Tryna Get a Little Bit Tipsy

Triston wakes up in the early morning and let’s off steam by using his new punching bag. Curse words fly.

Maggie pounds on Triston’s door, having been woken up by his workout and profanities. She’s a light sleeper, but thankfully Maize is a heavy one. Triston apologizes.
“Whatever. Guess I’m awake now.”
“Well since you’re awake, I know a place we could go that’s really neat this time of day.”
“How often are you awake-” Maggie checks the clock, “-at quarter to four in the morning?”
Triston avoids the question, “C’mon, let’s just go?”
“Fine,” she sighs.

Triston asks Maggie how her day’s going, trying to lighten the mood. But it backfires.
“Um, hello? You woke me up, like, eight hours earlier than I wanted to be!”
“Heh, right…”

After a few more moments, Triston’s able to cheer her up a bit.

After a few more moments (or maybe an hour), Triston nervously rubs the back of his neck. “So, uh, are you single?” He tries to play it off as friendly curiosity.
“Yeah, actually I am. Why?” She gives him a piercing look.
“Oh! You seem too great to be single. How come no one’s snatched you up yet?”
Maggie shrugs, “I guess I just haven’t found the right guy yet! Maybe I’m too picky, I dunno.”

“Hey, I think that tea and coffee stand opens up soon. Want me to kick your ass at horseshoes until then?” Triston asks, trying to lighten the subject.
Maggie laughs. “Kick my ass? Little do you know, I’m a horseshoe champion back home in Bridgeport!”
“Well then! By all means,” Triston stands up and offers his hand to Maggie. She takes it and stands up; there’s a brief pause before they both let go.

“Ladies first,” Triston says, gesturing with his hand to the horseshoes.
“Fine,” Maggie grins, “Watch how it’s done.”
Triston smiles to himself as she starts to line up her shot.

Maggie admits to herself that she doesn’t mind the view.

 Maggie’s shot bounces off the back of the wood planks, and lands around the pin. “Ha!” she exclaims. “Ha, ha, HA!”

Triston rolls his eyes at her, exasperatedly, and says, “Move over, that was a lucky shot.”

Triston’s shot is thrown so far in the air, there’s no chance of making it. Both he and Maggie laugh.

"See, that’s how it’s done,” he jokes. “You’re up, champ.”

Surprisingly, Triston wins the match. Feeling pretty confident he tells Maggie, “So I beat the horseshoe champion of Bridgeport, huh? Must be a pretty small town, you obviously didn’t have much competition.”
Suddenly, he feels his pocket vibrate, and he pulls out his phone.
Where r u?! Come home. Now.
It’s from Maize. Triston suddenly feels guilty, and he isn’t sure why.
“I guess I’ll have to raincheck that coffee, I have to go. See you later!” Triston is already jogging away before Maggie can respond.

Maize is angrily washing dishes when Triston walks in. She’s already broken a plate from scrubbing it too hard. “Where have you been?” she snaps, whirling around. She doesn’t even bother to dry her hands, and soapy water drips onto the wood flooring. “And this better be good.”

Triston’s chipper mood begins to chip away. “I was out for a walk. To, you know, clear my mind.” Maize doesn’t seem appeased by his answer.

“A walk… A walk, he says. Right, well I had us scheduled for couple’s therapy this morning, and now we’ve missed it!”

Triston is shocked. “Couple’s therapy? Seriously? We just had one fight!"

“Look, if it’ll make you happy, I’ll take the damn punching bag back. Okay?"

“It’s not just that, Triston! You went behind my back and did exactly what we had decided not to!”
Triston scoffed. “We! We didn’t decide anything, you did! As I recall, I hardly got a say in the conversation!” He sighed, and ran a hand over his face. “You know what? Maybe counseling isn’t such a bad idea. Obviously moving in together so soon was a mistake.”
“Wait, you want to move out?” Maize asked, shocked.

Triston takes a deep breath, and heads to the fridge. “That’s not what I said, Maize. Now, what’s the name of this therapist you wanted us to see?”
“Jasmine Holiday.”
“Okay, will you please reschedule us to see her?”
Maize sighed, “Fine."

After calling Jasmine and discovering she could come over immediately, Maize decided to try out the stupid punching bag to relieve some anger. She imagined it was Triston’s face.

