Until Next Year!

The last NaNoWriMo post.  I know you’re ecstatic.  Sorry these last few are void of human interaction, and are actually pretty boring.  Here’s to a little over 16000 words.

 

I finished pulling out everything I planned on willing down that wasn’t either still on my wall (a lovely cork board) or somewhere else in the room (those ten dollar bath mats). I pushed that box aside as far as it would go and I proceeded to pull the items out of my long desk drawer. Unlike the other drawers, this one wasn’t broken yet, so it proved harder to remove things from it. The thing about the furniture in the house was that some of it was very old (this desk in particular was probably from the late eighties or early nineties) in terms of use and the number of different owners. Some of the pieces proved to be in fine working order (most of the beds fell into this category). Dressers and desks were where it got tricky. The dressers that matched the desk I liked had most of their handles ripped off and they weren’t nearly as large as the dressers with the bulky drawers with handle grooves built into them. The other nice thing about the larger dressers is that the drawers were meant to come all the way out. This made changing rooms easier as long as the new room had the same dresser because you could just swap drawers. The desk I liked had a more classic look to it. It was less bulky than the desks that matched the bigger dressers and it had handles and a really pretty swirl cut pattern on the drawers. These desks (and their matching dressers) were probably the older of the furniture sets as there were less of them. They did have more drawer space (the additional long drawer rather than just the three vertical drawers) and that was why I liked them. The also had legs on the non-drawer side as opposed to being solid all around. I was rather found of that desk. Somewhere along the line, a previous sister had painted its piping with a pale pastel green color. The nice, and difficult, thing about the desk in this case, though, was that the likelihood of the drawers being broken was pretty good. The vertical drawers had all fallen off their runners at some point (except for the bottom one), so I could just pull them out and set them on the floor as I went through them. I wasn’t so lucky with the long drawer, because it had somehow still evaded being broken.

I was on a mission to unpack my desk, though, so I sat in my pink swivel chair (and promptly felt sick for a little while) and started pulling the items out on my desk. The first item was my drawer separator with all my pens and highlighters, as well as some sticky notes and staples. That easily took up half the drawer, so I felt pretty accomplished in a short time.

The rest of the drawer was harder. Somehow, I found more receipts. My favorites were the receipts I kept that explicitly stated a book couldn’t be returned past the first week without a drop slip. I hadn’t dropped any classes and I hadn’t returned any books. I still had a receipt from the semester before for the same thing, too. Why did I keep these? I wasn’t returning the books and I either still had them or I had sold them back already. There wasn’t any need to keep a record on their existence — they weren’t being refunded any time soon if they weren’t already. I shook my head and promptly tossed them into my trash pile.

Melanie always made fun of me. She swore up and down that I was a hoarder and that I should get some money and a house makeover by going on the show. I really don’t think I’m a hoarder. If something is broken, I usually get rid of it. There are a couple broken things I have kept, but they generally held sentimental value and the break was minor or fairly easy to repair. And I honestly think the key characteristic of a hoarder was piles of clutter. I am generally fairly neat, and when I am messy, I make piles of mess (therefore it is a contained and organized mess). I also kept what would be clutter fairly organized. All those old receipts were kept in a nice pile in my desk, for example.

Of course, this is the point where she would remind me that justification of your problem is a symptom of the disease.

But really, I don’t think I’m a hoarder at all. I’m a closet pack rat at best.

A few of the other things in my desk included some software for my ipod, printer, and a couple other computer related things. I promptly leaned over and stuck them in the side of the box so I could find them again when I unpacked it.

I also had a checkbook milling around in my desk drawer. I tossed that into my purse. I had actually unpacked the top drawer fairly easily, but still wasn’t feeling my best. I pulled out my drawer separator and starting messing with my pens and highlighters. There were pretty good odds that a lot of them were dead, so I started scribbling on a sticky note. Meanwhile, I continued eating chex mix and drinking from my water bottle. My highlighter and pen doodles were really soothing to my spinning head and the feeling that the world was shaking. In fact, it was only shaking mildly now and my headache resembled a small twinge of pain. It wasn’t even really a dehydration headache anymore, since those are horrid and only come once you can’t stop it anymore.

When I finished fiddling with the ink contents of my drawer organizer, I pulled myself to the floor again and began packing up all the good pens and the separator into the last of the flat space in my box of the things from my desk. After that, I started packing the rest of my things into it. I took careful note of any of my art projects and made sure they were nestled next to various substantial things, rather than loose items. Then I packed up any art supplies I was keeping and the rest of the things I wanted.

It was about two o’clock at that moment and the strangest thing happened. I felt better.

It wasn’t just the subsiding dehydration or the room slowly finishing its spinning. It was more like one second the room was spinning. The next second it had come to a crashing halt. Thankfully, unlike my earlier fear, I had not been slammed into the wall in the process. Even when I was calming myself down with my doodles, I still felt the constant twinge from my head and stomach. I think the only reason I felt better for that brief moment was because I was so focused on doodling with the pens. When I stopped to change pens, the pain would come back.

But not now. Now the fog had lifted.

In my excitement, I grabbed the paper sorter from my shelf, along with the few papers that I had left in it when I cleaned off my self (pretty much anything that wasn’t mail, a magazine, or sorority related). I put the papers into the box I was currently sorting and then I turned the sorter upside down on top of them. I triumphantly closed the lid and scrawled the words “Desk stuff” on the box.

Feeling much better, I was suddenly feeling more accomplished.

I carried the box over to Melanie’s empty bed triumphantly and set it with the rest of my stuff I had put over there.

Feeling better, I remembered that I hadn’t really eaten anything substantial since yesterday when I had my late lunch and early dinner combination around four that had landed me in this mess in the first place. I walked out my door and back downstairs to the kitchenette where I had stored my leftovers.

A sudden surge of health was definitely a good reason to eat… and to exercise one’s ability to walk down the stairs in a timely matter.

I Like NaNo and You Like NaNo and Blah Blah Blah Blah…

This is the second to last NaNoWriMo post you’ll be getting from until I either finish this story or next year.  Get excited.

 

Saturday, May Eighth, 2010:

Bleh…. I have no words for this morning except that.  In any case, I’ve been referencing some quotes in my journals, so here is an appropriate one for today:  F. Scott Fitzgerald writes “First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.”

I think that’s a more eloquent way to say “Bleh…”  But yes, that’s pretty much how today started.

Love,

Lauren

 

I rolled over around nine am when my phone jingled a little to let me know that I had a new text message. I unlocked my phone to read it.

“From Hannah Erickson: Are you alive?”

I texted back to let her know that I was barely alive. And directly after that, I was really impressed with the fact that I was up at nine am after being sicker than a dog last night. I was so impressed with myself, that I decided it was time to shower and get on with my packing.

That was when I stopped being impressed with myself.

