Interlude 8
She’d only been at Piedmont College a day or
two. It still felt like she was at a summer camp that would eventually end
instead. There she was, all of 18, 120 pounds, blonde, cute and short and in
her freshman year of college. The horrible summer before had finally faded and
she was ready to get the party started. After having been drunk all of twice
before, she was ready to see one of the parties her brother always used to talk
about. She was ready to get sloshed.
The dorm was lame and she was unpacked and
bored. She called one her brother’s friends, Sasha, to see if anything was
going on.
“Hey, Sasha. What you doing?”
“I’m hanging about to go over to Merry’s, why?
whats up?”
“I am so bored.”
“Yea, alright I’ll come get you.” She arrived in
just a few minutes. Demorest is a pretty small town. She drove up in a cool two
door black cavalier. Sasha was, in her eyes, the epitome of cool. Confident,
wild, and she dropped F-bombs like they were going out of style. Yea, Sasha was
fucking cool.
She hopped in and they drove down the strip,
less than a mile, to Merry’s apartment at the corner of Central and Georgia.
They walked up stairs, Sasha announced their presence with some remark, and she
did not knock. The apartment was awesome, trendy and as she looked around she
thought it was amazing. I want this she thought, how do I get this?
Sasha walked in like she owned the place,
explaining how Merry worked her ass off in Helen so she didn’t have to live on
campus. They both had a lot of money because they waited tables at restaurants
there during October Fest. They made a LOT of money. As she looked in awe of
the apartment she thought, I really fucking want this.
Merry and Sasha were chatting back and forth
about their summer and their expectations for the future year. They were
talking about the guys they were dating or screwing and how that was working
out. Sasha and Ed were off again but she was going over there later anyway to
try and make up while Alex had stopped taking Merry’s phone calls. It all seemed
normal to them. It was just men and men came and went and apparently
came back again without any real pain or fear in the matter. They both seemed
fine with it.
Merry looked over at her, “Well, how about
you Miss Hannah?” there was a pause.
“Well, you know, I don’t really do a lot of
physical stuff… I mean, um.. I don’t know.” She had no idea how to participate
in this conversation. It was completely foreign to her. She continued,
“I mean, I’m still pretty new in that
department.. um.. the sex department.. you know? I’m taking it slow. I don’t
have a boyfriend or anything… but I’m pretty excited about the parties this
weekend, though. That should be fun.” There was pause as Merry looked over at
Sasha with a sly grin.
“You trying to get drunk, Miss Hannah?” She
shrugged in response to Merry’s question.
“Sasha, pour Hannah a drink before we get going.
Might as well get her warmed up, huh?” Sasha laughed and walked into the
kitchen and pulled the goldschlager out of the freezer.
“Wait, liquor doesn’t freeze?” She said and
Sasha laughed in response. “No, it’s not like water. Its gotta get a LOT colder
before it begins to freeze.” She giggled again and saw her embarrassment, “It’s
okay, you’re a preacher’s kid like me… you’ve got some catching up to do.” She
pulled out a shot glass and poured one.
“That shit tastes horrible” Sasha said, “but if
you’re not used to drinking, one shot will definitely get you moving in the
right direction.” She looked at the clear liquid in front of her and saw the
gold flecks floating in the liquor. She’d never seen anything like it. She
looked at Sasha who nodded in encouragement and then she picked up the shot
glass and tilted it back like she’d seen in the movies. She threw it back
trying to act like a pro.
It burned all the way down. It WAS horrible. She
coughed and thought for a moment she might vomit right there in the middle of
the kitchen. Sasha laughed at her.
“I told you it was horrible.” Her face began to
warm and her belly glowed. As the three girls headed out the door and down the
steps all she could think of was that she wished she could have another.
