She gives you a big big big hug and squeezes you tight and tells you she is so glad you are here. She introduces you to everyone you don’t already know, then sits with you to ask you a very specific question about your job.
This is not a general moment. She is not a general woman. This is not a general moment.
She gives you another big big big hug and kisses you broadly on the cheek and makes sure you are comfortable before she flits off to the opposite corner of the room. There, another friend is holding out a tray for her — an entire tray of tequila shots. She takes one, as do each of her friends in that corner. Clucking ensues as each friend ensures she has a shot.
3-2-1. GULP!
Shrieks of laughter.
Suddenly the music is louder, much louder. She is still laughing, yet you can hear it over the techno track. That techo track that has been mixed with the Beastie Boys which you’re sure no one else in the room is noticing.
She is still laughing, which makes you laugh. You see her stumble and lean on the wall for support.
And now it is that moment when you know you have to go. The dry ice smoke has been released. She is laughing uncontrollably and her friends are already ordering the next round of tequila.
If you don’t leave now, you will be stuck in the tequila-induced mayhem of dance-floor wedge shoes and bad hip-hop remixes.
You help her hold on to the wall while you say goodbye. She is not as far gone as you thought. She follows up on your response to that very specific question earlier about your job; this is not a woman to be taken lightly. You smile, maybe even laugh, and respond to her with an invitation to get together the next opportunity that arises. She agrees but vocalizes that you haven’t answered her question.
Damn, she is smart.
You make a date. She grabs the wall again and as you sing along to the Beastie Boys (the track that no one else knows the words to in this town), you know you will have to send her an email tomorrow because she will not remember this.
But she is The Sweetest Thing. And you are relishing in this moment.
