Merely Players, pt. 2

I didn’t stay with them long because, small boat that it was, Nick appeared, still drunk. He wanted me to buy him a drink, a phrase I’d hear from underaged kids the rest of my time on the boat. Still, 18 beats 15 or 30, right? I figured my night would be gravy now that I was in the company of an age-appropriate peer… not quite. We hunted around for more people our age, to no success. The nightclub and casino, the obvious haunts, were ghost towns. So he decided to join his younger brother and cousin at the pizza place, as they’d recently escaped from the bizarrely mislabeled O2 teen club (trust me, I looked for the tanks). I, for lack of ideas, joined them. Mistake.

Here I was, a 21 year old, sitting next to an 18 year old, sitting next to 3 loud and obnoxious 16 year olds, sitting next to a quiet 16 year old, sitting next to a very bored-looking 21 year old, the chaperone from the teen club who’d been shanghaied into joining them for pizza. I, personally, try to block high school out of my memory, but I cant imagine it was this bad. They just lazed around making boner jokes, interspersed with the occasional gay joke. One of them mentioned how awesome it was that he danced with a girl. Another hinted that he saw a girl’s boobs, only to admit his story was a lie. Were we like that?

I felt sympathetic for the poor chaperone. I felt even worse for the quiet boy. He was skinny, blonde, and pretty, in that I-cant-say-anything-more-than-pretty-because-he’s-far-too-young kinda way. But my gaydar doesn’t lie. This boy was clearly gay and unhappy. I shot him a sympathetic smile, hoping he’d see it for what it was and not misinterpret me and report me to the authorities. I was not going to make the same error a third time. I don’t know if he got it, but it wasn’t long until he became fed up with his friends and walked off. They never knew why.

It wasn’t long after that when Nick and entourage decided to sleep themselves, so for lack of a better plan, I returned to the casino. To my surprise, Brian was there, at the roulette table. I’ve always had bad luck with roulette, so I abstained. It wasn’t long until Brian went broke anyway. We decided to walk past the nightclub, and in yet another miracle, people were there. The slow trickle hadn’t started until nearly 2, but people were there. I met, in order, Joey, the tall 21 year old with a problem he hadn’t discovered yet, Aaron and Alex, cousins, tall and skinny and stutter, and short and fat and low self-esteem, respectively, Rebecca, the spunky redhead girl with strong, loud opinions on everything, Amy, the girl so drunk and stupid she wears a rubber wristband with her name on it, and Rick, the introspective, older (well, 25) guy who could easily have any girl he wants yet curiously abstains. Apparently none of the girls are attractive enough for him, which makes him sound arrogant, but ultimately he was more sad than anything. What was really sad was that all these people showed up shortly before the club kicked us all out, so we (thankfully sans Amy, who passed out somewhere along the way) all made our way to the top deck.

It was nice up there. The night was dark, the air was warm, the breeze was soft. We talked about everything, from sex, to drugs, to more sex. I once again was forced to relinquish a preconceived notion. We were exactly like those annoying 16 year olds, only more experienced. I also noticed that there was only one girl among 6 guys, and she only seemed to show interest in the Hungarian janitor who paid us a visit at 3am to tell us about the 40 year old with kids who was trying to seduce him. It really seemed that the only people going to get any ass on this cruise were the 40+ divorcees. I wondered what my father was up to, then quickly wished I didn’t.

We turned our attention away from Rebecca’s ass and to her alleged pot stash. She promised she’d share her last joint on New Years. I wondered if I should invite Chip.

If it seems to you like this post is just kind of limping along, you’re right. That’s what my night was. And endless, uneventful limp. Pleasant, but not especially thrilling. What it did was set the stage. All the players were in place, and they would all make strange, unexpected reappearances before the play was through. In the meanwhile, I hadn’t slept for like 2 days. Exit, stage left.