Who knew this town was all for rocking the Mexican holidays?
I worked later than usual, and went to dinner with my bosses. Freebie food yay! Honestly, this job is the one to get if you're ever afraid of going hungry. Pay is kind of crap but omg there's fooooood.
I still think it's a bad sign when the waiters recognize me and can guess the orders... But ah well. Hanging out with the bosses was actually kind of awesome. There's a huge generation gap I got to say- they both kept asking me if I was going out and what we'd do. Neither one of them ever got to just go out with friends and hang out with a drink and gossip at the bar or a restaurant... when they were my age they were already married and maybe had kids.... strange to think about that.
Anyway, I met up with Trouble and Juliet at the Restaurant Bar, where it was two-for-one night. Oh yeah... and the bartender knows me there too. Eesh. then again, she bartended at my 21st and presided over J's 21st too... possibly that's enough to make me memorable.
Went to The Only Real Bar In Town after that and I found myself taking a terrifying shot of god knows what with Juliet... and the bartender was not well-trained but eh, it was a tuesday night... And then I was somehow playing pool with a group of guys who were much older (like, old enough to be Summer's dad and grandfather), and the dad-aged-one's son? We didn't buy that entirely. The dad-age one had on Abercrombie. And an earring. And didn't look entirely stupid. .... Possibly I was more drunk than I thought. Or he was not as old as he claimed. Something.
I totally sucked at pool. It's been like 2 years tho... or... omg, longer than that. Not since I broke up with Galen! O.o Wow. All I could think of during the game was how Galen's bro-in-law taught me and the fact I was decentish and he'd so be disappointed with my performance.
Btw, telling people in HomeTown that one is a Spanish major gets lots of funny looks. "So you'll like, work in a factory as a translator or something?" Not even teaching comes up in their brains first. lol
Anyway it was fun. And then Drunken Dramedies erupted in the other half of the bar, and it was closing time, and Trouble and I walked to her house and I called mom to come get me. Driving was not an option and Trouble had to somehow drag herself to school today and teach. Poor girl...
Trouble's doing... ok, I think. I hate that I couldn't get out of finals but she had Juliet with her down at the Lake last week, so she wasn't locked in a hotel.
I talked to Kitty too, after I got home. Looks like life might actually get a little less psycho for her, which is a relief.
This morning, my stepdad was unamused with my calling the house at midnight but he apologized since as a former cop he's seen the accidents tha happen when you don't call for a ride. I was really worried for Juliet actually because she insisted on driving...
I'm sorry this entry isn't entirely coherent. I have had two nebulizer treatments today. O_o What the hell, lungs? What. The. Hell?
... I think I might have a date with Stripes? .... So, there's that too.
- Mood:
confused
Sansa left Joffrey sleeping on his mom's couch to come out with us!! Huzzah! I saw the wedding photos... but we'll need a whole 'nother entry to talk about that wedding. So it was LaGirl, Trouble, Sansa and I settling in at The Only Good Bar In Town, and soon enough PartyBoy and his cousin Draco. Then lo did there appear many and assorted others for whom Trouble's Place is often a hangout. Strider was sweet enough to show and be our driver, even. And we set about getting Juliet trashed. Unfortunately we were mostly successful in getting Sansa trashed. But hey, a good time was had by all.
But in the midst of the merriment, Lucky appeared. As he does. Now, Lucky looks like he might be 14 but he's 21 and everyone in any bar in like the tristate region probably knows him. Even if they don't, it's his special Lucky power that they will suddenly realize they do. In any case, we're all talking and he slouches down in his chair as always, the bartender handing him his beer before he even gets around to naming it. "God, I had to be in court yesterday," he says in his rural drawl. Everyone's heads turn.
"What on earth for?"
"That night I out-ran the cops."
Now, I've got some Captain in me so I tilt my head and look again. "So... you didn't outrun them?"
"Oh no." Lucky chuckles and ducks his head a little. "Nah, I outran 'em. Outran the sherriff, NextCounty sherriff and NextTown's cop too. Would've outran our cops but I didnt' have to get that far."
Draco's interest is piqued. "So how--"
"I didn't outrun 'em fast enough to get the licenseplate blurry. They show up your house the next day apparently. They don't warn you about that."
We all stare at one another and then at Lucky again. "Huh. So how'd court go?" Trouble takes another drink.
"Got it delayed again." Lucky takes a drag and sags in relief. "Thank god. Thought I'd be on parole for New Years. That woulda sucked." He shakes his head and looks around at us as if this is the most logical reaction to the entire thing one could have.
I raise my glass in salute. "Lucky, you are amazing."
From there the night got better. We all ended up back at Trouble's place, snow falling in huge flakes. Lucky had brought some friends and they were determined at some point to leave. I dont' actually remember why. Possibly because IdiotBoy who is one of Trouble's exes is married to a total psycho and yet feels the need to come party and be out and lie to her about it... Anyway, they left. And they left with our alcohol. Cue some ranting phone calls from Trouble. They come back. Most of the bottle has disappeared. Trouble takes it and stomps off. We all mean to be upset but Sansa starts playing in the snow and so if one does all of us must and before long we're all back in the house soaking wet, hurling cards at Fry and entirely forgetting the alcohol... until...
"We're stuck in a ditch. ThisRoad, ThisJunction. Help! Phone dying!" It's Lucky. He has put his truck in a ditch and IdiotBoy's phone is already dead, and Lucky's soon will be. They're of course out on the backroads, snow is coming down again... And we girls are in no damn mood to be charitable.
"Well that sucks. Don't you just damn well love karma?" Trouble hangs up on him.
He calls back. Trouble remains uncaring.
We sit and look at one another for a few minutes. Fry shakes his head. "My car won't go out there, Summer doesn't have a car, Sansa's is rearwheel drive... that leaves yours Trouble."
We debate. Trouble calls Strider, I call Frodo (who's usually called Kel but he's let his hair grow out again and omfg he really does look like Frodo I can't help it).
Frodo wakes up and I explain what's going on, beg him to call Lucky, explain where they're at and that we're stuck in town. He lives nearby where they went off the road, so he kindly goes and picks them up.
We carry on talking to Fry and his friend who was new but very amusing. Drinking, playing card games until its 6am and Sansa's out cold, I'm falling over, Trouble's barely getting sentences out...
Woke up at 10, still drunk- didn't stop feeling queasy until 10:30 tonight. We're probably lucky snow angels was the wildest we got.
MERRY X-MAS, everyone! I hope you are all having fun holidays as well.
- Mood:
blah
Actually, I was asleep and he started kissing me and I was like "Eh, sure, why not?"
... then he gave me a hicky. Seriously. Who does that? UGH.
Of course mom saw it. She responded with an eyeroll and a "so what... or maybe who- did you do last night?"
I told her I made out with him, thanks. She shook her head and told me which foundation would hide it. Then she asked if I liked him.
"... he's fun to make out with. ... And there wasn't anything else to do."
Mom laughed and told me to go put the foundation on it before StepDad saw it, because that would cause all kinds of chaos. I'm 23, but I'm still not allowed to go out and kiss boys, apparently. Or girls.
For his part, PartyBoy was rather... odd about the making out. Not after but before... Boys are weird. He likes me, but he doesn't know what todo about it and I'm certainly not going to do anything about it. I don't want to date him. Make out with him? Sure, if I'm bored. Sleep with him? No.
I'm updating this right now because tonight Trouble's probably coming up and Nas is wanting to go out and he's trying to get me cornered by myself to... um... talk. You know. About... about dating. And. Um. What the hell am I going to say? I don't know because half the time I just say whatever comes into my head and maybe... maybe.. I don't know.
However, if we date it'll be long distance. That might be okay. Except fro the dating part. I don't know if I can date Nas. Or if I'm just afraid of dating. It might be the latter, to be honest. ... I don't know.
- Text message from Nas, sent just after he dropped off Trouble and I at the apartment.
So. Yes. There's that.
Aside from that, Trouble and I saw Step Up 2. STOP LAUGHING. There's a plot! There is! .... I think? Um. There was this girl and she's all y'know streetwise and wears baggy clothes and a sports bra and then she's dancing and they dance and she's suckerd into going to a school for the arts because Channing Tatum pwns her at dancing and then his shirt came off and... um. There's the other guy! Yes. He's there and he's dancing and then his shirt... and the abs... and... I want to take Channing Tatum home and (*censored material*) . I'm just saying. I know I liked the soundtrack. I want the soundtrack. And Channing Tatum. Also The Other Guy Who Is Not Channing Tatum and The Not!Gang Dance Leader Boy, although even as hot as he is, I'm still going "um, dude, ur DANCING not dealin teh drugz so HOW r u teh baddest bad on the streetz liek whoa...? WHERE ARE THE DRUG DEALERS, BITCH??! Unless there's a dropped plotline where he's actually pimping all the hot dancer grrlz out? Seriously, he's the leader of a gang of DANCERS- unless they live in WestSideStory, how is he the gangstah?
Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium - Cute movie. But didn't Natalie Portman kind of used to sort of have some cleavage... a bit? Other than that, I really liked it. I wish I could work there... hell, live there. I'm all for magical sentient toy stores. And GINORMOUS dodgeballs. Books that have octopi jumping out. Expressive sock monkeys...
