LbA: Thanksgiving Eve

Biggest drinking day of the year?  You know I went out.  With Chase.  And his friends.

He had asked me if I wanted to, and I said yeah.  Aaron and I had texted sporadically, but he wasn’t nearly as dedicated to daily contact as Chase.  We also hadn’t seen each other since our date.  With closing in on Thanksgiving, I had been busy with school and tennis practices and hadn’t had much time to spend time with either guy, although I’d seen Chase a couple of times. 

We were bar hopping at some dive bars downtown and circulating through Haymarket, too.  Since I knew there would be a lot of walking, I chose to wear Uggs, black leggings, an oversized gray sweater, a warm coat, and hat.  When I jogged out to Chase’s car to meet him and fell into his passenger seat, he looked me up and down approvingly, smiling.

“What?” I asked.

“You look good in a hat.” He grinned at me, and then backed out.

We caught up since we had last been together.  Once we arrived at the first bar, Chase dropped me off at the door and went to find parking.  He always offered to drop me off, and I usually didn’t accept, but I had left my coat in the car, since I knew it would be packed.  I stepped inside the first set of doors and waited for him.  Chase came strolling up, kissing me, grabbing my hand, and leading me all the way inside.

We found his friends, which had obviously arrived much earlier than us, as there was an empty pitcher on the table, and two half filled pitchers, with lots of half empty plastic cups.  “Heey!” we were greeted with, by the whole group.

Chase’s friends present consisted of 4 guys and 1 girls. I am horrible with names and couldn’t remember any of them at first.  The guys were all friends of his from high school, and the 1 girl was 1 of the guy’s girlfriend.  They all seemed nice enough, although it seemed they made the saying “opposites attract” comes to life, just within their friend-group. 

One guy was short (shorter than me), was wearing a black Metallica shirt, super baggy jeans, and seemed quiet.  His head was shaved, his features a lighter dark (if that makes sense).  I guessed his ancestors were from Central or South America.  I learned he made music.  Like, literally, he rapped and had his own cd.  He performed at local bars every once in awhile.  He also worked at a factory, but his true passion was music.  I dubbed him Snoop.

The next guy, was also short.  Similar in height to Snoop.  His light brown hair was buzzed.  He had a thick body.  Built like a pit bull, kind of.  He looked like he at least worked out.  Mentally, I nicknamed him MMA, which turns out, was spot on.  He amateur MMA fights.  He worked at the same factory as Snoop, as well.  And it seemed out of these guys, those two saw each other the most frequently.  He also had a son and live-in girlfriend (baby’s mom), who was at home with said son.

The tallest of all of them, had super long, spikey hair.  He dressed and carried himself like a model, but I doubted that is what he did.  He had super sharp facial bones, and a strong jaw.  He scanned the room, consistently, and from what Chase whispered to me later, he was always on the prowl for his next conquest.  I referred to him as Male Model.  Which was way off.  He was living in his parents’ basement and not working. 

The last guy, and the one with the girlfriend, was similar in style/appearance to Chase.  His name was Jack, and he works for Gallup in Omaha.  He was the only one of their group that wasn’t still living in Lincoln.  Chase seemed the closest with Jack out of all the other guys.  I’m assuming because their lifestyles matched up more.  His girlfriend, aside from Jack, was named Lexi.  She was pleasant, and a natural beauty.  She didn’t wear a lot of make-up, and was dressed in an almost identical outfit to mine, minus the hat.  She works with Jack, and that’s how they met. 

The only reason why I was so interested in their differences, is because they were all, literally, so different.  But they all seemed like really nice guys, who would do anything for each other.  I knew it would be a fun night.

Lexi and I hit it off right away, and spent most of the night by each other’s sides.  By the third bar, 4 drinks, and a couple shots later, we had exchanged numbers and were talking about how we were soul mate friends.  Ah, drunken epiphanies. 

As we were exiting the third bar, we ran right into Amanda (Chase’s ex) and her bff Amber, entering.  Lexi wasn’t around for the Chase/Amanda era, so I filled her in on the little I knew.  Turns out Snoop and Amanber are pretty close with Snoop and go to his shows when he performs.  And also hang out other times.  Which (unfortunately) led to them joining out group and heading to the next bar.  Amanda on one side of Chase talking his ear off, him holding my hand and turning to me to roll his eyes periodically, and the alcohol in me feeling territorial. 

 
We entered the next bar, and that is when the fun began.