“Well, what did he say?” the girls asked Derrick when he returned to them.

Derrick shrugged. “My brother’s not being ‘Mr. Likable’ for y’all tonight. But I am,” he told them.

The girls giggled at Derrick’s humor, while becoming irritated with Ivan’s rudeness. “Well, what’s wrong with him? He thinks he too good now or something?”

Derrick shook it off. He didn’t want to take things that far. Ivan was still his brother. He said, “Naw, he’s just busy right now. But y’all let me know if you need some more to drink. And I can make sure that all is forgiven tonight.”

“How are you gonna do that? You’re gonna get him to apologize to us and take a picture?”

Derrick said, “I don’t know about all that. But if you’re too slow, then you’ll never know. So, if you both like having a good time, then we can all make a nightcap out of it.”

“Is Ivan going to be there?”

Derrick stared at the girl. It was time to lay down the law and cut the bullshit. He said, “How much does it matter? Do we really need my brother there? He might be busy for the rest of the night. So don’t waste my time if I’m not good enough. Maybe y’all both too good for me.”

“No, we didn’t say that.”

“Good. Then let’s agree to drink and have a good time tonight. Agreed?” he asked them.

“Agreed,” they accepted.

Derrick said, “Well, let’s go ahead and take our pictures, then.”

BY THE TIME the party wound down at two o’clock, Ivan was exhausted, and Derrick was nowhere to be found again. The door take broke another fifty thousand that night, and with the budget slightly over twenty thousand, Ivan and Lucina cleared another fifteen apiece.

“You’re going to bed again, early bird?” Lucina teased Ivan.

“Yup,” he told her. And he meant it this time. Chris will just have to be disappointed until the morning. And I’ll just tell Ashley that I’m tired tonight, too, he plotted.

When he broke Ashley the news over the phone, she said, “I understand. You were working extrahard in there tonight to please everyone. People are really feeling what you’re doing now. And next up is your big birthday party. Are you excited yet?”

Ivan said, “Ask me about that in twelve more hours.”

Ashley laughed and said, “Okay, I will.”

Ivan made it up to his apartment and had to wait for Chris to open the door for him.

“Thanks for coming straight home tonight,” she told him, wearing only a T-shirt. It was after two thirty, and Lucina was still hanging out and showing their guests a good time in San Diego.