At that moment, the horrible feeling of the room shaking and spinning washed over me. I had my water bottle by my bed and it took everything I had to sit up, reach for it, and take a drink. After that, I promptly lay back down and slept.

I woke up again around ten thirty and remembered how much I had to get done. I pulled myself out of bed and realized that I had texted Hannah earlier, but I wasn’t sure when she left for her flight. With everything I could, I managed to pull myself down the stairs. I was a mess. It probably took me ten minutes to crawl down them (I could normally sprint down them in a couple of minutes tops). I navigated the dining room, holding on to various tables and chairs for leverage. I then used the wall that connected the dinning room to the tv room through the arched opening. I lunged for the brown couch closest to me so I would have something to hold on to as I made my way toward the guest room.

But the door was wide open and it was empty.

Not just empty of Hannah, but Hannah’s things as well. My heart sank a little as I backtracked to my room. I drug my feet because all I had to do was pack, so I didn’t have to hurry like I had before. I had missed saying goodbye to my Big. That earlier text message was less an “Are you alive? I’m concerned” than I thought. It was actually most likely more to the effect of “Are you alive? I’m leaving.” When I reached my room again, I sat down on the floor with my water bottle and pulled my phone out again.

“I’m sorry I missed you,” I wrote to Hannah. “I would have pulled myself together if I’d known you were leaving leaving. Sorry again for last night. :( I’m really happy you were here. :D”

I didn’t get a text back immediately, so it was likely that she was making her way through airport security at the time. I still felt a little sad at not getting to say goodbye to her in person.

Sitting on the floor, I assessed my packing situation. On thursday, I had been extremely productive and had packed up all my clothes into suitcases, and a couple other things in a box or two, mostly sweatshirts, I think. The only things I didn’t pack were my dresses, because I needed some garbage bags for makeshift garment bags. Thursday had probably been my most productive packing day, easily. On friday, once I had gotten the time to sit down and do it, I had packed up everything on my walls and a couple of my shelves. I still had a few picture frames out, but ninety percent of my shelving was put away. I had even wrapped up my breakables and they were all ready to go.

That left today to do the rest of my packing and transporting. So, I sat on the floor and stared at my boxes. I was still feeling like the world was shaking under me and would throw me against the wall at any minute. After taking the effort to navigate the house and crawl back up here, I wasn’t getting much else done. So, I had to sit down and figure out what I could do. Obviously, it wouldn’t be smart to just sit and stare at the wall for a few hours, though all I really wanted to do was lay down and close my eyes.

I tightened my water bottle before hugging it tightly. I then curled in a ball on the floor for about fifteen minutes while I assessed my options.

The option I favored most was clearly curling into a ball and dying, as that was what I decided to do while I thought. The part of me that was concerned for my health and well being found the fetal position to be the most comfortable default stance. The part of me that knew I had to pack and leave was winning out though and it told me to keep going through my options.

I was actually really proud of that part.

A second option was that I could put what I had packed up into my car and make a trip down to trade things with my mom, and then head back up for the next load. Could I realistically carry boxes and drive in my condition? Though I hadn’t carried boxes or suitcases, I had driven down once before from work when I had come down with a stomach virus. I honestly can’t remember much of that drive. All I know was that I made it safely down. But, I didn’t have to worry about my stuff or a return trip. I pulled my legs in closer to myself and clutched my water bottle more tightly. Transportation probably wasn’t a very viable option at the moment.

A third option involved just the transport to the car before assessing what else had to be packed. I was still unsure about my ability to carry boxes, some of them had huge books in them and I really didn’t want to drop my stuff.

So, really, if I was going to listen to the logical part of me that kept reminding and prodding that I needed to pack, I would have to find something in the room to pack.

I just really didn’t want to get up.

I managed to pull myself up from the fetal position because I was still really thirsty. While drinking, I noticed two cups of chex mix on my desk. Underneath one of the cups was a discard cup for the gross elements of chex mix. I pulled both cups down and begin gingerly eating the chex from them. I convinced myself that I felt a little better now that I was eating. I ate a few more chex, found one of the gross brown things and tossed it in the discard cup. I also emptied the nasty squiggly breaded things into the cup also. I ate a pretzel and enjoyed it a lot.

Okay. I was starting to do a little better. I still really didn’t want to get up from the floor, so I started pulling the drawers out of my desk. I still had to pack it and it was something I could monitor from my seat on the floor. I started on my arts and crafts drawer. This one required the most sorting because I had already planned on willing a lot of it down, as I assumed I would be doing very few puffy paint related craft projects in the future. I did save my large tubes of puffy paint, though, because I had a few leftover projects I wanted to do. I pulled two boxes over to me and started gingerly setting my willed items into one of the boxes. The other box, I started putting my own arts and crafts in.

I had packed up all of them before I remembered I had a bunch of cards in my next drawer and I would definitely want all of my flat desk items at the bottom of the box. I started the tedious process of pulling out my paint and crafts before I set to pulling down my other drawers. Obviously, the best way to do this would just be to find all of my flat things first.

My process of desk packing resulted in four piles: flat or wide boxes and items, electronics, art supplies, and everything else. I also created a pile for anything that I didn’t need anymore that wasn’t being willed to someone else in the sorority. I think one of the premier items in this pile was a hardly used coupon booklet that the school gave out every semester. (The sad thing about that was that when I later went back to visit Melanie, I practically begged her for some of her coupons. Especially a free bull ride at Gun Slingers, because, really, when was she ever going to go there? Her hatred of country music definitely dwarfed Hannah’s teasing toward Grant.) I also threw out some receipts I still had. I kept receipts for years, sometimes, and half the time, I really don’t know why I needed to keep all of them in the first place. They were for things I never planned on returning, like food. Really, what reason does anyone need to save a receipt for food that they ate six months ago? Your guess is as good as mine.

I’m Running Out of Titles for These Posts

More NaNoWriMo?  Did you even have to ask?

 

When we came out of the bathroom, Grant was leaning up against the wall waiting for us. “Let’s go,” he smiled.

“You don’t have to come with us,” Hannah shook her head. “I can get her back home, no problem.”

Grant smiled again, “I’m not letting you two walk back by yourselves. I already told everyone else we were going anyway.”

I think Hannah wanted to argue with him, but then she stopped and thought better of it, because she didn’t say anything else. She made sure I was wearing my cardigan and the three of us started the walk back to The Hill.

It was cold.  It wasn’t a long walk by any means, but it was later than when we had first made it on our way here, so I definitely shivered a bit. Also, on the way back, most of the walk is at a slight incline. I started off walking slower than Grant would have liked, so he was pushing me along every couple of blocks.

At one point, he and Hannah started talking about something again. This part was kind of hazy for me, so I honestly don’t remember. I know it wasn’t about me, though.  It was probably about her plane trip tomorrow again. That seemed to be the default topic of the evening.

