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reasonable alternative. In the meantime, he would just have to rely on his hand. It had never let him down before.
    ***
    One week later, Holly was scrambling to get everything finished for this birthday party that she wasn’t even sure she wanted to be hosting. She liked Lexi, even though she was so outrageous, but that only made her more interesting. If she wanted more excitement in her life, Lexi was the person to have around. It was also good to meet people, and she would certainly be doing that for this party, but she didn’t know if this was the right way to do it. She wasn’t too comfortable with lots of strangers in her apartment.
    She took the stuffed mushrooms out of the oven (thankfully, the last thing to make) and gave the vodka punch another stir. She had a fridge full of beer and soda, and several bottles of wine on the table. She had spent most of the day shopping and preparing the food for tonight. Amy had offered to pay her back, but she was still stuck doing all the work. Amy had planned on coming over early, but she was unexpectedly called away to take her grandmother to a doctor’s appointment. Holly wanted to be pissed off, but she would feel like a monster for getting mad at someone for taking care of their sweet old grandma.
    Holly debated about decorating, but decided she wasn’t throwing a party for a 10-year-old. Lexi was turning 23 and her and everyone else would probably only care about how much alcohol was served. Even the food would be secondary. She suddenly wished she hadn’t spent so much time making it – several bags of chips thrown on the table would have been sufficient. She also forgot to get a gift. Screw it. I’m sure giving her this party is gift enough.
    The doorbell rang and she went to the door wishing for the best.
    “I am so sorry! I got here as soon as I could,” Amy said, walking into the apartment holding several bags. “Everything looks great!” She proceeded to unload all the munchies and a mega-sized box of condoms. Amy noticed Holly’s raised eyebrows and said, “It’s a present for Lexi – hopefully she can make them last out the week.”
    DING-DONG
    Holly went back to the door, psyching herself up again for the night ahead as Amy arranged all the snacks in bowls. She opened the door to find several people that she had never seen before, which was exactly what she was expecting.
    “Hey, Jeff, Jon, Lisa, Jen,” yelled Amy from across the room. “This is Holly – the one who graciously agreed to let us use her apartment for this party tonight.”
    After introductions were made, the foursome settled in with a drink and some food. More people continued to pour in over the next hour and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The music was pumping (but not too loud, otherwise Mrs. Thomas down the hall would probably call the cops, or have a coronary) and the conversation was flowing, along with the alcohol. Holly started to worry if they’d run out of booze before the birthday girl even arrived. But she had to admit, she was really starting to have a good time. Maybe this party wasn’t such a bad idea after all.
    “Where the hell is Lexi?” Amy shouted. “You’d think the guest of honor would have gotten her ass here by now.” The words barely left her mouth when the doorbell rang. “Speak of the slut.” Amy laughed. Holly looked at her in surprise; Amy tended to be overly vocal with a few drinks in her. “Oh, I didn’t say anything she wouldn’t say about herself. She’d probably be offended if I didn’t talk about her that way.” From what Holly knew about Lexi so far, she couldn’t disagree with that statement.
    She opened the door, assuming to see Lexi there, and possibly a guest or two, but was thoroughly blown away to see Jack standing there among them.
    “Hey, girlfriend!” Lexi said, hugging Holly. “I hope you don’t mind – I found this mouth-watering man outside and he was all by his lonesome. Isn’t he delish? I just had to