Jia Li’s smile didn’t falter when Kay asked how often she drank. “Um…” She spaced off in her thinking. How long ago had it been? Her thoughts were cloudy, but her mood was unusually perky. “Not often! The last time I had a drink I was…” Her words trailed off again, and she drank the last of her mixed drink. “What was I saying again?” She asked the siren. “Oh, right! Since I was fourteen!” She was really excited to have remembered.
Another guy approached and handed her a bottle of beer which she rewarded by hugging him. Sipping from it, she noticed it tasted much better than the first sip of beer she’d taken from Kay’s bottle had been. Her eyes moved to the couch where Jack sat. He didn’t look very happy, but then again, Kay wasn’t warming his lap for him any more. Instead, she was talking to Jia Li. Good. He deserved to be miserable. Some part of her conflicted with that thought, but a couple more mouthfuls of beer had her attention back on the guys with whom she was sort of dancing.
The dryad wasn’t really dancing as much as she had been. All of the movement from her previous dancing had stopped agreeing with her stomach, so she’d slowed substantially, and she was down to just sort of swaying and moving her feet a little. “Slow down? I’m not even drinking that much. I’ve only had…” Jia Li trailed off a little, and she began counting on her fingers. “three – No, five! Five drinks! I’ll be okay.” Of course, the beer in her hand made six.
The fact that Kay was trying to cut the guys who kept alcohol in Jia Li’s hands at all time went over her head. The dryad completely forgot about the guys with whom she’d been dancing when the siren cut them off from her. She hugged the siren and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’m glad, too! You’re a good friend.” She patted the other on the shoulder as she uttered that last sentence. Her words were noticeably slurred at this point, and she laughed about it. “Guess I’m… kinda druuuunk.” Jia Li said, laughing some more.