While they were talking, I managed to slow down to a snail’s pace again. Hannah turned and noticed that I was several feet behind the two of them, just dragging my feet along. She stopped to wait.

Grant grew impatient, I think, and made his way back toward where I was walking. He got behind me and put an arm around me. He pretty much started gently pushing me along again.

“I’m sorry…” It was a mix between a whimper and a whisper.

Grant shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Any other time you want, I’ll let you walk as slow as you like. I just want to make sure you’re home before you get sick again. Getting sick on Broadway sucks.”

It does suck. I’d probably done it at least once before and I know I’ve seen a few of my friends get sick on the way home from Pearl. I nodded and let Grant push me along.

A little while later, he deemed my speed to be quick enough and started to head back toward Hannah. He was in the middle of our line at that point; we had started waking single file for whatever reason: Hannah, Grant, and then me.

I started to fall behind again.

He chuckled a little and made his way back behind me to push me along gently again. “I can’t leave you to your own walking for more than two minutes, can I?”

“I guess not…” I mumbled. “I’m sorry…”

“Don’t worry about it.” He brushed it off again, “Like I said, I just want to make sure that you make it home in one piece without any more issues.”

I nodded and accepted his concern. At that point, he and I had both figured out that the only way I was making it home on his and Hannah’s schedule was if I was being prodded along.

Our walk home had been pretty long, longer than normal, but that was mostly my fault, since they had to keep stopping and waiting for me. But, we eventually made it back to the house. It probably took twenty minutes as opposed to the usual ten or twelve. I forget who let us in. I don’t know if Hannah had gotten a code or if I had somehow remembered it through my haze. That wouldn’t be the first time that had happened, though; I had gotten in plenty of times where I shouldn’t have been able to remember the door code.

Hannah got me up to my room and sat with me as I washed off my face and crawled into bed. I think Grant was standing out in the hallway during this. “I’m really sorry,” I told her again.  “Tell Grant I said sorry, too.”

She smiled as she turned off the lights, “Hey, a trip back isn’t the same without it happening to someone. I’m just glad it’s not me, so thanks.  And I’ll tell him again, but don’t worry about it.”

I laughed weakly, “I’m still sorry. I’m glad you’re back.”

“Me too,” she smiled. She then walked over to the door and shut it softly behind her.

You’re Shocked I Didn’t Finish, Yet There’s Still More

In a bit of a funk.  Have more NaNoWriMo.

 

The bars here in town are really pretty dangerous. It’s fairly likely that just about everyone has fallen into or out of one at one point. I read somewhere once that elevators are actually not nearly as dangerous as stairs. In fact, stairs kill a large number of people every year. I was always glad that The Basement had nice sturdy hand rails, because I always thought of that statistic as I descended down them.

Hannah had made a smart decision. At one am, The Basement was packed to the brim with the usual late night crowd. Like I said before, it’s always tradition to end the night at The Basement. I had been there on several occasions at earlier times, like ten or so, but the bar was always busiest from twelve thirty until close. Their last call was a whole ten minutes later than any other bar in the area and they were never ones to turn away customers right at two. They even kept the lights low for an extra ten minutes past two. What can I say? They know their customers.

Grant started to steer Hannah and I over toward the back bar, it only took cash, but generally the lines were much shorter because of this.

“Oh, I have to go to the bathroom,” I announced this, but only because seeing it had reminded me.

“Sure, what do you want?” Grant asked.

“Oh, I can…”

Grant smiled again, “Don’t worry about it. What do you want?”

“A purple drink!” I paused for a second, “And a water too…”

Grant smiled and we parted ways.

“Don’t forget to come find us by the back bar,” Hannah reminded me gently.

I nodded as I headed off toward the bathroom.

I guess now would be as good a time as any to detail a description of a purple drink, especially since I said I would earlier. I have looked online for a recipe because it is simply an amazing creation. Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure it’s a Basement original, because I have never been able to find a recipe that is correct. I think the actual term for a purple drink is a Fat Albert. But, they aren’t the same, because I have definitely had a Fat Albert before and it is neither purple nor quite as tasty. It is also not the similarly named Purple Drank, though The Basement’s purple drink is often called a Purple Drank as well. In a drunken ghetto state, what else are you supposed to call a purple colored drink when you are excited about it? I can’t think of anything. Basically, the purple drink is a pale purple hard liquor mixture in a regularly sized drinking glass. I’m pretty sure the purple flavored drink of the purple is kool aid. I have no idea what the alcohol in it is though. It could be vodka or a clear rum. I am really not sure. The reason behind this is that you cannot taste the alcohol in the purple drink. You can’t taste it at all. And really, finding a drink like that is really hard to do most of the time. This is why I can’t really think of an accurate description of it because I can’t say for sure what it’s made of and I can’t really say for sure what it tastes like, either (since I have no idea what the ingredients are). I have been known, on more than one occasion, to simply answer the common “What does it taste like?” question with “Well, it tastes purple.”

Anyway, on my way out of the bathroom, I stopped at the sink to examine my appearance. I actually still looked pretty adorable. I did the once over on my eyes, where I ran a finger under them to take off any excess mascara or eye liner. It was at that moment that I started to feel the room shift a little. I shook off the feeling and started to walk out of the bathroom.

I was fine once I left the bathroom. It had only been a brief moment of unease and nothing more. Maybe the building was actually shifting.

I made my way over to Grant and Hannah where my Big was drinking from a purple drink with two straws. She held it out to me as I came over.

“I thought we could share,” she smiled. “We didn’t know how long it would take to get one or how much longer we would be here, so…”

I smiled, “Of course I’ll share with you.” I may have shouted a little bit, but at least it was a peppy response.

I sucked on the straw eagerly and enjoyed the purple drink fully. It was honestly the best purple had ever tasted. Everyone who has never tasted it is honestly missing out.

Hannah patted my back. “Slow down, Lauren. Have some water.”

Grant held the glass out to me and I took a drink. The water was almost necessary at that point. I think the purple drink did me in. Remember how I made a promise to myself not to drink too much? I absolutely failed at that. The room shifted again, only this time it was less a shift and more of a slam from side to side. I set my water down on the table and felt my eyes go glassy.

Hannah set the purple drink down and stared at me in wide concern, “Are you okay?”

“I’m just a little hot,” I told her. I took off my cardigan as she fanned me a little.

Concern also crossed Grant’s face. He picked up the glass of water again and held it out to me, “Keep drinking this, you’ll feel better.”

I went to reach for it, but I felt myself retch. I put my hand to my mouth and turned to go back to the bathroom.

Grant pulled me back in a quick instant and in the next second he was dumping my glass of water on the floor.

“Grant… The floor…” I managed to get those couple of words out of my mouth.

Grant shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. It’s only water and ice. It will dry.” He handed me the cup quickly. “Also, you’re not going to make it to the bathroom.”

