What does a nineteen-year-old girl really know about anything? I, and so many other young adults, don’t have a whole lot of life experiences. We sort of seem to just wing everything at this age. But is there anything we truly know like adults? Or do we simply still see everything like teenagers?
On Sunday, I went to my dad’s house again. Like I’ve said before, this is a ritual for me. And we do the same thing every time I come over. We ride his motorcycle to go get dinner somewhere, then we come home and binge-watch “Sex And The City” on Netflix. Not before he sends me out to drive to the grocery store to buy a birthday cake. I know what you’re thinking, but no; it was no one’s birthday. The birthday cake is more for celebrating the fact that we haven’t fucking died yet, so I think that’s a good enough reason to eat some cake. We had a couple slices of a beautiful red velvet cake before going to bed.
On Monday, I hung out with my dad a little bit that morning. We have a cup of coffee together, then I listen to him give me a life lesson about boys. My dad doesn’t exactly know about my recent activities (my dating apps, Juan, etc.). As far as he knows, I’m just waiting to coincidentally meet “the one”. I kind of hoped that by the time I was nineteen, he would be off my ass. However, he is not and doesn’t plan on not being off of it anytime soon. Sue me if sneaking around my dad is wrong. All of my kids with strict parents get it.
I drove back to my mom’s house that afternoon. I took a shower and got dressed for the day. That evening, I met up with my roommates Alyssa, Molly, and our friend Carter. Alyssa had been on a study abroad in South Korea for the Summer and came back to America last Saturday. She texted us that she had been craving a juicy burger from “Five Guys”. And so, we came through to meet at the mall. And in typical Alyssa fashion, she decided she wanted “Yats” instead. A month and a half without American food really took a toll on her. The four of us sat down outside as we ate our food.
“So, how’s it going with your parents?” I asked Carter. Carter and Molly had recently went exclusive. He told his parents about his newfound relationship, and they were not happy to say the least.
He groaned. “Dude, they are so on my ass about it.”
“You shouldn’t have told them. That was a bad idea.” Alyssa swallowed a huge bite of her food. “If I started dating a girl, I wouldn’t tell them.”
“Well, they don’t know that you’re gay.”
“They lowkey know, we just haven’t talked about it. Anyway, I wouldn’t have told them. Carter, you think you have white parents or something?”
Molly and I started laughing at them while Carter and Alyssa kept serious expressions. Carter and Alyssa go way back (not really, actually). They’re both Vietnamese, so they went to all the same events growing up along with being in the same school system. Now, we all just so happen to be going to ZSU together. If anything, all of us going to the same college has created a new friend group for all of us.
I shrugged. “Honestly, I would just be happy you got it out of the way. I never told my dad about Juan, and now I don’t have to.”
“That is a good point.” Molly nodded. We all ended up changing the subject. We gossiped about old high school drama and our families a little more. Eventually, we got up from our table to throw our food away. It was time to head over to the movie theater. Along with wanting American dinner, Alyssa wanted a nice American movie. And since I work there, I’m able to get us free food and shit.
Did you know that there’s something called “dick math”? Before we went into our movie, the four of us sat in Alyssa’s car since she was the one who drove us over. But Carter was explaining that you figure out your favorite sex tempo, the inches of the dick, and you multiply it. Long story short, the ending number is how many inches a man has created during sex based on how many thrusts and his dick size. It was the weirdest shit. Alyssa, Molly, and I were laughing our asses off as we watched Carter carefully calculate douchey Hinge men’s dick math. I suppose you really do learn something new every day, hm?
The four of us got our popcorn and drinks before going to our movie. We were watching “Twisters”. I was seeing it again while they were all seeing it for the first time. Who doesn’t want to see Glen Powell as a sexy cowboy? I know I do. Anyway, the movie was just as good the second time around seeing it. Once the movie was over, they were all talking about how good it was.
“AC, you were right. That shit was so hype!” Carter exclaimed.
“Guys, it’s raining!” Alyssa pointed outside at the rain that was pouring down. It had only started a few minutes ago. Coincidence? I think not. “Is this a sign?”
“I guess it’s a sign to drop out of ZSU and become storm chasers. Let’s do it, guys.” I smiled.
Molly’s eyes widened. “The four of us should sign up for a club together! I think that would be so fun.”
“I’d be down.” Carter and I mutually agreed.
Alyssa was not impressed. “I’m not sure y’all. I’m an engineering major going into my sophomore year. Bold of you guys to assume I’m going to have any free time.”
It was a good point. Molly and I are both Criminology majors while Alyssa and Carter are in engineering. Not to mention, I’m going to try and get a job at a local pizza place up at ZSU with some of my other friends, Rachel and Devin. I need money for gas and rent for our off-campus apartment. My free time is going to be pretty limited once I move back. Anyhow, Alyssa dropped us all off back at our cars so we could call it a night.
