Drunk and Shrunk – Last Trip to the Dish: It’s Mah Birthday

It was mid-morning when Kylie’s alarm went off in her dorm room. She’d enjoyed the chance to sleep in for a couple hours longer than usual. As she yawned and stretched her arms in her comfy pajamas, her face broke out in a large grin.

It was winter break at Tech U. Of the thirty-odd thousand students, nary a soul was on campus. Kylie would have went home to visit her parents too, but they were away on holiday and her older brother was away at school himself, all the way across the country, and his school’s winter break came a week later than Tech’s. There was also the fact that she had to go in for work on some of the days off from school, though she’d been given the day off.

But that wasn’t the only reason for Kylie’s happiness, for it was her birthday – today was the day she was turning twenty-one and becoming a real adult. She thought of all the things she would be allowed to legally do now – such as drink alcohol and get into some clubs. Not that she liked drinking, for she seldom partook (and this being mostly on holidays with family), but she did love clubbing and she, along with her best friend Bethany, had resolved that tonight would be the night when they both got drunk.

With the cafeteria closed, she had a small breakfast of cerial and orange juice, then made a Facetime call to her mother. 

Her mother told her all about their trip to Austria – the skiing in the Alps was great and they’d visited several great museums, cathedrals and historical palaces. With her father’s love of everything Amadeus, they’d visited several old haunts of the great composer.

“It’s still so unbelievable that he died so young. He was such a vibrant person”, her mother said. “How are you doing, honey? Are you excited for your birthday? Do you have any special plans? I wish you were here with us.”

“Me too”, said Kylie. “But with work and things…”, she left the sentence unfinished. Pausing for a moment, she continued, “Bethany and I are going out. We’ll probably visit one of the clubs, now that I’m old enough.” She neglected to tell her mother where they intended to visit, knowing she would probably not approve of Forbidden Dish.

“Oh, that’s great dear. She is such a wonderful friend to you. I hope you have so much fun. I promise we’ll have a proper celebration when we get back next week. Hugs and kisses from dad and I. Love you dear.”

“Love you mom. Tell dad I love him. Mmmhmm. Take care”, she said, hanging up.

--

Putting on some sweatpants, a pullover and a windbreaker, Kylie went out for her morning jog. On her way out, she found it noticeably quiet in the usually busy hallways and she didn’t notice any movement or noise. She wondered if it could be that she and Bethany were the only ones on their floor that stayed on campus over the weekend?

Though she was in her 3rd year, Kylie had opted to stay in the dorms instead of moving into an apartment as she had developed some friends in the dorm, some of them younger than her, that she wanted to spend more time with.

Returning some thirty minutes later, she felt her phone buzz with a text message. Bethany, she thought, checking in. But it wasn’t. Instead, it was one of the boys on her floor, Hal. His car had broken down and he was wondering if she could take him to work. He didn’t have enough time to find a set of jumper cables and get his car started. Sighing, as she had just been about to hop in the shower, she replied back, ‘Sure. I’ll meet you outside in the lot, if you’re ready to go now’.

*** 

Elsewhere, on the other side of campus, the Thomasin twins, Becky and Marc, were playing a game of ping-pong in the community room of their dorm. They were in the middle of their third game, with each having won a game and the siblings were highly competitive against each other.

Their game was interrupted when Marc’s friend Geoff swooped by and began talking to them after sitting down and having watched a few points, his head in his hands in a disinterested pose. “Guys, this is boring. I’ve got an idea where we can have some real fun and you two can fulfill your competitive juices.”

*** 

It was just after 2pm when Kylie returned to the dorms and finally took a soothing shower, removing the grime from her jog. Feeling refreshed, she put on a pair of short shorts, a t-shirt and some flip-flops and walked towards the community room (with a window which overlooked an outdoor pool area). If there was anyone around and in the mood to do something, she would find them there. It was either that or scour the halls and listen for signs of life.

Pemberton Lockwood followed quietly behind, keenly watching Kylie’s tanned, toned legs as they carried her into the community room. She left a wonderful air in her wake – Pem thought she always smelled good – reminiscent of a fresh breeze off the lake. Once he arrived at the door, he noticed her sitting near one of the central tables, one leg propped up on the chair, bent at the knee, while her other leg dangled properly over the edge of her seat. With how short her shorts were, it offered him a view of quite a bit of her legs, to the top of her thighs. She was humming lightly to herself and looking at her phone.

"Did I ever tell you, Kylie, that you have the best legs in school?”

“Every week”, Kylie said, smiling, and readjusted herself to a proper sitting position. Kylie looked  over at Pem who stood in the entrance to the room, “Of course, I don’t have your big muscles, though.”

Pem smiled. He liked Kylie a lot and he loved it when she complimented him, even though he was well aware his physique was nothing special. He had flirted with her off and on throughout the school year, but she had rebuffed his advances, telling him she was just too busy with schoolwork and her job to spend time with boys, though she was nice to him. Pem always felt a sense of awkwardness around the opposite sex, especially around females he was attracted to, but he’d developed some level of comfort around Kylie over the course of the semester, and he was able to joke around with her.

In truth, Kylie wasn’t sure of her ‘type’. She found Pem decent-enough looking, but was he her type? She wasn’t so sure. She was sure he wasn’t Bethany’s type, as she was well aware that Bethany found the boy annoying.

“So, how come you didn’t go home?”, Kylie asked.

“Well, I don’t really have any friends back home”, he stated, prompting Kylie to give him a pouty sad face. “I come from a small town”, he explained, adding, “plus I have a job up here and I have to work tomorrow. How about you?”

“Yeah. Me too”, sighed Kylie, but quickly chirped up, adding “Though I’m off today for my birthday.”

“It’s your birthday?”, Pem stated. Now here is a talking point where I can make some inroads, he thought.

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