Non fiction

One Party, Two Nights Out

Hot as a fever, rattling bones
I could just taste it, taste it
If it's not forever, if it's just tonight
Oh, it's still the greatest, the greatest, the greatest
You, your sex is on fire
And you, your sex is on fire
Consumed with what's to transpire

It’s Wednesday night and it’s ROAR night. Everyone is there. I’m dancing with my best friend Jane. They are playing the Kings of Leon and everyone is singing along. Absolutely everyone.
The room is vibrating. I love to sing along. Usually I forget the lyrics when I’m too drunk. But this is not usually. I haven’t drunk that much (only two shots) and I’m feeling absolutely great. I’m really enjoying myself! It’s so good.

“Over there is Danny! Let’s say hello,” Jane is calling.
She knows I like him. A lot. And she’s always trying to make me speak to him.
I’m just too shy. For her it’s easy to make conversation with guys. She always knows the right thing to say and they really like her.
She’s just split up with her boyfriend Tom, though.  But she’s pretending to be ok. As she describes it, she’s not in a ‘mourning phase or something’.

She’s pulling my arm and we’re making our way through the packed room. “There’s Josh with him. Maybe they are going to buy us some drinks,” she goes on.

Danny sees me. He winks at me. My head grows hot and I have to glance at Jane, just to avoid his gaze. Suddenly I hear Jane saying,
“What’s Tom doing over there?
“ I can’t trust my eyes. Since when are they hanging out together? I didn’t know Danny is friends with your ex!!” I say to her, “Oh my God, what am I gonna do now?”
Suddenly Jane doesn’t seem so confident anymore.
“Let’s go to the toilet,” I say, “I have to refresh my makeup anyways!”

The next morning I wake up with a very happy feeling in my stomach. I remember the rest of the night. Danny asked for my number. And for a date. I can’t believe I’m going to go out with him! I’m so excited!! And Jane is going to get back together with Tom. At least that’s what it looked like last night. I’m happy for her. I always thought they were quite the match.

ALTERNATIVE

… a fever, rattling bones~
I could just …
If it's not forever, if it's just tonight
Oh, it's still the …
You, your sex is on fire
And you, your sex is on fire
… with what's to …

Damn it, I can’t remember the lyrics of the song! I hate it when that happens, especially since I love that band! It’s Wednesday night and me and my best friend Jane are dancing at ROAR. I realise our movements don’t look too coordinated. Well, we definitely had a few too many… Oh my God, this guy looks like Danny!
“There’s your sweetheart, honey,” Jane is shouting.
“Shhh, don’t call him that! He’s not supposed to know!”
“I’m just gonna go over and tell him you would like to …!” There she goes.

Oh my God, this can’t be happening! I try to follow her, but I can’t reach her. There’s just too many people. I don’t want to know what she’s telling him! When Jane is drunk like that anything is possible!
What’s that wet thing on my arm?? Oh no, I accidently ran against someone and he has spilled all his beer…
“Can’t you be more careful???” He shouts.
In this moment my and Danny’s glances meet. I can’t read what he’s thinking, but this doesn’t look good…

The next morning I wake up with a bad headache. This was the most embarrassing night of my life. Jane never told me what she actually said to Danny, but he left soon after. I can never show up in front of him again! And what was going on with Jane’s ex and her housemate? I remember them getting in the cab together…

Reflection

I wanted to portray the complexity of going out with the example of meeting people of the opposite sex (in this case girls meeting guys), drinking and dancing. I thought about how to approach the topic in a different way than the creative writing I have done so far and I came up with the idea of writing two alternative stories. The frame of the stories is the same, two best friends going to the same party and meeting the same bunch of people (some minor differences). Still, they experience the party in totally different ways each time and the party also turns out totally differently. In these cases the different experiences of the same party are due to a high consumption of alcohol, but generally you can experience a party or going out in various ways. This is influenced by many factors, by the people you are with, the people you meet at the party, the music, your expectations and by the type of person you are yourself.

Britta Gerards