Elizabeth: The Golden Age : In which so much potential awesome... fizzed. And went away. HOW did they make that so boring? The costumes were amazing. That's... all there is really. Nice bit with the Spanish princess's doll, though. Still, I can't figure out how they made the Spanish-English thing that boring. I won't go into the Ralleigh bit becuase-- ugh. Okay movie though.
Lessons Learned on Saturday Night:
-Summer cannot should not and will not ever again take a firecracker shot. EVER.
-Trouble and Summer are apparently very intimidating to males and look like they might bite if approached in a bar, which is the only explanation for how we were stared at to the point of paranoia without once being approached.
-When giddy with alcohol and confronted with a boy who has a good body and unfortunate hair, both Trouble and Summer will be mentally fitting him into a pair of tights and a pirate hat, and wondering whether he would consider joining The Jolly Rogers and also whether their virtuous selves could remain virtuous if he WERE to don a pirate outfit.
-... and that thing with the text message. *sigh*
- Location:CollegeTown
- Mood:
contemplative - Music:Jolly Rogers - Curvy Girls
Mom and StepDad picked me up Friday and took me back to OldHomeTown (sometimes called DadTown) to get Carlotta. I missed my car so much! I hopped in and... something was not right. She was clean!! They'd detailed her. Wow. I forgot how cute my cars interior is when it's cleared of the debris. Anyway, we started to a restaurant for lunch. Came back out... flat tire. OMFGWTF. Called the dealership who'd worked on the car and they... sent a guy out. And paid for the tire to be fixed. YAY!
Finally got home, but lo I felt like I had been zombified. Too much excitement for one day. My constitution is still somewhere near that of a tragical Victorian heroine who's just recovering from some dire malady. Woe was me. I swooned onto the couch and stayed there until Mom dragged me out to go rent some movies.
We got American Gangster; Gone, Baby, Gone; Good Luck Chuck.
American Gangster: In which Denzel Washington rocks the m*therf*ck*ng underworld, Russell Crowe pwns the hell out of everybody and Ridley Scott presides over it all going "I rock and you know it so stfu mere mortals." It was the extended version, so that's possibly why. But still, I loved it. Denzel rocks so hard when he plays bad guys with quasi-pseudo-moralities.
Gone, Baby, Gone: In which all is gray and murky woe in so many awesome ways. Love this movie and despair all ye who watch. No really, if you have any reason whatsoever to be happy, then watch this movie because that will cure you of that unfortunate affliction. It's like a Series of Unfortunate Events as written by an angry crack-addled serial killer bitter at his own demise. Or something. It was awesome but... but I liked being happy. I remember happy. Happy was good. This movie is not for taking you to the happy place.
Good Luck Chuck: In which Dane Cook plays Dane Cook getting used for sex by many women intent on finding true love... with whoever they sleep with next. And they keep finding it. So more of them sleep with him and he feels more and more used and then he falls for Jessica Alba and he can't sleep with her because then she'll get married to someone else and omg what will he dooooo?? Also, there are penguins. And a girl with 3 boobs. And Chuck's creepy best friend. Eh. It was watchable and funny sometimes, so... there you are.
I got to hang out with Trouble and Sansa on Saturday night so that was good, but I had to be home by a decent time (okay it ended up being 3am but that's an improvement I swear) because I had to drive back to CollegeTown due to the incoming horrendous weather. I hate winter weather.
Trouble and I met up for drinks at the Mexican place, Sansa joined us and we trooped off to the bowling alley because there was nothing else worth doing and Kel and co had said they'd be there, but when we got there- there was no Kel! There was however, a PartyBoy, a Lucky, a SomeGirl, and ThisOneGuy. ... Which led to a general feeling of "huh." Kel wasn't answering his phone either, but he finally texted Trouble that he was in jail. BZHUH?
Yep. Kel got busted.
Luckily the cops hauled him out of the bowling alley and drove around lecturing him before dropping him off. Small towns sometimes have advantages.
Meanwhile, Kel's misfortune had everyone spooked. So I ended up driving Sansa's car back to HomeTown while she drove Lucky's. And here things became interesting.
See, I had thought that SomeGirl was PartyBoy's date. Trouble thought she was Lucky's. But ThisOneGuy was hitting on her pretty intently. ... The confusion got worse when she started glaring at Trouble, Sansa and I like we were messengers of the devil. If looks could have killed, we'd all three be dead.
Then Lucky decided he would be the one to give up his seat in his own truck. So he was the one to ride back to HomeTown with Trouble and me. Ahem. SomeGirl was in fact Lucky's date. Sort of- he'd given her up to ThisOneGuy. ... Boys. Are. Weird.
Well, we all got back to Trouble's but the boys all took off. Lucky and ThisOneGuy with SomeGirl; PartyBoy left for parts unknown (well, his plans for the night were foiled though I'm not sure whether it was that he would come back to Trouble's later with Lucky because they can't go alone goddess forbid, or something else entirely).
In the absence of The Boys, Some Other Boys appeared. One Guy who'd spent the awesome Halloween party hitting on me and Trouble and his friend. The friend was married. Not that that means much in HomeTown.
Anyway, One Guy was bothersomely drunk and attempted to tickle me. I was a) not nearly drunk enough to be amused and b) am never touchy with guys I don't know unless there is a dance floor involved...
I had just gotten home when Lucky called me. He literally could not understand that I was not at Trouble's, which explains just how weird it was that I left. I made the mistake of laughingly saying "Yeah, Trouble and Sansa might need rescued- the guys that were over there were pretty drunk. They might need new card-players."
I forgot that Trouble's phone had died a terrible death.
Which explains how a very totally not worried Lucky showed up at Trouble's in his swimtrunks and t-shirt. Trouble hadn't been answering calls or texts from him or PartyBoy, I'd said something about the word 'rescue' and furthermore, PartyBoy had gotten some very weird texts from my phone during the party (The Other Guys had gotten ahold of my phone).
Once he was sure everything was okay, he went back home to put on jeans and try to convince me to come back to Trouble's. I was in need of sleep though.
The Amount Summer Drank During this Entire Misadventure: 1.5 rum and cokes.
Which should also explain why I was so unenthusiastic about everything. Clearly, I cannot function without rum. Also, the being totally exhausted by midnight bit helped dampen it. This tragic Victorian heroine constitution sucks.
o.O WTF, NATURE?
Okay, so we aren't getting the tornadoes, but we are getting a heapbigton of snow and assorted icy substances. I just hope that it's enough that we get the hell out of having classes. Please??
My arm and neck are killing me. I can't imagine why. I mean, it's not like I slammed into anything at 40mph recently or anything... *sigh*
Delos called last night. ... Just when I want to maim him, he gets sweet/amusing/whatever. And this exchange was just adorable (ahem, that would be some sarcasm slipping through):
Delos: So, you were probably pissy that I hadn't called and got all bitchy with everyone and they got all upset about it--
Summer: Not really. I just figured you'd probably never call again, so I snagged a couple dates.
Delos: ... What?
Summer: Well, you hadn't called and I figured you weren't going to and so I took a shot of vodka and carried on.
Delos: .... Of course I'm going to call.
Summer: I don't know that.
Delos: You do too.
Summer: o.O It's not like we're dating. Besides, you're heading off to Korea, land of talented hookers. For months. You won't even remember my name by the time you get back, with all the gorgeous Korean girls running around.
Delos: Riiiight. I bet I do.
Summer: You underestimate the lure of exotic gorgeous girls.
Delos: That's a good way to end up with incurable diseases. Put your dick in that, you might not get it back.
Summer: Ah. So it's a matter of hygeine.
Delos: Argh. You? Are such a pain in the ass sometimes.
Summer: Yeah, kinda like you.
Delos: You have a whole line-up of dates!
Summer: You weren't going to call again!
Delos: Damn it. Of COURSE I'll call you. Why would you think I wouldn't?? You know I-- god. You're impossible.
Summer: Isn't it fun?
Delos: I miss you.
Summer: I miss you too. And I bet you wake up with a hooker at least once.
Delos: I bet I don't.
Summer: Will too.
Delos: Won't. See there's this--
Summer: Condoms help with that disease issue.
Delos: ... pain in the ass. Why do I put up with you?
Summer: You like me.
Delos: Very true.
Meanwhile, back in hometown this weekend...
Trouble summoned me back to her house on Saturday night because in my brief absence (barely 4 hours) she had suddenly acquired a few male guests. Lucky a couple of his friends, whom he had dragged away from what was apparently a promisingly attractive girl in order to come to Trouble's. Early.
I dragged my feet on getting back to her, since she was in danger mostly of losing at Circle of Death questions. Half an hour after the call from Trouble, LUCKY calls me: "Where the heck are you?! It's been 30 minutes! Why aren't you here??!" He was tired of Trouble demanding female back-up.
A few minutes later he calls again as I'm halfway there: "Seriously! Get your butt over here!"
I got there, got settled and we started in on a game of Circle of Death. Trouble looked nearly ready to tackle me. "WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?" was her greeting. I was sitting between her and Lucky so I just shrugged and looked around. "I wasn't ready for them," I said.
It was shortly thereafter that I noticed Lucky was on the phone. It took me a second to realize that it was PartyBoy on the other end. "IS that PartyBoy, Lucky?? Is he too weak to party or something??"
Lucky's grin got Cheshire Cat wide and he handed me the phone. "You tell him." So I did. In fact, I think I said something along the lines of "PartyBoy, where the fuck are you? Get your ass over here!!" He in turn cracked up. I supposed because that was not exactly following my normal pattern of speech.
