New Friends

In New York, Jacqui and I had no friends. That’s fine. Then Jacqui met Shannon.

Shannon is from Connecticut, fell in love in Australia, and is now becoming a doctor in New York.

You like how I described her so completely in one sentence?

Before she moved to Australia, she bought a brand-new car complete with manual windows. Then Australia happened, so the car was put in storage for the past few years and stayed brand-new.

When she came to New York Medical College she met Jacqui, and then me.

Jacqui has met plenty of people at NYMC, how did Shannon and I become friends, too? I have oodles of charm when I want to.

And then the three of us went out. We went to a bar called the Lazy Boy Saloon. I decided to invite some friends once I got to the bar, friends including Victory Summer Love Ale, Radeberger Pilsner, Delirium Tremens, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Tripel Karmeliet. At some point, I ended with a Guinness.

We then all got into Shannon’s three year old brand-new car.

A few hours before this, Jacqui and I had a nice dinner at a place called the Melting Pot. The Melting Pot is a place where you cook your own food in a bowl of broth. This all happens right on your table. At first, I was kind of pissed that I had to cook my own food. What was I paying for?

It turns out that it is a nice experience and skeptics should give it a try. The other thing is though, the restaurant is in no way liable for raw or undercooked food (because they didn’t cook it, I did).

So when I got into the back of Shannon’s car so she could take us all home, I was full of cheer and was still feeling good from all the craic. I don’t know what it was though, but at some point during the ride home, my good feelings and craic wore off. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with motion sickness in the back seat of Shannon’s car. She might drive like a crazy person, I don’t remember. It was probably some of that undercooked meat and shrimp I ate earlier in the night. What patience do I have for delicious shrimp? How do I know if it’s cooked thoroughly enough?

I thought I was going to make it home.

I thought about asking Shannon to pull over, but I didn’t want to embarrass anyone, mainly myself.

I thought I was going to make it home. I didn’t. Damn those manual windows.

Most of it ended up on the side of her car and on the ground. As she pulled over and stopped the car both Shannon and Jacqui were telling me to get out of the car. I told them I was fine, and to keep driving, nothing to see here, move along folks.

I then got out of the car, Jacqui rubbed my back, and I got into the front seat. I apologized to Shannon the rest of the way home and pulled out $45 in crumpled bills that were in my pocket. I stealthily hid them in her glove box.

When we got home, I went upstairs to shower, trying to get the throw up out of my clothes, and Jacqui and Shannon stayed in the parking lot trying their best to maintain the three year old new car smell. When I woke up in the morning, my crumpled $45 was sitting on the nightstand.

I’ve never thrown up in someone’s car before, so I felt bad. And I tried my best to fix things between Shannon and I.

Apparently there was nothing to fix.

Damn, ouch, ok fine, it’s like that?

No, we’re still cool, “Don’t worry about it” she said. Ha, she said don’t worry about it. I think we’re all going to be friends after all.

“Jon, next time, you’re driving, and you’ll get to see me at my best.” Can’t wait.