The University Constant

Lee's prospective girlfriend - some girl called Lauren with an incredibly amazing body - stood beside me in her tight pants and short white strappy top, which showed off her perfect tan and pierced navel.

I was envious.

"Stop checking her out." Drunk Nikhil said, putting his arms around me.

"I can't help it!" I said. "I wish my body looked like that!"

He looked at me and shook his head. "Who cares about that? Do you think she has half the brains you do? Do you think she's a postgrad computer science student? I don't think so."

I love my friends.

Friday night at the university bar: the only thing about university that hadn't changed. Outside, there was a queue to the bottom of the stairs but we had managed to avoid this by bribing the bouncers with cigarettes (for $10 a pack it may seem like a hefty sum, but the bouncers never collect their dues - they only like to make us beg).

Boy plonked down in the chair beside me. For the first time in the history of our relationship (and perhaps even pre-relationship), he was drunker than me. I was feeling remarkably sober, even after the consumption of numerous alcoholic beverages (including shots Boy had bought earlier. I had stared at these, dazed. Boy was buying shots? Willingly - and because he wanted them? What was going on here...), and was noticing (not for the first time) how much boys bicker when they are drunk.

The day had started out lazily enough. I had woken up in the morning wondering if it would really matter if I missed my 10am lecture. After I had managed to drag myself out of the bed and get dressed, I looked at the time and realised that it would be too late for me to make it because I had missed the bus. Then, I started feeling guilty and asked my dad for a ride (the wonderful man obliged and I made it in time).

After the lecture, I went down to Little Asian Shops to buy a new top, because I didn't like the one I was wearing. I bought two: a white one with a pink rose, and a pink one with blue flowers. Therese, who was supposed to be looking for cars with her boyfriend's friend, had decided to tag along. Never having encountered a Little Asian Shop before, she went quite crazy. After trying to buy the entire store (she bought five tops - three of them were the same design in different colours), she thanked me for broadening her clothes-shopping horizons (I was very much amused).

Back at uni, I spotted Claire, and stopped to talk to her. Mid conversation, I was nabbed by Catherine who stuffed me in a car with herself, Kim and Rozanne, and took me to the Girls Day Out expo. Of course this meant missing my second lecture, but given the choice it was not a tough decision: I would much sooner have gone to any boring old expo than sit in an overcrowded lecture room listening to Bruce read out strings of undecipherable code sequences in his monotonous voice.

As it was, the expo was pretty cool. There were boys shaving legs (I didn't get mine done because I was too embarassed), lots of exciting freebees and special deals, and barbequed prawns. I bought some blue mascara, got a free makeover, booked a $5 home facial, and bought some beads for Boy.

Three hours later, stuffed with chicken and camembert pies and butter caramel brownies, we drove back to university and spent ten minutes at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the queue to the bar and begging and bribing the bouncers.

So there we were. Lee's 'girlfriend' was dancing with Rozanne - this had Rowie in a state of disbelief and he was taking a multitude of photos with my camera; Carl was sitting at the end of the table shaking his head (like he often does); Boy was all over me (it was very cute); Raj was 'being weird'; and Marco was engrossed in a conversation with Kim. I often found myself staring into space, trying to figure out why I was so sober. I had definitely not been drinking little... I couldn't understand it. I was still trying to figure this out when the bar closed, and everyone got kicked out.

Boy had agreed to give Rowie and Carl a ride home, but he was in no state to drive. Exchanging our goodbyes, everyone went their seperate ways: Boy and I downstairs to where the car was parked. In attempting to open it, he dropped the keys.

"Um. I don't think you should be driving just yet..." I told him.

"I agree." He said, staring at the keys on the ground. He giggled.

"Come on... let's go and get some food." I said, talking him by the hand. We caught up with Carl and Rowie who were going to get burgers at the White Lady (a fast-food caravan). On the way, we bumped into Clint, Jared and Amitesh, who made Boy and Rowie look sober (this is not a good thing by any means).

After grabbing me in a barely breathable bear-hug, Clint examined my shirt.

"Hey look..." he said in a baby voice. "This is white. And this is pink? Do you like white and pink?"

"Um... yeah..." Right. Fortunately for me, we lost them at the traffic lights. Or maybe not. On the other side of the road, Rowie was pointing his lazer at random people, and Boy was running after him and doing karate jump kicks. I was very embarassed.

We bought our burgers and attacked them hungrily on a bench at the corner of an intersection, enjoying the entertainment backfiring boy racers provided. It was not long before a conversation about sucking cock arose, and Rowie was questioning random girls at traffic lights:

"Excuse me... do you suck cock?"

After seeing Carl and Rowie to their cab, we walked back up to the car (Boy had proclaimed himself fit to drive - but not too far) and drove to the park. The drunken Boy ravaged me (something he had apparently wanted to do all night: his drunkness had given him impressive superpowers). Worn out, we fell asleep in the backseat. At 3:30ish, Boy lazily drove me home (later I found a message from Rowie on my phone, saying that he was worried and telling me to text him when we had arrived home okay. I thought this was very sweet).

Sober or not, the day had been a good one, and I was happy before I fell asleep. At that moment, there was great comfort in the fact that no matter how much things might have changed, there are some things that will always be the same.

previous - next; thanks, diaryland.