I actually kind of intended it to piss him off. Since he usually doesn't react well to instructions phrased like that... Imagine my shock when five minutes later he was at the door and taking off his boots (Trouble has trained them all well- the boots come off at the door).
I tell you that to tell you this: Trouble later informed me that this was PartyBoy's second arrival. His first lasted 30 seconds, he didn't take his boots off, announced that well, he had drill in the morning so he wasn't going to do anything, and disappeared. Trouble literally blinked, wondered where he went and had to ask Lucky.
Lucky: *raised eyebrows* "Summer wasn't here."
Trouble: o.O "Summer...? What's that got to do with it?"
Lucky: "I'll bet you $25 that if I call him when she gets here, he'll come back."
It appears that Lucky wins the bet.
Now, once PartyBoy arrived, he protested that he wouldn't be drinking much as he really did need to not be drunk at drill. True that. Well, the boys needed beer and I said I'd buy if someone sober would drive. Strider wasn't in residence this weekend, but PartyBoy's hand shot up before anyone could say much. And we proceeded to go on the longest beer run ever from Trouble's place. We had to go to the liquor store across town. And stop at the ATM. And the convenience store. While PartyBoy showed off his truck and talked of bank accounts and job troubles... and relationships.
Anwyay, I was really glad he was there and sober(esque) because he's the only one of us who can keep party games straight. I couldn't make this dialogue up:
Summer: "Let's play a game! Come on--"
Conversation of Inanity: *continues*
Summer: "Game! Let's play a game!"
PartyBoy: *picks up cards* "What have you already played?"
Trouble, Lucky, Summer, Boy1, Grizzly Addams Jr: "Circle of Death, P&A, Fuck the Dealer..."
PartyBoy: "Right then." *begins dealing Smoke&Fire*
Trouble: "We played that!"
PartyBoy: "Smoke&Fire?"
Summer: "No, Fuck the Dealer. That's what that one is."
Everyone else: *agrees*
PartyBoy: "... No. THIS is FTD" *explains*
Summer and Trouble: O.O "oooh. Let's play it!"
PartyBoy: "Good god."
Somewhere around midnight, mid-party when things were shiny and bright and fun, PartyBoy was like "Damn it, I gotta get going. There's drill. In five hours." I looked at him and okay, I admit it, I sighed. "Oh, come on, Half an hour more? You don't have to leave juuuust yet."
He left about 2 and a half hours later.
There was an exchange in the kitchen though, when he had me alone again. About how if I wanted to party in OtherTown, I was totally welcome and I should go with him, and why didn't we party together some weekend... I have the odd feeling this was some kind of under-the-radar date query.
You should be proud of me though! Even under the influence of a good deal of 100 proof vodka I was serious and rational and I actually explained to him about my reasons for not wanting to party without Trouble or a trusted female friend: "I'm just worried. I mean, bad things have gone on before... on occasion. Stuff. You know. And I'm just worried because what if you got mad at me or someone else or something? I could get stranded somewhere. Or... worse stuff. You know?"
Again, PartyBoy wasn't drinking and I got to see that serious look on his face. "I don't do that. I would never do that." He looked at me for a second and I realized there was backstory coming. Sure enough. "I did it once. A friend... she said she wanted to stay at this party with this guy she'd dated before, right? I figured that was okay and I went on home. ... I found out later (*stuff you don't need to hear about guys, and be glad I'm taking it out*)." He took a deep breath and made sure I was still looking him in the eye. "I'm never leaving a girl somewhere. I don't care if she wants to be there- if you go with me, you're leaving with me."
I bit my lip and wished maybe I hadn't asked him what he thought about the drink I was mixing. "But what if you get mad? You do that. When you're drinking, sometimes, you know? Get mad and then... maybe you wouldn't think about it." Something showed in my face then, I guess. He moved forward and touched my arm.
"I'll yell at you in the car, then. On the way back. I don't care how mad I am, it's not happening again." He might have said more, and maybe I might have kissed him or somehting, but thank all the gods above or below, someone came stumbling through right about then and we separated. I dashed into the front room and dove toward Trouble and Sansa. I stuck close to them for the rest of the party. Literally actually, since there was a seating shortage at the table, so I was sitting halfway on Sansa's chair and partly sometimes on... PartyBoy's. Shut up. He took Lucky's chair.
What? It's not like he likes me or anything. ... Be quiet.
- Location:CollegeTown
- Mood:
cranky
Today's Discovery:
Carlotta+Ditch=EPIC FAIL.
My car is now being repaired. For a couple weeks. It was really only the front clip (again). I bashed my head and arm and I have seatbelt bruises, but no other cars or people were injured in the making of this episode of Why Summer Shouldn't Drive.
My stepfather is being evil about it, though. Even though he was the one insisting I drive back to school this very morning. Because class is more important than life. And of course those roads would be clear, there was no need of taking the interstates.... No. This is All My Fault and this is What I Get For Coming Home (even to do homework) In This Weather (even though this weather was not supposed to hit for another two days). It was zero visibility, there was slush and ice all over every single road. But no. I HAD TO LEAVE RIGHT THEN. Seriously, mom and jocksar? Do you need to cash out my life insurance or something??
But, you know. I could understand being evil about it a bit, if the evil had happened after I stopped shaking and maybe on the 2nd phone call, after he was sure I was not about to die or anything. Not when he starts yelling the second I'm like "I'm in. A ditch. And it's icy. And I'm stuck. And the car is... hurt and... "
Then, after I get the tow truck called and the driver gets lost and I'm helped out by the amazingness of Good Samaritans and rural Midwestern hospitality and all that... we get the car to the dealership. The person who helps people looks at me and obviously realizes that I'm still scared and I'm stressed and I want to cry now please, so he does what any generally nice guy does: takes the insurance card and makes the call and speaks in slow, even phrases and makes no sudden movements. He even talked with me while I waited for my stepmom.
I want to thank whatever guardian angels I have for providing me with excellent and amazing luck in the Finding of Helpful Strangers. AGAIN. And I hope all the helpeful good Samaritans get hella karmic bonus. Especially the girl who stopped and was late for class because she waited for me and offered a ride, and who sat and flashed the lights at people so they knew to slow down and not hit the silver car hidden in the mist.
Meanwhile, boys continue in the epic quest for Total Lunacy. PartyBoy's getting weirder, if that was ever possible. And we shan't go into the evolving saga that is Trouble and Lucky. At least, not right now. I'll make another entry about all that stuff later.
Talked to D for five seconds this weekend. But I was drunk. And it was on accident. Oops. Oh well, he's alive. That counts for something.
At least now Nas knows of Delos' existence? And he already got to listen to me laugh/grumble about him. Why was I grumbling? Oh, let me tell you.
I called Delos early and meant to leave a message but got sidetracked mid phone call and didn't. He called me back while I was at Joker's, and I missed the call. But I did get to him about half an hour later, so it wasn't a huge delay... but of course, there are several of us over there, and the majority are guys and... gee, can you guess where this led? Yep. You guessed it.
Delos: Hey, what are you doing?
Me: Hanging out at Joker's. We decided to have a quiet evening- none of us feel really well, so Nas and I came over after we got done with dinner and stuff and now we're playing Wii--
Delos: Oh. *gets sulky-silent-grumpy*
Me: Hey, are you okay?
Delos: I'm fine. I'm just... thinking too much.
Me: What about?
Delos: "Just about... Well, it sounds like you're busy."
Me: "It's okay. It's just a bunch of us hanging out. No big."
Delos: "Go have fun. Don't worry about me."
Me: o.O Who's the girl here???! "Um. Okay. But... are you sure you're all right? I'm NOT busy."
Delos: "It sounds busy. Just go have fun."
Me: "... Call me tomorrow?"
Delos: "I get off early tomorrow."
Me: "That's cool. Just give me a call."
Delos: *grumpy hrumphy sound* "Okay."
Me: "Hey, I miss you. Sweet dreams, when you get to bed."
Delos: ... "Good night, cutie."
Me: *flips phone shut. stares at phone. glares. grabs a fresh glass of wine. slumps onto couch.*
Joker: "What happened?"
Nas: "Bad phonecall?"
Me: "Boys. Are. Stupid. ... present company excepted. Actually, just one boy is stupid. Really stupid. Gah. Why are we watching basketball?"
Joker: *obligingly changes channel*
THIS episode comes after THIS exchange the night before, btw:
Delos and Summer: *have a really nonsensical teasing type conversation that segues into teasing one another about sex and random other subjects*
Delos: *jokingly* How many guys have you slept with since we started dating? !!! I mean, seeing each-- um. Talking?
Summer: ... *tries not to laugh. fails.* Yeah, watch the vocabulary fail right there. Careful, Delos, you'll get yourself in trouble. And incidentally, the number you're after is zero. Except this one guy who I met in Vegas... but he keeps forgetting my name and stuff (erm, this is a joke that we've had going).
During the same conversation, his roomie or other guy person came in and was saying something, asked what he was doing:
Delos: "talking to my girl..."
This isn't the first response of that kind that I've caught. It's generally something like "the woman" or other versions thereof. Y'know, how guys generally refer to the girl they're dating? Except, wait. We're totally not dating. AT all.
