We got back Friday afternoon and Lynn dropped me off at my place. She said she felt fine, she'd call me later if she was still awake. Ryan wasn't there when I walked in. I flipped through the channels for a while and didn't know what to do with myself. Georgia stopped by on her way to a house party I wasn't really interested in.
"Is your roommate seeing anyone?"
"Have you two even met?"
"I was talking to him at the bar last week."
"I don't think he is."
"Have you talked to John recently?"
"No. Why?"
"He's been all fucked up since he went home last week. He's all twitchy and weird and I want to know why."
"You could ask him."
"Don't be stupid. Anyway, you should come to this party."
"I don't want to go to this party."
"It's going to be fun."
"I don't like fun."
"Shut up. I'm going to get out of here," she said, looking around my apartment. I followed her gaze and it seemed small and sad, and the thought of sitting there watching TV all night made me nervous, like something bad was going to happen.
"Alright. I'll go."
"Really?"
"You talked me into it."
The party sucked though. I didn't know anyone and it was mostly freshmen. They crowded around the keg laughing at tired jokes that weren't funny. I thought everyone was dressed as douchebags until one girl bounced up and brightly asked me what my costume was.
"I'm dressed as a college student, but really I'm narcotics officer. I'm not supposed to tell anyone that," I said.
"That doesn't make any sense," she said.
"What are you talking about?" I asked her.
"It's an eighties costume party. You think we all dress like this normally?" She asked like I was the idiot.
I found Georgia talking to a guy and told her I was going to take off.
"This is Tim," she screamed above the music.
"Yeah, great. I'm going home. They've played 'Safety Dance' like three times and if hear it one more time, I'm going to beat my own face in."
"Hi. I'm Tim." He leaned in to shake my hand.
"Yeah. Congratulations," I said, ignoring his hand. "Georgia. I'm leaving."
"Wait like half an hour and I'll go with you."
"Fine, but don't disappear."
When I checked the time on my phone I saw that I'd missed a call from Lynn. I called her back but there was no answer. I didn't know if she was calling me to come over or just to say goodnight. I debating just going to her place, but I didn't want to be weird about things if that's not why she was calling.
Instead I wandered around the second floor of the house looking in medicine cabinets and through people's movie collections. A guy and a girl, both drunk, crashed their way down the hall. I stuck my head out of a bathroom where I was stealing two Valium from a pill bottle. When he saw me he said, "Dude," and gave me a nod. I swallowed the Valium with a handful of water. I couldn't find Georgia so I left.
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Chapter 7 | Suicide and Keg Stands Index | Chapter 9
Posted by Ben Corman at 8:08 AM