He was right about that, unfortunately. I was so glad to have that glass at that moment. Also, I was really thankful that The Basement put their purple drinks and water in a full sized drinking glass.

Grant took it from me when I was finished and handed it to the bartender at the back bar. I vaguely remember apologizing profusely. I also remember Grant giving an apology to the bartender as well.

I do remember clearly, though, that the bartender laughed and said, “Not the worst I’ve seen. It’s easier to clean a glass than carpet.”

Hannah finished up the last of the purple drink as this conversation went on. She then made sure her North Face jacket was zipped up all the way as she set the empty glass down. She looked at me with concern and asked if I needed to go to the bathroom before we left.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized again. “I didn’t mean to make us leave.”

Hannah shook her head, “Come on, I’ll take you to the bathroom. You’re almost coherent now.”

“I think it’s because I didn’t eat before I came…”

“You didn’t eat?” Hannah shook her head, “I told you to.”

“I know, I know…”

Hannah patted my back, “We would have waited for you to eat. Anything you needed.”

“Yeah…” I mumbled that last bit. It had been a while since my Big had reprimanded me.

Back, but We Could Use More NaNoWriMo

So I’m back, but my storytelling isn’t quite finished yet and I’m readjusting to Mountain standard time.  So let’s continue our NaNoWriMo foray.

 

Friday, May Seventh, 2010 (continued, again):

I think that there is really something to be said for a tradition.  It’s something that has been going on for years before you and will probably continue years after you.  Like at initiation in the sorority, the Big Sis always makes her Little a pillow.  The Little Sis gives her Big a decorated paddle.  This connects everyone together year after year after year.  Another tradition like this was kissing the buffalo in the Irish Pub.  It was a rite of passage into the college town’s bars once you turned twenty one and it was also a rite of passage out of them when you were on your way out of town.  It was a small way of saying that you left your mark on the town while you were there.  I think one of my sorority shirts always said it best “Quality never goes out of style.  We call it tradition.”

Love,

Lauren

Having been in and out of the Irish Pub, it was my turn to pick our next stop.

Grant prodded me a little.  “We should definitely go to Gun Slingers.  Hannah needs to see it.”

Hannah laughed. “I’m not getting out of town without going to the cowboy bar, am I, Grant?”

“Probably not,” he laughed.

I was about to agree, I never really cared where we went anyway, as long as we were having fun. But at that moment, I saw that the Friday special at OC’s was three dollar Smirnoff shots. I love three dollar shots! And, I was in such a good mood that I was going to happily treat everyone to one. And by “everyone,” I meant Grant, Hannah, me, and Mike because that was all that was left of our group from before. Jesse and Morgan decided to head over to Around Midnight and meet some other friends; I don’t know if any of the other men in our group were ready to go down those stairs. Meanwhile, Chris and Caitlin had run into some friends at the Pub and promptly stayed there. I have no idea where Alan or Jake was, but no one seemed too worried about them. I guess the important thing was that I knew where Hannah was and Grant was still around to protect me from the crowds. “Three dollar shots!” I exclaimed.

And really, it was a good thing I got distracted by them, because OC’s was just as bad as the Sea Lion. Honestly, even though it was the new crowd favorite, I just didn’t want to know what Gun Slingers looked like tonight. Also, three dollar shots.

Hannah laughed, “Three dollar shots? Does this mean I get to escape hanging around Gun Slingers tonight?”

“There’s still time. We can get three dollar shots and get out, no problem.”

“I want a purple drink,” I responded exuberantly. Really, everything I said in the last five minutes was rather exuberantly. I was just so happy to be out with all them right then and about to be getting three dollar shots. It’s not quite as good a deal as dollar wells, but it’s still a pretty good price for shots.

Once inside, we ran into another sorority sister, Mallory.

“Did you guys see the Sea Lion tonight?” she asked. “It was insane!”

We were seated at a table in the bar, where I had just asked my favorite bartender there, Kyle, for a round of something delicious. I usually left him to his own devices when it came to drink decisions. He never steered me wrong, really. The only person in the party that declined was Mike, because he said he was driving home soon.

Hannah nodded. “It seemed a lot busier than it was a couple of years ago.”

“Did you happen to catch Gun Slingers?” Grant asked her.

Mal laughed, “I didn’t Grant. I avoid that place on Fridays and Saturdays because it is just too crowded.”

Grant gave Hannah that prodding look again that almost certainly meant that she really had to check it out.

Hannah shook her head and laughed. “We’ll see, we’ll see!” She turned to me, “Oh, did you want me to take a picture?”

I nodded and told Mal to jump in. I absolutely had to stop subjecting everyone to my camera, but I was just in a mood for pictures.

Kyle returned with our shots, something green and delicious. I gave Kyle my twenty and told him to keep the change. He thanked me and we all headed on our way.

“Want to join us, Mal?” Hannah asked.

“Sure,” she smiled. “Let me tell everyone I’m here with to meet me. Where are we going?”

I was fumbling with my cardigan while I tried to decide if I was hot or cold. If the weather had been better, I wouldn’t have needed it, but I was starting to warm up.

Hannah pulled out her phone as we all huddled by the door. “Well, it’s about 12:45 now, so what are we doing? I know you want to go to Gun Slingers, Grant, but can we do that and make it to last call at The Basement?”

Grant crossed his arms for a minute (he had had his arm around me, but I had decided to put my cardigan on at that moment). “We could do it if we hurried… But that would give us about twenty minutes to get in and out of Gun Slingers… And then we would have to hope the lines at The Basement weren’t already really long…”

Hannah put her phone back in her pocket. “Mal, tell them to meet us at The Basement.”

Mal nodded, “Okay, give me two minutes.”

Hannah turned back to Grant, “I’m sorry I’m missing out on your cowboy bar. Next time?”

Grant shrugged, “Don’t worry about it. I’ll just go to it next week sometime. You were here before it closed and reopened anyway. Other than it being busier and playing non-country music, it’s not really much different.”

“Well, no wonder it’s busier,” Hannah laughed, “It’s started playing The Sea Lion’s music.”

Grant shot her a bit of a dirty look. I gave him a pat on the back and a sympathetic look. My Big wasn’t one for much country music.

Hannah continued laughing until Mal returned. The six of us then set off for The Basement.

Last Day in New York; More NaNoWriMo

So this one’s a bit short, but I am heading out of here pretty quickly, so enjoy and we’ll be out of New York here shortly.

 

As we were getting ready to head back through the crowd of everyone I knew, Hannah was coming back from the bar. “Hey, we’re going to head over to the Irish Pub about now, so are you guys good to go?”

“Oh, yeah,” Grant smiled, “I think we can head out whenever.”

“Great,” my Big smiled. “Let me round up everyone. I don’t know where half of them went. Meet you outside?”

Grant and I nodded.

