The Party

Please, no, I think to myself. My shoulders slump in defeat at the sight in front of me. A bead of sweat trickles down its neck, the same way it does on mine, and I watch helplessly as it continues its way down. I brace for the impact. Any minute now. Party goers are oblivious to what is happening, the music is too loud, the girl next to them is too pretty, and the joke they said is too funny. All I can think about is the drop of water moving along the green bottle. Someone in the corner lifts their glass, and underneath it sits a simple square of light brown cork, stained by a deep circle of red, mirroring the cork we pulled out of the bottle of red wine.

Better that than the table, it’s brand new. My attention is drawn back to the beer bottle in the middle of the coffee table. The once clean and dry bottle is now covered in small drops of condensation. I bite my lip as I weigh my options. I could just walk over to them, ask them to be more careful, say that I prefer when my furniture is unstained. That would probably ruin the mood, and they would tell me I’m no fun and should just let loose. Or, I could let it go, live with the consequences of throwing a party with twenty-something year-olds, and move on with my life.

Screw it, they already think I’m uptight anyways. I walk briskly towards them, lifting the beer bottle that has already left a perfect ring of water on the table. I turn to them, my eyes unwavering, and I say:

“Please, use a coaster.”

---

This was a small piece that I wrote for an assignment last year, and probably one of my favourite one to write! The goal was to blindly pick an object out of a bag and free write about it for a few minutes. Later, we were asked to come back to it and write a small piece of flash fiction!

My object was a coaster, and I had a lot of fun trying to come up with a story that could fit!

I have been overwhelmed with assignments lately, so I haven't been posting much, but I will be back very soon with new content, I promise!