Social exclusion zone

I am due to go out tonight with a very good and long-standing (won't say old as that could be misinterpreted!) friend. Normally we would meet for a few glasses, end up getting a bottle (it's easier and less hassle queueing at the bar - yeah, right) and then maybe, if we were particularly well-refreshed, another. A pack of Marlboro Lights would appear at some point after a furtive trip to the nearest shop, which we'd proceed to chug our way through like they were going out of fashion and we'd both spend our train journey's home like startled rabbits doing anything to avoid falling asleep and missing our stop.

No more, well for me at least! However, my friend should feel no shame in imbibing but it always seems such a stark contrast when you are sat in a bar ordering a vino and a soft drink and then self-consciously sticking to the water whilst she may feel weird about having a second glass. Have never really managed to master this one as I have previously been the uncomfortable one when out with K as I have fancied another one but am aware that I will be getting inebriated as he remains sober. What to do?

Well, dining seems the clever solution. I have so often forgone this part in the past, being far too keen to get 'the swally doon yoor neck' as my Scots family would put it, yet meeting for a bite to eat is in fact a far more sensible and grown up option. This way too, my lack of drinking is much less of an issue and the whole evening takes on a more civilised stance. I suppose it's a small issue when you consider all the benefits of not drinking, but I have no desire to commit social suicide in the process. That said, the most common responses to 'I've given up the booze' are:

'How long for?' - meaning how long before I can see you again and not have to suffer with a sober person;
'Really, why?' - meaning how can your life possibly have any meaning without the booze soaking every bit of it;
'Oh my God, you're not going tee-total on me are you?' - meaning convert to Islam, murder your mother, whatever you fancy but don't, for fucks sake, stop drinking.

So rather than draw attention to my pledge and turn myself into a paragon of virtue such that my friends would rather spend an evening poking themselves in the eye than with me, I am attempting to make social situations fit me. Sure, there will be events where the lack of booze on my part may prove a killjoy, but for now, the best way to get through this is to forge my own path and adapt what ones I can to suit a sober me.