“Sounds good,” I piped up.

Grant started the process of gently pushing me out of the bar through the crowd. We ran into a few more people I knew while he was doing this. During our conversation, we had been passed by several other people I knew (though for clarity, I had left them out earlier; I also left out the sheer number of pictures I subjected Grant to as I ran into these people). And I did have to have a short conversation with everyone because it was one of the last times we would all be in town. I thought it was very appropriate to run into them in a crowded bar, in this sense.

When I was younger (like a sophomore or something), I’d always told Hannah that I wasn’t going to let her leave when she graduated. I was going to win the lottery and rent out all the houses on The Hill to all my friends.  And then that way everyone I really cared about could just stay in town with me.  I think I always said it to make myself feel better, since it’s hard losing your Big Sis two years before you graduate, while most of your other friends would have their Big Sis around until the end of their Junior year. She always smiled and shook her head in response. In a way, being in The Sea Lion tonight was like the toned down and smaller version of that wish. A lot of people I knew had come back into town to see their friends or Littles graduate. Or, for some of them, at least, they were still living here or came up all the time because they were just a short drive away. Seeing so many people I knew, and really the entire bar was pretty much comprised of people I knew tonight, was a very nice sentiment for a send off… everyone coming together one last time while you’re out with your Big Sis celebrating your graduation. It was kind of like the end of a movie about your years growing up, almost like a “where are they now” segment during the credits.

As Grant and I were heading out, The Sea Lion started playing one of my favorite bubblegum pop songs from the nineties.  It was one of those songs that I would recognize just from the opening bars alone at any given time.  Actually, probably just the first few notes, if you can believe that.  “Oh my gosh, I love this song!!” I shouted at him.

“Really?”  He sounded a bit skeptical.  Skeptical probably isn’t the right word, surprised concern would be more appropriate.

“Yes!”

“Okay, let’s go dance to it then,” he laughed.  Oh Grant.  From the very first time I met him, he was always very good-humored about even the stupidest quirks, though this is the first time he put up with one of mine.

But going back to the “where are they now” segment, this was definitely like the end of a movie about your years growing up, especially now that this song was playing.  And, really, any movie about my early life would have totally ended with that particular pop song.

Staying in New York for a Bit; Let’s Have More NaNoWriMo

So, I’ve gotten delayed in New York for a couple of days…  I’ve got a lot to sort out, so let’s continue NaNoWriMo story telling.

By the time Grant and I got to the booth, there really wasn’t room for us to sit, I let Mike sit next to Hannah, so we kind of hovered around it. I was enjoying my drink when I remembered that Grant had started saying something when I had run into Jamie and Lee.

“Oh, Grant, what were you saying earlier? Sorry, it just feels like I know everyone here today.” At that point, another friend passed by and we exchanged a few greetings and pleasantries before I turned back to Grant. On such a celebratory day, you really can’t ignore anyone who wants to give you a hug. I know this seems a bit rude, but I’m really a friendly person overall. “Sorry,” I apologized again.

Grant waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. I was wondering if you liked baseball.”

“Like the Rockies?”

Grant nodded.

“Yeah,” I nodded in agreement. “I always try to make it out to at least a couple of the games every year because tickets in the rock pile are so cheap and it’s a good way to spend the day, you know?”

Grant laughed. “Yeah. Anyway, did you want to go to a game? A couple of us are going on Sunday and I have an extra ticket.”

“That sounds awesome! I would love to go.” I smiled a little. “But…”

“Something else going on?” Grant took a drink from his drink (probably gin and sprite from the looks of it).

“Yeah, unfortunately. I’m taking a trip to the mountains with my mom and grandma over the weekend. We’re leaving really early on Sunday.”

“I have a couple of tickets for Tuesday too. We got a really good deal on them.”

“That’s awesome too, but we won’t be back until late Tuesday.” I felt like such a bearer of bad news. I really did want to go, but this trip had been planned for about a month and this invitation was very last minute. And Grant was being so persistent too.

“Don’t even worry,” Grant smiled again. “There’s a game Thursday night. I bet I can still get some tickets if you want to go with me.”

“Yeah, I really would like to go,” I smiled. “I’m sorry, it’s just bad timing what with the graduation and all.”

Grant smiled while shaking his head, “Don’t even worry about it. Family in town for graduation always takes precedence.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“Where is everybody in from anyway?”

“Oh, my grandma is here from California. My mom’s just up from down south.”

“So you’ll still be around town after your trip?”

“Yeah, just not quite as close as the sorority house,” I smiled. “But it’s really not too bad of a drive at all.”

“I’m from down south in the suburbs too, so I totally get it.” I’m pretty sure I had been told this once before, and probably even the exact suburb that time too. You know, the whole thing about how Grant and I had been running into each other off and on for the past four years, give or take a bit since Hannah was gone.  That would totally mean some of this was vaguely repeat information for both of us.

“Are you still living up here? I know you graduated last semester.”

“Yeah,” he nodded again. “I had a year lease, so why not just stay up here and enjoy it.”

“What have you been up to?”

“Well, I was applying to Grad Schools last semester, but this past one I was just kind of hanging out and then taking care of admissions stuff.”

“Oh, congratulations.  Where are you going?”

“A school in upstate New York.”

“Why upstate New York? It’s kind of far.”

“Yeah, I know, but the university has a really good program for my major.”

“Uh huh?”

“I’m doing an accelerated MBA where I’ll only be going for a year, instead of two, and then coming out of it, I’ll make seventy five thousand salary minimum.”

“Wow. That’s not bad at all.”

“No, it’s really not.”

“Are you going to move to New York permanently then?”

“I don’t really know. Probably not. If anything, I’ll say there for a year or two and then come back here to Colorado. Or right after I finish I’ll move back. It all depends on job offers, but I definitely want to make Colorado my permanent residence. I just like it here too much.”

“I’d like it more if the winters weren’t so cold,” I laughed.

Grant chuckled, “They’re not as bad as other places since there’s not really any humidity here.”

“You know, I’ve heard that, but I really don’t believe it,” I shook my head. “I guess I’ve never really been anywhere where there’s a lot of humidity. Just California, mostly and it’s really not too humid.”

“Well, the northeast definitely has a lot of humidity. Go check it out some time. Have you been back east ever?”

“The farthest northeast I’ve gone is Wisconsin, so that’s not very east.” I laughed. “I did go to Georgia and Tennessee once, but that’s more south than east. I went to both of them during the summer though. They were a little hot, but not too terrible.”

Grant laughed again, “You know, I’ve never heard anyone say that the South in the summer was a little hot, but not too terrible.”

I blushed a little. “Oh, well I went to Georgia and Tennessee in middle of May, so it wasn’t really summer yet. I was in Wisconsin all summer, but really only the Fourth of July was too unbearable. The other days it was pretty mild.”

“Do you travel a lot then, but just not out east?”

