IF ROSES BLED INK

CHAPTER 10: "DON'T GET SUCKED INTO THE LIFESTYLE"

I’ll never forget the way my old teachers used to drill me about how varsity was going to be different from high school. I couldn’t help but think that maybe their warnings were slightly far fetched. By now I was used to the 6 hour lectures and the seemingly endless tests I had to study for. Nothing could’ve prepared me for the “lifestyle” though.

This is the part where you use your minds again. Picture all the best parties you’ve ever been to. Eliminate the ones that took place at clubs and organized spaces. What do you have left? The frat parties. Organized by the most plugged in figures on campus. How often would you say these happened during high school. Maybe 3 or 4 really good ones a year.

Well the “lifestyle” changed everything. 2 Or maybe even 3 every week. And it’s not like they’re all the same. Not at all. Every single one was different. They each had a soul. The life force of this soul, the people.

Hundreds upon hundreds of people every time. Whether you knew eachother or not, the moment you entered the building you were in a safe space. A space where you could lose your morals, your self control and sense of direction for as long as you needed to. The king of this space. Kyle Hoghart. My neighbor. Varsity football star. A player in every sense of the word. People would often ask how was he able to keep up with the lifestyle. Football practice was 07:00am sharp every day excluding Fridays and Saturdays which were game days and Sundays which provided the only real opportunity to escape the schedule. He didn’t have any problems with any of this though. According to records he was always at practice and always up to date with his studies. According to us on the other hand, he was always present, even if there were just rumours bouncing around. Almost as if he was the one planning them. And the stories of his escapades at these parties. They left me speechless.

For example. The previous year at the varsity youth day celebrations towards the end of the year he broke a record. Absolutely nothing to do with sports. Beer pong. Yes. Beer pong. The “competitive sport” of parties world wide. He could have qualified for the Olympics with that performance if we had a team. 27 cups in a row. The other team needed 3 people just to finish off the match. All three were carried home that night. To be completely honest, so was Kyle but nobody held it against him for celebrating with more beer.

Anyway, back to where we were. It was nearly time for “The Summer party of the year". This was an annual event hosted by a different faculty every year at an abandoned multi level parking lot. Everyone knew about it. Not just students on campus. People from all over the country would be coming to witness this year’s spectical. Last year’s one was hosted by the Arts Faculty and will never be forgotten by those who were sober enough to remember. Just picture yourself waking up in a parking space next to roughly 300 other people who couldn’t make it home.

This year it was the sports faculty's turn to host and they had plans to make this the biggest one ever. Live performances from 10 of the biggest artists in the US. 4 International artists from the UK and Africa would also be performing on the night. In addition to this, VIP tickets were made available to special guests and meant that you had access to free alchohol the whole event. Of course you had to be connected to get a hold of these tickets. I happened to be the neighbor of one of the organizers, so it wasn’t difficult to get 3 VIP passes for Rose, Melinda and myself.

We arrived at the entrance to the area where it was being hosted. You wouldn’t think there was some kind of festival happening in the middle of a forest if you didn’t hear the obvious stadium level music playing just a few miles from the main road. Once we were in I started getting goosebumps. Don’t look at me like an amateur though. Anybody would be excited by the sound of a roaring crowd over 3 miles away. As we got closer the sound just became more and more powerful. Until we reached a dip in the landscape we couldn’t see the abandoned structure.

It was huge. I could hardly believe it was just standing in the middle of nowhere. It kind of seemed like it was meant for a hospital or maybe a stadium or something that never came to be.

Out of nowhere I was dragged into a mosh pit of obviously drunk frat boys and I guess that’s when the montage where I drink the night away with all of my friends began.

A little over 7 hours later I found myself sitting on the 3rd floor of parking with Rose and Melinda trying to comprehend what we had just witnessed. I’d only seen Kyle a few times that night but the one moment I remember was when he called me up on stage to dance with him and his squad while Jaden was performing.

The party of course, was still going on but I couldn’t see us going much further than where we were.

“Guys, hey guys, where’s Melinda?”, I asked drunkenly.

“She’s laying right next to you Carlos, and it’s just me", Rose replied also under the influence.

“Oh, Hey Melinda!", I shouted.

“I don’t think she’s awake anymore, am I even awake, how would I even know?”, she said.

Rose was clearly as drunk as I was.

“Trust me Rose, You’re awake, I can still see your pretty eyes from here.”

“Hmm thanks.”, she smiled.

“And that gorgeous smile, my favorite by far", I said with the kind of confidence only alcohol can give you.

“Hehe, okay Carlos."

She was now clearly blushing.

“Carlos, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah sure go ahead.”

“Have you ever had your heart broken?”, she asked.

That question really took me back. Way back. But that’s a story for another time.

“Yeah I have, why?”

“Would you ever break mine?”, she asked unexpectedly.

“Its hard enough for me to break the silence when I’m around you cause I never know what to say, so no, I’d never break your heart", I replied.

“Wait, are you saying I make you feel uncomfortable?”, she asked with a slightly devious smile.

“No not at all, I’m just scared of doing something wrong", I responded.

She shifted her body against the wall and against mine.

“Does it make you feel uncomfortable when I do this?”, she asked after shifting against me.

I was terrified in the moment but perhaps a little too drunk to do anything stupid enough to avoid it.

“Kind of nervous, but uncomfortable, No", I replied.

She started to caress my thigh and pushed up even closer against me.

“What about now, do you feel that?”, she whispered in my ear.

“Yeah, I feel it, I’m still not uncomfortable though. Actually, I think I’m exactly where I want to be."

I leaned in closer and kissed her. She kissed back. I pulled her a little closer and we kind of just let things flow from then. No hesitation. Just me, her and of course Melinda who was still sleeping on the ground next to us.