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Aw.

Okay, so I was spurred by the Didion love to go read some stuff I wrote early in college... so cute! Was I ever that young?
Earlier in the evening, she twisted the top off of her first bottle of Bud Light self-consciously, as if everyone was watching. In her mind, this room of strangers just might base their opinions of her on whether or not she could gracefully complete the task. It’s the kind of insecurity that plagues a novice drinker’s mind as she tries to embrace the complicated and nuanced practice of social alcohol consumption.

Judging by the ease with which those around her were rid of their lids, she was obviously surrounded by people who had been acquainted with the process longer than she. A guy across the room, a football player type wearing a muscle shirt, had used the skin of his forearm to grip and twist the cap, a move that both impressed and repulsed her. How many beers did he have to drink in order to learn that one? No doubt, many nights of slovenly drunkenness resulted in his proud party quirk, and she made a mental note-to-self to avoid the kind of man who had mastered it.

Most of the girls in the dirty basement had chosen instead to use the corners of their baby-doll t’s and gently twist, settling into casual patterns of sipping and laughing, pocketing the tops as souvenirs, resting the bottles on their jeans-clad legs. Flirt. Flip hair. Giggle. Sip. Flirt.

Her nervousness with the whole situation must’ve been subconsciously transmitted to her drinking hand, because her bottle was emptied more quickly than the others in the room. She walked over to the guy in the corner, an entirely non-descript boy in a Sig Ep t-shirt and jeans, who happily handed her another. By the time she returned to her girlfriends to open it, a warm haziness had settled into her stomach, and the self-conscious edge started to ever-so-slightly subside. Amazingly, this second lid popped off on the first half-turn, and she sank back on the couch, pleased with her astonishing progress towards sophisticated adulthood.

Comments

Anonymous said…
this made me think back about my own first beer, and the many chances i passed up before it, and the ever many more i've failed to pass up since. I enjoyed your writing. Take care.
1:47 PM
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