I thought on it for a second, “Kind of, but we always go to the same places. I’ve been to California and Washington a lot, but that’s where all my family is. Other than that, I’ve maybe been to a handful of states. I’ve driven through a lot of them and I’ve had a lot of airport layovers, but not really a lot of extended stays.”

“Anywhere you really want to go?”

“Oh everywhere. I’d love to be able to go to every state at least once.”

Grant smiled as he finished his drink, “You should work on that then. And definitely get away from your overly dominate west coast visiting. The east coast can be really nice, especially during the fall.”

I smiled, “One of my friends is finishing up at GW right now and she’s always telling me how nice DC is. I’ve always wanted to go there, but she’d be gone by the time I got there, probably.”

Grant shrugged. “It takes some time, but you can definitely do it if you put your mind to it.” He smiled. “Did you want another vodka cranberry?”

“Sure,” I smiled.

“Let’s go back over to the bar then,” he smiled.

Last Day in New York; Here’s Today’s NaNoWriMo

So today’s my last day in New York.  Shall we continue where we left off?

 

From The Faucet, we made our way to Pearl Street.  Despite being chilly, we definitely walked, because it was always faster than taking a bus.  And in May (even if it had snowed that morning), it’s not like the weather is generally bad enough to warrant a bus ride to an outdoor mall — even though sometimes it snows in June (and one year, maybe even in July; the weather here is weird).

“We should go to Gun Slingers,” Grant suggested while we were walking.  For whatever reason, I had ended up beside him and my Big.  A minute before he broke out in that suggestion, they had been talking about her plane ride the next morning.

His suggestion was met with various levels of distaste from the rest of the party and a few other bar suggestions.  “No, we should go to The Downer.”  “Around Midnight?”  “The Med!”

And of course, these suggestions were also met with various levels of distaste.

“We should let Hannah or Lauren decide,” Caitlin piped up before turning back to face us.

I shrugged and turned to Hannah.

“Okay, I’ll pick,” she conceded to me, “But you pick the next one.”

“Sure,” I nodded.

She stopped for a minute, “Well, don’t we always go to The Sea Lion first?”

“Yeah.”  Chris rolled his eyes.

“Well, why break with tradition now?”  Hannah smiled and started walking again.

“Does that mean we’re ending with purple drinks at The Basement?”  I smiled.  It wasn’t just this particular group that had that tradition, either.  In general, everyone started at The Sea Lion (because it’s awesome), The Downer (kamikaze shots were always on special), or the Irish Pub (but only if it was a special occasion, like a twenty first birthday or a graduation).  But regardless of which of those bars you started in, you always ended up at The Basement for purple drinks.  I’m trying to think of a good way to describe them…  I’ll come back to it.

“Obviously.  We’re also going to the Pub to kiss the mascot.”  Her statement was matter of fact.  Like I said, you just can’t fight tradition.  It’s just the way things are done around here.

The nice thing about starting the night on Pearl, regardless of if you were going for The Sea Lion, The Downer, or the Irish Pub, was that you always headed to the same cross street:  Walnut and Tenth.  All three of those bars were within a block of each other.  Although, The Downer and the Irish Pub were both actually on the mall on Pearl, whereas The Sea Lion was actually over on the cross street of tenth and Walnut.  Around Midnight and The Med were right there too, as well as The OC’s.  The only bars that were a bit out of the way were Gun Slingers (the cowboy bar) and O’Neil’s (another pub).  Of course, there were like six other bars on Pearl Street as well, but these were the most frequented by any of the groups I hung out with (aside from the few on The Hill, but those were either the start of the night, like we did with The Faucet, or a separate night entirely, usually one of the week nights that wasn’t Thursday).

And so we all followed Hannah over to The Sea Lion. We made it there within the next five minutes, probably, and then we waited in line for about five or ten minutes. The line was actually better than it usually was on any given Friday, but that may have been because a lot of people were already gone for the summer. I guess it really depended on who you knew that was graduating.

Or so I thought…

It may not have been that bad from the outside, but once we were all inside, it was packed. Recently, it seemed like the crowd of usual Sea Lion goers were transferring over to Gun Slingers (similar to Grant’s suggestion that everyone go there rather than the tried and true Sea Lion as the starting bar). Of course, even knowing that, you would question the sincerity of that idea today. The Sea Lion was packed. Not that it isn’t normally, of course, but the sheer number of people was almost claustrophobic.

Grant gave Hannah a little, albeit gentle, push and grabbed on to me to get the three of us through the crowd. It was nice to have someone around to protect us. Caitlin and Morgan grabbed a booth while Hannah, me, and the boys all proceeded to the bar. Mike saddled up with Hannah, asking her what she wanted. The other guys fended for themselves through the crowd. I went to pull out my debit card when Grant stopped me.

“What do you want?” He smiled and pushed my card back toward me.

“Um… I guess another vodka cranberry would be good?” I wasn’t really sure what I wanted and since it was what I had been drinking at The Faucet, it was the first drink to come to mind.

Grant nodded and pulled us through the crowd around the bar. We were now at the front with Hanna and Mike. That was really nice, despite the crowd. Generally people tended to just congregate and chat around the bar, so often times, it was really easy to push through and get faster service.

The bartender was mixing our drinks within minutes and Grant, Mike, and Hannah were talking about how crazy the bar was.

“You think this is crazy?  You should see Gun Slingers right now.  It’s definitely the new Sea Lion.”  Grant threw out this gem again – I did already know this to be the truth, though.

Hannah shook her head, “The only reason you keep suggesting it is because you’re a suburban cowboy at heart.” She laughed.

From what I remembered of Grant, this was absolutely true. During college he had been a handler for our school mascot. The uniform was complimented by a black cowboy hat. He had opted to stay through another football season and graduate a semester later because he wanted to continue this activity. And, of course, he definitely wasn’t from a mountain town or a ranch by any means. So, yes, suburban cowboy was actually very accurate.

The bartender handed the four of us our drinks and we did a quick cheer.

“Thank you for the drink,” I smiled at Grant.

“No problem.” He nodded.

He continued to push us through the crowd. That was the nice thing about Grant. He was probably six feet and a bit stocky, not unnaturally heavy or anything, but he was very well toned and had a presence. Being a mascot handler, he was quite the runner. Anyway, because of this background, he was nice to have around for crowds, especially for small people like me. I felt really safe having him around as we navigated the bar.

“Hey listen…” he started.

But at that point, while we were making our way to our booth, I ran into a couple more sorority sisters: Jamie and Lee. We gushed about graduation — both Jamie and I graduated today; Lee had graduated last year. We also all took a picture together because, really, celebrating graduation was a time for photographs. A couple of our other sorority sisters and Grant jumped into the picture too and we had Mike take it for us. Hannah had already made it over to the booth by the time I had run into them and no amount of calling her over was going to make her get up again.

