Home Cooked Meal

Last Friday night is spent on a final binge before going to my parents. 'George' picks me up and we go to our friend, 'Chris's' house where we take too many shots and play with prop swords that 'Chris' uses because he is a production designer and we break one as they slam into each other and feel bad but 'Chris' doesn't care and we all go to another bar on Melrose to meet a friend of 'Chris's'. It is a girl's birthday and the room the party is in is filled with the sweat of almost 100 men. That's because, since it's a girl's birthday, there are almost eight guys to every girl. I leave this room and go to the main bar and have a few drinks and watch replays of college football and 'Erin's' friend, 'Ashley', calls me and tells me it is her birthday tonight, too, and she wants me to come to Bar Marmont for dinner and drinks. We lag but eventually get there because there are more girls and we've missed dinner but Dexter the doorman lets us walk through easily and we run into the girls who are all very pretty there and 'Ashley' keeps holding my hand and dragging me around to meet all her friends and 'Erin' isn't around and she tells me 'Erin' is on a shoot in Hawaii and then she kisses my cheek and 'George' looks jealous. As the night comes to a close we all leave and go to the Argyle on Sunset where the girl's have a huge room and we tear open the locks on the mini bar and dive in and someone orders three large bottles of champagne and me and 'Ashley' disappear to the bathroom. On the counter is a small pile of cocaine and before we do a line she starts to kiss me, locks the door, and says 'It's my birthday, we won't tell 'Erin', and we fall into the empty bathtub and she takes off her clothes and we have sex and it's spontaneous and good and part of me knows that I can probably never go back to 'Erin' again and it makes me slightly sad as I climax. We stay at the hotel till 5am and then I have to leave and 'George' is wired and won't stop talking and I have no idea what happened to 'Chris' but I do know my flight leaves in an hour and a half. I take a cab home, toss the contents of my closet into a bag and jump back into the cab which has been waiting for me. On the way to the airport the Cab Driver tells me how his two kids are going to high school and how he's proud of them and wants them to have a better life, which is why he works so hard and I'm genuinely interested because I'm so awake and I tip him VERY well and he gives me his card so I'll never want for a cab again in L.A.. Security goes quick at six in the morning on a Saturday and the flight to Saint Louis is freezing, an ice box. I can't sleep, even if I wanted to, and I end up writing on my laptop as an overweight Asian man snores directly in my ear and they only have four blankets and a million packets of peanuts on the flight and it drives me nuts. The lay over is three hours in St. Louis and I wish I had actually looked at the flight plan before I purchased my tickets and I watch 'Secret Window' while I wait and feel that maybe I have a dual personality that's eating at me. I drink gin and tonics on the flight home and take a cab to my family's house when I finally arrive. My parents aren't home from a dinner event so I go to my room and drop my bags and stare for a long time. Pictures of me as a child, high-school friends, news clippings from sports championships, etc... all still on the walls. The ancient computer I used to use is still sitting on my old desk and it doesn't start when I hit the power button. I walk around my house, looking through old photo albums, drinking water, happy that it always smells the same and I look for the house cat but he's nowhere to be found. The air is humid, and I haven't slept yet, so I lay down in my bed, still wearing what I'm wearing, and close my eyes on Saturday Night...