It was only after ten to fifteen minutes that Jared and Robby came back to the living room and sat on the opposite couch from the girls, with their own drinks in hand.

“Okay so let me get this straight, your friends and girlfriend are coming to Redwood a month from now?” Danielle double checked with Jane.

“Roughly a month from now, but ya.”

“That’s gonna be so fun! I know I said this already, but we gotta have a big get-together with everyone here and your friends; Do you think they’d be okay with that?” Danielle inquired.

“For sure, they're a very lively group.” Jane replied and put down her third empty bottle.

Now Jane wasn't an alcoholic or anything, but she did love drinking with others and found the best way to get comfortable around new people was to quickly get drunk. Danielle herself was already quite tipsy since her small frame wasn't the greatest at handling vast amounts of beer, unlike Jane’s own muscular body.

“Did you hear that guys, Jane’s friends are coming to Redwood!” Danielle shouted with a giggle before slumping back on the couch.

“Friends from the academy? Like other classholders?” Robby asked Jane with interest.

“Yep. There's a porter, an alchemist, an elementalist— which is my girlfriend— and a beastmaster.” Jane explained. “Redwood is gonna get lively when they get here, I bet the mayor will be happy to have so many classholder in Redwood at the same time.”

“Yep, that's my father for ya! He’s been ecstatic since you’ve gotten here.” Danielle agreed and leaned next to Jane. “Supposedly you said you were gonna stay in Redwood, which is why he’s really trying to go all out for this celebration and advertise to the other towns in the purple plains that we have a classholder. He’s gotta brag to his other mayor friends after all.”

“Feel like he's treating me as some sort of specialty. I'd rather he not go around bragging about me.”

“That's what I've been telling him! But he can't help it.” Danielle explained and then leaned back away from Jane. “I mean you are special but that doesn't mean he needs to go around spewing all about it.”

“I'm just lucky I was born this way.” Jane got herself a fourth beer and started drinking it. She saw Jared’s eyes narrow as she said this but didn't pry any further.

“Sorry if this might be rude, but what's your class?” Robby curiously chimed in. “Me and Eric initially bonded over our talks about classes and I'm desperately wanting to know what your own is.”

“I'll be glad to tell you!” Jane cleared her throat and said, “I'm an Enigma.”

Robby’s eyes widened. “That's amazing! Eric must've gone crazy after you told him.”

“A little bit, but I think he’s still holding back on interrogating me about everything I can do— he’s a little shy like that.” Jane explained.

“I second that!” Danielle chimed in. “It took three dates before I got angry and kissed him myself! I couldn't wait any longer!”

Jane chuckled before hearing Eric yell from the kitchen, “Are you guys making fun of me back there!?”

“No!” Jane and Danielle yelled at the same time and then laughed together.

“Sorry, I got a little distracted. Here if you're curious I can show you some of my powers.” Jane wiggled her hands waiting for a response and got a smiley nod in return from Robby.

Like before, she summoned her phantom hands and made one of them hold her beer bottle while she put her hands under her head, letting the phantom hand pour the beer into her mouth. Seeing the amazed look Robby was giving her, she unsummoned her hands and caught the beer bottle before finishing it.

“Ohh, being able to summon hands. That's incredibly useful.” Robby muttered and curiously watched Jane.

Then for the next few minutes, everyone went about their own conversations. Jane was enjoying a lovely chat with Robby about her own class and other classes in general, while Danielle had moved over top of her and sat beside Angeline to talk to her. Jared was the only one who sat in relative silence, drinking his beer and occasionally given an odd look in Jane’s direction.

She didn't know what it was about, maybe the fact he felt uncomfortable around a classholder, but she wasn't going to mind it— at least not right away since they've just met.

Eventually they heard Eric’s voice blare from the kitchen, “Foods ready! Come to the kitchen if you're hungry!”

All conversations halted and everyone got up and headed towards the kitchen in a drove after smelling the delicious aroma of food wafting out the kitchen. Laid out on the kitchen counter were six plates of ribs, while some other food was left on separate plates for others to shovel onto their own as much as they wanted from.

It was a little chaotic as everyone was already drunk and wanted to get to the food first— Jane included. With the help of the still sober Eric, the chaos was subdued and after a few minutes, Jane found herself sitting at the dining table with a plate full of vegetables and saucy ribs.

Eric came into the kitchen wearing a white apron and placed down a few extra bowls of bread or plates of leftover food if anyone was still hungry and wanted more. Then he quickly took off the apron, grabbed a beer, and joined them at the table.

Then dinner commenced.

Jane eyed the ribs staring back at her, she could swear she saw them gleam in the light overhead— maybe she was just drunk though. There was no stopping herself, she picked up the rib with her bare hand and took a massive bite. The tender meat easily slid off the bone and fell into her mouth before a burst of flavor exploded throughout her taste buds, causing an immediate moan to escape from Jane's mouth.