After our picture, we exchanged a few more excited, high-pitched squeals and congratulations before we parted ways to different parts of the bar. Our group of ten was large enough as it was anyway, so this was fine.

Back to New York; More NaNoWriMo?

So, today’s the end of the Montreal trip.  Shall we continue?

 

“Alright, Lauren has finally come to join us.”

“Just be glad we’re also here because Hannah came to visit,” the dirty blond haired guy to her left joked, “If we were here just because we were celebrating for you, everyone probably would have left by now.”

I over dramatically feigned offense before I laughed a little.  “I was packing and I lost track of time.”

He shook his head, “Say no more.  You girls have a time limit for moving out of that house, don’t you?”  He turned to Hannah.  “Was it Sunday?”

“Tomorrow.”  I tried to keep my spirits up.  Though right now, I really hated that word ‘tomorrow’ even with Hannah’s sympathy and advice.

Hannah nodded, “Yeah, it’s always Saturday because the graduation ceremony is on Friday.  Saturday is lenient, since everyone else has to be out Friday night at five pm.”

He shook his head, “That’s just way too strict for me.  I’m glad I lived in an apartment after my sophomore year.  I can pack and move whenever I want.”

“Well, you all don’t have as strict policies in the fraternities anyway.  You can even pay for a room over the summer too.”  It was a very matter of fact voice, and maybe even a little condescending.

“So could you, if you wanted.”  Hannah laughed.  “Anyway, so this is Lauren, everyone.”

I smiled and gave a little wave.  “Hey.”

Hannah motioned around the table, starting at her left, “You remember Grant.”

I nodded.

She continued around the table.  “Mike.”  (A strawberry blond who was probably about six feet.) “Chris, Caitlin.”  (Obviously dating.  Both of them had brown hair and were closer in size to me than everyone else; maybe 5’11 and 5’8 respectively.) “Jake, Alan.”  (Also both dark haired.  Jake hung around with Grant a lot, from what I remembered.  They were both fairly tall.)  “Morgan and Jesse.”  (Also dating.  Morgan had really pretty black hair while Jesse had a tinge of red in his brown hair.  Can a man have auburn colored hair?  Morgan was probably 5’5” like me, but Jesse was well over six feet.)

I nodded again at each of them in turn.  I don’t remember if I was supposed to remember everyone else or not, but I did vaguely remember Grant.  He always gave Hannah a ride back to the airport when she visited.  I’m pretty sure he always picked her up too.  The last time I saw him was when she was in town in March of my junior year, I think.  It was before spring break, around Saint Patrick’s Day, maybe?  We all went out to breakfast at IHOP and he was the only guy with a bunch of our sorority sisters (most of whom were in our family).  That brunch was actually a startling difference from the crowd now.  It went from Grant and all women to four girls and six guys.  But that was my Big, when she came back to town, she always traveled in packs because she had to make sure she saw everyone while she was around.

There were a couple of the guys that I actually sort of remembered in passing, but none of them as much as Grant.  I definitely ran into him the most whenever my Big visited town.  Actually, I’d been running into him off and on for years since I became Hannah’s fourth little.  I did hang out with his fraternity a lot when I was a freshman, though, so it’s likely I ran in to him even before my second semester deferred recruitment and bid acceptance.

“Alright, so now that Lauren is here, we have to toast,” my Big announced this with a wide smile as she rose her glass, “Congratulations to the graduate.”

Everyone else rose their glasses as well, even me.  You can’t refuse to participate in a toast, especially if it’s a toast for you.  “Congratulations to the graduate.”  Everyone clinked glasses.  Grant even gave me a wink.

I probably blushed a little.  The Faucet is always dark, though, so I hoped no one noticed.

I forget what we talked about after that, but a couple of minutes later, one of the guys announced that everyone should chug their drinks and we should head off to Pearl Street at eleven o’clock (I think it was Alan?).

Of course, at this announcement, I stared at my barely started drink.  I was such a slow drinker, even when I didn’t show up late.  Of course, I clearly couldn’t leave a free drink unfinished, especially when it was a congratulatory drink from my Big.  So I tried my best to keep up conversation with everyone while finishing my drink.  I think we ended up discussing the football season for next year (and everyone’s predictions about the supposed abysmal season to come) and probably this year’s major league baseball season, since that’s what was still being played at the moment.  I think the Faucet’s televisions were broadcasting one of the games, but I don’t think the local team was playing.

While trying to catch up to everyone else’s progress into their drinks, I thought back to how I still hadn’t eaten anything.  I thought about ordering something too, but only briefly.  I didn’t really have the money to order a meal, though (I had only brought a little cash) and since we were leaving in eight minutes (well, eight minutes now), I definitely didn’t have the time to wait for or eat a meal (and I always eat slower than I drink).  I told myself that I wouldn’t drink a lot.  Not only did I have to finish packing tomorrow morning, but this wasn’t just about me graduating.  These were my Big’s friends, so even if she said we were “congratulating the graduate,” it was also about her being in town.  Her friends are really just that cool.

It’s settled.  I definitely have to watch what I drink.

Of course, with that resolution, I had to pound the rest of my vodka cranberry, which is ironic at best.

Montreal and NaNoWriMo Party, Ooh Ooh

Still in Montreal, so let’s see where we left off….

 

Leigh and I ended up talking for forty more minutes while I continued to pack up various little things around my room.  I was saving my big frames, paddles, and such for last.  I looked at my phone and realized it was past nine and I had yet to eat anything, like Hannah had recommended.  I shrugged it off.  I really wasn’t hungry (even though experience should have taught me to just eat something anyway).  I was also late…

“Oh my gosh!  I’m late to meet Hannah!”  I clutched my phone.  “I completely lost track of time!”

Leigh stood up from my window and brushed off her jeans.  “Do you need a ride?”

“Leigh, I would love that!”

She bent down to grab her purse from the floor.  “Where are you all meeting?”

“The Faucet.”

“Yeah, I can definitely drive you there.  No big thing.”

I grabbed my black cardigan off my bed and we headed out the door.  I know it seems weird to be wearing a cardigan on May seventh, but it had snowed that morning.   Of course, it was all melted by now, but it was still a little cold.  You know what they say about the weather here, wait five minutes and it will change.

When we reached the Faucet, I leaned over and gave Leigh a long hug.  “Thanks, hun, I really mean it.”

Leigh smiled as she hugged me back.  “Of course.  I’m going to miss you a lot when you leave.”

I laughed.  “I’m still around.  I’m not the one moving to Texas.”

Leigh laughed also, “Not yet.  I’m still in the state for a little while.”

I nodded as I hopped out of her green truck.  “I’ll call you in a couple of days, when I get back from my graduation trip.”

“Yeah, have fun in the mountains.”

“I will.”  I smiled.  “Bye, Leigh.  Good luck with your packing.”

