I reflected on this a minute, and remembered...if I was fixin to get my toot on, a non-drinking friend wouldn't have bugged me as long as there was at least one drinking partner also (like group of three or more). Just me and the non, no good. Put a highlight on my feeling that alcohol was the key ingredient for a good time.
What I REALLY liked was a friend who had it worse than me. Then I could write them into the role of "bad influence" and just go for it!