On Tuesday, I had to go back to the movie theater. Not for a movie, but for work. Yay! It was 2:30PM-10PM shift seating people. Basically, I have to make sure everyone goes to the right seats. In all reality, I totally half-ass that shit. Don’t tell my managers, ok? I just make sure people know what row they’re in and call it a day. It makes my life so much easier. It was a good shift considering my best friends, Brianna and Trent, were both working. Not only was I able to half-ass my job but I got to annoy my besties while doing. It was a good shift, to say the least. Uneventful, but good. My favorite part anyway was when my managers let me go home! That just so happens to be my favorite part every time. However, there is one important detail that occurred during this shift that I cannot leave out.
A couple of weeks ago, I met a certain 6’5″ engineer on the dating app, “Hinge”. His name is Brendan. He’s blond with tattoos and a permanent smolder. We have been talking on Snapchat and attempted a date a couple of weeks ago. But because of that “big boy engineering job”, it fell through, and I nearly killed myself. I figured maybe he just wasn’t that into me and to just let go. After all, I am moving back to ZSU in less than two-weeks. Yet, that Tuesday, he messaged me and asked when the next time I was free.
“Not until next Thursday. That’s the only time I’m free.”
Brendan took no time to respond. “Then I guess I’m free too.”
When I tell you that I started blushing like the teenage girl I was, I did. I finally scored my date with the 6’5″ engineer. It better not fucking fail. Because I am on my last fucking straw, universe. Even if it doesn’t work out between us, I want to say I went on a date with an incredibly sexy 6’5″ engineer named Brendan.
On Wednesday, I had the day off from work. In fact, I had requested the day off. Back in March, I bought two-concert tickets to a popular Colombian singer. He’s a favorite of mine and helps with the fact I’m trying to learn Spanish. And when I learned that he would be coming to my city, I just had to go see him. I originally was going to bring my friend, Aria. Unfortunately for me, Aria was going back to her home state for the last half of the Summer. So, I invited my friend, Miguel, to go with me instead. He doesn’t even like the Colombian singer though. In fact, he just kept making sarcastic jokes about the guy. Then, he would switch up and say: “His music is actually ass. He’s a Bad Bunny wannabe.” Still, Miguel pulled through just to make his good friend, AC Lane, happy. However, true friendship is the fact he drove to the stadium where the concert was and back. True friendships are the ones where one of them offers to do all the driving, and the other gets to be the “passenger princess”.
The stadium was packed with people. Miguel and I pushed through the crowd of people to get to the line for merchandise. I needed a t-shirt, and I didn’t care that they were $60.
“Damn, you really need that shit?” Miguel gasped. “That’s hella expensive.”
“Hey, I need the t-shirt. I need it to remember today.”
“Like you’re gonna forget it? We both know you’re gonna be taking a ton of videos.”
I sighed. “Will you get off my ass, Miguel? Let me be happy about this. Thank you.” And so, I got my $60 t-shirt before we went to our balcony seats.
We hung around at the concert for two-hours before leaving so we could avoid that inner-city traffic. Miguel shouldn’t have made fun of me earlier for taking videos of the concert because I’m pretty sure that dickhead took more than I did. He shared them literally on every social media platform he had. What a hypocrite. Anyway, you can’t go to a concert and not get late-night “Steak N’ Shake” once it’s over. Miguel and I grabbed some fries and milkshakes before he dropped me back off at my house. It was a fun night. Now I can say I got to see my favorite Colombian singer in concert.
On Thursday, I went back to work at the movie theater. It was a 2PM-10:30PM shift making caramel corn, cheddar corn, and cotton candy. Yes, the theater I work at is pretty schmancy, if you ask me. When me or my co-workers are put on this, we are kept in a small room away from civilization for the entire shift. I don’t mind it though. Sure, it gets hot in there and I begin to sweat like a whore in a church. But at the same time, I get to listen to my music or call my friends. Things I’m not able to do when I’m not in that little room. It was a long shift and is overall draining, but I’m a broke college kid and I need money.
The first person I called was Molly. We were talking a little about some recent family drama and our apartment at ZSU. She, Alyssa, and I were on a time crunch trying to figure out everything we needed for it. Then, we started talking about her and Carter.
“He’s already met my parents and that has gone well, but I’m nervous for him to meet my extended family.” Molly confessed.
I ran around the small room making caramel in the midst of talking to her. “Well, just remember that your relationship is none of their business. But if you’re that nervous, just wait until you officially put a label on it.”
“Oh, um, we actually did a couple nights ago.”
“What? I did know? Carter didn’t tell me!” I gasped. I was mildly insulted since Carter nearly tells me everything about Molly and him. Molly actually had to go eat dinner a few minutes after she told me that, so I was going to call him to yell at him. And so, I called Carter.
“Hello?” Carter answered quietly.
“I’m mad at you.”
“What’s up, AC?”
“You didn’t tell me that you and Molly put a label on it, you asshole!”
“Oh God, literally don’t do that to me.” He sighed in relief. “You are going to kill me one day, man.”
“I can’t believe I’m not the first person you told!”
“Well, it was pretty random, to be fair. Besides, I kind of thought Molly should be the one to tell you. But hey, I’m actually eating dinner with my parents right now.”