Kitty's suggestion is that he needs to either lie to himself that we're not dating while admitting we are "because she insists" if that helps assuage his issues, or he needs to just admit that yes we actually are dating and get over it already. I agree with her, but as long as Delos and I are not dating, I don't see why I can't go on dates with other guys. Since I'm single and all. Delos can deal with it, or do some self-evaluation to figure out why he's so cranky about that idea and get back to me when he's prepared to get over it already.
*Each blogger starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
*Bloggers that are tagged need to write on their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
*At the end of your blog you need to choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names. Eh, just do if you want to.
1. I didn’t drive until I was 17. I was scared of it- I’d seen a car wreck when I was younger, literally we watched a woman come around a curve and flip her car 3 times in a field. Plus, I had had odd car wreck dreams through most of my parents’ divorce. I would be in a passenger seat, talking to the adult driving or sometimes a friend of mine, and suddenly they would disappear, leaving me careening along some road at ridiculous speeds. I would scramble desperately to get into the drivers seat, only to find that my seatbelt wouldn’t unbuckle or the brakes were gone or other such nonsense. Sometimes I would get into the drivers seat in time to avert my oncoming death, but other times I just woke up panicked. Driving is still not my favorite thing.
2. I’m pretty sure I edit my own memories. Not just a little, either. We’re talking the sort of editing where you just decide that “this never happened” and suddenly it didn’t. Of course it’s probably going to come crashing back at inconvenient moments, but then you take a deep breath and go “This Never Happened” and it goes away again.
3. I am convinced that no matter what color I dye my hair, it will look exactly the same within weeks. NO MATTER WHAT.
4. I’m addicted to iced chai lattes. We’re not talking a little addiction either, we’re talking I don’t care if it’s 11 below outside, I still want an iced chai.
5. Whenever I’m sick, I am WORSE than useless. Same as if I take a pain pill. My synapses just forget how to connect and my brain decides that it operates outside of the space/time continuum and the laws of causality mean nothing. I drift through the universe, and while I observe things that happen, they mean nothing to me and I don’t actually comprehend them. Conversation at this point becomes greatly hilarious because my brain just skips from one idea to a completely new idea, sometimes mid-sentence. I can attempt to take notes and get to class in this state but I inevitably wander into the wrong building or forget mid-way to class or if I get to class I write notes that have only the vaguest resemblence to what was actually discussed.
6. When I was really little, dad worked night shifts and would get home at midnight or 1am or something like that, and I would wake up and he would give me cookies and cream icecream to bribe me into going back to sleep… or something. Mom was most upset when she found out, but then decided that it mean I slept later in the day and she accepted. … To this day, I feel I should never be in bed before 1. And that there should be icecream involved somehow.
7. I feel like a fat slug right now. But I don’t have the self-control to manage a diet just this moment. It’s awful. I’m back in my fat pants. And I think I weigh like 140. I’m 5’2. I feel happy with myself at 115. This isn’t a good situation. I’m a size 9 when I want to be size 5. UGH.
8. When I grow up, I kind of want to marry Jason Bourne. Or maybe Denny Krane.
It was late because we'd gotten a bit lost (the road we meant to take was closed), and it was desert dark which is to a midwestern girl somewhat more ominous than just a dark landscape because this is a dark landscape that still doesn't look soft or nice or hospitable. I woke up to Yellowcard's Ocean Avenue, my head in Delos' lap and his arm draped over me. In the front seat, Snow was curled to the side, long since asleep. A glance upward told me Delos was gone too. Charming was awake, in the zone as he drove. I sat up and leaned forward to talk to him. “Hey.”
“You woke up.” He sounded surprised. With good reason, since I was the one who had just flown several hours and endured airport terminals.
“Uh-huh,” I yawned. “Where are we?”
“We’re at the lake. Sorry about this, I was hoping we’d get here while it was daylight out- this place is gorgeous. You’d love it.”
“No worries. Blame Delos, he was the one who was like “oh, no, the early flight’s too early. Take the later one.’” Charming huffed good naturedly at that. “I’ll see it when we’re leaving, right? So y’all have been out here before?”
We passed a while in conversation, about D, about Snow and the ordeal of moving her stuff out from Wisconsin, and even touching a bit on Iraq. Delos rouses a bit at that point, and joins in with Charming. I’ve been warned by many people that the guys who see combat don’t talk about it much, but they seem to. They don’t like being asked, so I don’t ask, but I don’t change the subject when they get round to it. At least, they will talk about life in Iraq, the people, and sometimes they talk about the actual fighting. Mostly it’s about the feeling just before, the waiting, the edge they live on for all those months. And after, with a rueful look and an uneasy shake of their heads comes the half-murmured admitting that “I almost kind of miss it” or “Sometimes I want to go back.” Then they share a look, and the knowledge that Charming is going back without Delos, without D without any of the old group is suddenly there.
I don’t ‘know how I’ve gotten permission to be here, or why they will both talk to me about things I know Snow is not let in on. Mostly I don’t mind, but there’s a shiver in the air sometimes that makes me wish I was excluded, that they would revoke my pass. I wonder what D has said about me, and I try to stay quiet. Delos puts his arms around me and pulls me back to rest against his shoulder. He drifts back to sleep eventually, and I wriggle out from my spot and lean back toward the front to talk to Charming. It’s hardly fair that the rest of us sleep while he drives. He says he doesn’t care; he likes driving and being in that zone, his head clear and his thoughts lining up. Still.
So we talk about driving, about his past and the future and a thousand other things. Charming is fun to talk to, like Delos. And yet he’s from an entirely separate world. Delos and I share a common background in the country, D and I a childhood. Charming’s life has been like D’s lost teenage years a whirl of rebellion and drugs, and this is his way out. The Marines are his structure, his penance to society and maybe to himself. Delos joined because he wasn’t ready for college yet, D because he had always wanted this, and Charming because he needed it. But Snow doesn’t want to be a Marine’s wife. She doesn’t want this life, and so Charming has promised one last tour and then he’ll be done.
I bite my lip and say something supportive, ask about where they might go or do after. Charming shrugs and the subject changes. I look at Delos, still sleeping. He has said he wants out because he’s tired of the monotony, but he’s also said if he had a life here it would be easy to stay in. Yet he already has his plans laid for when he goes back home. He has his choices, options, jobs...
“What the fuck?” Charming’s voice shatters the quiet and I look to the front.
“OH my god!” I gasp. “Donkeys??!” There’s a donkey, standing just beside the road calmly watching our car fly by. Charming hits the brakes. We both look back. Nope, still there.
“You see it too?” Charming asks.
“Uh-huh. Donkey?”
“Donkey.” Charming laughs. “Wild fuckin’ donkeys. Awesome”
Snow and Delos are waking up finally. “Huh?” is their response.
Behind the first donkey, another one has climbed down off the rocks and is ambling over. Then comes another. “Look, baby,” Charming instructs Snow, “You’re missing the burros.”
Delos and Charming quickly sink into a line of humor about wild asses, and the improbability of the insurance company accepting a claim of a car wreck caused by “tapping an ass’ and having ‘got some ass on my car…’
The next surreal moment came when we discovered something in the phone in Delos and my room had gone vastly awry, resulting in it giving a soft chiming ringy sound every so often. It was pretty damned distracting to be honest. Everyone was lounging on the living room area when the phone started doing it again.
Charming picked it up. "Hello?..." ... He stared. "No one there."
"It does that," Delos sighed. "A lot."
The phone chimed again. Delos unplugged it.
The phone chimed again. Charming slammed the receiver down.
The phone chimed again. Delos glared.
The phone chimed again. Charming and Jack leaped across the room to accost it. Charming, in his best orangutang impression, hopped up on the table and began making monkey noises at it, while Jack followed suit and picked the phone up from his position on the easy chair (no, really, ON the chair) and began shaking the phone as many a monkey might treat a coconut.
Snow tilted her head, regarded her husband for a moment and looked at me. "Want a drink?"
I watched Delos joining in the monkey brigade. "You like Captain Morgan?"
We fixed ourselves some drinks and took up a carefully calculated position on the couch. Unfortunately, the phone had stopped making noises and the movement was noticed. Charming leapt from the table to the couch and had Snow pinned. Trooper that she is, she didn't spill her rum.
That was much of the weekend, really. Delos' hand holding mine, Charming saying outrageous things and rolling his eyes when I giggled at him instead of taking him seriously, Snow and I teaming up against the boys or being teamed up on by the boys or watching helplessly while they acted like wild monkeys set loose on civilization. Sometimes the monkey thing being sadly literal.
Then there were the more serious moments.
- Mood:
quixotic
(Charming, Snow, Delos and Summer are sitting in a lovely restaurant waiting the food they're going to need to be able to properly get hammered later)
Charming: Snow never kisses me in public. It's depressing.
Snow: Whatever.
Charming: So kiss me!
Snow: No.
Delos: Summer would kiss me in public. Right now.
Summer: No, she won't.
Snow: Hah! Thank you.
Delos: What?! But... not even a little? Right here? *points at his cheek*
Summer: Nope.
Charming: I'll kiss you!
Delos: Would you?
Charming: *leans across booth, kisses Delos on the cheek*
Snow and Summer: Awwww. *die*
Delos: ... you know, what's really sad? That's the fourth guy in my group to do that.
Summer: ... That's what you get for being the cute one.
Delos: Really? I'm the cute one?
Summer: Well, you know, when they haven't seen a girl in a few months...
