Some friends of mine always used to go to this club. Four nights a week minimum. It was a pleasant enough atmosphere through the week; never more than two dozen people inside from Sunday to Wednesday. It was a college bar, so, they made deals to accommodate the crowd. After the first couple of weeks, everyone got to know everyone else who would be there and it became some sort of off-kilter band of brothers and sisters. Our parents were never home, but they left us in the care of Uncle Bud, Uncle Miller and Uncle Jack. The uncle's brought along their wives and girlfriends, Auntie Vodka, Auntie J [short for jell-o shots] and Uncle Jack's spirited but spiteful new squeeze, Ms. Everclear. She replaced Ms. Tequila who most of us all loved for a short while.
Though I went probably an entire semester of class without seeing her, in the bars I could always find my friend Jill. Our fathers knew each other for, well, longer than the durations of our lives, so, I guess she was kind of like a member of the family. I'd prefer not to think of it that way, because it will seem really twisted later. Anyhow, Jill was one of the girls who grew up never touching a drop of hard liquor. In high school, she'd be the girl who got wasted on half a beer. In college, her tolerance quadrupled and she joined the elite members of the mixed drink crowd. She even pledged a sorority of dimwits, but, I didn't hold it against her.
March 3, 1993
It started out just like any other cold winter Wednesday. I came back home from class around 4:15 pm, went to eat with my friends and returned to my room around 6:00 pm. Around 9:30, we -- myself and four friends -- all ventured in to town to the bars. By ten o'clock, we were enjoying cold beers to hollow blasts of "Sweet Home Alabama"; which seemed to be one of the three songs always playing when I was in college. About an hour later, I made a trip to use the facilities and upon returning to my table, I saw Jill.
My good friend Tim always seemed to be hitting on Jill. But, he hit on every girl back then. This was the first time I'd actually seen her in nearly a month, so, I sat down and we talked. It was the general, `How have you been?' kind of stuff. Chit chat.
"I missed your birthday," Jill remarked soberly.
"I know," I laughed and drank from the beer Tim was nice enough to bring me.
"Sorry, I don't know where my head's been lately," she apologized.
"Hey, it's alright, you're a blond. I understand."
Jill laughed, a shallow hee-hee, her blue eyes watching me take a drink.
"Thought you were slowing down," she scolded. She always scolded.
"This is my third," I defended myself.
"Mm-hmm." Jill laughed. "I'm just giving you shit. I don't care how much you drink."
"Thanks," I whined, "that's really sweet of you."
"You know what I meant," she said with a rumpled smile and an outstretched middle finger. "I can't believe Karyn and Jen haven't shown up yet."
"They probably forgot how to get here," I decided aloud. They really weren't the brightest pair of girls.
"I saw your roommate this morning over by the Student Center."
"Did ya? I don't see much of him any more. He's got a new girl that lives over by Greek Row."
"Really? I thought he had a girlfriend."
"He does," I confirmed. "She's in Missouri."
You're probably thinking that my roommate was a real jerk, but, he wasn't. Turns out, the girl was a friend of his from school and he was homesick. Honestly. Anyway.
"What happened with Tanya?" Jill began her interrogation. "Right? Tanya?"
She always pretended to not know the name of the girl I was seeing.
"Right," I frowned. "She's nice, but, it's not going anywhere. I haven't talked to her for a few days."