“You shouldn’t have answered then. You’re all good, we can talk later.” We hung up and I just put The Weeknd on. I didn’t call anyone for the rest of my shift just so i could grind through it. I managed to time everything perfectly, so I was able to do the dishes on time, then clean the small room. That meant I was able to leave exactly at 10:30PM, and that was a beautiful thing to me.
I went home to make myself a hot bath. I climbed inside and nearly drowned myself. Not before my college best friend, Kaylee, called me. Kaylee and I met in a speech class we had second-semester of my freshman year. We got along right off the bat, becoming instant friends. She’s going into her Senior year at college and is twenty-two. Kaylee is in Arizona for the Summer. She plans on returning sometime next week to move into her new house off-campus. But she and I have too much lore. Why? Kaylee is Juan’s girl best friend and roommate. I will never get to escape.
Kaylee and I were on the phone for 3.5 hours. We talked about the boyfriend she made while she was in Arizona named Derek. Derek is in the military and lives on the base not too far from her. But they’ve been going steady for two-months now. Kaylee has concerns about what will happen once she comes back to ZSU. I reassured her it was just going to have to be something they talk about. If we weren’t talking about Derek, then we were talking about family drama or talking shit about Juan. Kaylee isn’t exactly content with how things went down between Juan and I either. I’m over him, but I’m still pretty pissed about the situation. I’m choosing to be petty and hold grudge, sue me. Call me immature or childish, you would be too.
Yesterday, I worked the night shift at the movie theater. The concessions line was out the door for nearly two-straight hours. We were all stressful running around. Grabbing popcorn, restocking shit, and all sorts of shit. My co-workers and I were fucking tired and ready to go home. When my thirty-minute break came around, I was so happy. Trent and I were happy to learn that we got to go on break around the same time. At my movie theater, there is a bar inside where people can actually sit down and watch TV and what not. Though Trent and I are not twenty-one, we were able to sit in their chairs away from the bar so we could watch the 2024 Olympics. The two TVs were playing gymnastics and synchronized diving.
“Do you think we could do that if we really tried?” I asked Trent while shoving some popcorn in my face.
“Bitch, I don’t bend that way.”
“I do, I’m very bendy.” I smirked. Trent and I began to laugh as we continued to watch.
“Christ, look at the dude on the trampoline. He’s spinning and shit. Did you hear what they have to do?”
“No, what is it?”
“Men have to clip their dicks to their ass cheeks.”
I nearly choked on the popcorn. “What the fuck? That must hurt.”
“That’s what I’m saying.” He winced, as if he were imagining it. “That’s why I could never do this shit. I care about it too much.”
My Uncle Jimmy came around from behind the bar. “What are you kids talking about?” My Uncle Jimmy was not technically my uncle. When I first started working at the movie theater when I was sixteen, Uncle Jimmy was twenty-eight. I introduced myself and we made small talk. Ever since then, he basically became unlicensed therapist and an important adult figure in my life.
“Clipping our dicks to our ass cheeks in the Olympics.” Trent nodded. Uncle Jimmy was not impressed.
“What the fuck?”
I rolled my eyes. “Uncle Jimmy, just ignore Trent. He’s stupid. But guess what?”
“Hm?”
“I have a date with my 6’5″ engineer next Thursday.”
“Yeah? What are y’all gonna do?”
I grinned. “We are going to grab dinner, but I’m not sure after that.”
Uncle Jimmy smirked, then walked away. He went back behind the bar to reach into his tip jar. He pulled out $5 before coming back over to me. Uncle Jimmy handed it to me while keeping that little smirk on his face.
“$5 he asks you to go back to his place after the date.”
“Honestly, I can see it. He’s tried to get me to come over before already.” I shoved the $5 into my pocket.
Trent pointed over to me. “Hey, he’s hot though. I’d do him.”
“Thanks, Trent Peters. You’re such a help.”
“Just come over to my place after. If it goes bad, we can get fucked up. Nut if the date goes well, we can get fucked up.”
“You just need an excuse to drink on Thursday night.”
“And?”
Uncle Jimmy snickered. “Just be careful, kid. Don’t put yourself in a bad situation, ok?”
“I won’t, I promise.” I held my pinky finger up.
“Hey, you’re going back to ZSU soon anyway.” Trent started giggling like a schoolgirl. “You could always hop back on Juan.”
“Yup, this is where I end my break and get back to work. Let’s go, Trent.” We all went back to work to grind for the rest of the night. I wanted to close and go home as soon as possible. I was tired, wanted time to think, and needed to prepare for another week of work with long-hours.
In conclusion for this last: I don’t know anything anymore. I don’t know what will happen with my 6’5″ engineer. I don’t know what will happen with Juan when I get back to ZSU. I don’t know what living in an apartment off-campus will be like. I have no clue what my sophomore year of college is going to look like. However, maybe that’s the point. You never know what life is going to throw at you, especially while you’re young. This period of time is defined by the decisions we do and don’t make. I will figure all of this out with time. It’s just a part of growing up.