It had to have been the day after T.J. and I broke up, that I picked up right where I had left off. I had been working at this place called Paul Lee's Chinese Kitchen for a little bit and I had adapted to being as adult as everybody else. My bestie at the time, Lia, had picked me up from home and I convinced her to go to the gas station to get a pack of 27's. We were constantly confusing everybody with our names because they are so similar. I was back on the smoking thing again. I had literally changed who I was overnight. I was ready to get my life back. I did a lot of blaming on T.J.. I mean, I almost converted to Mormonism. I was a little church girl when I was with him. I made sure to flip the script as soon as I had my freedom back. Not like he was the one holding me back, but you know how "us" girls can be. It's always YOUR fault.
I met some lifelong friends at Paul Lee's. I met my best friend to this day, Landon. He was a cage fighter/college student/server. He and I have a rare friendship. You know, the kind of friendship where you're actually just friends. Most guy/girl friendships don't work that way. Ours did. Him and I were party animals. Besides the partying we did a lot of constructive things. We trained together, he taught me everything I know about Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai. He's one of the only men in the world that can punch me in the face and get away with it. And trust me, he still would. He has been there for me and more occasions than I can think of. We would go shooting together, eat Angie's and Jimmy's in the ghetto together, you name it, we probably did it.
He introduced me to my three other best guy friends too. There was the Bosnian, who is loud and obnoxious. Sorry dude, you know it's true. He has a crazy story all on his own. When I first met him he told me he was Japanese and I believed him. He was such a jerk. It ended up solidifying our friendship though. He is the most loving, caring, jerk you'll ever meet. I went bowling with his family once and he told me how to say something in Bosnian to the effect of "great job"! I had actually called his entire family "ass-faces". See what I mean. There was J.D., a fun loving guy from Chicago. He was the master of shenanigans. We have jumped off roofs into pools, also gone shooting, watched Boondock Saints countless nights, and did a lot of partying together. There was also Andy. He was from New Mexico. He's an incredible soccer player, normally babysitting us, and I love him to death. We are all still friends to this day.
Now, slowly but surely, I began to transition into a "mature" seventeen year old. I had acquired a fake i.d. with Lia. I was from Jersey and the I.D. was held together with a cheap laminate and a piece of foil in between so you couldn't see through it. It looked just like a Blockbuster membership card, because that's where they got the laminate from. With that I.D. I had a new power. I could buy booze. Who has two thumbs and just became the coolest high school student? This guy! I didn't hang out too much with kids from my school. I partied a lot with kids from the other high schools.
I had picked up a second job at Circuit City and met my friend Ray who introduced me to "The Root". I would spend a lot of time over there partying with them. I had learned about beer pong for the first time. I'm actually not too bad at it. At first, I was pretty awful, but I got the hang of it. I learned how to chew tobacco with them, and also how to smoke hookah. We never did any drugs over there, shockingly. We were just a group of high school kids trying to have a good time. The cops were regular visitors to "The Root's" house. We always had some sort of craziness going down.
If I wasn't at "The Root's" house, or with the guys, I was with my new group of friends from Circuit City. I had met a guy named Tom from Washington and him, Ray and I became pretty close. Tom was a student at U.T.I., which is a vocational school for cars, and he had been installing stereos for Circuit City. We were always hanging out at his apartment, drinking and watching a lot of Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Then one day, one of Tom's friends from Washington moved down. His name was Jerid and he rode street bikes. I don't know if you've picked up on this, but I love extreme things. I was so anxious to get on this bike. I begged Jerid to take me for a ride. He did, and I was hooked. We all became pretty hooked. I would go everywhere with Jerid on that thing. He could stunt with me on it! I had so much fun doing wheelies and stoppies and things that are so stupid and dangerous.
Eventually, Jerid, Tom, Ray, Greg (from Oregon), and Sammy (another friend from Circuit City) all moved in together. We got a house on forty-third and Thomas. Right in the middle of what is known as the Iron Triangle. Pretty ghetto. We loved it though. We had major keggers there and our house was always filled with people. Meanwhile, I was still working at Paul Lee's AND going to school. I had picked up another job at McGrath's as a food runner also. So, I was working three jobs, living on my own, and going to school. I also took full advantage of my fake i.d. and every Tuesday night I would sing karaoke at Native New Yorker betting drinks for songs sang well. I eventually got caught. One of the best things anyone could have done for me.
Did I mention I was in a band also? Like I said before, I met a lot of life long friends working at Paul Lee's. My sister Leah was working there also. There was a girl that had started hostessing and her name was Nancy. She was a platinum blonde, heavy make-up, quiet kind of girl. I was in charge of training her as a hostess and we got along. At first. There was J.J. and Michael, they were brothers and they could jam like no one's business. They were bussers at the good ol' Paul Lee's. Then there was a server named Nathan who could rip up a bass. There is a handful more to tell you about but we'll stick with these guy's for now since they work with this band story. J.J., Michael, Nathan, and Steve were in a band together called Musical Fusion. Steve also worked at Paul Lee's but his place is brief in this story. They played shows, they were good. The band was looking for something different though. They had asked me to sing with them at one point. For some reason it took a little prying but I eventually took them up on the offer.
Our first time jamming together we wrote a song. "Animus". It means more spirit than man in Latin. It was our first "hit". We started playing shows and recording and we had a great time together. Nancy and Leah were always around. They had become really close. I had a period of time that I didn't like Nancy. That's another story in itself, but she was always there. She and Michael had become best friends.
So, as you can see, there are a lot of stories in this chapter. I did a lot in my year of seventeen. I'm sure I could tell you eight more chapters of that year alone. I'll spare you though. Instead, I will prelude a the next chapter for you with one more story. I had just turned eighteen and I moved in with a friend I trained Jiu Jitsu with. I was either stunting street bikes all night or at some sort of house party. Well, I happened to be at a house party for a friend's brother one night. I was just minding my own business, drinking my beer, and someone had asked me to sing. This happened often, I hate it. It did, however, catch the attention of the man I would fall in love with that night. Billy. He kept asking me to sing. He couldn't get enough of it. He took my heart and made it his that night. We got each others number, and the rest is....In chapter nine. Better bring out the tissues. Chapter nine is a tear jerker. I'm not looking forward to writing it. I've been avoiding this chapter just so I wouldn't have to be ready to write the next one.