Her face went red in embarrassment but everyone giggled at her. “Don't worry I did the same when I first tried his cooking!” Danielle reassured her and took her own bit of ribs before her eyes melted in glee.

‘How is it so good!’ Jane's mind was trying to process how Eric could make something so heavenly… but he did. This might explain how he landed a job at the Little Goose.

“So how is it? Pretty good ya?” Eric smirked seeing Jane lost in her plate.

“How the fuck did you make it so tasty!?” Jane questioned him. “I mean I've tried lots of delicious things at the academy but this… tastes special. I don't know how to describe it.”

Eric smirk turned into a genuine smile and thanked Jane, “I'll take that compliment. Thanks!”

With that, the night started to go by faster.

Jane wasn't sure if it was all the alcohol in her system diluting her sense of time, but hours passed and it only felt like a few minutes. They finished their lovely dinner and moved back to the living room where everyone began to talk amongst each other again, but this time Eric was with them.

Jane asked more about Eric and Danielle’s relationship, like what kind of dates they’ve been on, and they asked her similar questions in return but about her and Mira.

Robby, Eric and Jane had another talk about classes which they were all interested in, while she also had a few brief chats with Angeline about life in general. All around Jane had a blast talking with almost everyone, unfortunately she tried her best to get along with Jared but it seemed he liked to keep to himself.

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Beside talking, they also found themselves playing with the vast amount of games down in Danielle’s basement like cards, pool, and a few board games others brought along. Jane found out today that Danielle was a highly competitive person and even though she was blasted drunk, she won almost every game they played.

Now after long hours of partying and drinking, it was almost midnight and everyone’s energy levels had gone back to normal. Jane found herself standing away from the main party area with Eric, while everyone else was relaxing on the couches.

“So, they're a fun bunch right? Robby and me are similar, Angeline is kinda in her own boat of interest, while Danielle is Danielle.” Eric leaned against the wall and stared at his friends.

“What about Jared? He seems… like he doesn't like me? I'm not sure.” Jane said and looked at Jared who was engaged in the conversation at the couch, something he didn’t do when Jane was around.

Eric sighed, “Jared is normally a shy guy but… he has a bad experience with classholders so I think he’s a little unsure of how to act around you.”

“What kind of experience?” Jane wondered, she didn't want one of Eric’s friends to be uncomfortable around her.

“Well… it's hard to say but… he lost his entire family to a villainous classholder and ended up growing up as an orphan.”

“Oh… Ya I can see why he might not like me.”

“No no no, he doesn't hate you!” Eric shook his head. “I've talked to him about this, he doesn't hate you, or classholders in general because they’re classholders… It's just that thinking about classholders brings back some harsh memories. That's why he told me he’d have to work through it himself and hopefully come to get comfortable when he’s around you.”

Jane could only nod. This wasn't her battle to fight, she wouldn't attempt to be pushy in hopes to bridge the gap faster, she would let him work at his own pace. She had only just met the man as well, but hopefully over time as they hung out more, they’d come to be friends like Eric and him were.

The two continued talking as they watched everyone else play more card games, even more blasted from alcohol. Danielle looked the most drunk and definitely was since she had drunk the most booze and was the smallest here— it was quite a sight to see.

Eric told Jane that Danielle was a competitive person, but that seemed to magnify when she was drunk. She would even try her hardest during the simplest card games. Robby was a normal drunk, he slurred his words and had a jolly time laughing, while Jared was quite normal that Jane didn't even know if he was drunk or not.

Angeline was the one who piqued her curiosity the most. She didn't seem drunk if you didn't know her— which Jane didn't know that much, but she knew enough to tell that Angeline was acting differently. Her normal blunt and straightforward self was still there, but she seemed a little more friendly and talkative than normal. Especially to Robby.

Jane watched them interact and could tell the two had some sort of chemistry together but it seemed a little awkward. She had to ask Eric, “Are Angeline and Robby a thing?”

Eric sighed and shook his head. “Not yet, but if you can see it, then they really need to get together already. We can all tell they like each other, but they both don't see it— It's kinda frustrating.”

“You've never tried to like, push them together? Discreetly of course.”

“That's not my thing, or Jared’s. We're both shy guys." Eric replied. ”Danielle would try that but as you can tell, she's always the most drunk person.”

Jane chuckled and thought that she might be able to give it a try but was stopped when she saw Eric giving her ‘the look’.

“I know what you're thinking, so don't do it. Just let it naturally occur, they've only started looking at each other like that recently.”

“Ah fine. You're right, It's not my place.” Jane said.

The party continued until everyone's energy levels took a dive and they sat around the couch, half of them with their eyes closed ready to sleep. Danielle was the most awake and seemed to notice the mood in her drunken state. She jumped off the couch and grabbed Angeline before pulling her off the couch and dragging her towards Jane.

