So Much for Farewells

So, I decided to drive to Milledgeville on Sunday afternoon in order to be there for Donna’s birthday and complete the previously mentioned farewell to my best collegiate friendship, but as things turned out it wasn’t exactly a farewell (predictably enough, given Donna’s usual persistence). Donna’s birthday itself didn’t feature any major drama, though I was present as Donna and her friends purchased and smoked marijuana and persistently encouraged me to partake. I wouldn’t.
 
Afterwards, Donna invited me to tag along with her friends to the Atlanta Braves game on Tuesday night as her favorite team the Mets were in town (Donna’s from New York originally). I hesitantly agreed after Donna assured me that I wouldn’t have to drive, only for her to call the next day insisting that I drive. Naturally, I agreed to this too since I’m pitifully bad at turning down favors, especially if people persist and I don’t have particularly good excuses.
 
My primary excuse was that I’ve never driven in a city larger than Milledgeville before nevermind bloody Atlanta, but Donna’s whines made my somewhat reasonable excuses seem ridiculous, so I caved and drove. It actually wasn’t too bad as the hardest part of driving is having to navigate at the same time, but Donna’s lived in Atlanta for years and had no trouble guiding me through. My main concern was that her and her friends would get trashed and I’d be stuck in Atlanta with no clue of how to get us home, but Donna managed to stay sober enough to get us back in one piece, so all went smoothly.
 
As far as the evening itself, I suppose it went fine, though I’m very obviously out of place with Donna’s friends. It’s very apparent that everyone realizes this and I always figure that each time I hang out with Donna and friends will be the last time, but afterwards she always calls me and asks me out again and I agree because I don’t have anything better to do and the whole process repeats itself. Originally, I figured that I’d fit in with the group better after the initial aspect of being an outsider wore off, but I’ve since figured out that the issue isn’t that I’m an outsider it’s that all her friends constantly are smoking pot and getting completely wasted, whereas I last lit a joint 5 years ago and could count the number of beers I’d drank on 2 hands before I started hanging out with them. We have different interests, I suppose you could say. And still, the next time Donna calls and asks me to hang out (which there is no reason to expect she won’t), I’ll more than likely agree, because I’m bored and lonely and it gives me something to do.
 
I am seriously beginning to question the wisdom of continuing to hang out with them though, as while Donna and her friends may be worth a laugh, they aren’t worth trouble. Doing drugs is illegal and there’s several of her friends who do heavier stuff than just pot. I trust Donna, but the majority of the rest of her friends couldn’t care less about me and aren’t particularly trustworthy to begin with. When we were at the Braves game Donna commented that “The shit is in Paul’s car because I told Steve not to bring anything in yours” which I suppose was intended to relieve me but only made me realize he could have been bringing drugs in my car. I realize that this is probably a minor deal for most people, but I don’t know that I have the nerve to deal with it.
 
I suppose I could hold one of my infamous polls on whether or not I should ever hang out with Donna again, but I’m pretty sure of what the results would be and I’m probably liable to keep on doing the opposite. I never have been particularly good at doing what’s best for me.