It's amazing how much you can accomplish in life and still feel like nothing has been done.
My whole life had been planned out since the day I was born. That's what my parents used to say at least. Once I decided on something it was practically set in stone. Most would say an admirable mentality, until, well I discovered alcohol. See the funny thing about my drinking problem is I never intend to get drunk. I just buy a 6 pack to drink myself, innocent enough when the night is young. It takes a lot for me to get drunk stop judging. I am losing track of the story though. It started innocently a group of friends having a good time to remember those who died in the pandemic of 2020. Might as well be honest in a reflective piece, half a group of friends sitting in silence drinking in the same room. To be honest two people in the group were pretty lucky. On average the pandemic took out 70% of the population so, in a sense, we beat the odds.
Happy is not something that anyone had felt in over a year though. While my friends might have done well everyone in my family... died. I'm pretty sure the 7 stages of grief go out the window when you lose everyone. My parents were the first to go. I remember being sad when they got sick but, it was in the first few weeks of the virus. Everyone was still comparing it to a normal COVD like situation that would go away. For some reason though, it mutated rapidly, and the mortality rate went through the roof. Despite being in the same house as them I was left alone in every way.
Seems like I lost my train of thought; Alcohol tends to do that. I was trying to talk about the night of the party. As I said, it started out simple enough a broken group of friends wallowing in their own self-pity. Drinking is commonplace for crazy college kids like us even if the world was still turning. Ironic how even at the end of the world alcohol is still in high supply to everyone. After going through my personal 6 pack Ben, my best friend since grade school, looked around our group and wanted to do something different.
"Let's... go to the party... tonight!" clearly out of breath from chugging his last beer. It's not like much was needed in the way of changing our nightly tradition. All of us were in some sort of Greek life so it is not like we were unaccustomed to going out at one point in time. I grabbed a bottle of Reynolds off a shelf before we started to the middle of campus. Now might be the time to mention that with 70% of the population dead it is much easier to get away with massive parties. It's not that police died out, in fact, the mortality rate for officers was surprisingly low due to the physical shape they usually keep. The main reason police or anyone for that matter does not care about our late-night raggers is that it became an acceptable form of stress relief.
As we neared the center of campus, I remember that dancing queen song playing. Normally, I would hate hearing it because it reminded me of my ex, also dead, girlfriend. The only thing I could seem to focus on though was my rings. They had been a gift from my grandparents. On the left was a black with a sapphire inlay and pure silver forming dragons on the outside. No matter how long I wore it a cool feeling would wash over me when I would spin it around my finger. On the right hand, my middle finger adorned a similarly designed ring that was the polar opposite. It looked snow-white like pure marble and had a ruby inlay with a similar gold design. This ring never felt right on my finger due to the hot gaze it would attract from everyone. They were a gift though, so I never took them off.
"Hey Griffiths" a familiar voice called to me drawing me out of my reflective state. I looked up to see Chris my 'little' manning the door. A grin crossed my face as I leaned in for a hug. It was always a bit difficult to call him my little. I had been his mentor since he entered college almost 5 years ago but he was far from little. At almost 6'8 he towered over almost everyone, myself included. Don't get the wrong idea, I am 6 foot but he is a giant in a human body.
"Hey Chris, how did you end up on door duty tonight?" I leaned back and took a long pull of my Reynolds before offering him the bottle. Someone behind offered some choice words about holding up the line. I flipped a bird behind without looking and Chris glanced their direction while taking a drink himself. The man behind continued to yap like a Chihuahua so I couldn't help but glance behind. Thankfully, that horrid bug-eyed breed had died off and this man might wish he had too if someone had to walk back to have a talk with him tonight. Not from me of course but Chris was a bouncer for a reason.
"Apparently the Delts have been acting up lately. I was put on door duty to stop any dumb ideas they might have. Go catch up to Ben and the Boies it is good to see yall out of the apartment for a change. Micah is in there too... might wanna check on him though." Chris handed the bottle back gave my arm a slap and walked off to remove the still yapping dog behind me. What a poor soul. I chuckled and sped up a little to catch up to my friends. Walking under the neon sign marking the official entrance to the party. Welcome to Aviation was flashing blue like it usually did on Monday nights.
I caught up to my friends a few yards into Aviation. It was a lot to take in if you had never been to a party like this before. To call this a large event would not begin to do this justice. No matter the state of the world Texas would always make things unnecessarily big. There were at least 20 thousand people here tonight and it was a Monday. On the weekend it could swell to upwards of 4 times that. The numbers might seem inflated with only 30% of the population left but, the truth is big cities were more crowded than ever. As it turns out nobody young wants to live in the boonies if given the choice.
