As the days are getting warmer, people are starting to get semi nude and it’s acceptable to walk the streets. Kids are sitting their final exams. I look back and think of this time fondly, I mean I don’t wish I was back there. God, no. The of the spring air smells of youth and it takes me back to hanging out and having fun. I’m currently outside and looking up the beautiful night sky, it’s amazing and there is not a sound. I’m looking at the beautiful double storey rendered mansion and grateful of where I am. Ouch! I hit the mosquito on my arm and it springs me back to the present. I am looking up at a house, but it isn’t mine, I’m house sitting – looking after a couple of kids while their parents are away. And I have been kind of kicked out of the house as one of the teenagers that I am looking after has her boyfriend over, so I don’t want to be a creep and sit on the couch with them. The bites are swelling up all over my body, so I decide to interrupt their “movie” viewing. I was 16 not that long ago… that thought makes me extremely nervous as I walk to the door making extra loud noises so they know that I am approaching. While I retreat in another room until I have to drive the boy home, I realise that when I was 16, that was pretty much when the dating disasters began.
“Hmmm, I don’t know if I should go out tonight, I’m feeling a bit better, but still pretty gross and I am semi grounded” I say to Maddy East, my best mate.
“Fuck it, we are going. I’ll bring clothes in and we can mix it up.”
“Sweet, you’re right, otherwise I’ll just hate myself at home, best to get amongst the madness.”
Maddy and I walk into the house party and I feel awkward. Being 16, you always feel awkward – actually I still feel incredibly awkward most of the time. I hate walking in anywhere. People sharply turning their heads to look at who has entered and then quickly turn back, to continue their conversation. This was no different as I imagined that we walked through the party gates and everyone stopped and stared like we were in a teen movie and the ugly duckling had finally shocked everyone with her make over. I am sure that is in my overactive mind and we walked in and the party carried on around us. We quickly found the host of the party. She was incredibly interesting, she was bubbly and extremely good to me for about six months, while we had a class together, but the friendship did not last long.
“Oh Bridie, you came!!!” She was beaming and gave me a tight hug.
“Of course, I came” Smiling and then turning to Maddy to roll my eyes.
“So what can I get you to drink?”
“Ohhhhh I’m still on medication, so I don’t think I will drink tonight”
“But it’s an open bar?”
“Nuff said, I’ll have something with vodka thanks”
Maddy and I walked back outside. The first drink went down without a hitch. Then the second. While the liquor was flowing and I was beginning to feel much more relaxed. Maddy and I would go from group to group talking rubbish to people that we would see all day at school. The party was pretty good. People were having fun and because it was in the small town that I grew up in, it was accessible for people to get to, rather than out of town like usual. People came and went. We started doing shots of tequila. On my third shot, I threw up everywhere. Maddy rushed me to the toilet and I continued to throw up. I wasn’t feeling too bad though. She gave me some gum and I felt much better. Maybe the more intelligent girl at the beginning of that night, should not have had a drink when she was on medication. We went back outside and the guy that I had been hooking up with on and off for years was there (that went on for nearly a decade.) I started to get nervous, when he looked over at me and smiled. After a while, he came over to me.
“Looking good tonight Winters.” He said
I looked down and went bright red. Wait, no that didn’t happen. I wish that happened.
This is what really happened.
“Looking good tonight Winters” He said.
“Let’s go.” He smiled at me and we started to leave the party.
We reached the gate to her house and met some people there to chat. They looked at us and we excused ourselves and continued on going for a walk. We walked up a few more houses and then started to make out. This continued until people were yelling out to us, so we began our journey to find some privacy. We reached an opening that had some grass and trees. We continued making out as teenagers do, oh wait we were teenagers. I thought that I was sobering up after all of that vomiting. Hmmm I wonder if he knows that I was sick moments before this journey . We had never really gone very far even though we had got together on a number of different occasions. Things went much further that night. Not all the way, but further. About an hour later we were getting up to go back to the party.
“Where are my undies?” I asked him.
He continued looking around the area that we were in, but with no luck.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe that you have lost my undies. ” I said between more making out.
“You think that’s bad, at least you don’t have chewing gum stuck down there.”
“I’m sorry, what?” We stopped kissing. I notice that I was no longer chewing the gum and am pretty sure that I didn’t swallow it. Dammit. Mortified. Oh my. This will be an interesting story that goes around school on Monday at 9am. So not only had I lost my underwear. I had the sinking feeling that someone would find them the next morning, when they pulled up for church, because that is where I realised that we were when we started walking back to the party, in the church car park.
When we got back to the party, I left him to find Maddy. I told her the story while we were in the toilet together.
“So now, I have to stay here and be all commando, because I can’t go home this wasted, Mum will kill me.”
Maddy takes off her underwear and hands them to me, I put them on inside out and back the front. This is what true friendship is all about and this is Maddy to the core, a true friend. Always getting me out of the little blunders that I used to get myself into. Maddy went home and I stayed the night at the party. At some stage, I got another guy to go and help me look for my underwear but unfortunately we couldn’t find anything. There were a few people that stayed at the party that night and we drove to a bigger town the next day to get McDonalds to relieve those nasty hangovers.
I later found out that he had to go home and cut the chewing gum out of that area. I wish I could say that that was the only embarrassing story that I have with that certain gentleman but that would be a lie. The next story takes place years later and is just as embarrassing… but that will have to wait for another post.
I am thankful though, that when we see each other at the pub on Christmas Eve in that little town, he gives me a wink and a smile and I do what I wish I had all of those years ago, I blush and look down at my drink.