"Sure!" He stood by Claudia's pad until they could time it perfectly: she jumped off, he jumped on, and they made the wand hand-off without Claudia's Mii missing a beat.
"What are you doing?" I hissed when I'd pulled her aside.
"Ree-Ree came up to me! She said she liked my dress, and we started talking. She's really nice."
"She's really nice" wasn't a common first response to Ree-Ree. This was weird.
"What about Marsh?" I asked. "I thought you weren't going to speak to him."
"Right, 'cause that wouldn't have been weird at all when Ree-Ree introduced us," Claudia said. "Fear not for the Ladder, Cara. Marsh and I both acted like we'd never met before. Ree-Ree has no idea. It's fine. We're having fun!"
Eddie wrapped me in a bear hug from behind and plucked his beer from my hand. "You are the best girlfriend ever, Cara!"
Claudia ran back to her game. "Outta the way, Marsh; I'm back in!"
"Ooh, are you filling those?" Eddie nodded to the pretzel bowls in my hand. " 'Cause we're almost out of chips and guac here, too."
Chips and guac. Poor party protocol. I grabbed the additional bowls and took everything upstairs. I stumbled on the way up and laughed so hard that I had to sit a minute on the steps. Brett's shots were working full force now, and I liked it. It helped me ignore the nagging sense of Very Not Good I'd had back with Claudia, Marsh, and Ree-Ree.
I got the snack bowls refilled, but it seemed like suddenly everyone needed something: more ice, more mixers, more candy, more nuts, more cheese, more dip...
"How are you not up here dancing yet?" Trista called down from the bar on one of my many trips to the pub room.
"I know! There's so much stuff to do; I feel like I haven't had a break!"
"Totally get it. That's hosting. But look at the result: the most CHIW-lacious party of the year! Brett, hook her up. Poor girl needs it bad."
Brett hooked me up with a shot of something colorful and fruity this time, and its fuzzy haze helped a lot. Running around filling and delivering is much more fun when you're buzzed enough to make it feel like you're dancing as you go.
Hours whizzed by like this, until suddenly it was very late and several guests—several Super LA guests—started leaving. That's when I realized I hadn't documented a single moment of the party! I grabbed my phone and put it in video mode, but I was way too wasted to shoot anything coherent. I just kept the camera on and cruised all around the house and out on the deck. I was a one-person reality TV crew, catching the action as it unfolded. Maybe someday I'd edit the footage and send it to MTV. It could start a hot new series: High School House Party! or maybe House Party High!
As I stumbled/giggled/tripped down the stairs, I turned the camera on myself. "Testing, one-two-three-four-five-six-seven..."
I forgot what comes after seven.
I tripped and fell on the last step.
"Public service announcement," I said into the camera. "Don't drink and walk. Very dangerous."
I roamed through the pool room and the pub with the video running, zooming in for extreme close-ups of random people's anatomy.
"Ear cam!" Zoom to an ear.
"Nose cam!" Zoom to a nose.
"Drool cam!" Zoom in on someone fast asleep in a chair.
The close-ups were fun. I did a bunch more.
I turned the camera back on myself. "Super-spy video!" I whispered.
I wandered the rest of the basement, down the hall that branched into all the little nook areas. I softly hummed what sounded to me like spy music and stretched the camera into each nook. I didn't know if anyone was in them or not—it was mystery footage. That was how I finished each time. I'd pull my arm back and do an extreme close-up of my face as I whispered dramatically, "Mystery footage!"
I had my outstretched arm and camera in one of the nooks and was about to pull it back out when I heard weird noises.
Not weird. I recognized those noises! People making out! Reality show gold! I let the camera keep rolling awhile and worked hard to stifle my giggles. Then I got a great idea. I leaped into the room and flipped on the lights.
"Boo! Say cheese!"
"OFF! TURN THATCAMERA OFF!"
It was Trista's voice, so I automatically obeyed as she