Delos: You? Are so mean. *grabs Summer, kisses.*
Shortly thereafter the boozing commenced. I got to discover that when Delos said he couldn't drink, he wasn't being modest. He really cannot hold his alcohol. At all. As in, he is just really bad at it. He just gets drunk really quickly and then kind of... passes out. Which would put at least a little dent in the amount of drama to be had, except that he is really bad about sleeptalking? ... Now, imagine what sorts of chaos can happen there.
Which meant that one night, he passed out in the hotel pretty early when we all came back for a break between bar-hopping, and the guys couldn't get him woken up. I got ready to go back out with everyone else, because I'm a hyper type of girl like that. I attempted one last time to wake him up, and got sleepily mumbled at... except the mumbles were translated in my (admittedly inebriated) brain as a hideous insult. To be fair to him, he might have said something completely different from what I heard. And from the stricken look on his face later after he woke up and I told him about it, I'm guessing it either totally was something else, or he was just so far gone he had no idea who he was talking to. But the explanation did not happen then as I stormed off to the balcony where Snow was kicking back with a drink while she waited on Charming and the others.
She took one look at my face and raised an eyebrow. "I've seen that look before. We're going to have a killer time tonight, aren't we?"
"Shall we get it started?" I asked, carefully dotting away a couple errant tears. Snow got up and put an arm around me.
"Hell yes." She pulled me toward the stairs, our pace quickening with each step until we were flying past the pool and out of the courtyard. Somewhere behind us I heard Charming muttering "oh, fuck..." Snow shrieked with laughter and we ran down the street and away from our group.
By the time boys (sans Delos) found us, in one of the closer bars, we were already at the bar, drinks in hand, deep in conversation with the punkish but motherly bartender. They approached and Snow gave her husband a Look, the kind where you know instantly that he is in disfavor and should he get too close she's going to rip his head off. Apparently I wasn't the only one ready to run tonight...
"Hey!" I said with a smile.
"Let's try that next bar," Snow suggested to me, Jack and Eric. Charming was a non-entity now.
"Would it have killed you two to wait?" Jack asked, dropping into the chair next to mine.
"Yes, " Snow informed him.
"Well, it would have killed someone anyway," I added. Charming eyed his wife with the wariness of a disarmed hunter regarding an oncoming wolf.
Eric stared at the ominously blue drinks Snow and I held. "What are you drinking?"
Snow giggled. "It's called a Grateful Dead. It's got... tequila, rum, vodka, gin, curacao, and sweet and sour... or something like that..."
Just after that, the bartender suggested a spice cake shot for me and Snow. A few minutes later, events began to be somewhat hazy. However, I do remember a conversation that had me worried after I sobered up.
As for the next night.... heh. Well. I'm not sure anyone's ready for full disclosure of that one. Not even me.
- Mood:
cold
Mom won't stop harping, alluding to, nudging in the direction of, and otherwise browbeating me with the idea of getting Galen back. This would be fine if I wanted Galen back. At all. Also, if the idea didn't turn my stomach and make me think vaguely suicidal things like "Maybe tonight is a good time to try taming a crack-addled wolverine" or "I wonder what would happen if I poked a polar bear with a chop stick."
I'm only scared because my mother is like Sauron and Palpatine's scarrier sister (or Mama Petrelli Incarnate in other words). She can bend you to her will and you won't notice that it happened until several years down the line when you sort of shake your head and wonder what it was you meant to do a moment ago... So, in an act of rebellion, I decided that I should visit Delos instead of him visiting me. I'll be in Cali next weekend, as a result. What's half a continent when you're belatedly rebelling against parental authority?
The Delos thing is... odd. I really like him. And not the fluttery giggly sort of like. Well, that enters into it a bit, but mostly because I know what he looks like without his shirt on. What I mean is I like him as a person. ... He... has feelings. He speaks. He explains when I ask him things and doesn't even mind explaining them (no, really, I'm not going to stop going on about that because no guy ever has done that unless we're counting my brothers/father/stepfather). He reacts calmly and reasonably when I call him all confused and upset. Did I mention he has feelings and actual thoughts and stuff? Well, it shocked me.
We talk just about every night. For an hour. Sometimes 2. And I don't get bored. Very strange.
Oh, and he can keep up when I go on a tangeant about giant alien space monkies conquoring a horde of evil ninja zombies. He can even debate whether and why and if it's possible for zombies to have sex. ... The conversation even turned to neanderthal sex and whether there would have been a Neanderthal Sex Guide at some point.
Plus, he can shoot stuff.
The most amusing thing so far was when I (very, very drunk and well, most of you can guess what I'm like when drunk and if you can't then just imagine Lindsay Lohan circa 2005 back when she was out to have fun and not destroy herself utterly and also had not morphed into Nicole Ritchie) called Delos because I wasn't sure what we were classified as. Was I allowed to make out with someone else? And how about sex? Was he sexing someone else, or would he if the opportunity arose? Mind you, the phone call woke him up, and I have a 3 second attention span when tipsy.
So I figure next weekend is a sort of test run. I hope it doesn't turn out disastrous, but if it does, at least I know there are guys out there who can actually carry on conversations. Two-sided conversations even.
In other news. Joker and Nas are refusing to stop bugging me about when I'll be back in CollegeTown. Galen's an idiot. PartyBoy is clearly a 13-year-old girl in disguise. And Lucky is possibly the brightest of the Boys (and that's very worrisome).
Also, D's married. He's not thrilled about it, either. Direct quote:
Me: So, how's married life?
D: ... I have a wife. And a kid. And a house. And a truck. And a mortage. Oh, and a dog.
Me: Sounds amazing!
D: ... erm, yes. It is. Very. ... It's weird.
Me: You're a grownup now.
D: Yeah.
Then he found out I was going to be in town to visit Delos. He hemmed something about not having the money to hang out and it's so hard being responsible and maybe but we'd have to see... Then he decided he had to run. *eyeroll* Boys.
Added bonus: Apparently, Roxxi's ex-longterm-boyfriend called D the other day and wanted to have a heart-to-heart about how he (the ex) is living with Roxxi's dad and has been for some time. She never mentioned this to D. Also, Roxxi's parents found out about the marriage only after it was signed, apparently? Yeah. Someone got conned. I'm not even sure who at this point...
My god, could they be any more "Days of our Lives"?
Staying with Elton was Hollister, who Trouble and I had first met the night before. He had been extremely hammered, and had generally made an ass of himself. Hollister is hot, I give him that, but we met him and instantly disliked him in a way that made it pretty hard to register his hotnes.
However, this night he was not at all hammered, and was a pretty fun guy to hang out with. Elton was also cool as Trouble and I met him via dropping onto the couch next to him and introducing our (already tipsy) selves. We surprised him, and the surprised him was remarkably awesome. Of course, he then remembered to pose and posture and was thereafter a bit dull really.
Still, there were four boys and two girls. Pretty good odds for Team Girl. We realized this when the boys turned on the dance CDs. Hollister and Elton took to the floor. Dear sweet gods of sex, those boys can move.
"Hey, when are you two gonna dance?" Elton called over the music as he and Hollister gyrated.
"Come on!" Hollister grinned. "You know you want to!"
Trouble and I exchanged glances. We looked back at the two boys shaking their booties for our viewing pleasure and raised our glasses in tribute. "We can't compete with that!" I yelled back. "It's just too hot!"
This was apparently the right combination of ego-stroking and coyness, as they redoubled their efforts. Hollister got close with Elton's leg. The music pulsed around us, and I decided this was so going into my list of Happy Moments.
Then Elton grabbed my arm and pulled me onto the floor. I was surrounded. Elton in front, Hollister in back. Trouble smirked and toasted me with her screwdriver. I scarcely had time to accustom myself to the amount of male yumminess surrounding me when PartyBoy added himself. As the trio rearranged themselves I ducked out and ran for the safety of the barstools. While I have no qualms about being sandwiched by hot guys, I refuse to let it be by HomeTown guys.
Trouble couldn't stop laughing because she's sadistic.
Out of gratitude, I didn't rescue her when they decided to see if she could weightlift.
It was at some point in there that the vodka began to take effect. Though I know Hollister stationed himself beside me for Circle of Death and pretended he didn't know how to play. I might have been trashed but I found it hilarious. This was not the effect he had intended.
Elton was trying to get Trouble's attention, only to find himself thwarted by Lucky, who took up the seat next to her and suddenly decided he should become very huggy.
Meanwhile, I realized PartyBoy had had his hand on my shoulder/waist/ back for a while now and was showing no sign of either a)removing said hand or b)moving said hand anywhere else for that matter.
In the end, Trouble and I left with the boys who brought us. You should have seen the triumphant grins on Lucky and PartyBoy. We later learned that this was nearly a first. Apparently, they take pains not to lose track of any females they bring near Hollister or Elton as said feamales will generally make a quick exit and disappear for an hour or so. With Hollister or Elton.
I tell you this so I can explain Friday night.
We ran into PartyBoy at the gas station. He wasn't going out. He was going home. ... Trouble and I apologized because we had sort of gotten ahold of his phone the night before and left.. erm... entertaining voice mails. He laughed and was like "Eh, no big deal." He was going home. He had drill.
We saw him as we were cruising somewhere. Huh. Weird.
Friday night was the most boring night in the history of boring nights. There was nothing to do and nowhere to go and no one to hang out with. Trouble and I sat staring at each other. Well, this was all-out suck. We pondered the situation. We called the various boys. We called the various girls. We pondered some more. And then we realized we had not called Elton.
