A Crash Course in Polite Conversation | Zach and Heath
So Heath was going to dinner. Dinner with Zach. Alone. Just the two of them. In his enormous house. Heath with absolutely no social graces was going to dinner. Why had he agreed to do this again? Boy those one and a half beers he'd had at that party must have really done a number on him. The only instruction Zach had given him was to take booze. Fair enough. They were gonna need something to get them through the evening anyway. In fact Heath had gone so far as to start the evening a little early, opting to have a couple of glasses of vodka before he went out. Just a little liquid courage, he kept telling himself.
The streets themselves were surprisingly empty for a Friday night. It was actually quite eerie to have to walk through Tartarus without seeing someone and then having the opportunity to completely ignore them, as was Heath's custom. Heath paused in horror as he realised the entire population of Tartarus might be at Zach's place for some sort of surprise party. He wasn't nearly drunk enough for that. But no, Zach wouldn't do that to him. Plus, who would actually agree to throw a party for Heath? No, he was just being stupid. This was just gonna be a nice, friendly evening of meaningless small talk, possibly undercooked food and far too much alcohol. The exact recipe for every Celton family gathering ever. The most memorable was that time their uncle had bought some eggs he'd found on the market, claiming they were not only cheaper, but better tasting than their organic counterparts. The next day, everyone had salmonella poisoning.
Zach's house loomed ahead in the distance, the lights from inside drawing Heath to it like a beacon. All the way up, Heath tried to figure out just how best to greet his brother. Nothing seemed quite adequate and before he knew it, Heath was at the door, a bottle of gin in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Stubbing it out on his jeans, Heath threw the cigarette into the bushes and knocked on the door. Hey, maybe he'd get lucky. Maybe Zach would have had the same idea as himself and elected to get drunk beforehand. He could be lying on the couch right now, passed out. Wishful thinking had never exactly worked out for Heath though.