TNT ... Chicago 5:
1 Peacemakers were supposed to be the blessed ones. 2 At least that's what she was always told growing up.
3 Although, obviously, securing an afterlife blessing wasn't Marta's only goal in talking Zar into going to her friend's New Year's Eve party despite knowing that his nemesis J would also be attending. 4 She really was sincerely hoping that reuniting them in the safety of a social setting with the assistance of a little bit of alcohol would be the key to recreating the camaraderie they once had as a group.
5 She missed those times. 6 They were easier. 7 They were more relaxing. 8 They were what she wanted to recapture.
9 Sadly, she was naive. 10 Genies don't go back in bottles. 11 Lightning doesn't strike twice. 12 The best days of your lives are fleeting at best.
13 She also clearly overshot the concept of using just "a little bit" of alcohol as a social lubricant. 14 And she had no grasp of timing.
15 Worst of all, she had no beer pong skills -- and even worse shot pong skills. 16 So when she and Zar passed the time before midnight by ending up on one end of a long kitchen island in her friend's fancy Chicago apartment tasked with tossing tiny plastic balls at even tinier plastic cups, she and Zar were headed for certain trouble.
17 Too many shots in too short a time and too big a crowd gathered around to cheer on their opponents who were annihilating them led to Zar seeing J for the first time in about a year in a less than ideal situation.
18 She knew that Zar could get a little dramatic at times, but she wasn't expecting him to throw multiple tiny balls and tiny cups directly at J, whose only crime at the time had been laughing at the mismatched game playing out. 19 She didn't appreciate the depths of Zar's pain at J's betrayal ... and she most certainly didn't anticipate that Zar would project all of it on to her once he figured out that she knew that J would be at that party.
20 Marta found out quickly enough, seeing as how Zar gave her the coldest of shoulders in the screaming match that ensued. 21 Plus being on the other side of the bathroom door when he locked himself in was a clear sign too that he was no longer considering her to be on his team -- in more ways than just the disastrous pairing of shot pong.
22 She knew that Zar could say the meanest things when he was that wasted, and so she watched from a distance as his way too pregnant sister entered the periphery of the party and claimed him from the locked bathroom. 23 She avoided eye contact and watched in her own personal silence as they hurried out the door.
24 As silently as the scene played out in her mind, she was actually surrounded by cacophony -- seeing as how the gathering was climaxing in the countdown. 25 The new year for her was far from starting out in a good place -- for the place she was in as the revelers let out the loudest cheer of the night was at the window, peeking from behind the curtain as Zar and his sister Maria lingered at the curb outside.
26 She couldn't quite figure out why their departure was taking so long, and she secretly hoped that maybe Maria was talking sense into Zar and that he would come back in to the party and that all would be forgiven -- even if only towards her and not necessarily for the sins of J.
27 In the end, she had to quickly give up on that fantasy when she witnessed Zar puking curbside. 28 Grossed out, she turned away ... and so she had no idea of what was really happening on the back seat of the car regarding the arrival of baby Gabriella. 29 Instead, she decided that the only thing she could do was to find J and to explain the evening's turn of events to him.
30 If she had anything to say about it, she wasn't about to lose two friends in one fell swoop.
