a thursday night to remember

so i went out last night with some of my friends, who i worked with at my old job. they are crazy and i've never met anyone like them, but they are a lot of fun and make me laugh. one of them started djing at bars a few months ago. he's always inviting me out to see him play, but it's usually on a tuesday or wednesday and i'm not motivated to go out early in the week. but last night was thursday and he was djing at a bar in the lower east side that i had been to once before and really liked. he said he was djing at an art event - art on display, free jello shots, and food. it sounded really cool, so i contacted my friends who i used to work with along with the guy djing and i had plans for the night.

after work, i went over to meet up with my friends at my old company. it was a little weird being there, but it was nice seeing people i used to work with because they were like a second family to me when i was there. so i chatted it up with my old co-workers about my new job, where i'm living now, etc. and then went back to my friend's cube. “mark” had the music playing loud and was drinking some colt 45 out of a red solo cup. he opened up his desk drawer, pulled out some margarita mix and tequila and made me a margarita - he even included a little paper umbrella with my drink. next to his cube, was “sam” and “brandon” putting together some presentation materials for a meeting the next day. so in one cube, there were people actually working, and in the next cube was mark and “heather” singing to music and drinking colt 45 and me drinking a margarita. around 8pm, when we had a nice buzz going, we went outside to get a cab.

whenever you really want a cab, like when it's freezing cold outside or raining, it is impossible to find an open one. while we were watching the occupied cabs drive down broadway, a homeless guy walked up to us and told mark that he was a lucky guy because he was the only guy standing with 3 of us girls. the homeless guy gave each of us girls a flower, which was very nice, and then asked mark for some money for the flowers. i think the guy thought my friend was a pimp and had the money to spend on flowers. (and don't get any ideas - us girls were completely clothed and covered up under heavy coats and scarves. i guess one guy with three girls leads homeless guys to assume.) my friend isn't a pimp and didn't want to spend money on the flowers, so we returned them to the guy and he walked away. after walking over to a busier avenue, we finally found a cab.

$12 later we finally arrived at our destination. after some confusion at the door about which party we were going to, we found our way to the basement where our friend was djing. first thing i noticed was that there was barely anyone there. second thing i noticed was that the people who were there were "downtown," not hipster downtown, but "downtown" downtown. you only find these people in new york - guys with long hair, skinny jeans and maybe some eyeliner. luckily i was wearing one of my hipster outfits, so i didn't stick out too much, but i still felt like i was in a different world. the art event was also not an art event. they had some posters of paintings pinned to the wall and some bags of pretzels on a table, but the event was really a bunch of hard rock bands playing a couple songs on stage and my friend was djing a few songs between sets. i didn’t like the bands – the music was really loud and i felt like they were screaming and not singing. my friend’s a good dj, so it was nice when it was his turn to play, but he didn’t get much time at the dj booth. the drinks were strong – in the course of the night i think i had 3 raspberry stoli and sprites and one blueberry stoli and sprite. i’m not sure what my friends were drinking – i think jack and cokes and gin and tonics. i also think they might have been doing more than just drinking because the events that took place next were very unexpected.

one of the girls i was with is a lesbian. she started working at my old company after i left so i didn’t really know her. she started talking about her friends who say they’re gay, but they’re really bi. i asked her if she’s bi and she said she’s not and that she stopped hooking up with guys a couple years ago. well about 20 minutes later i looked up and she was making out with the guy dj we were there to see. and then seconds later the dj was making out with heather. i don’t have a problem with people making out in bars; i was just shocked to see my old co-workers making out with each other. on top of that, i was caught off-guard because heather has a boyfriend. they’ve been together forever and live together. she was already in trouble with her boyfriend for not going home after work, let alone if he knew what she was out doing. ugh, she knows it was wrong, but it happened.

then i hear another story from mark. it’s been rumored that he has been hooking up with “renee,” someone else from work. he’s 25 and she’s 38. he has 3 girls that he regularly dates. he’s been dating them for years and they know there are other girls. he has one girl who is the main girl and the closest to a girlfriend, but they’re not exclusive. and renee has had a boyfriend since college who she lives with. so, people have been noticing that mark and renee have been hanging out with each other a lot at work and have been mysteriously disappearing together. everyone knows something has been going on, but no one knew what exactly. well, now i know what’s been happening because mark told me him and renee have been hooking up, meaning something between sleeping together and making out. that’s really weird to hear, especially since renee used to be my boss and i’ve met her boyfriend before.

so after seeing and hearing about the intermingling of my old co-workers, the night went on. we hung out for a little bit in the upstairs of the bar, which was packed. then after the dj was done, he brought us to a bar uptown where his friend’s band was playing. the place was cool and not too crowded. my mind was in a blur after too much vodka at that point. i remember seeing a girl straddling a guy and making out on a couch near us and the girl singing on stage had blonde hair and was wearing ripped tights, a plaid skirt, and a black shirt. that’s about all that happened at that bar. i didn’t drink there and needed to go home at that point because i had to get up for work the next day. so heather and i left together. i walked her to the subway, gave her a hug and then found a cab to take me home at 1:30am.

yup, it was a weird night and my friend’s are crazy, but it’s life in new york and i love my friends. they’re a lot of fun, they don’t judge, and they’ve given me plenty of nights to remember.