Gordo was the first to get out of the car. The game plan was for Daylee to prop Izzy up while Gordo went around to her side of the car, opening the door carefully enough to access Izzy without her falling out.
Izzy was still very much out of it, so it took effort to get her out. Confronted with the prospect of two drunk people carrying Izzy awkwardly, Gordo figured it was going to be just as effective to pick her up and carry her over the threshold like a traditional bride. Daylee cleared the way and supported him. She wasn't too heavy, and he was able to do the job without putting his back or ego out.
As he walked into the entry way with the precious cargo, Daylee showed the way through the first room, into a small kitchen with an open plan dining area, then towards a closed door in the far back corner of the room.
'This is her room'.
She opened it up and Gordo entered a lively room with a splash of black and pink colour, lots of soft toys on the bed and several clothes in a pile near the dresser. Gordo got a glimpse of himself as he went past a full-length mirror on the wardrobe door.
'How strange things can get within 24 hours', he thought.
He laid Izzy down gently and left the room, as Daylee did her best to make her comfortable by removing her shoes and jacket, before tucking her in. The exertion of carrying Izzy served to sober him up a little, and he started to feel the spell might have also been broken with Daylee. He was seriously hoping they could get back to finishing what they started.
Daylee came back into the main room looking tired and took off her own jacket. The day's pool and barbeque fun gave her skin a rich tan that went nicely with the black top. The barbeque seemed a million years ago now.
She flopped onto the sofa and took off her heels. He sat uncomfortably at the other end. She had been initiating a lot of the physical moves that evening and he had been a keen follower, but he felt that the energy had left her. He wasn't sure how he was going to reignite it, or that he should even try.
Daylee looked at him as he tried to get a comfortable spot in the corner of the sofa.
'Gordo, you're welcome to stay over if you need to; I know it's late. You've been really good about helping with Izzy. I've got to say, though, a huge wave of tiredness has hit me. I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. I'm really sorry.'
She stood up quite lethargically and put a kindly hand on his shoulder, followed by a light kiss on the head.'
Something sank inside Gordo. He had gone from looking at a near jackpot at the hands of two gorgeous women, to potentially sleeping on a strange sofa with no one to keep him warm. There wasn't even a tissue box in sight. He sobered up a tiny bit with each passing moment. He had to establish sleeping arrangements.
'Have you got somewhere I can crash?'
He was kind of disappointed with the speed and matter-of-factness of her reply:
'There's only two bedrooms, so you can park yourself here on the sofa. It's not a bad sleeping spot.'
Given the intensity of what happened in the car less than an hour earlier, he felt a little empty at that reply, but he figured that Daylee was super great when she was high or on the way up, but basically lost interest when she was out of party mode.
Being there in the morning was going to be a bit weird. He was mentally sorting through his options when there was a knock at the door.
Daylee looked at him with a puzzled look and Gordo returned the expression.
'Who would be here at this hour?'
Daylee shuffled her way to the door and Gordo could see a set of arms wrapping around her in the doorway, followed by Winny's face popping onto her shoulder.
Winny looked past her towards him, with quite a fresh smile for that time of the evening. She completed her embrace with Daylee.
'Why are you here?' Daylee said.
Winny came into the room properly and sat down in a solitary chair near the sofa.
'I was concerned about you guys. I was halfway to the babysitter when she texted that my mother had picked her up, so I turned around and came back up. It's good you were able to handle Izzy; she looked pretty out of it.'
Winny looked around briefly, then stole a short look at Gordo before resting her gaze back on Daylee.
'Looks like I came for nothing, but to be honest I don't know if I have enough left in my tank to do the drive back safely. I'm so tired.'
Daylee looked as though she was running even lower on energy since Winny got there. In fact, she was looking slightly pale.
'Guys, I'm going to have to go to bed. I can barely find the energy to walk over to the bedroom, so I'm going to say goodnight. You guys can sort yourselves out for sleeping. You've been here heaps of times Winny; you know where everything is. I'll say goodnight now before I fall asleep standing up.'
'Goodnight Daylee' came from both at the same time.
She shuffled off, and Gordo was acutely aware that it was just Winny. She had been a great work friend, and the barbeque function had revealed more qualities he didn't even know she had. It was actually nice that he had the last part of the evening with her.
He spied two bottles of red in the corner of the kitchen prep area. One looked to be recently opened and recorked.
'That looks like shiraz over there. Do you need to warm yourself?'
Winny was clear-eyed and sober, but she seemed quite happy to go along with the suggestion.
'You look a little more beat than me', she said. 'Let me get that'.
She went over, fetched the bottle and returned with two large red wine glasses. Gordo felt a tiny jolt when Winny didn't go back to her original chair, joining him on the sofa. They were well accustomed to each other at work but had shared little time socially.
She smiled, poured a glass and offered it up to him.
'You should feel a bit of pride today, Gordo; you served a lot of people at the party, then had a big night and ended up helping the girls back home. You get 'Nice Guy of the Week Award' from HR I reckon.'
Gordo studied Winny's face a little more. She had a rich tanned complexion from weekends in the sun, lightly freckled on the nose and long brown curly hair. It sat nicely on her shoulders and breasts. Her brown eyes were large and expressive, with a hint of something he couldn't quite define. She was older than Daylee and Izzy, but still full of vitality.
They chatted for another half an hour, pouring and drinking another large glass of the red. Gordo was feeling that warm glow again and he was thoroughly enjoying Winny's company.
