The place was out of control. It was no understatement. Ollie, Alex and I used to go there when we were young and the night always ended up in some sort of trouble. Alexander and Merlyn were standing on a table leading a crowd in a rendition of a Welsh drinking song when Oliver and I entered. The place was already smoky and crowded and the dance floor was filled even without a DJ.

“Oliver!” Lance called, holding up two drinks, “Silvia! Come have a pint with us!”

“What took you so long?” Laurie McGhee demanded with a smile. She took the glass from Lance and handed it to me, “Come do a shot with me!”

I tossed back whatever it was that was sitting on the table and chased it with the bitters, then tossed back the next one that Lucy handed to me and chased that as well.

“There’s nothing you and I won’t do, Alexander Dickinson!” Merlyn sang to Alexander as he lifted him up off the table by his waist and twirled him around.

Alex put his hands on Merlyn’s shoulders and bent one leg at the knee, pointing his toe up like a little girl, “I’ll stop the world and melt with you, Merlyn Pierce!” He swore, nuzzling the top of his old friend’s dark head with his nose.

“Oh, aye,” Oliver smiled, picking up a shot for himself, “This is going to be a party!”

Oliver and I were not ones to drink much, but it seemed like multiple shots and bitters were an excellent idea that evening. Before I knew it I’d lost count. I was sitting at a table downing another shot when Alexander came and put his hand over the top of the glass.

“Slow down, Sil, or you’ll throw up like little Gryff!” He took the shot and had it himself. “All over Merlyn’s wife!”

Penny thought this was hysterically funny, “Oh, give the girl the drink! She looks like it’s been awhile since she got out! I’ve been puked on loads of times!”

“Yeah!” I picked another, “She gets puked on a lot!”

“You’re bladdered,” Alexander told me. He rubbed my head affectionately. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you wasted. Can you handle it at your age?”

“I’m a fucking Scot!“ I told him definitely, “Of course I can! I could out-drink you the day I was born, Welshie! Can you handle it at your age, Old Man?”

“I’m not bladdered!”

“I can’t believe you married my sister!” I cried, “You better be good to each other or I won’t know which one to kill!”

Alexander said something, but I couldn’t hear him over Penny’s laughter and the general noise of the pub, which was filling up rapidly. We did another shot together and then another with Oliver and the two of them took me by either hand and led me out on to the dance floor.

Oliver and Alexander actually both danced quite well for men of their size. When we were younger we’d go clubbing in Finsbury on Turnmill Street. We’d dance shamelessly and seductively, the three of us, with me pinched in the middle. I’d been asked more than once how I knew which one not to kiss. I’d never admitted it, but once I had kissed Alex on accident, to which he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and said, “Ewwwwwwww!” It had turned out to be so funny that all of us still joked about it from time to time. The three of us were doing something similar that night, only my little sister was in on it now as well. “Twincest!” We were shouting and laughing, “Long live twincest!”

I was so pissed that night that I’m not quite sure what all happened other than I spent the majority of my time dancing with Alexander, who kept grabbing my bottom, and with Lucy, who kept grabbing my bottom, too. It seemed to be a game grabbing my bottom that night as Oliver and Penny were at it, too. I was grabbing their bottoms to make things even, of course. Alex and Lucy left there first, somewhere around one in the morning, since they had a plane to catch in London at ten. After that I lost a drinking game to Merlyn, told some woman off for flirting with my husband and danced with Lance and Oliver, sandwiched between them like a floozy. I remember Lance’s girlfriend joining us, squeezing herself into the mix with Oliver, and after a moment Penny pushing her way up, squishing Lance between her and me. His head was caught, smashed between our breasts while Merlyn snapped photos. It was extremely naughty and terribly funny, even after we were all back to a normal state.

A few hours later when they had sobered up, Lance and his Daneen bid us farewell.

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” Oliver told him sincerely. He gave Lance a slap on the back that sent him forward a step.

“We’ll all get together soon!” He promised as he helped Daneen into the car. “Silvia,” He held his arms wide. I bent to give him a wet kiss on the cheek, “Take care of this hopeless mess you married!”

“I will! I love you, Lance Crosby!”

“Well, I love you, too, Silvia Dickinson,” He said mildly as he shut his car door and drove away.

“Sandra Ashby’s got a thing planned in the fall,” Merlyn was saying as he headed for his own car, “Are you two going?”

“We wouldn’t miss it!” Oliver hung his arm over my shoulder, “Lance says he’ll be there, too!”

“We’ll see you then for sure then as well!” Merlyn grinned, “My God, you two don’t look a day older than you did leaving Bennington!”

“I’m not sure we are,” I told him seriously.

He laughed, “Well, you’re the lucky ones then!” He got into his car and rolled down the window, “See you!”

“Take care of those precious babies!” His wife called.

We waved as they drove away.

“Well, Sil,” Oliver turned to me, “Should go and get the kids from Mum’s?”

“Are you mad?” I leaned into him and bit his shoulder softly, “She asked to keep the four of them! There’s no one at the cabin! We’ve got a night of snogging ahead, you!”

“I’ll do more to you than snogging then!” He picked me up around the bottom and ran toward the car with my middle crushed to his belly.

“You bet you will!”

Oliver plopped me on the bonnet and gave me the same look I’d seen him give a good steak when he was starving. He put his hands in my hair and pulled my face to his. I wrapped my arms and legs around him and snogged him like we were teenagers. He pulled my bottom tight against his middle, “God, Silvia, you are so damned sexy…”

“Oliver,” I tilted my head as he licked my neck. I popped a few buttons off of his shirt shoving my hands into it and clawed his chest, “We’re on top of a car in a car park…”

“This is new,” He agreed, pulling my chemise out of my skirt.

My heart was pounding in my chest. “Oliver…” I couldn’t decide if I was going to keep kissing him or tell him we needed to stop. One of my shoes fell off. I had to hike my legs higher to keep from sliding off the car. He pressed me down. “Oliver…” I was tugging at his belt. I decided that I liked kissing him better than stopping when we were rudely interrupted.

“Oy!” The man shouted and then belched loudly, “They got rooms above the pub, yous!”

“Ah, go get your own then!” Oliver shouted back, but we straightened up. He took a step away from me and turned toward our heckler. His shirt was ripped open, his belt was loose and his hair was a bloody mess. “Mind your own…” He tripped over his own feet, “Business!”

I slipped off the car to find that my skirt had gone sideways and half a breast had worked its way out of my blouse. I tucked it in hurriedly, but couldn’t figure out how to get my skirt on straight. I stood there fooling with it and turned an ankle in the one shoe I was still wearing.

“Hey!” The man shouted again, “You’re my kid’s doctor, ain’t you?”

“I am not!” Oliver yelled back, heading around to his side of the car, “I’m his twin brother! The good looking one!”

“Giving it to his wife on his car?” He laughed, “If I was your twin brother I’d kill you!”

“If I was my twin brother I’d kill me, too!” He replied and then looked confused, “Did I say that right? If I was my…”