Jersey Weekend

The wedding weekend……

Jersey is a strange place. Their driving is strange and their roads are even more messed up. But thats just the beginning.

It was a distant cousin’s wedding. Like fourth cousin, twice removed….basically a bunch of strangers. My grandmother needed a date. She needed someone to go with her. My mother was supposed to go but she was in Alaska. So I drew the short straw and that was my weekend. I didn’t know anyone and at the reception I was placed at the table with my grandmother and other old distant friends and relatives. I did try to make the best of it, and I ended up dancing with these two really nice girls, who like me knew almost no one there besides the bride. They were friends of her brother, Jimmy. Little did I know, that was not my last run-in with Jimmy. The reception had an open bar and I made my way through the night with 5 Cosmos. They are yummy little devils. So we went back to the hotel and my grandmother went to bed. It was like 9:30 so I ended up going back down to the bar. I really desperatly wanted a cigarette and I was in no mood to go to bed. I sat down at the bar next to a woman and asked to bum a cigarette. She ended up giving me half the pack cause she was trying to quit. So I had like 7 cigarettes lined up in front of me. I called Mike to see what he was doing. He was watching some movie with his friends getting drunk. They were all sitting in some hotel in California. I told him I was at the bar in my hotel. I was feeling that great feel of a good buzz. I get a real nice hummer of a buzz off of hard liquor. Anyway, I told him that I missed him and I wanted him to have fun and go where ever he wanted and take as long as he wanted, but I just missed him and I was looking forward to whenever he does come home.

I hate weddings. I really do. I’ve never been to a wedding where I was happy the entire night. I hate being reminded that I’m single. That I’ve screwed up so many great relationships. And when that damn DJ starts with “This song is for all the couples out there….” I just lose it. It gets to me. I love to dance, but not alone. I love to slow dance. Not that I need to be in love or anything, but I love to dance. Just to move across the floor, anticipating the other’s moves. Anyway, I didn’t know anyone and so I couldn’t dance. So I had a few drinks. And I was talking to Mike. We hung up and I started talking to some random guys from the wedding. They all thought it was great that I was from New York State. So then my phone starts ringing and it was Mike. I had to answer to see what the hell he wanted now. He said he just wanted me to know he got my call earlier. I told him he was nuts and I was drunk and I really missed him. He said that he was pretty drunk too. I asked if that meant he missed me. And he said there were just a lot of empty beer cans around the room. So I replied that must be he didn’t miss me. He laughed and said I didn’t give him a chance to finish out his thought process. So we basically complained for a few minutes about how we missed each other and then I told him to go back to his movie. He said ok and we said goodbye. Except he didn’t hang up. And neither did I. After a few moments he started laughing and said he could still hear the loud bar around me. He wanted to know why I hadn’t hung up. I asked why he hadn’t hung up. I swear I felt like we were in junior high. So finally we hung up. I turned around and the bride, Susie, was sitting in the corner with a bunch of her friends. She waved me to come over. She knew I didn’t know anyone there, so she introduced me to her friends and we all started talking. They are a bit older but a lot of fun.

Then her brother Jimmy came and sat down next to me and the real fun began….