Breathless | Colby Brock ✔️

28

A few hours and a couple bars later, Gwen was officially out of the game. Luckily, vomiting had no penalty, so I'd ended up sticking my fingers down my throat in the bathroom, sobering myself up to the point that I barely felt tipsy. My strategy of bagels and water were truly working in my favor.

Miles was teetering on the thin line between drunk and blacked out, and victory was within my grasp. Feeling re-energized after my trip to the bathroom, I ordered more shots for us both, taking mine with ease. I had a good buzz going, but I was nowhere near drunk. It was actually pretty nice. I popped a stick of gum in my mouth after my two shots, grinning widely as Miles looked at his glasses of liquor with an expression of pure disgust.

"Here goes nothing," He slurred, lifting one up and pointing it towards me as if it were a cheers. He knocked it back, making a terrible face. He followed it with the other, cursing like a sailor.

"So much for that Irish blood, huh?" I said, giving him a cocky grin. I pulled out my phone, which he had given back to me about an hour beforehand when we had to call Raquel to pick up Gwen. I got my brother's wife on speed dial, ready to call the moment his head hit the table.

"I only let ya win 'cus it's yar birthday," Miles frowned at me, his eyelids starting to droop.

Hoping to lull him into unconsciousness, I decided to keep talking to him. "Yeah, totally. It's not like I went shot-for-shot with you, or anything."

Five minutes later, I called an Uber after Raquel told me she was too busy taking care of Gwen. A pair of nice guys at the bar carried Miles into the car for me, even giving us a bucket in case he had to yak on the way home.

I tipped our driver heavily, since I was paying with Miles's card anyways, and he was nice enough to help me carry my drunken brother up the stairs into my apartment. Raquel just groaned at the sight of him, rubbing Gwen's back in an attempt to help her fall back asleep.

"Did Nora win?" My sister asked, looking up at me with heavy eyelids. I gave her a thumbs up and a nod of confirmation, and her head dropped back down at the sight.

Raquel was proud of me. "You're barely even drunk," She commented, looking me up and down. "How'd you manage that?"

"One bottle of water for every drink, and I had a couple bagels to eat. That, and I made myself throw up halfway through. It sobered me right up."

"Miles was out of practice," She explained after we got him safely on the couch. "They've had him working so much on base, so he hasn't had a drink in months. I think he overestimated himself."

"Well, it worked out in my favor, so I can't complain." I grinned, grabbing two bottles of water from the kitchen and bringing them back into the living room.

We spent the next hour coaxing my siblings to drink water, trying to sober them up before we had to go back out for our 'big surprise.' I offered to stick my fingers down their throats, which horrified Raquel, but ultimately it wasn't necessary. They each took a turn in the bathroom, yakking their brains out.

I know what you might be thinking - that's absolutely disgusting. A few years ago, I would have agreed, but college had exposed me to the wonderful world of alcohol and all the grotesque aftereffects that came with it. It was second nature to me, at that point.

I still hadn't heard from Colby, which was mildly upsetting, but I figured he was either busy or didn't want to talk to me while I was drunk. Either way, I couldn't blame him, but it stung a little that he hadn't messaged me since this morning. It was my birthday, God dammit.

Raquel convinced me to take a nap, insisting that she would take care of Miles and Gwen and that I need some rest for the night ahead of me. Hopefully my siblings would actually be joining me for it, or I would be trying to find something to do on my own.