Dave organized a party for his birthday. He was very happy that his four friends came to celebrate his age. Dave had everything prepared for his party. Actually, Dave was quite exhausted and thirsty from his preparation, and just wanted to sit down and talk to his friends. Beers calmed him down. Dave took some beers from the freezer. He took a look around the group sitting on the couch and asked; “Who wants one?” Steven said yes, Mark said yes, Thomas nodded, and Patrick raised his hand enthusiastically.

Steven was ready for a good party. He didn’t really think about whether drinking beer or not tonight. It was a part of the plan all along. No party without beer, he said yes. Let the party begin!

Mark didn’t use to drink. His dad was always an alcoholic. Even though he didn’t have any emotional relation with beer. He always thought about that night when he found his father passed out on the toilet. He always was afraid of ending like that as well in 20 years. But he wanted to overcome that. He wanted some acknowledgement from his friends and be cool. He already complained so much about his childhood. Let’s just have this party, I won’t get addicted he thought to himself. So Mark said “Yes”.

Thomas always went a little loose when he got a little tipsy. Thomas liked this feeling because he got more spontaneous and had better conversations with his friends. Tonight, Thomas wanted to use this. Because over the past months, Thomas got a little bi-curious and certainly when he drunk some beers. Lately, Thomas was having some feelings about Mark. Mark was so mysterious. Thomas wanted to refuse these feelings because he wasn’t sure whether his friends would accept this, but he suspected Mark from being bi-curious as well. Nevertheless, tonight it was a party, things might get loose and Mark just accepted a beer from Dave, which is quite an exception. Let’s go for it, said Thomas to himself, and Thomas nodded for a beer.

Patrick loved the taste of beer. There is no drink that tastes anything like beer. It’s not like that crazy sugary drink like coke or sprite. Beer had a distinct taste, very pleasingly. Patrick knew that Dave always bought good beer for his parties. Patrick just got thirsty thinking about beer. So he raised his arm enthusiastically when Dave offered him a yellow-one.

Thoughts:
This story was written to show how different paths all result to one result; saying yes to a question (who wants a beer?). However, there are many if not infinite different paths that lead to a similar decision across different people. They all have different reasons for doing what they do, just like every individual has every day. Some thoughts go really deep and analyzing, while other thoughts are shallow. Some paths come from the “top”, where everything is great (Steven), while other paths come from the bottom and rise to the top (Mark), and this moment was the place where the paths meet each other. 

The story also illustrates the complex social dynamics during social interactions like parties. The thousands of “thoughts” we have within a few seconds.