My friends were determined to dance and find some partners for the night, however, I'm not a fan of sweaty dance floors these days, so I left them on the outdoor dance floor on the east side of the VIP tower as I began my search for Micah. Knowing him, the tower was a given to begin my search as it was the only place he went at these parties. Most people would just dance around the 15story tower that marked the center of campus but the wealthy would meet on the 10th floor that served as a Vip lounge for those who could afford it.
Neither Micah nor I were rich in the traditional sense or at least the money was never made by us. In reality, an inheritance was the only thing we were left to remember our family members by. He was rich from insurance money and I... had a rich uncle. He apparently made more money than could be spent back in early 2000 with the dot com boom. That's the start of the internet for those like me who had to look it up. Having entered the mile-high club, frat guys are great at naming things, I quickly found him overlooking the party from the balcony. With a martini in his hand, he gazed across the party into the sky as if longing for time to stop.
I stopped and leaned on the railing to his left staring at his face. Sure enough, he was looking out into the distance searching for his green light. He usually did this on one of his family members former birthdays. With a quick grab, I yanked his glass out of his hand and threw it into the bushes. Drawn back into reality he started to get angry but, then realized who I was. A pouting look crossed his face.
"I paid good money for that drink G," he said faking upset. He was clearly happy to have someone to talk to. Micah and Chris were like my sons or more accurately brothers. They both entered college at the same time and found me as a mentor. While I was not the smartest guy in the room reading people had always come easy to me. Experts would call it a high emotional intelligence, but I just thought about how I could feel in the other's position. In any case, it helped me land an amazing offer after just a semester on campus. When word got out regarding my future career as a business partner with the largest talent agency in the US with a million-dollar contract people on campus started paying more attention to me. I could have chosen anyone as a mentee but, Chris and Micah made me laugh so I picked them.
"It was a virgin martini don't play with me, Micah. Here, chug the rest of this and go talk to that girl over there. She is clearly into the Gatsby thing you are pulling tonight." I replied deadpan while shoving the bottle in his hand. Micah never really needed help in situations with women, but it was the quickest way I knew to get him out of his headspace. It might have been a cheap tactic and a little mean but nothing productive would come from him being sad. I fully realize the hypocrisy in not allowing him to stay sad but, I'm the parent in this dynamic.
"Fine but only because that club soda with olives was really gross," Micah said with a smile as a response. As he accepted the Reynolds and downed the last forth in the bottle. He made an exaggerated sour face after like anyone unaccustomed to alcohol would. Shortly after his cheeks turned a rosy red and he got a grin on his face.
"Before I go introduce myself to that beauty I gotta ask G. Did you see that Pepper Draytona is coming to Dallas? Maybe she is coming to meet THE Ezekiel Griffiths, billionaire extraordinaire." Quickly Micah pulled back out of my reach knowing a shoulder punch was coming his way. I never like it when friends call me my full name let alone the comment, he made about the actor I had a crush on for as long as I could remember.
"On second thought maybe, I'll go talk to that girl over there. You must be too busy alone over here." At that point, I was basically yelling as he scurried out of earshot over to the blushing brunet. Tsk. Now I needed to get another drink and started back inside.
Passing the bar, I made my way to the elevator for the second time that night to go up. When Micah made that billionaire comment he was not totally wrong. In fact, I had a private condo on the top of the tower. Usually, I stayed in my off-campus apartment with my friends. It was a little lonely being up there. Sigh. I would have been so pissed at someone for complaining about this before the pandemic. I swiped my key card and started up the elevator. Luckily, the soundproofing was amazing further up in the tower.
Stepping out of the elevator on the 15th floor a chill went down my spine as my hollow footsteps rang throughout the house. To call this place a designer condo would be an understatement similar to calling the event outside a house party. Even with all this luxury, I would trade it all back for my family, I think.
I made my way over to the liquor cabinmate and grabbed down another bottle of Reynolds. Feeling a little classier in my condo I popped the cork and poured myself a double and enjoyed the drink out on my own balcony. Looking up at the stars time almost did seem to stop. The loud drumming of the music below began to fade to the background. Only the chill wind running through my hair and the burning gin crawling down my throat marked the passage of time.
Eventually, the music did end, as it was getting close to 2 AM. An almost empty bottle of Reynolds planted upside down in a planter standing testament to how much tomorrow morning would suck. After drinking I always wake up early with no hangover but a bad case of the runs. On the bright side, drunken dreams are always some of the most entertaining. I watched the last drops drain from the bottle into the soil and stumbled towards my bed.
Having completed my nightly ritual of pouring out the last drink into the ground I could sleep easy tonight. As sleep began to overtake me, I swear I heard a whisper in my head that said 5 hours till Cosmos phase 2. It looked like tonight's dream would be about aliens. I've always wondered if aliens were really little green guys or looked different from what we had thought.