“Thanks.  Bye.”  Leigh waved as I shut her passenger side door.  I strode over to the door as I pulled my ID out of my wallet.  The bouncer bent it a little before handing it back to me and nodding me in.

I started to enter the restaurant.  When it was busy, there was usually a hostess standing at the door that separated the kitchen and waiting area from the bar and the rest of the restaurant.  Since it was so late now, no one was standing by the entrance.  That’s not to say that they stopped serving food (I think that was around one), but most people didn’t come in needing to be seated to eat dinner at this point.  As you got closer to the inner entrance, the walls became crowded with murals.  Once you passed through the inner doorway, the ceilings got drastically shorter.  There were places I could touch them with a slight boost.  My taller friends could easily hit them, some without even standing on their toes.

I pulled out my phone to give Hannah a call, but as soon as I reached the inner door, I spotted my 5’10” blonde haired Big Sis standing at the bar.  She was still wearing her jeans, boots, and black North Face jacket that she had worn to my graduation that morning, but she had taken off her blue and cream scarf.  Happy to finally see her again, I rushed toward her with spread arms.  “Hannah!”

She opened her arms and we hugged each other.  “Glad you finally got here.”  She smiled.  “The boys were starting to out number me, except a couple of them brought their girlfriends.”

I laughed.  “You would invite only boys out to hang out with us when we were partying because I graduated.”  I shook my head, “You really think I need a new boyfriend, don’t you?”

She shook her head and tightened her embrace on me for a moment.  “I don’t think you need a new boyfriend.  You know most of the people I still know here in town just happen to be guys.”

“Of course, Big, they just happen to all be guys.  This really isn’t a set up or anything.”

She dropped her embrace from around me and shook her head.  “You know sarcasm was never very becoming for you.”  She did laugh a bit when she said it.

“You’ll have to thank Will for that one.”  I giggled a bit.  He really had upped my sarcasm a little from before I met him.  I was now very well versed in the quick witted sarcastic comeback to an already overly sarcastic remark.  Actually, with a lot of the people I hung out around now, that was almost a God send.  I’m not sure if Melanie and I would get along nearly as well if I hadn’t picked up that skill from him.  She always liked to joke that if she had been around while he was, he probably would have started to treat her like a little kid sister.  The sad thing about that is that I think she’s probably more right than she is wrong, though I don’t like to admit it.  She says that they’re almost like soul mates or they would be if they met, but she always promises that they’d clearly be platonic soul mates, kind of like Collin and I.

Hannah shook her head again, “Yeah, Will definitely turned you from a sweet and adorable pushover into an openly witty sarcastic ass.”

I gasped a little.  “I hope you don’t really believe that!”

She laughed again, “You are not a sarcastic ass, don’t worry.  I don’t think you could ever get up to his level.”

“Good.”

“Anyway, Will aside, come over and increase the number of ladies in our party.”  She turned back to the bar and handed a dollar to the bartender.  “Oh, what do you want?  My treat for the graduate.”

“Is it dollar wells still?”

“Yeah, for the next…” she checked the clock, “Half hour it looks like.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be late.  I got distracted by packing.”

“I totally get it.  You have to leave tomorrow, so don’t worry about it.  The important thing is that you finally made it out.”  She smiled, then took a sip of her drink.  I think it was a double rum and coke, which was her usual well drink of choice.  “So what will you have?”

I shrugged.  “A double vodka cranberry, I guess.”

She smiled with a bit of a chuckle, “Of course you would get a well vodka cranberry.”

“Hey, if nothing else, all of us are overly predictable.”  I tried to mask my laugh under my breath as I chided her.  A vodka cranberry was also my well drink of choice.

She turned back to the bartender, “Can I also get a double vodka cranberry?”

“Sure thing,” the bartender smiled.

Hannah turned back to me.  “So how is the packing going?”

“Well, I managed to get all my pictures and cards packed up and I did all my clothes yesterday before Rachel’s graduation party.  So, I’m actually making progress.”  I paused for a second, “But I haven’t packed up any of my frames or paddles yet.  It’s kind of hard.”

“I know how that is.”  Hannah nodded.  “I had a bit of trouble moving out too, if you remember.”

I nodded.  Two years ago, I had visited Hannah after graduation.  She was moving out of the house the Saturday afterward, as well, and I had been up to visit Will for a date.  She had been visibly upset, but she was also happy to have the company to help her load things in a car.  I think she was staying at one of her friends’ houses for a few days and then driving back with everything, if I remember correctly.  That was the hard part.  I think that if I had to cross state lines with all my belongings, I definitely would refuse to leave.  It’s one thing when you only live forty minutes away, but driving all of your belongs back to California (like Will had to, albeit a couple of months after graduation) or Washington (which is much worse and what Hannah had to do) seems like the impossible.  Hannah had lived in the house for three years also, so she was definitely sympathetic to my situation, of all people.

“But, you really just have to remember that it’s something you have to do,” she gave me a smile, “Right after graduation, we all want to stay right where we are because it’s gone so well for us for the past few years.  But you know we can’t all stay twenty two forever.  Eventually, everybody has to grow up and move on.”

“Yeah,” I nodded again, “that’s what Will told me when he had to move away…  Leigh was saying something similar today.”

“And you know, it’s not like you really want to stay at the school forever.”  Hannah gave me a warm smile, “You want to stay with everyone you care about.”

“Well yeah,” I nodded in agreement, “It’s the people around you that really make your experience wherever it was.”  I always did a lot of nodding around Hannah.  It’s because she was always advising me and really looking after me.  It was nice to know that even after she had graduated and moved back to Washington, she was still looking after me to the best of her ability.

“And while it’s nice to want to stay with everyone you care about, in a couple of years, everyone you care about will be twenty two and then they’ll be leaving.”  The bartender handed her my drink and she pulled another dollar out of her wallet and set it on the bar.

“Thanks,” the bartender smiled as he took the tip.

“No problem,” she smiled back as she handed me my vodka cranberry.  “For the graduate.”  She smiled at me as she raised her rum and coke.  “A toast to you graduating?”

“Cheers.”  I smiled back at her as I took a drink.

“Don’t worry, we’ll do another one when we get to the table.”  She gave me a short wink.  “Anyway, half the people you care about are gone already, right?”

“Well, yeah, because you all graduated.”  I shrugged as I took another sip.  “You all graduated already though.”

“You get along just fine without me and all of them, right?”

“I mean, for the most part.  There are some days I really still wish you were here though.”

“That’s the way it’ll be here without you.  And you can come visit a lot more often.  Really, you’re pretty much set.  When you miss it or the people here, you can just drive up.  I can’t do that.”

“I wish you could.”  I lowered my head.

“Chin up.”  Hannah smiled as she set her glass on the table.  “I’m here now, so no pouting for you.”

I smiled and set my drink on the table as well.