... wait. We didn't have Elton's number. Surely Elton would be hosting a party.
I called PartyBoy and asked for Elton's number. He gave it.
Trouble dialed Elton and found out Elton was in Texas. Well, hell.
Trouble and I gave up and went home. I was nearly asleep when I get a text from Party Boy: "You two still out running around?"
"No. We gave up and went to bed. I hope tomorrow is more fun."
"I hope not. I won't be there lol."
"U suck. Dont worry, we won't do anything you wouldn't."
"I have drill. I've got the PT test and stuff."
"Poor soldierboy! they hate it when you show up drunk for that. Good luck!"
"Thanx"
And thus ended our conversation.
Then PartyBoy, Lucky, Kel and co showed up at Trouble's tonight. ... And quickly there came mention of last night's party. ... Trouble and I looked at one another, our eyes narrowing in identical glares. But we are patient. We can wait.
So it came to be that I cornered PartyBoy on the porch as he smoked. "Um, PartyBoy, why didn't you tell us about the party last night?"
"Hey, I didn't mean to go anywhere. It just kinda happened."
"And you didn't let me know? Or Trouble?"
PartyBoy coughed and looked away. "It was at ThatGuy's house." (ThatGuy being some guy whose crowd is not good news and where stuff goes down hardcore)
I fixed him with my very best wide-eyed hurt girl look. "Oh. Okay. I just wondered..."
"Look, I wasn't going to go, it just... went down." He glanced at me from the corner of his eyes and took another drag. "Right? Hey, you wouldn't have come. It's not... you know."
I sighed. Not our crowd. Not our type of party. He didn't want to have to worry about what might happen to us when he or Lucky weren't looking. I get it. I do. And maybe he might have invited us if I hadn't told him we were in bed already. Maybe. I grinned at him and made some joke about how lame it is that he's making up some party when he was clearly off having sex with his much-older boss lady. That makes him choke on his beer and I dash inside before he can dump me in the snow.
Trouble has theorised the non-invite was as much because we asked for Elton's number as it was because it was a scary crowd. I agree. He and Kel and Lucky are already touchy because during the festivities, we met PartyBoy's cousin Ash, who is hilarious and also Hollister's roommate. Ash is one of the few guys who can keep up with Trouble and I's random banter. We liked Ash. ... Trouble made the mistake of mentioning that we called Ash before we called PartyBoy on Friday.
This was Not Acceptable. Kel and PartyBoy and Lucky are here every weekend! Why would we suddenly call Ash? Ash is boring! Ash sleeps with slutty girls (nevermind the quality of girls the rest of them sleep with)! Ash was totally giving us lines!
Then we called Elton. ELTON. omg.
So Trouble deduced that this wherefore we were snubbed. Because deep down, boys are really 12-year-old girls.
In any case, we are apparently forgiven now. Saturday night we were all having a ball. Then it was suddenly 5am and we had to try to wake up PartyBoy so he could get to drill. ... To say PartyBoy is not a morning person is a bit of an understatement. Add in taht he had been sick and passed out for about 2 hours, it was not easy. It took three girls, Kel, Strider, half a spray-bottle of water, and 30 minutes before he was out the door, leaning on Strider who was carrying Fleur.
Best moment came as I was trying to drag him out of bed and somehow his arm looped around and dragged me toward him. ... And then I was being cuddled. Imagine a highly annoyed CareBear. That would be my exact expression. I struggled. Trouble and Fleur jumped onto the bed and decided to join the puppy pile. Kel joined them. Strider grabbed the spray bottle and took aim at PartyBoy.
Then somehow we all ended up spilling off the bed as Kel pushed us, and everyone found themselves lost in a tangle of damp blanket and drunken friends.
Fleur had to throw up. PartyBoy made a bee-line for the couch. Trouble and I dragged PartyBoy upright.
But he got to drill. And he said thank you after all.
Lucky texted Trouble a play-by-play of his (nearly failing) hook-up.
Trouble and I fell down her stairs, fell back up them, and somehow managed to fall into bed at the end.
- Mood:
lethargic
But really I am. HomeTown is just so gods-forsaken boring that you really are reduced to 3 possibilities when it comes to amusing yourself: sex, alcohol, drugs. Since I'm painfully anti-drug (thank you, N), I only have 2. Since I don't enjoy dating within the HomeTown dating pool (thank you again, N), I only have 1.
Discoveries Made Last Night
-Kel looks like Frodo Baggins when he hasn't had a haircut for a while.
-PartyBoy really cannot handle vodka.
-Kel's little mini-suv Tracker can pull a truck out of a ditch.
-Summer and Trouble have NO FILTER on their brains after a fifth of Captain.
-PartyBoy and Kel's MySpace passwords. (Not that we'd ever use them...)
Overheard Last Night
Draco: (watching Trouble and my creative reinterpretation of the rules of Presidents and Assholes) "You can't DO that!"
Me: "Can too."
PartyBoy: "Did you not hear the name of this game? It's called 'They Win', dude."
Draco: "NO! No. You can't do that."
Strider: "Just give up. They aren't last and that's what matters to them. Rules aren't applying."
Me: "We win!"
Draco: *sigh* "Good thing you're cute."
Draco: *is question master* "Why'd you do that?"
Me: "Why must you ask stupid questions?" I'm usually the faultlessly polite one, but Draco's questioning was bothersome. He had decided that since Trouble kept falling for it, I clearly would have to.
Draco: "Ah-hah! You answered! Drink!"
Me: "Can you not recognize a question?"
... *this goes on for a while* ...
Draco: "What are you doing?"
Me: "Why do your eyes not work?"
Draco: *continues*
Me: *is bored of this game*
PartyBoy: "Someone get me popcorn.."
Draco: "What did you just say. Summer?"
Me: "When did you develop this hearing problem?"
Draco: "What was that?"
Me: "When are you going to stop asking stupid questions?"
Draco: "Why would you say that?"
Me: "Will your new brain be arriving soon?"
PartyBoy: *jaw hits floor* "..."
Draco: "Whose turn is it?"
Me: "Wouldn't you know if you only had a brain? ... Will someone draw a !*$&#*@ queen?"
PartyBoy: *falls over laughing*
Me: "... I loathe you."
There was another segment of conversation as Megara, Trouble and I discussed 'The Rabbit' and sex in general, totally forgetting we had an audience of four males. Oops.
Trouble's mom was scandalized today as we related some of the arguments and debates that we routinely get into with the boys. It's nothing to have people on their feet, shouting and cursing (all in total fun mind you, they'll be laughing at the same time) and then all the table will be yelling back, Trouble or I leading it. Trouble's mom is of the opinion that we should just agree with them. Good grief. How boring would that be?
hmm... trouble's going to be here any minute. We're starting the party tonight a bit late. We have a couple more fifths of Captain, some Hypnotic, and some vodka. We should be pretty good.
- Mood:
happy
Trouble and I out-drank the boys last night. We drank them under and giggled while we did it. They guys were plastered after some beers but she and I got through an entire fifth of vodka.
Toward the end of the night, because the boys has forced Trouble to drink a beer (eurgh), I took my next turn to make a rule that before the night continued PartyBoy and Kel had to each take a shot of vodka.
...
From the ensuing ruckus, you would have thought I ordered them to drink arsenic. ... They still did it though. Once Strider and I pointed out that if they didn't take the shots the girls would officially be tougher than them.
It was all of 2 minutes before PartyBoy hurled.
Kel just sort of slumped sideways.
On their next turn, they decided Trouble and I should each take a shot of vodka. ... Aka the stuff we'd been drinking all night anyway. Okay. We take the shots. We look at them. They grumble.
We all decide to head out into the ice and snow to sober ourselves up. Out on the deck, PartyBoy is unable to stand up. Poor guy, he really cannot master his balance on the icy wood. Because Trouble and I are the souls of compassion we shriek gleefully and skate around him in circles, performing lop-sided pirouettes and spinning around with one another.
There's a long blurred period in my memory. I'm sure there was more card gaming and shrieking and general merriment. Then the inevitable ending of the night, sprawled on the couch next to Trouble, who was sprawled across Kel who was passed out, with PartyBoy sprawled across me. He was not quite passed out.
Hand holding. Hair stroking. I sort of began to feel like a PG-13 teddy bear.
At some point in there I gave up and went to bed. I THOUGHT Trouble followed me. No. It was not Trouble. It was PartyBoy. Oh well. Making out, acting like teenagers and I had the oddest moment thinking "Huh, so this was what high school was like for other kids...except the kissing and groping probably sucked more."
We slept sort of on opposite ends of the bed because he at some point was like "Omg, I cannot touch you or I will do something I would really regret and you're drunk and I WILL NOT DO THAT."
We woke up, or at least I woke up to him being awake and ganking me into a huggy position. ... le sigh. Closed-mouth kiss of goodmorning and such. He felt like making out more... Iwas not opposed to this---oh. Wait...
I pushed away from him, ran to the bathroom and sank into a salute to the Great Porcelain God. Dry heaving. More dry heaving. Oh god, I was going to die and I didn't care and just let me die... PartyBoy walked in and sort of laughed at me, then proceeded to hold my hair and generally offer moral suport. I think I managed to whimper out some thanks.
Once that round passed, I got some water. I had forgotten what it felt like to throw up water (it sucks, in case you aren't acquainted with the sensation). Then there was water and crackers. That sucks equally.
