"Can you play 'Ever After'?" she asked the band. At the nod of theguitarist, she turned back to us as they began playing. I had a feelingthat I was go...ng to be hearing a lot of my own music in this class inthe near future.Jane surprised me. After hearing how much she was willing to give up tobe able to have a life like Sarah's, I wasn't sure how good she wouldbe. I knew she had to have some talent to make it past the auditions,but I hadn't expected her to be as good as she was. As she sang. Cheese and tapenade in the kitchen, a couple bottles of pino grigio and bordeaux blanc on the dining table, and we were set. At about 8:30 we finally heard someone ring our apartment, and we buzzed them up.With wine instead of well drinks, the conversation flowed even better this time around. Before we knew it we were finishing bottle number four, all of us a bit tipsy. Sarah, clearly the drunkest of us, got up from the couch to use our bathroom, and I volunteered myself to go to the kitchen. I'm not ashamed of what I write, but this being the internet; at least a little bit of caution is a good thing. Now maybe you can satisfy my curiosity; what brings a bunch of people who have never written, or apparently even read, internet erotica to the awards banquet?"I gestured toward the head table. "We know someone that knows Skip Niccio, and Skip was threatening to trash her reputation in public, so we decided to come listen to him. Is he going to win an award?"Wine Maker shrugged. "It. The phone ringing interrupted his thoughts, and he was glad for it, since his thoughts were all muddled anyway. He smiled when he saw it was Ryan. "Hey, how's the rock star?" "Good, actually. Really good." She sounded excited. "Listen, I'll be leaving work soon. Could I come see you?" "Sure. Wait, what time is it?" "It's, um, a little after five. Sorry, did I interrupt something?" "No, no. I'm just trying to get myself awake. Would you be up for meeting somewhere? I need dinner, you need.