And time keeps on ticking so that Friday afternoon becomes Friday night. And this particular Friday night was Arnold. Yvonne had a Rage for America party at her apartment-- I wasn't going to drink. But Riley had just gotten back from Seattle and wanted to make up for missing Thursday night. So one beer turned into several drinks and Yvonne's apartment turned into Finny's. When we got there, I just wanted to dance. With every boy at the bar. Except one. But the story behind that is, well, complicated, and one that I would like you to believe is irrelevant to the present, but in truth...A brief detour may be necessary, but I'm not sure I would know where to begin. Or even what to say just yet. So instead I'll talk about the easy things, like going home with Arnold, my lab partner from freshman year gen chem. I'll talk about how he's gentle and endearing. Candid and sensitive. Non-committal and funny. Everything but complicated. How I woke up in the morning to his roommate George shouting out every curse word known to mankind about their broken BB gun-- how it was all Fez's fault and if he hadn't been dumb about it then they would have something to play with. How they knew Arnold had a girl in his room and they were waiting at the bottom of the stairs to see who it was when I finally came down. How they looked at each other and said, "Well, good morning. This is such a pleasant surprise." A line I knew that they had been rehearsing all morning in order to achieve the perfectly synchronized, somebody-had-a-good-night tone in their trying-not-to-laugh voices. How they grinned from ear to ear at the prospect of making me feel as uncomfortably comfortable as possible about the fact that I had spent the night at their house. How Fez insisted that I stay for what I will call a walk-of-shame breakfast, and made small talk about things like the incense that was burning on the coffee table and the fact that they are too cheap to turn on the heat, even though there was snow on the ground outside. Yes, it is these things about which I can easily write. With just the hint of a smile, I know that Friday night was...good.
Saturday night was JR. It was 10:00 at night, and I was in my pajamas at home talking with two of my roommates when I got a text from Danielle saying she was coming over to say hi. I thought that meant, "I'm coming over to say hi," but it really meant, "I'm bringing three other girls over and we are going to be dressed to go out and by the time we leave, you will be with us." I wasn't going to drink. But it didn't take much convincing. Four of my friends drinking beer, talking about our soon-to-hit-it-big family band, "AcaSWELLa," and singing, "Goin' to the Chapel" around my kitchen table.