CHAPTER THREE — STEPHANIE
I haven't seen David in almost a week. I've almost forgotten he's upstairs, to be honest. I think I heard him come in from work a few times, but it was late. And besides, I've been busy with school. It's finals, but I'm finally done. I wrote my calculus exam today, and I'm going to celebrate.
I decided to have some girls over. Normally, I would warn David if I'm having people over.
I mean, it's just common courtesy, right?
But something in me decides not to. Maybe it's because I haven't seen him around, so I forget.
I don't know. The thought crosses my mind, but I forget about it as soon as my friend Mandy loops her arm through mine.
We're walking across campus towards the alcohol store.
"How do you think you did?" she asks me.
Mandy's in my calculus class. I shrug.
"I think I did okay."
I'm trying to be humble, but the truth is, I think I aced it. I've always been pretty good at math.
Mandy gives me a knowing smile and tucks a strand of curly, dark brown hair behind her ear.
"Stephanie, come on. I know how smart you are. You don't have to downplay yourself. We women do that way too much already. How do you actually think you did?"
"Okay," I say, smiling. "I think I did pretty well."
"That's awesome," she says, smiling.
I smile back.
One thing I love about Mandy is that, unlike some of my other friends, she's actually happy for me when I do well, and vice versa.
Unfortunately, some women can be catty and jealous.
I know I should probably cut those types of women out of my life, but if I did that, I wouldn't have that many friends left.
So I try to put up with them. But when I can, I try to spend more time with women who lift me up, like Mandy.
"So, we're celebrating, right?" she says as she pushes open the glass door to the liquor store.
A bell jingles, and the store cashier looks up at us. Mandy smiles, and he blushes. She's a beautiful woman, and she has that effect on men.
"Hell yeah, we're celebrating," I say, twirling.
"Yes," Mandy says. "I love it. What do you think… sangria, rosé, or maybe we go old school with some Smirnoff Ice?"
I burst out laughing.
"Smirnoff Ice. Oh my God, that brings me back. Did you ever ice people in high school?"
"No, what's that?" she asks.
"Are you serious?" I ask her.
She nods.
"It's when you hide a Smirnoff Ice bottle somewhere, and then when people find it, they have to kneel down and chug it."
"I've never heard of that," she says.
"Well, I don't know what planet you were living on in high school," I say.
Mandy shrugs.
"So should we get some? So that I can find out about this formative experience that I somehow missed out on?"
I nod.
"I think that's exactly what we should do."
For the next twenty minutes or so, we stock up on way more alcohol than we need. We go to the counter and ring it up. I hold my breath as the cashier looks at me.
"The total comes to two hundred and thirty-five dollars," he says, his voice nasal.
Fuck.
"Do you want me to—"
Mandy starts to pull out her wallet.
"No, no, no," I say, waving her off. "I've got this."
My stomach twists, though. Truth be told, obviously I should not be spending this much on alcohol.
I mean, I can hardly afford rent, and while I do have (I guess) a good setup going right now where I'm paying half rent, who knows how long this will last?
I should be saving in case I end up having to move.
But life is too short for that. I don't know.
There's a part of me that resists doing the responsible thing, the correct thing.
It's like the second I know what I should do, I want to do the opposite.
I know I should save money, so I spend. I know I should have a sober early night, so I get plastered.
Maybe it's just my inner rebel. I grew up going to mass every week, and the Christian ideals were definitely hammered into me.
I'm an atheist now, and I'll be honest, sometimes I wonder if I'm doing things just to give the middle finger to God, which doesn't really make sense, since I don't believe in God. Oh, well.
All that matters is that we're going to have fun tonight. Mandy grabs one bag, and I grab the other. We smile at the cashier and leave the store.