Love, Out of Nothing At All

Bitter Champagne, Toxic Martini

“Surprise!” Mary stepped to the side and presented the kitchen table to John. His face lit up as he reached out to hug her.

 “Oh my. You outdid yourself Mary. This was completely unnecessary.” He assured her, his arm around her shoulders.

 “Except that it completely was necessary! This is your party John! You have three more days as an unmarried man! I’m still hopin’ you’ll trade Veronica in for me!” Mary winked at him.

 “Sshh! Mary! Not in front of Freddie! That was between us remember?” John teased her, hugging her again. Mary smiled. “As you can see, Freddie already has the scrabble board set up, a notepad and some pens are there. Roger…well, Roger put all the champagne in the sink that’s in the utility room. You four will be in bad shape if you drink it all.

 “Freddie an’ me picked up six bottles.” Roger shared with John, all smiles. “Come and looked.” Roger motioned for John to follow him into the utility room.  John did as Roger instructed, trailing behind him into the utility.

 “What!? This is insane!” John laughed as he looked in the sink full of ice and champagne. Mary pulled something else out of the oven and brought it to the table as Roger and John walked back out.

 “This is the last of it. All your favorites, John.” Mary said.

 “John, don’t think for a minute that just because you’re getting married we’re going to let you win at Scrabble. Freddie said, lighting his cigarette. “Mary, join us for the first glass of champagne!” Freddie got his cigarette going and preceded into the kitchen to get the champagne flutes. John followed Freddie and Mary into their kitchen while Brian and Roger examined the table. Roger did a double take at the pan that Mary had most recently sat onto the table. He was focused intently on it.

 “Lyd made that.” He finally said, looking up at Brian.

 “What?” Brian questioned.

 “That. It’s in our pan. She…she always puts these breadcrumbs on the top of it ‘cause she knows how much I like ‘em.” Roger explained. Brian looked down at the browned breadcrumbs on top of the casserole and then up at Roger. Freddie, Mary and John returned from the kitchen, champagne flutes in hand. Freddie hurried away to the utility room to retrieve the first bottle of champagne for the evening. Roger did his best to shake the sentimental look from his face.

 “Alright, loveliiiiies! Here we go!” Freddie wasted no time in sending the cork flying onto the table as the air escaped in a cloudy mist from the bottle. He poured John’s glass first and proceeded to fill the other four, passing them around. “He we go. To John! May he be the Scrabble champ tonight!”

 “To John!” Mary chimed in, along with everyone else. There was a clang of champagne glasses followed by the first taste of Moët en Chandon of the evening.

 “Alright, boys.” Mary downed her champagne in three gulps and sat her flute on the table. “Allow me to excuse myself. I must get a shower and get dressed. I gotta’ town to tear up tonight with three fabulous ladies! I sat the plates and the silverware out for you in the kitchen.” Mary raised her eyebrows. “Don’t you boys get trashed and go throwin’ Scrabble tiles all over the place, ya’ hear me? Freddie! This means you.” Mary pointed a finger at Freddie and made her way upstairs. The cat, that was asleep comfortably on the couch, followed Mary upstairs.

 “John, sit! We have to get this part started!” Freddie clapped his hands together, his champagne flute still in his hand. “Come Brian! Come help!” Freddie insisted as he disappeared into the kitchen again. John sat down at the table; a smile still plastered across his face, marveling at all the trouble Mary had gone to. Had Freddie been in charge of all the details, it would have been six bottles of champagne and endless bags of chips. Of course, Mary had recruited some help and Roger had discovered it immediately.  John sat down at the table across from Roger. He took a drink of champagne and sat his flute down, looking at Roger. Roger had his hand on his champagne flute but had only taken a single drink of it. John inhaled deeply and smiled at Roger as he exhaled rather contently. Roger forced a smile back at him, tapping the base of his flute.