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Then, I recall one little trick I might have up my sleeve.
“Let’s change the subject,” I announce, leaning my elbows on the table and capturing everyone’s attention. “Could I interest you all in a bet?”
“This should be good,” says Peter, intrigued. “What is it?”
“I bet I know a little something about physics that you all don’t.”
“Oh, yeah?” Foster says, sitting up in his chair. “Is that right?”
“It sure is.” I glance at my beer, still more than a quarter of the way full, Chandra’s untouched beer, and Foster’s two shots, ready for consumption. “Are you game?” I ask my coworker.
“What do you have in mind?”
“There’s a law I learned in physics a long time ago that I’d like to demonstrate, if that’s okay with you.”
“I’m all ears.”
I point to my beer. “I bet that I can drink the rest of my beer here and the full one next to it”—I point to Chandra’s intended beverage—“faster than you can drink your two shots.”
He squints, looks to the sky, assesses the beverages on the table, and then peers at me once again. “This is a little too simple. You aren’t serious, are you?”
“I sure am. There are a few rules though—to be fair, of course.”
“Like what?”
“Well, since the volume of my drinks are more than yours, it would only be fair that you allow me to finish my first beer before you start on your shots. And you can’t touch your first shot glass until my glass is back on the table. That’s it.”
He puckers his mouth. “Okay…that sounds fair.”
“Also, we can’t touch each other’s glasses—at all. That’s an automatic forfeit. I’m not allowed to touch your glass, and you can’t touch mine.”
“Anything else?”
“You can only hold one glass at a time. So, neither of us can pick up our second drink until the first one is finished and back on the table.”
“You make this too easy.” He unbuttons the cuffs on his sleeves and begins to roll them up his forearms. “I’m game. What’s the wager?”
“If I win—”
“EJ!” Chandra’s voice echoes, approaching the table. “There you are. I thought you might have left.”
“Nah, I just ran into a coworker.” I point to my left. “This is Foster. We work together at the engineering library. And these are his friends—Graham, Peter, and James. Guys, this is Chandra, my roommate.”
In symphony, out of tune and not even close to harmonic, they all share a “hi,” and “hello.”
“So, what’s going on?” Chandra asks, standing near my shoulder.
“These boys just kicked my ass in a drinking game, and Foster and I were just about to place a wager on the law of physics.”
“What do you know about physics?” She laughs.
“Plenty.” I smile, feeling confident about the bet. I turn back to Foster. “Back to our wager, I think we should bet one—”
“If you lose,” James slurs, the alcohol consumption beginning to take hold, “you and your friend have to make out…and we get to watch.”
“James,” Foster warns. “That’s stupid. She’ll never agree to that.”
“Never hurts to ask.”