I collapsed onto the pullout-bed in the front room, where Trouble had moved Kel to. Trouble went back to her own bed because she had wandered down to the basement and randomly passed out a bit, and gotten chilled. So she needed the electric blanket. She asked me to to go with her but I was like "must... not... move... *sob*" So see,
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
dwg? I am not a cyborg! Kel, PartyBoy, Strider and Pippin made conversation and all politely refrained from making fun of me. PartyBoy kept hold of my hand for most of this period, and... stroked my hair. Boys are weird.
Another round with water.
"Is she okay?" I heard Kel asking PartyBoy.
"She's tore up," PartyBoy told him.
"Someone should go get some food. Pippin?" Kel looked at his friend.
Pippin was dispatched to Taco Bell and the convenience store, and then I asked if he could please go to McD's.
That's how I wound up getting some McDonald's french fries. Don't ask me how but those damned things are like the one food that my stomach will accept when hangovers hit.
By the time Pip got back, I was semi-functional. We turned on a movie and I munched my fries and the guys regaled me with tales of their most legendary exploits. ... I'm pretty sure they're only alive because the gods find them amusing.
I had to get home because I had driven my step-dad's suv over due to the snow and ice. I had only been home a matter of minutse when Trouble called me again. The boys had been horrified to learn I had gone to the movies with J.
Kel: ".. J? She went to the movies with that guy??"
PartyBoy: "Why??"
So they're all going to see 'I Am Legend' since I saw it with J. Trouble's going with them... the lone girl, with PartyBoy, Pippin and Kel. ... She's going to shoot them halfway through the movie.
- Location:HomeTown
- Music:The Man Who Murdered Love
WE WON THE GAME. Take that, Other Team! We're off to the nationals!!!! If we all survive Finals Week...
Sadly, we won the game at a terrible price. Mainly, hypothermia. The entire school was so frozen afterward that there was nary a party to enjoy. And it was a late game too, so there was barely any time to get a good drunk on before the bars closed. Although the bartender in the Over21Only pub was encouraging Trouble and I quite nicely with that bizarre concoction he created for us (we know we ordered Capt and Coke, we're sure we did, but somehow we got Captain Morgan, Crown and Coke, that tasted like sugar-coated death which it in point of fact was...)
We retired to an after party at one of the frat houses. Our party by then consisted of myself, Trouble, Amy, Nas, Mallory and Jez. Mallory is a new acquaintance who seems pretty cool. Anyway, I have the feeling perhaps she was brought along as an attempt to guage whether or not Nas could make me jealous. ... Nope. I was pretty much just overly hopeful that perhaps this would be a new crush.
I really do admit that I ought to/need to/should talk to Nas and have a Conversation about, you know, Matters. But maybe that can wait until after finals, yes?
In any case, we went to a frat party. I felt surely there would be some proper debauchery to be reveled in at a post-victory frat party... Alas. Even the frat boys had been frozen to death. There was beer and pool, and even a half-hearted effort at a drinking game or two. Downstairs there was music and far too much pot. But of real, true, wild abandon there was none.
I had to laugh as once again, Trouble and I got to watch our WonderTwin powers at work. Trouble saw a group of guys gathered round a table, cards and beers in hand.
"Ooh, hey, do you think they're playing P&A?" she asked in a half-whisper as we stood near the far wall. Half of the players turned and looked at us speculatively.
"I... don't... think so? But maybe they're going to-- They're looking," I took another sip of Captain Morgan.
"Did they hear me?!" she whispered furiously. "How in the hell...? Never mind. I want to play P&A." The players cast another round of glances our way. This room must have very good acoustics?
"Me too," I admitted. Although somehow it felt disloyal to play it without PartyBoy and Bucky and Co. "We should ask."
One of the players cleared his throat. "Hey guys, how about P&A?"
There was a general round of enthusiastic responses. Trouble and I looked at one another. "After you," I told her.
We wandered up to the table. "Hey guys," Trouble said with her girl-next-door-so-cute-you're-going-to-d
The dealer scowled. He was large and unkempt, and clearly had been drinking since well before the game started. His hair stuck out in odd places in a way that seemed to announce a capslock-worthy amount of having NOT Gotten Laid In a While. "We're playing Connections!" he said loftily. "Why the HELL does everyone keep asking about P and A?! It SUCKS. I HATE THAT GAME."
I sighed and Trouble shrugged. "Well, let us know if you do. We want in on it." She added another smile at a couple of the players as they took up a chorus of protests against the dealer's refusal.
So that was how we wound up playing pool with Amy's friend Bo, who really reminds me of a long-lost Duke Boy. No really. I nearly expected him to tell me he was from Hazzard County. He was fun though, and he picked me for his team, even though I admitted up front that I utterly suck at pool.
Trouble decided to remain a cheerleader for the game, while Bo wiped the floor with our competition (Amy and NiceGuyPerson who I guess lived in the frat house but I wasn't sure.)
At some point the cops arrived. There was a fight or something. Then there was more pool, and finally Nas dropped Trouble, Amy and I off at Amy's apartment where we all checked Facebook and chatted until 5.
Amy is hopeless. I don't know how the girl has made it to being 22 and still remained this naive but omg, someone needs to slap her awake before she gets into trouble. She managed to stun Trouble and I both by not recognizing the scent of marijuana, then being shocked at its presence at a frat party in CollegeTown, then she added to this by not realizing that Bo flirted with her at all which I sort of understand but then again not really. Let's not forget this odd obsession she's having about the drug-dealing former-addict ex who dumped her via a text message then said they never were in a relationship. Because all that can be excused, really. *headdesk* He's just protecting himself. *headdesk* She knows there's something more to him. *headdesk*
Is there some unwritten law of the universe that every 20-something girl has to waste her time on at least that one dumbass guy she really just knows she can fix??!
And I am going to flirt with Bo. I am going to flirt with him and use him to learn pool.
Oh, and also, when we were checking Facebook, Trouble and I got sidetracked for nearly an hour by this new add-on thingy that lets you compare your friends and computes your rankings. It pops up with the pics of two of your friends and askes you a question like "Who is a better dancer?" or "Who would you rather marry?" or "Who has the prettiest eyes?" or whatever random thing. Addicting like crack. It just feeds your inner bitchy 13-year-old.
So then I had to check my rankings. I just HAD TO.
1st in "Who would I rather sleep with" 
15th in "Who has better hair"
... huh. I guess I'm sexy, kissable and marryable. Yay?
Delos gets back in 9 days. I'm being such an idiot. On so many levels.
Anyway, Trouble and I didn't want to drink much, she didn't want to have a party again- we'd both had our fill for once, thanks. ... But leave it to PartyBoy to convince us otherwise. So, thanks to our living in this particular hellish state where liquor can't be sold after midnight, Trouble and I raided my parents' well-stocked bar and took our ill-gotten loot back to Trouble's. PartyBoy and Kel joined us a bit after 1 am and somehow we found ourselves kicking back and playing drinking games. Those somehow devolved into Truth or Dare which just further devolved into Truth or Drink.
I believe we managed to drink ourselves sober.
This time the crowd stayed to just the guys and us, and we kept it up until a little after 7 am. Kel and PartyBoy ended up spending the... morning/night on Trouble's couch.
So, I told you all that to tell you this: PartyBoy, much to Trouble's amusement, is trying to figure out if I would ever consider if not dating him, at least sexing him. *eye roll here*
Trouble did not help matters when she told him and Kel that while I would not share a couch with OGF on Saturday, I would have shared it with Kel.
Kel: "... Oh MAN. You mean that sonofabitch... just... I could have... Damn it."
Trouble: "Well, she trusts you."
PartyBoy: "Yeah, but that means that you be the nice guy this time and maybe there might be a next time and then something might happen!"
Kel: "Dude, that guy needs to die."
Ah, guy logic. At least they take the long view, non? If I'm nice right now, she might sleep with me later. Apparently Kel got this object lesson out of the whole OGF incident because he was hearing Trouble and I's whispered conversation on the couch.
Kel: "I hope girls never talk about that like me. Daaaamn. He had No. Chance."
PartyBoy: "That is why you don't act like an asshole, or they do say that shit about you. To other girls. And you can't ever get laid after that. They have websites for that shit now."
It would seem that we were pretty venemous. Well, we were scared and if we had been big enough/had access to a stun gun, that guy would have had his butt handed to him. Girls are way more vicious than guys, we just couldn't take him.
Anyway, those amusing bits of guy-wisdom aside, fun was had by all and Strider and PartyBoy have passed a new rule that strangers are no longer welcome at Trouble's parties. That will probably get relaxed a bit, but Strider was pretty adamant about it, so we'll see. He's the oldest and the (mostly, maybe) wisest.
Trouble and I still had to laugh that Kel and PartyBoy felt the need to crash on the couch, just to make sure. You know, in case we were attacked by a sudden plague of zombies or something.
PartyBoy does not believe Delos exists. They share a name in real life, and there was a text message of Trouble's that went astray somehow, ending up in PartyBoy's phone. ... That took some fast talking.
... oh, and I still like Delos. This means it's been an entire week. One more week and it'll be over. Maybe I should try making out with someone else to hurry it along. ... except I don't want to. And that sucks ten times more. ... maybe he won't call again. Ever. That might be good. Yes. Except then that would suck. OMGWTFIHATETHIS. I swear to god, if I start wearing armbands and moping around with too much eyeliner on...
