Alcohol [part 1]

A long time ago before I knew anything about anything.. As if I know shit now.. I used to think getting drunk from alcohol was a myth. Like, I seriously thought this. I actually believed that people never really got drunk and when they would act drunk it was just cause they where retarded! Can you believe what a shit head I was? I must of been like 13 When I still thought this. I really didn't stop believing this till the year after..

The following year, my family had decided it was time to move away from my beloved home town of fresh meadows in Queens. It meant that I would no longer be a stones throw from the childhood buddies I had known since my adolescence and had grown quite fond of. I had just started high school and I was commuting to the city, I had not yet made many friends so I felt a great comfort in going home and seeing my old chums.

I'm sure everyone can for the most part relate to friends you grow up and away from. This is a story for them. The story of the night that I almost died. Seriously.

In this little neighborhood, a great friend from my past, his name was Nik, he always took pride in spelling his name that way. He worked in the neighborhood drug store. He had known for sometime now that I was moving away and it was a sorta depressing thing for me and everyone else in my life at the time. So this particular night, we did something crazy, crazy for 14 year old newly pubescent boys.

At this neighborhood drug store that Nik worked at, Nik's boss, an old guy, gave Nik the task of disposing of some old wine that he no longer wanted. Being the deviant Nik was, he decided to store the several bottles of wine behind the dumpster.

After work nik told me about this plot and to stick around a while. Me and him where truly the original porch monkeys, we used to sit outside his stoop and bullshit the day away. Fond memories..

Another good pal of mine was there that night too. His name is Derek, I love this guy, we still keep in touch, and chill every now and then when he's back from college upstate. We would typically bond over the injustice of being a minority, me being Asian and him being black.. We would talk about that and girls. Jeez, this is turning into a trip down memory lane..

Ok, so it's me, Nik and Derek, and we all decide to start drinking. It's evening at this point, about 9ish.. There are several bottles of wine, red wine. Nik brings out 3 bottle from behind the dumpster and brings it over to his place which is just on the other side of this parking lot, real close.

We pour the wine into these tall glasses, you know the kind you take a chug of water from on a hot summer day? Yeah, we filled it to the top, said cheers and bottoms up! Boy did I think that taste was awful! So awful in fact that, this was the first time I learned of the concept of using a chaser. Chasing alcohol down with a better tasting beverage.

I wasn't sure if Nik had drank before this night, he probably had but being the teenager he was, he was still probably a shit head. That didn't hold him back from playing the big brother in the entire ordeal. I actually appreciated it. He anticipated that me and Derek might not like the taste so he brought iced tea for us to chase it down.

I was skateboarding at this point and in between every drink I would do a kickflip. It was easy, I still didn't believe I could get drunk. It wasn't until we finished the 3 bottles before I started noticing it. Nik told me to go get more behind the dumpster. I then began to walk across the parking lot.

Half way through the empty parking lot, right in the middle, I fell to the floor.

This wasn't bad, I was really happy. I just lied on the floor for however long I needed to, stares up at the street lamps and got up when I was ready. I come back with a few more bottles and we continue drinking.

There was a point where I went completely insane. I walked on top a moving car. Ok, maybe it was parked by I stood on it. I stood on it and screamed. I was drunk, for the first time in my life.

I only lived 3 blocks away, but Jesus. 3 block have and will never be as long as they where that night. Derek and I, equally hammered, stumbled to my home. We undoubtedly had way too much to drink.

We were almost there, but then.. He fell to the ground, he fell into someones lawn. He was asleep, I wasn't sure. I tried, no, I didn't try to help him.. But I wanted to. I gestured toward him and then it happened, I started to vomit. I was too young and naive to know what to do, it haunts me till this day the actions I took. Derek got sick, passed out on someones lawn and was picked up by cops and brought home. He didn't want to speak to me after that night, and his mother didn't want him seeing me.

I stormed into my home and had no time for explanation. My mom came in and saw how I was. It made her cry. I was in so much pain, I vomited everything in me till I could no more, and even then I would gag reflex. The notion of ever eating again felt so foreign. Till this day, I probably have never been that trashed.

The next day my father was watching me vomit into a bag. I was pale and sickly. He had a sorta sense of humor about it. He saw what I was in and didn't bother to punish me, the hangover was plenty punishment already.. I wouldn't touch alcohol for the next 4 years..

And Derek.. Eventually I got my friend back.

To be continued..