The Morning After

Emily and Claire decided to call it a night and vowed we would meet up that weekend instead.  Holly, Kat and I made our way to Mickey's to take advantage of their Monday night dollar wells and attempted to persuade other people to meet us there.  I sipped on a vodka cranberry as I texted Mark, offering to buy him a few drinks if he met up with us. I knew the lure of free drinks would be enough to convince him to come out for the night, and Kat worked on convincing her friends Heidi and Carly to join us as well.  Soon we had quite a rowdy group together.

Laughter and drinks were plentiful as we all downed shots and celebrated Kat's official introduction to the bar scene.  Despite having a boyfriend, Holly was busy getting acquainted with a guy who looked like he stepped out of a frathouse and I hardly saw her for the rest of the night.

"It's my birthday!" Kat announced again and we all cheered as she polished off another shot.  Her tongue was stained red from the vodka cranberry she was chugging and her face was flushed.  I knew she would be hurting in the morning, and based on the buzz I was feeling, I would be right there with her.

The night was a blur of faces, alcoholic beverages, loud laughter and camera flashes.  My last clear memory was waiting in line for the bathroom, drinking yet another vodka cranberry and wondering where the rest of my friends were.  Everything after that was lost in an alcohol created abyss.


A knock at the door startled me awake.  The light filtering in through the blinds seemed to send spears directly into my brain and I winced.  I surveyed my surroundings and realized I was in Mark's bed.  I had no memory of leaving Mickey's, and certainly didn't remember deciding to stay at Mark's house.

"Yeah, come in," I rasped, wishing for a Gatorade and some Aleve.

The door opened and there stood Kat.  Her face was pale and her makeup from the night before was smeared, giving her raccoon eyes.

"What's in my hair?" she asked, pointing at the snarled mass atop her head.  "It's...sticky.  And crunchy."

I stifled a laugh.

"No, I'm serious.  What is in my hair?"

"I have no idea," I replied, smirking and reaching up to feel my own hair, "but whatever is in your hair, is in my hair, too."

At that, we both burst into laughter.  She shook her head and left the room, chuckling to herself.  The mystery was solved later that day when Heidi informed us that Kat had attempted to leap into my arms, and instead knocked me over which left us both covered in my vodka cranberry and her vodka tonic.

I made my way to the living room and asked Kat if she knew where I had left my digital camera and Blackberry.  She didn't.  Nor did she know how we had gotten to Mark's house, because she certainly had been in no shape to drive and her car was nowhere to be seen. 

Yet another mystery was solved when Mark explained that his friend Dan had come to get us, and I had left my phone and camera in his car.  Using Chipotle as a bribe, we convinced Mark to drive us back to Mickey's to get Kat's car, and then we headed home.

Kat and I relaxed on the couch, nursing our terrible hangovers while laughing and trying to piece together the events of the previous night.  It had definitely been memorable and it was a shame we couldn't remember so much of the night's events.

Kat grinned wickedly and said, "So, where are we going tonight?"