“Janeee, are you… s-staying the night with us?” Danielle asked her with slurred speech.

“Um, like a sleep over?” Jane asked back.

“Yep! I-it sounds fun, no?”

Jane thought about it, but she didn't see any reason why she wouldn't, maybe not to worry her parents, but they said do whatever you wanted. It also sounded fun, having a sleepover.

While they didn't know each other that well, Jane knew she was gonna hang around with them more since they were Eric’s friends and this opportunity looked like it could jumpstart her friendship with the ladies at least.

It was also a lot easier to do things you normally wouldn't do when you were drunk.

“I'm in.” As soon as she replied, Danielle grabbed her arm and started to drag her and Angeline towards her bedroom.

“W-we’re having a sleepover, so you three boys do whatever you want, f-feel free find a bed if you wanna stay over.” Danielle yelled out to the three boys and then proceeded to make her way drunkenly towards her own room down the hall.

Quickly they got to Danielle's room and she shut the door behind them. She flopped onto the bed, followed by Angeline and Jane herself who sat down beside them.

“So g-girls, let's talk!” Danielle giggled, making Jane and Angeline smile in return. They were all wildly drunk— making it easier for Jane to just casually join them like this— and ready to talk girl-talk.

***

Jane woke up feeling groggy, a heavy pressure weighing down on her head— namely all the alcohol from last night. Sitting up in a bed she was sleeping on, Jane looked around her to find herself alone on Danielle’s bed.

She hadn't the faintest clue where the other girls were right now, her memories of last night were a little foggy. She remembered lots of what they talked about and what they did, but the later parts were a little blurry.

‘I think Danielle went to sleep with Eric, where did Angeline go again?’ Jane tried to remember but the further down the night she tried to remember, the harder it became.

Whatever the case, her stomach grumbled loudly and her mouth was parched, she needed food and water pronto. She left Danielle’s room and found her way through the hallway towards the main living space where the kitchen was.

Chilling in the dining room with a cup of coffee was Angeline still in her clothes from yesterday. Unlike Jane who had scowl from the headache, Angeline wore a faint smile and her skin looked like it was glowing. Whatever happened to Angeline last night must have been quite a lot better than the hangover she was probably having right now.

“Good morning.” Jane waved to her, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“Morning.” Angeline responded back in her normal neutral tone.

“It should be fine if I grab something to eat from her fridge right?” Jane asked, not wanting to intrude too much— even though last night they partied all night together.

“Mm help yourself, she doesn’t care too much. I can show you where everything is if you want?” Angeline asked her, friendlier than normal.

“That would be great thanks.” Angeline got up and showed Jane where the plates, cups and food were kept. After a few minutes, Jane prepared herself a simple breakfast made of eggs, toast and some leftover food from last night.

Soon after the smell of food permeated through the basement did the rest wake up and slowly make their way to the kitchen. Jane was too sleepy to notice Robby and Angeline lock eyes with each other and give each other an awkward smile.

Eventually everyone found their way to the dining table except for Jared, and when Jane asked where he was, Eric told her that he had work in the early morning and had already left.

Eric, Danielle and Angeline all had today off from work one way or another, while Robby was the only one who had work at his parents general shop later today. Jane didn't have work-work but she still had things she wanted to get down today– whatever the case, no one was in a rush to get out of here yet.

Danielle slumped down in the chair beside Jane and leaned face down on the table while groaning, she was the most hungover out of everyone here. Eric swooped in and rubbed her shoulders, “Do you want some breakfast?” He asked Danielle but also looked at everyone else, who all nodded in return.

“Alright give me fifteen.”

“Ah shit I missed out on Eric’s cooking. Does he always make breakfast for you all?” Jane asked the table.

“Whenever we stay over, ya.” Angeline answered.

“You should have told me!” Jane grumbled but kept eating her own breakfast while Angeline shrugged and continued drinking her coffee after seeing Jane's reaction.

After thirty minutes, everyone had eaten up and were a little more energetic as their bodies began to wake, getting ready for the rest of the day ahead of them. After another hour passed of idle chat, everyone was ready to head out for the day and found their way upstairs to the front door.

The first to leave was Angeline and Robby, who Jane swore seemed a little closer than they did last night, ‘Did something happen that I forgot about?’ Jane wondered after seeing them act like that, but nothing came to mind— she had only just met them as well so it was more of a guess anyways.

Then as Jane was getting ready to leave, she saw Eric not putting on his shoes and asked, “You staying here?”

“Yep. We’re gonna spend the morning together, maybe go on a little date since we both got the day off today.”

“Ah you told me that last night, I forgot. Okay then, imma head off and maybe start working on the house.” Jane said her farewells and got a big hug from the still groggy Danielle and another from Eric, before she headed out towards to her own place.

She had a lot of work to get done.