Maize thanks Jasmine for coming on such short notice. Triston and Maize sit on the couch while Jasmine stands and talks them through what’s happened. In the end, Triston and Maize come to a compromise: Triston gets to keep his punching bag, but has to keep it in their storage room downstairs when he’s not using it. Regarding the cost of it, Triston assures her he’s due a promotion any day now, and promotions always come with bonuses, which will cover the expense of the punching bag.

As soon as Jasmine leaves, Maize apologizes before kissing Triston passionately. She reminds him they have just enough time before he needs to go to work to “make up”.

Maize unlocks the door for Triston, and they grin mischievously at each other before…

Throughout the day, Maize starts feeling worse and worse. She’s dizzy, nauseous, and has spots all over her body. She tries to keep practicing her writing, wanting to earn more for the household.

She makes one of her favorite comfort foods (grilled cheese), but is hardly able to complete the simple task.

Maize hopes a nap will help with her symptoms.

When she wakes up, her spots are gone but she’s still feeling dizzy and nauseous.

Triston comes home with good news: he got the promotion at work! He’s now a team mascot and got the bonus he was anticipating. Not only that, but a raise, too!

Just as he’s about to run to tell Maize, Maggie comes out with the garbage. “What’s with the face, champ?” she teases.
“Oh, nothing. I just got promoted!”
“What! That’s great, Triston! Congratulations!”
“Thanks! I gotta go tell Maize!” Triston turns towards his apartment door.
Maggie calls after him, “Okay, let’s celebrate later with that coffee you owe me!”
Triston grins as he unlocks his door, he nods in response as he opens it.

Triston immediately rushes to Maize and tells her the good news.

He suggests celebrating by asking the Kelleys out for drinks. Maize tells him she’s been feeling under the weather all day, but he was welcome to go without her.
“Are you sure? We could always find a way to celebrate alone here.”
“No, no! You deserve to have a good time. You’ve earned it. Besides, all I feel like doing is sleeping. Go have fun, baby.”

Triston knocks on the Kelleys’ door and Maggie appears.
“You again? Three times in one day? That’s a bit much,” she teases.
“I’m in the celebratory mood, do you guys want to join me for drinks?” Triston asks, grinning.
“Will it be stronger than coffee?”
“Much.”
“Oh, hell yeah! I’m in!” Maggie cries. “I have to get changed but Malcolm’s out on a date tonight so he won’t be able to come. That okay?”
Triston felt himself wanting to smile even more. “Sure,” he replies. “I’ll go change, too. Meet me downstairs in 20?”
“You got it, champ.”

Just after Triston walks out the door for the evening, Maize runs to the toilet and throws up. “God, I feel awful,” she groans. She makes herself a cup of tea and crawls back into bed.

When they get to the bar, Triston tells Maggie, “You look really nice, by the way. I didn’t know you could clean up… at all.” He teased her.
“Just because I wear a lot of baggy shirts doesn’t mean I don’t have fashion sense, okay?” she grins, sticking her tongue out at him.
“Fair enough,” he replies. “C’mon, I’ll buy you a drink.”

A few drinks later, and Triston is making a toast to himself. “A toast - not the crispy bread kind – to me! The best athlete San Myshuno has ever seen!”
Maggie chuckled, and added, “And possibly the best horseshoe player as well.”
“Yes! The best horseshoe player! I beat you! You got beat!” Triston was unaware he was slurring his words. He finally lowered his glass and took a long drink from it.

A few too many drinks later, both Maggie and Triston were feeling pretty good. “Fancy a swim?” Triston asked Maggie, in his best impression of a British accent.
She giggled. “Oi, mate. I suppose I do! But I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”

“Watch and learn.”
“What are you up to?”

The next moment, Triston had stripped all of his clothes off and jumped brazenly into the pool. Maggie did her best not to howl with laughter, coming up with snorts instead. She bit her lip, and called, “Don’t look!” before stripping down as well and jumping in.
She covered her chest as she treads water, both of them laughing. Triston splashes her, and tells her to lighten up.

They chat and laugh under the stars for the next few minutes, before they both start to sober up.

Triston gets out of the pool and suggest they probably should head back home. It was already quarter to four in the morning.
“That’s probably for the best,” Maggie says, waiting for Triston to turn around so she can get out and get dressed as well.

Triston is beginning to wonder what he’s gotten himself into. He dials a cab, and he and Maggie ride together home. In the morning, he doesn’t remember a thing.