Weathered Love

AUTUMN

The semester sped by. I only ever saw Jason when Lorenzo invited him over to the house. If Jason and I ever found ourselves sitting together alone, he would lament over his unreturned feelings for Catrin. Catrin was too busy in her perfect relationship with Frank to notice Jason.

It turned out Frank was a huge goofball who had worn the jeans and polo the first time we met ironically. Catrin was always smiling and laughing now, and I was annoyed that Jason couldn't see how good Catrin and Frank were together. But I listened to his melancholic "woe is me" rants every now and then. Maybe if he had a listening ear, he could get over his sadness and move on.

Halloween was close by and Ivan and I decided to try out our fake IDs the weekend before Halloween, just to see if we could use them to buy liquor for the small Halloween party we were going to throw with the roommates. The IDs were convincing enough to get us into a college bar. "Oh man, this is awesome," I stated, soaking in the atmosphere.

"Don't be too obvious," Ivan criticized. "Just follow my lead." He walked right over to a bar stool and so did I. "Hey," he nodded at the bartender.

"What can I do for you two?" the bartender asked. He gave us a sweet smile and I thought he looked pretty cute. Maybe some liquid courage would do me good.

"Could we get two shots of tequila? And what would you recommend as a chaser?" Ivan inquired. How was he so good at this? Or was I that out of tune with life?

"I'll make you two a nice tequila bomb. House specialty. Guaranteed buzz within minutes," the bartender informed us.

"Sounds perfect," I cooed. The bartender gave me a smirk, and within two minutes, we both had a tall glass, half-filled with a bright-colored drink, and a separate shot of tequila.

"You ready?" Ivan checked. I nodded. We both dropped the entire shot glass into the taller glass and chugged our drinks. After finishing it up, we both coughed a bit, then started laughing. This was going to be a fun night.

"OK, I pick the next drink," I insisted. Ivan gestured that I should go ahead. "Hmm," I pondered. "Hey, bartender? What's your name?" I asked. I didn't want to keep calling him "bartender" all night.

"Christopher," he responded.

"Can I call you Chrissy?" I inquired, the alcohol already affecting me.

"If you're already feeling it, maybe we should call it a night," Ivan suggested. I knew he still had enough wherewithal not to let me drink so much that it hurt my health.

I gave him a sour look. "Pay him no mind," I responded. "What's a shot you recommend? I need something that doesn't taste like alcohol," I queried.

"Well, the best ones I can think of are the 'Pound Cake' and the 'Jolly Rancher'," Christopher responded.

"Ooh! Pound cake please!" I requested. Another minute and we both had a shot in front of us. "Alright, one, two, three!" I stated. We both threw back the shots and were reduced to nervous laughter.

"OK, last shot," Ivan instructed.

"Fine," I reluctantly agreed. "Jolly Rancher?" I suggested, since it made sense.

"Yes," Ivan enthusiastically nodded.

We each had a Jolly Rancher shot, which was even sweeter than the Pound Cake shot and infinitely more delicious, and were about to head out when someone from the group of people next to us stated, "Hey, we have an extra shot. Want it? No charge," he stated, handing it to me.

"Well, I'm the designated walker tonight, so I'm cutting myself off. But my friend here is very interested in the free shot," I responded, handing the shot to Ivan.