"A stranger's just a friend you haven't met"

That was an unexpectedly pleasant evening.

Enjoying the wine tasting at Vinoteque with Marisela and Jane was a given. What I didn't expect was that we would wind up hours later at a stranger's apartment drinking wine and eating pizza. Mari, Jane and I wound up sharing a table at Vinoteque with three other people, two women and a guy, all very friendly and funny. We got along rather well, conversation was flowing and laughter all around, and perhaps the wine had something to do with it, but at the end of the wine tasting they invited us to the guy's apartment to keep the party going. The wine tasting offered a few appetizing bites but we were all still hungry, so we agreed to pick up a pizza and hang out. Never mind that we all had work the next day.

Had I been by myself I would have surely turned down the invitation. It all would have seemed strange to me. But I was there with Jane and Mari, and the other folks seemed nice enough and we were hungry, so we agreed to come. The girls were Filipino too, for what it's worth. Besides, Mari and I both have been dealing with things and needed to spend a few hours not wallowing in our problems, so the last place we wanted to be was at home alone feeling bad for ourselves. The invitation was really an offer for us to relax and enjoy ourselves for the evening. And we did. Our hosts couldn't have been more fun. We watched YouTube videos and talked about our cheapskate immigrant parents. We had some laughs at the expense of the lone heterosexual male for totally missing my announcement that I wasn't on the same team as he. He kept asking if I was dating Jane or Mari, as if the grossed out looks on our faces wasn't enough of a clue.

Jane invited the group to her birthday in Hollywood this Friday. They all seemed up for it, but we'll see if they really show up. If they were bluffing about their invitation to us tonight, we totally called them out on it. Now it's their turn to call us out. It was just a fun evening. Heck, it would have been fun even had we not met these folks. An evening with friends is no small good thing. It's a great big one. Thank goodness for wonderful friends.

I guess the lesson is still to not go home with strangers. But if you're with friends and the strangers seem nice enough and fun and are offering you food and drink, then it's OK.