Trouble and I went through a pint and a fifth of Captain, and then some Hpnotic in the course of the evening; we were happy and flying right along with our pals. We even got the boys to run and grab some foodage- they came back with a freaking TON of nacho cheese in two huge paper trays and then two bags of chips. The feeding frenzy continued around the ongoing game of Circle of Death, the rules of which we had completely made up by that point in time. We also had some very inventive versions of PandA that make no sense by the light of day, but I swear we had logic to them last night...
Unfortunately, PartyBoy had to work and took off early, then Strider had to go too, and suddenly we were left with One Guy, who Trouble once dated alllll the way back in high school, a couple of the other guys, and One Guy's Friend.
One Guy's Friend was where things went badwrong.
Somehow, this guy thought he had a chance with me. Le what? I flirted with one guy through the entire party... okay, and PartyBoy, but hey, he's there to flirt and that's just what he does so there you are. The guy I was flirting with, I shall call Vegas since that's where he lives (heh, small world isn't it?).
Vegas is in the Air Force, and I was having great fun teasing him about that fact. He took it very well and he made for a fun conversation partner. Plus, he's really cute. Sadly Trouble already warned me that sex with him, unless he's somehow gotten in on that theoretical secret Marine Training, is not worth the bother. Meh. I wasn't feeling much for sexing anyway, what with being so god-damned much in like with Delos. WHICH STILL SUCKS, thnx.
Anyway, One Guy's Friend is like one of those guys who thinks he's all the bigbad. He wanted to do all the poseing and posturing and try to wow me on where he's been and omg, he's seen all this stuff, and isn't the Small Town Girl just so impressed with his total awesomeness? Cause, omg he's from the Real ATL....
Yeah. I was impressed. with his total asshattery.
I believe my response to all this, once my good manners had worn out was something akin to "begone, mortal, for you annoy me." He kept pushing subjects like ATL and where this was at adn that was at and I was like "yeah, sure. Um, dude, I've been there. It was boring. No, really, I don't care. Oh my god, no, really, I DON'T CARE SHUT UP."
At some point, OGF passed out on Trouble's couch. Which is right by the dining room. Which was where our card games were still going on.
At some further point, OGF gets up and sulks back into the room. Starts bitching about how we're making too much noise. Trouble's like: "Dude, my house, my time table, my card game. Deal."
OGF sulks back off somewhere.
Party winds down. OGF is on the couch. Now, Rule 4 of Trouble's Casa is that the couch belongeth to her friends, most especially me.
Me: "Hey, dude. Off the couch. Sorry, but them's the rules. You get the chairs or the floor. Girls get the couch."
OGF: "I don't think so."
Me: "This? Is not your place to say."
OGF: "I'll share."
Me: "I am sorry, but I am not comfortable with that arrangement. I don't know you."
OGF: "I don't bite."
Me: "Perhaps I misspoke. By 'I don't know you' I mean 'I do not trust or like you and you creep me out to astonishing degrees'."
Trouble: "Hey, she doesn't share and she doesn't have to. I'll get you a ride home or whatever, but this is not acceptable."
And that is when OGF realized that his friend, One Guy, wanted to stay with Trouble, and that his welcome was officially worn out. So he proceeded to get nasty, threaten Trouble, then me, with his friend getting in the middle and Kel getting in the middle as well because he was wasted but this was not cool.
Which was how while OG and OGF had a huge high-tension show-down in the dining room, Trouble and I wound up sitting on the couch, holding one another's hands and both our phones poised to dial the cops. Neither one of us likes getting pushed around and Trouble was having trouble not getting up and mouthing off, but honestly? This guy? Way too creepy for words. So we waited and I held the cops number and Trouble tried dialing every single guy in her phone book. ... well, most of them.
Eventually One Guy left and took his friend with him. By then Trouble was too relieved to be upset, and she and I went to her room while Kel took the much-contested couch. We locked every door and made sure they were secure before we tried to go to sleep,but sleep was no use.
Sadly, that wasn't the only drama of the evening.
Toward the beginning of the night, I got a call from D. I... did the bad thing. I told him that if what he's up to is making him happy then go ahead and marry Roxxi. If he's happy, then that's all that matters. I said it and smiled and laughed into the phone and started a mental countdown of how long that's all goign to take to explode fantastically. And then I promised myself I would call J the next day and inform him of everything. J's the last hope, honestly. If J can't talk sense into him, then that's the last straw and D's course is set.
Anyway, after I sort of played make-up-and-be-nice with D, going so far as to admit that hey, yes, Roxxi is nice enough and cool and all, and I do like her (privately, I still think she's going to go on the list of D's Biggest Mistakes eventually, but oh well), D decided I guess to be a brat.
He was like "So... you and Delos?"
I laughed. "We'll see. He's a nice guy."
"Summer, you need to take some time. Get to know him. ... Do you know he's engaged? And about to be a father?"
"WHAT? No. Shouldn't you have, oh, I don't know... mentioned this at some point earlier?!"
"I'm just saying, you need to... take it slow."
I decided that my original idea back in Vegas, about tying him up and leaving him in the desert was a better idea than I'd thought. Good grief. Kettle, meet pot. "D, you know me. It's all fun."
"Yeah, I know. But he's had some bad luck with girls... Just... be careful about this, Summer."
"And also he's engaged, right?"
"Right."
I made myself laugh and make some more jokes, then I hung up the phone, dialed Delos' number, and left a voicemail asking that he please call me back. Was I totally wrong about Delos? Had my usually good people instincts let me down? How could a guy be lying about something that big and me not notice? I'd been distracted... yeah. But... Oh my god.
I stumbled into the kitchen and called for Trouble. She dropped her card game and came out, took one look at my rapidly crumpling face and dragged me into the bathroom.
"H-he's... engaged!" I hicupped into a kleenex.
"He's what?"
"Engaged. And... there's...a... kid?" I sniffled. "I don't know. Something's not right. I didn't think- - he... it doesn't make sense."
Trouble sighed and gave me a hug. "Well that's sucky. At least you found out quickly, right?"
"I think I caught your curse! I'm only going to like engaged guys and you only like married guys and this... is... ugh. I hate this. How do girls DO THIS? I hate liking people!" More sniffles ensued.
Once I had managed to stop sniffling, and my tears were suitably dried, make-up touched up, Trouble drug me back to the card game we had abandoned.
"New round, everyone!" she announced. "P&A. PartyBoy, deals!" She handed me a drink.
When in doubt, dive headfirst into Captain Morgan. ... and also, there was Vegas, the aforementioned Air Force guy. Not only was he cute, flirty, and there, but hey- Vegas.
Delos may never know just how fortunate his timing was when he called me back. I'd almost decided that Vegas was the best antidote for the night. But I would give Delos a chance to explain, because something was feeling hinky enough that I wasn't ready quite for jumping into a make-out session with the Next Fun Time.
"Hey, what's up?" Delos asked. I could hear he was standing probably in a parking lot somewhere.
"Are you engaged?" Best to get this over with fast.
Delos was silent for a second. "Am I... what?"
"Engaged."
"Not that I know of. What the-- where did you... Huh?"
"Someone said that you were. And you are also going to be a dad in like two months."
There was a very heavy sigh. "No, I'm not. There was a girl- my ex, remember I mentioned her? She said she was pregnant, but she lost the baby. It was all a little too convenient. But it was a while ago. Did D tell you this? I need to keep him more up to date I guess..."
This background story jingled into place with other stuff he'd told me and fit far better. In fact, I was sort of thinking he had mentioned this somehow. "Okay. Yeah he.. he said that you were still engaged and all. But... you're not?"
"No." Delos sounded more relaxed now. "He's just trying to protect you, I guess... You're okay?"
I took a deep breath while the world fell back into order. "I'm much better now. Thank you for calling me back so quickly."
"It's no problem..." he paused and then I heard that note of male ego creep into his voice with: "You were worried about that?"
I sniffed. "I was kind of hurt, honestly. It would suck if you had flat-out lied about something that big..." and then, lest he get too smug, "Although it was going to give me a really good reason to go make out with this hot Air Force guy."
That got a laugh, "Oh I see. Switching services. You're all about the uniform, really, aren't you?"
"Well, he's not in his right now... but I suppose if I asked nicely that could be arranged."
"You're horrible," he chuckled.
I told him he should probably behave and not abduct his brothers to Singapore for midget strippers and fried beetles. He insisted that would ruin his plans, but condeeded that it would be hard to get back to base by Monday. And so we said our goodbyes and I felt immensely better.
It didn't occur to me until I hung up that I could have logicked my wayout of the problem without calling him, what with the details about our lives and holiday plans we'd exchanged.
This still smacks of either D getting strategically confused or... something.
Anyway, I'm officially chalking up last night as the Night Of BoyPMS.
And now, PartyBoy and Kel and co are on the freaking warpath to avenge Trouble and I's... honor? Or at least our lost fun. PartyBoy is Not Happy about what happened, which was relayed by Kel once he had sobered up and it looks like the guys are placing some new rules about parties at Trouble's, meaning one of the main group should be there until everyone leaves and if they all leave then the Party is Over.
I've never been more thankful for my guy friends. Ever. One night of seeing what it might be like without them, and a view of what lesser guys are like, and honestly? I could kiss them all. To all my guy friends: I heart you so very, very much.
- Mood:
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