A change of scenery -

And what bland scenery it was. All the people, nicely dressed, happy to be there, sober. What the afternoon needed was something unexpected, a fight, and argument, the grill going up in flames. You name it and it would probably work as a great distraction and mood lifter.

- Well, not really. I live here, and its almost compulsory to attend and get to know the tossers that live in the same building as me. Its obligatory.

Poor guy, to have neighbours who actually wanted to socialise. The idea was quite alien to Modesty, who had a deaf old man on one side of her flat and a teenage mum with three kids on the other. Associating with the neighbours on her estate amounted to fighting them on a Friday night outside the local pub with a smashed bottle of buck fast and a snooker cue. Well, perhaps that was a bit extreme, though certainly not a rare occurrence by any means. The idea of having a friendly barbeque though, now that was not one which any of the residents of the scheme were likely to propose. There were of course nice people living around about Modesty, however they were overshadowed by the more undesirable tenants.

Are you having fun?

She scoffed slightly, knowing that he surely couldnt be overly enjoying the situation. No, fun was not the word. Like with Jam, it was obligatory she came, though quite why was less obvious. It wasnt like Josh was even going to speak to her, because lets face it why would he do that when he could spend his time talking some redhead into his bed. Not that he would need to do much talking judging by the way things were going. Though Modesty was not overly worried about who her supposed father took to bed.

Tactful answer seein as that lot can hear; yes, o course I am, who wouldnae be? her tone was laced with sarcasm though only momentarily, Honest answer; no. No one under the age o about twenty, all o them clearly nice people who ken each other. Hell, there aint even drink you can get pissed on.

She took another swig of the beer, sorely wishing it was something stronger, something to take the lead balloon feel away from the party, especially as it was only Modesty and Jam who seemed to have been hit with the lead balloon in question.

No really my idea o fun, though unless youve any better ideas were stuck here?

Asking the guy you suspected was a druggie if he had better ideas for how to have fun was perhaps a bit risky, however right now Modesty was at risk of dying of boredom, so really she should probably take her chances with something else instead. Live fast die fun, or something like that at least. Not that Modesty particularly wanted something highly mind altering and illegal, a strong vodka would do, but right now she was in the sort of mood which made her impulsive, too impulsive. She didnt really trust Jam, he wasnt the type she would ever trust, however she had known enough people who seemed to fit his mould to know that she could find more untrustworthy people if she looked. Hell Modesty didnt even know if Jam was a wizard, though she wasnt exactly giving a schoosh about that either. The choice was simple, take a chance with the only interesting guy there or condemn herself to premature death by completely and utter drudgery.

There was absolutely no contest.