this wasn’t what they were supposed to be used for, but they were tonight.

Yasmine was hesitant to get in as she watched the others squeeze into the vans. As everyone but her was soon inside, all eyes turned to her.

“Ummmm.” She wasn’t sure how she could say there was no way she was going to get into the back with all those people inside without offending anyone. But yeah, there was no freaking way she was getting packed into the van like a sardine

“Oh shoot, that's right, Ethan, sweetheart, Yasmine isn’t great with tight spaces. Mind sittin’ back here this time and givin up yer seat for her?” Ethan who was sitting in the passenger front seat, due to his large frame, looked back at his mom then over at Yasmine who was shaking slightly at the thought of being crammed into the back.

“Oh, yeah of course! Yasmine, please take the front.” He said with a smile, opening the door and getting out. He held it open and even offered a hand to help Yasmine into the large vehicle.

"I mean I can just take my own car." She said blushing slightly.

"Nonsense, I insist, going together is half the fun." Ethan said laying the charm on thick. Yasmine was eventually compelled to take his hand, before lifting herself into the seat with his help. Ethan then closed the door for her and proceeded to force his way into the back closing the door behind him. She only heard a moment of suffering from someone in the back before it was muffled silent.

“Rest in peace, whoever that was.” Yasmine silently prayed for whoever just got squished by Ethan's large body.

It was a rather short drive before they pulled up to a large steakhouse. It had a massive sign that featured a grinning, buxom cowgirl swinging a lasso covered in lights. Next to her was another picture of a large bull charging. The lights cycled to make it look like the lasso was wrapping around the bull’s horns. And in big, bold letters, the name of the restaurant was unmistakable.

“Life By The Horns.”

Yasmine had never been to one of these kinds of theme restaurants before, but that didn’t mean she didn’t find them fascinating. The two vans parked near the front and started to unload. The first one out was Ethan, followed by a much scrawnier man, who she thought was named Dave. He fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath.

“I thought… I was gonna….Die!” His pauses filled with ragged gasps as Ethan rolled his eyes, grabbed the man by the arm, and pulled him up to his feet.

“Oh, relax, drama queen. It was like five minutes, and I gave you as much room as I could.” Dave only glared at Ethan before he managed to get his feet under him. “I will buy your first beer if it will make you feel better.” The two came to a quick agreement as their large group of people walked into the restaurant.

Yasmine thought it might be slow inside because it was Monday, but once they were through the large double doors, the sound of live country music and football playing on TV was only matched by the roar of people cheering for whatever team they were rooting for. Marla walked up to the hostess and gave her name. It was hard to hear much of anything, but it seemed that she had reserved a table as they were quickly ushered back deeper into the restaurant.

There were people everywhere, drinking and having a good time. The back of the restaurant had a small stage in front of a large dance floor where several couples swung each other around, dancing happily. But that wasn’t even the half of it. In the corner was the restaurant’s namesake, a mechanical bull. It wasn’t currently being used, though. It was a sensory overload for the small girl as she mindlessly went along with her group till they were seated in their own section where two long tables were pushed together.

As everyone started to find a seat, Yasmine was now faced with a daunting decision: sit down and risk getting sat next to someone she didn’t know well, or wait until she was awkwardly the last person standing. Thankfully, she didn’t have to decide, as Marla came to her rescue.

“Come on, darlin’! Ain’t this place just the bee’s knees!” Yasmine smiled weakly and nodded slightly. The two sat down at the table next to a woman about Marla’s age named Donna. She gave Yasmine a yellowish grin, the smell of tobacco wafting from her. Marla then took the other seat next to her. When everyone was seated, and the server came by for drink orders, one of the men called out.

“First round is on me, guys and gals! Get everyone around here, Liit!” Most of the table cheered in delight at this, laughing and chatting with each other like they were the best of friends. It was kind of amazing to see co-workers get along so well. Yasmine wasn’t exactly sure what he meant by Liit, but she hoped it was an appetizer; she was pretty hungry. As good as it was, the chicken salad wasn’t exactly super filling.

