It'd been a while since I attended a university party; what made me go, I don't know. Perhaps, it was frustration engendered by the whole pandemic shitstorm that kept me locked inside for two years. It felt good being in a crowded room illumined only by a handful of white spotlights hanging from the ceiling, all dolled up and ready to have some fun.
I was wearing a short, black dress with a deep cleavage - I didn't get implants, after all, to keep the puppies stuffed under sweaters - and high heels; my hair caught in a high ponytail; just enough makeup, nothing excessive. Having gone without panties gave me a strange tingling sensation of both excitement and regret. If I bent over, I'd flash everyone in the vicinity; similarly, whenever I sat down on a chair, I offered a quick peek of my pussy to those attentive enough to look.
Holding my plastic cup with a gin and tonic, I leaned against the tall table operating like a bar and looked around at the students standing around the room, drinking, talking, and laughing.
Due to my teaching some classes, I knew a lot of the students and I couldn't afford to get really drunk, no matter how much I wanted to let loose. It was weird letting them see me with a drink in hand and in clothes that looked nothing like the usual outfits I wore at the university. No matter how hard I reminded myself I was still young, I could not stop feeling like the weird uncle always sitting with the youngsters at all family dinners.
"Hey, Maria, nice to see you here," someone said. I blinked at the five people--three men, two women--that suddenly had engirdled me, their eyes gleaming with the glow of gentle intoxication.
I knew they were in one of my classes; what their names were, I had no clue.
"You definitely look different," one of the young men commented.
I mustered up the brightest, friendliest smile I could. I wanted to come off as friendly and approachable--after all, it was a party and I did intend to have fun--but I feared I'd lose whatever respect they had for me as an "authority" figure.
"Well," I said, "you also look different; what with your ironed shirts and nice pants, instead of the sweatpants and stained t-shirts I usually see you in."
"It's a party; dressing up is kinda mandatory, isn't it?" He said with a wink.
I could feel the men's eyes scanning me from head to toe; I didn't really mind the ogling, it just irritated me that it came from my students. I didn't know (or maybe didn't want to know) what it might mean for the rest of the semester. Would they just picture me in my barely-there dress every time I tried to teach?
Well, I should have thought of that before going to the party.
"How about some shots?" One of the girls chirped.
"Hell yeah," the guy that first approached me--an admittedly handsome, tall man with a great body and dark hair half-covering his ears--barked. "Shots of tequila, for all of us. You will have one with us, right?"
"Sure," I nodded and tucked some unruly hair behind my ear.
Of course, the shots were of the cheapest possible tequila they could find. Nothing fancy, nothing tasty; just a shot of gut-burning, felonious liquid that forced me immediately to chase it with a refreshing sip from my gin and tonic.
"Wow, you sure know how to drink," he remarked while his friends were coughing and his eyes had turned somewhat watery. "Another round?"
"Are you sure you can handle it?" I bit the corner of my lips and nodded to the bartender--another student of mine but, if memory served, a senior--for another round.
"Damn, our teacher's hardcore," one of the girls giggled when I handed the shots around.
I wasn't trying to show off--okay, maybe a little. Coming from a long line of drunks, I've always had a natural tolerance; training my liver since I turned sixteen helped me develop a tolerance that often put men twice my size to shame.
Especially as a teenager visiting nightclubs and bars, my alcohol tolerance helped me evade various potentially bad situations; men would often try to get me drunk, for obvious reasons, but all they accomplished was going under the table while I gently staggered into the gentle night, finding my way home unscathed.
We downed the shot and I grinned at them bulging their cheeks and coughing their lungs out while I nipped on my gin and tonic. I decided not to order another round; showing off was pointless and I didn't want to be the reason they turned green in the morning.
Naturally, them being younger and far more eager to party, they ordered another round; then another. The girls began staggering about, barely able to stay on their feet, while the guys leaned against the bar, drawing deep breaths and struggling to look unaffected, doing a rather awful job at it.
The succession of tequila shots, washed down with gin and tonic, did get me into a wonderful state of gentle intoxication. I ordered another drink and strolled around the large hall of the cafeteria being greeted by more of my students.
They all had similar reactions to my outfit and to my being at the party. A wide, lucent smile appeared on my face and genuine elation traversed my body when I encountered some of my old classmates sitting at a corner table. Finally, some people who had seen me at parties and knew I'm more than the conservatively dressed TA trying to explain basic concepts of philosophy to bored students.
We sat together for a while, reminiscing on our pre-grad years, where the responsibilities were fewer and the time to have fun far more ample. The drinks I'd poured down the gullet finally kicked in and I excused myself to go to the restroom; the need to pee was becoming painful and I wasn't going to embrace the trend of holding it till the last possible minute in order to experience an orgasm.
At least, I wouldn't start doing it at a crowded party, risking urinating myself and causing a spectacle. I crossed the room, saw the long lines outside the restrooms next to the cafeteria, and couldn't help but smirk as I trotted down the corridor.
A good thing about spending several years at the same university is you get to learn all of its "secrets"; nothing novel-worthy obviously but I knew where the nearest hallways reserved for professors and post-grad students that most students didn't know about were and had access to them.