Leong and I are at a party, a graduating-high-school-senior throw-down. Their school year is over, and they are ready to darty. Weโre at a lake house, well away from parents and neighbors.
These are the kids I high-schooled with - I just got promoted a year early. I get a lot of nods, waves and winks from some guys but none of them approach, like a mysterious inversion of attitudes has occurred - as if Yale were a nunnery and Iโm a known novitiate. Itโs just as well, Iโm not looking for a hookup.
Itโs Friday night, about 11:30 pm, the party started long ago and itโs britney-spears-2007. There are drunk girls in the pool in their underwear (Ok, thatโs just exhibitionism, who comes to a lake party without a bathing suit?).
Weโve been here for about a half an hour, long enough to dance a couple of times. Itโs hot and weโre sweaty but we canโt swim - Leong and I are moon sisters tonight - itโs our trauma bond. Our ad hoc solution, rubbing our arms and necks with ice, is congroovesive.
Leong is loving the bash, she keeps saying, โcrazy,โ like when large football players jump from the second story roof into the pool. Itโs a huge pool, a huge party (with maybe 150 kids), a sound system that Led Zeppelin would envy and the house is a beach.
Everett, the host for tonightโs decadence, comes over and takes a seat by Leong and my lounge chairs. Heโs a handsome guy, but thereโs a cocky, entitled edge there thatโs off-putting. He can be nice when heโs not trying to impress anyone.
Thereโs a break in the music. โYouโre traveling this summer, I hear - me too - what games will you be playing?โ He asks,
โI have my switch with me,โ I say, โit travels well - not the whole console mind you - that seemed too extra - just the switch. So Iโll be playing Animal Crossing and Zelda - what about you?โ
โOh, Iโm gonna play Grand Theft Auto - It was my favorite as a kid,โ he says.
โYou played GTA as a KID??โ I gasp, โWhy has THIS never come up?โ
โI donโt know.โ He admits
โHow did your parents let you have that?โ I ask, astonished.
โMy dadโs the one who turned me onto it,โ he confides, โhe wanted a partner.โ
โNo wonder you love ******* music!โ I say, making new connections.
โI DO.โ He laughed. โYou do,โ I confirm, knowingly.
He holds a bottle of deep red something near my glass and raises his eyebrows.
โYou can gas me up,โ I laughed, โIโm not driving, Iโm ok with it.โ
Leong holds up her glass as well and he pours generously into our Sprites.
โWhat song can I play for you?โ He asks, as a reward.
โIโm going to go basic,โ I announce, after thinking about party music, โBeat it, by Fall out boyโ
โYou got it,โ he nods, taking a moment to text the request to the DJ, before moving on to the next table.
After a moment, โBeat itโ begins, there are a few cheers, but conversation becomes impossible.
Congratulations seniors everywhere!
BLT Marriam Webster word of the day challenge: Ad hoc: "something used for immediate needs."
Slang:
throw down = large party
darty = drunken party.
britney-spears-2007 = crazy
DJ = digital jockey
moon sisters = girls who have synchronized periods
congroovesive = something that helps to get your groove back
a beach = somewhere youโd like to live forever.