Shortly after, a server expertly carried a huge tray full of tall glasses. Everyone started taking a glass, so Yasmine did as well. The drink was slightly murky, with a lemon wedge on the rim.

“You gonna be alright drinkin' that darlin’?” Marla asked with a smile as she sipped from her glass, smacking her lips slightly like it was refreshing.

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“Why, what is it?”

“It's a Long Island Ice tea.” The feeling of relief hearing that it was just ice tea put a smile on Yasmine’s face.

“Yeah, I love iced tea and I didn’t drink enough water today. I was worried that we were getting alcohol.” With that she brought the rim of the glass to her lips and took a big gulp of the drink.

“Yasmine wait thats-!” Marla tried to stop her, but it was too late.

The delayed burn of the strongest drink she had ever had the displeasure of imbibing hit her like a truck. Her eyes bulged and started to water and burn almost immediately. She got the foul concoction away from her lips as fast as possible, and she felt herself start to cough and cough, already red in the face.

“W-w-what is… what…who…” She felt like she had just been pranked. The desperate need for water overwhelmed her, but she couldn’t find any on the table.

“Oh my goodness, Yaz, dear, I thought you knew what a Long Island iced tea was.” She rarely ever drank, and when she did, it was always just a weak wine cooler or mixer that tasted like juice. And one of those was usually plenty to get her a good buzz. This tasted like she just had a big drink of lighter fluid and made her feel like she was about to die.

Marla patted Yasmine’s back as she continued to hack and cough, motes of light dotting her vision from coughing so hard. Everyone was staring over at her at this point, thinking she was actually choking and not just suffering from gulping down a mouthful of concentrated alcohol.

Suddenly, a glass of water was placed in front of Yasmine. Her eyes locked onto it immediately, and she grabbed it with both hands, almost dumping the entire cup down her throat.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” Marla said, thanking someone. Yasmine was far too distracted to see or care who it was. Loud gulps came from her throat as she sucked down as much water as possible. Small streams flowed down the sides of her chin to soak into her blouse. It wasn’t much until she couldn’t refrain from coughing while drinking, splattering water all over her face and chest, forcing her to put the glass of water down finally.

“It feels like I just ate a ghost pepper. My chest and face are burning so much.” Yasmine quickly stripped off the thin jacket she had worn all day, leaving her in just the white frilly blouse that she also started to unbutton, feeling like she was burning up. The coffee colored flesh of her chest was quickly becoming more and more exposed. The damp fabric clung to her plump cleavage. She didn’t even realize that almost every man at the table was now staring at Yasmine’s half exposed and wet boobs.

Thankfully, the other woman at the table quickly came to her rescue and gave the men harsh glares while helping keep Yasmin’s modesty. The men quickly looked away after being caught staring, turning back to their own Long Islands. Marla was still at her side, trying to comfort the poor girl.

“Ethan dear, could you go get some extra napkins and another water?”

“Sure, Mom, I will be right back.” Ethan quickly walked off to find another server to ask for Napkins and forced his way through the bar to get another glass of water.

After several moments, things finally started to settle down. Yasmine took several deep breaths, trying to regain her composure.

“I-I’m sorry, I-I just…” She started to say this when Marla just cooed sweetly with the young girl.

“Shhh, no no, its our fault dear, we should have made sure you knew what you were gettin into. Here, Ethan is back with another water.” Sure enough Ethan placed the glass of water and a few more cloth napkins. Marla took one of the napkins and started to dab away the wetness on Yasmine’s face and chest.

“I…I want…” Yasmine started, but her face quickly started to flush with warmth. Her buzz quickly started to make her shift from her usual reserved self to a more liberated version. “Phew, is it warm in here hehe.” She giggled slightly, grabbing her blouse and flapping the collar to try and cool off. Marla laughed softly at the change in her attitude.

