Escaping Reality

Chapter 22: Parental Advisory

"Whatever you're drinking," I responded not wanting to sound picky.

"Alright, looks like we're drinking Peach Ciroc,'' he responded motioning for us to follow him over to the bar.

Can I get six shots of Peach Ciroc" he asked the bartender. "Alright, two for each of us," he said turning back to Lola and me.

Moments later two shot glasses sat in front of me. Nico asked the DJ to turn the music down and got everybody's attention.

"The man Luke Lincoln is in town visiting and was generous enough to host a banging party last night. Let's return the favor tonight and show him how to have a good time in Florida! DJ turn the music on!"

The crowd of kids began to chant as Shots by Lil Jon played in the background. This kid is unbelievable I thought, how could anybody say no. You know those people who just make you feel special, that was Nico and I had known him for maybe five minutes.

We all picked up the first shot and knocked them back in unison. I gagged a little bit but I wasn't going to show it in front of all these people. Nico took it like a champ and Lola didn't look nearly as phased as I had expected her to be. Second shot in hand I decided to give a little toast of my own.

"TO NICO AND TO WINNING" I screamed over the sound of the music, shot glass raised high.A frenzy of chants followed as the three of us knocked back the second round of shots. Under any other circumstance, I don't think I could have held it in but the adrenaline kicked in and I managed to keep it down.

"LET'S GET CRAZY!" I screamed as I threw the final shot down the hatch.

The liquor warmed my throat and suddenly I found myself screaming incomprehensible chants alongside Nico. "AHHHHHH, WHOOOOOO, LET'S GOOOOOO" we yelled at the top of our lungs like life long friends who had just made it big in life.

Lola looked at me with a curious fire in her eye. She was taken aback by my sudden outburst. She sent a piercing stare into my soul and at that moment I realized something. Today had been possibly the best day of my life. I was so grateful for Lola and the way she had been so eager to get to know me.

Before she looked away I grabbed her by the waist, pulling her to my body. We stood there, face to face, body to body, and shared perhaps the most passionate kiss I had ever had. It seemed to last forever and was one of those kisses that transforms into a smile halfway through. Momentarily we pulled back each wearing giant grins and eager to resume the spirited kiss.We parted before drawing too much attention.

"Imma go kick some ass in beer pong," I said confidently, picking up another drink along the way.

"Good luck" she offered as she went off to mingle with some friends.

I walked over to the table and asked who wanted to lose, sure that I would have an opponent rather quickly. Some cocky kid stood up from his spot on the couch.

"Let's go, newbie," he said flashing me a dirty look, almost like he took personal offense to my introduction.

To make a short story shorter, I lost. Bad. I lost the rematch too. And the rematch after that as well. By this point, I had worked up a nice level of drunkeness. However, even in my drunken state, I knew when to walk away and excused myself rather than embarrass myself for the fourth time. After another round of shots thanks to Nico's constant offers I was in the mood to dance.

First I had to find Lola, something told me her dance moves were probably better than mine and could maybe save me the embarrassment of terribly dancing alone. She obliged and brought along a couple of her friends. Before long I was aggressively jumping up and down, flailing my limbs in every direction. To my amusement Lola was not a good dancer either, in fact, she might have been worse than me. That didn't stop her from letting loose, she was giving off crackhead vibes, but in a cute way.

While Lola jammed out with her friends I went around striking up conversation with anyone willing to lend an ear. I'm sure I was speaking gibberish but given my drunken state, it seemed to me that all the conversations had gone great. Maybe they were going great, I was learning a lot. Some things I didn't necessarily need to know but happy to be confided in none the less.

As the party waned on my body began to get heavy. A thick fog settled around my brain that allowed me to understand what was going on around me but prohibited me from doing anything about it. Was this the numbness everyone had always talked about. I could certainly see how this was an addictive feeling especially in times of emotional struggle.

I stood there dumbly wearing the biggest smile. Unable or unwilling to move, either worked. I had never been a huge fan of large crowds but this felt like my natural habit right now. Nico came around once more this time offering me some water seeing that I had peaked and another shot of Ciroc could send me to the bathroom

After thirty minutes of solely focusing on my ability to stand and uttering grunts to Lola, I made my way to the couch. I picked up a random water bottle and unscrewed the cap, hoping for some more water. My mouth was greeted with the blunt spice of vodka. Anything to quench the thirst I thought, before tilting back once more for shits and giggles.

I fumbled with the cap and managed to screw it on neatly just before the edges of my vision began to blur. I gave in and my world became dark as I floated into the great abyss.