Gold Teeth

>Beach City
>party capital of the world
>sun's gone down and things are getting wild
>Connie and Peedee finally stopped fighting after a bit; they're both bloody messes glaring at each other from across the beach
>Greg and Barb took a little stroll while the party raged on
>Mr. Maheswaren and Fryman Sr. are deep in their cups as Mrs. M and Sadie get an eyeful of them both
>Lars tried to drink with them but threw up as soon as the stench of liquor hit his nose, then shit his pants and ran home
>Steven and Beach Anon are thrashing to Sour Cream's jams while everyone else mingles

>Greg and Barb stopped walking a couple hundred yards from the party and sat down on the beach, letting the waves lap at their toes
>they've both had a few drinks and are in that state where they're drunk enough to do something stupid but coherent enough know they're drunk enough to do something stupid
>in this case, it was sitting under the beautiful night sky together
>'Great party, eh Greg?' said Barb, chuckling a bit as the chill tide rolled over her tootsies
>'Yeah; that Sour Cream kid is pretty good at bein' a disc jockey. I wonder if he's into classic rock...'
>Greg was too busy thinking about how two audio stars would blow Beach City away to notice Barb leaning in a bit
>'...hey, remember that one time we got real messed up n'hit up Funland?' she says with a nervous smile
>after a moment, Greg burst into laughter. 'Oh man, do I; you nearly took out Smiley's eye with those darts.'
>Barb laughed, nudging Greg's arm. 'Me? You thought he was the clown you spray water into!'
>they're both drunk enough to laugh way too hard; Barb seizes the opportunity to wrap her arm around Greg's while they chortle heartily
>she leans into him, linking her fingers over his ham hand
>as they finally come down a bit, she brings up another memory
>'...remember that time you came into the shop after one of your benders with Marty? You were wrecked, man.'
>'Ha, yeah. Still, I drunk'em under the table that night... I sorta think he wanted me to, though.'
>Greg shrugs; 'Ah, what the hell; at least you didn't draw anything on my face when I passed out.'
>'What, me? Nah; you'd know I'd never do that to ya, Greg.' Barb couldn't help but notice how warm her ears were getting; she just figured it was the booze
>'Yeah; when I saw how sauced you were I figured you didn't have long 'till you dropped so I took ya in back n'setcha down on all those extra napkins we had back there. I figured I'd keep n'eye on you n'make sure you didn't puke all over the floor while Dewey worked the front.'
>Greg blushed a bit and took another drink of his generic brewski
>'Heh, thanks for that, Barb. ...I didn't actually throw up, did I?"
>she laughed; 'Nah; I wouldn'ta thought less of you if ya did. You did hit on me, though.'
>'Oh, uh... nothing happened, right?' Greg forced a smile as a few beads of sweat trickled down his face
>Barb only made it worse when she gave him a sly look and took a swig from her bottle
>he gulped hard
>'Relax, Greg! Geez!' she said with a laugh, leaning into him some more to rest her head on his shoulder
>'...a'course nothin' ever happened between us, eh?' her laugh trailed off a bit, turning into a heavy sigh
>'What was she like, Greg? That Rose gal you were always with?'
>Greg shifted uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head, subtly trying to pull his arm away from Barb
>to his surprise, she pulled herself off, laughing pretty hard as she punched him in the shoulder
>'Re-laaaaaax, will ya? We're just talkin'!' she chuckled and finished off her beer. 'You guys were a real cute couple, y'know? Always so happy. It was always nice seein' you guys come into the shop to clean us out; that Rose was really somethin' special.'
>'...uh, Barb; I didn't mean to - I never meant --'
>Barb held up her hands with another drunken 'naaaaah'
>'Naaaaah, it's no big deal, Greg, really. Maybe if I put on a few more pounds...?' she said, chuckling as she took a handful of her belly and jiggled it a bit
>Greg stared at her for a bit, not really sure how to react to all this
>Barb stared back at him; she let him go a long time ago but was genuinely glad to have had this talk
>she leaned over, wrapping her arms around him and jammed her tongue in his mouth
>she held him there for a good thirty seconds while his eyes darted around as he panicked and gave him a mouthful of beer-breath before she finally broke away
>'It was nice talkin' to you, Greg.'
>Barb turned to head back toward the party, making sure to swing her hips plenty as Greg watched her go