“Well, it seems someone is feeling better already. You doing alright, hon? You gave us quite the scare there for a second. Prolly shouldn’t drink anymore tonight if a single drink gets you all giggly.” Marla said wisely, taking the partially drank iced tea and moving it away.

“Yur so sweet sweet Marla, I don’t think I could do this job without you,” Yasmine said with a slight wine as she wrapped her arms around the older woman leaned against her. Marla just giggled a bit and patted the girl’s arm, which was wrapped around her.

“Thank you hon, I appreciate ya very much as well Yazzie.” She said, trying out the nickname. Yasmine’s head shot up from where it rested on Marla’s shoulder.

“You aren’t allowed to call me that!” Yasmine said with a half hearted glare.

“Haha, I am sorry.”

“Only one person gets to call me that! And I barely let him!” With that, she rested her head back on Marla’s shoulder. Who was looking at the younger woman with a surprised look?

“Him huh? Do ya have yer self a beau at home you haven’t told us about haha?” She teased hearing that the only one that could call her such a cute nickname was a man. Marla looked up at Ethan with a sad smile as if she was apologizing to her son. He just gave her a smile back, waving his hand, trying to signal he would be fine.

“A boo is more like it hahahahaha.” Yasmine started to cackle wildly at her own joke, trying to contain her giggles. It was a joke that only she got, obviously, as everyone else who heard her just looked at her like she was crazy.

“Haha, I think it might be best if ya drink some more water, Yasmine dear. I don’t want your Boo to come after me for gettin' his girl all messed up on long island ice teas.” Marla said, patting her back some more, trying to urge her to keep drinking water and sober up a bit more. But Yasmine had started to pout slightly.

“I’m not his girl…” She said sitting up finally and slouching back into her seat, eventually taking the glass of water and took a good drink. “We are just roommates. Besides, even if he’s hot, it doesn’t matter if I can’t see him.” It was starting to sound a lot like Yasmine had this strange, unrequited love for her roommate.

“Dawww.” Marla let out a soft sound of sympathy but couldn’t hide her smile with how cute this was, watching her pout and complain about her love troubles. “I am sure he will come around someday, hon. Just keep takin baby steps to get closer to him, and in no time, you two will be starin into each other’s eyes like a couple of love birds.”

Yasmine looked over at Marla with a confused expression, but soon a smile crossed her face, and she started to laugh, softly at first, but growing louder and louder. The thought of trying to look into Monty’s eyes only to be staring through him and at a wall just seemed so hilarious to her she couldn’t help but burst out in laughter. Marla joined her in laughter, not entirely sure why, but she felt a buzz creep up on her as well, so she felt quite good.

The servers finally came back and started taking everyone’s orders. Yasmine ordered a sixteen oz prime rib after swearing that she could totally eat the whole thing. She was starving after all, she hadn’t eaten for days. At least to her it felt like she hadn’t. The server just shrugged and moved on. After everyone had ordered, they took another round of drink orders. Several others got another round of Long Island ice teas, while most just got a beer.

“I want a beer too!” Yasmine said cheerfully, but Marla quickly put a stop to that.

“She will actually just have another water, thanks.” Yasmine frowned deeply at the older woman for a moment.

“Why did you do that?” She complained, making another cute pout.

“Because if you drink anymore, I am gonna feel bad bout you passin' out on me,” Marla said, reaching up and patting Yasmine’s cute cheek.

“I wouldn’t pass out; I’m not even sleepy, " she said in a soft whisper, making Marla laugh a bit.

“So tell me, hon, what made you come all the way out here anyway? Surely it wasn’t just because of this job, I know it doesn't it pay as well as retail in the city. I checked” Yasmine looked over at her when Marla asked this. It was diffcult to get her mind to focus on the question, but she got it out eventually.

“My grandpa died.” She said bluntly with a frown that was so overblown that it almost looked fake.

“O-oh.” Marla wasn’t exactly sure how to react to that statement.