Perez 1

Michelle Perez
Professor Jackie
English 101
8 October 2015
Lessons Learned From Vodka
It is 10:40 AM, I wake up and my body feels like somebody bodyslammed me before I went to bed. My head is pounding, my muscles ache,
and I feel nauseous. I look around and realize that I am not in my own bed.
Ive never seen this room before in my life. I start to panic, not being able to
remember what happened last night in order to get me here. I hear someone
walking down the hall, so I lift the bedsheets to cover myself. Devin, my
coworker walks into the room. This is his room. Oh my god, I think to
myself.
There she is! How are you feeling?! he asks. Hes laughing.
What the hell happened? I respond.
Wheres my phone? My parents are going to kill me! I add.
Calm down, calm down, he says as he helps me search for my
phone. We look around the bedroom, downstairs all over the living room, but
my phone is nowhere to be found. We try calling it, hoping to hear the
ringing somewhere near, but we dont hear anything. We go down to the
parking lot of his apartment complex, to his roommates car. We find it.

Perez 2

Im nervous to turn my phone on, I know it will be bad. The light of the
screen turns on. As soon as the signal is found, the notifications start pouring
down the screen. I am horrified. There are forty missed calls, over twenty
text messages, and almost ten voicemails. All of them are from my parents
and my older siblings. They are all asking where I am. My mom is crying.
Shes asking me to just let her know that I am ok. My dad is telling me to call
back. My siblings are telling me to come home and that my mom is worried
sick. This is the first time that I have ever not come home.
How did I get here? Lets go back twenty-four hours. Im at work. I am
pretty new to this job myself, having only been here for about a month, but
there is an even newer girl, Anna. She just started this week. Hey! Im
having a birthday party tonight! You should come, she says. Its the night
before Halloween, so shes having a costume party. I agree to go, seeing as
Ive never been to a costume party before. Devin is standing nearby,
listening to the conversation. He comes over and asks, Youre going
tonight? I say yes. Hes been asking me out for the past couple of weeks,
but Ive never said yes. He tells me that he is also going to the party, and
asks me if I would like to go with him. I take the offer, thinking it will be
convenient to have a ride, just in case I end up drinking. Five hours later, my
shift ends. As Im on my way out of the door, I run into another one of my
coworkers, Jon. Ive developed a sort of crush on him, but dont really talk to
him except occasionally saying hello. He asks me if Im going to the party
tonight. I confirm that I am, and ask if he is. He replies saying that he is not

Perez 3

sure, but that he is thinking about it. I tell him to let me know if he decides to
go, and I put my phone number in his phone.
I am starting to get excited about this.
At around seven o clock, I begin to get ready. I curl my hair, put on red
lipstick, and draw on some winged eye-liner. I decide to wear high-waisted
jean shorts and a black crop top sweater. I throw on cat ears, and Im ready.
It is almost nine o clock, and Devin hasnt texted me all night. My mom is
getting ready for bed and walks into my bedroom. She asks if I am still going
to the party, seeing as it is getting late and I still havent left. I tell her that I
am still going, but Im waiting for my ride. She says she is going to sleep, and
asks me to please not stay out late and not to drink. I promise her. She gives
me a kiss goodnight. Devin finally texts me. Hes on his way.
Devin picks me up around ten o clock. He apologizes for being late, he
says he was in LA, watching the birthday girls play. We drive to his
apartment in Burbank. I walk in and I see Jon, I am nervous as well as excited
to see him. The entire living room smells like weed and there is loud rap
music playing. I meet Brandyn, Devins roommate, and his girlfriend, Stacy.
They are a beautiful couple. He is a model and she is a makeup artist. Stacy
is sitting on the dirty, beige carpet, finishing her makeup. She and Brandyn
are coordinating as a dead couple. She has painted both of their faces in full
on Dia De Los Muertos-style makeup. Jon is dressed as an old school
basketball player, in short shorts, an afro, and Chuck Taylors. Im slightly

Perez 4

embarrassed at the lack of effort I put into my costume. Devin comes back
down to the living room in a nerd costume, including taped glasses,
suspenders, and high-water jeans. Everyone is getting pumped up for the
party, passing around a blunt and taking shots. Im sitting in the corner,
quietly, just waiting to leave. I feel out of place, and start to regret coming.
Everyones ready. We head out of the apartment and into the parking
lot. The five of us get into Brandyns white Honda Civic. Im sitting in the
back seat, in between Jon and Devin. This is just a tad awkward. We drive
down the street to a Ralphs store. Devin and I get out of the car to pick up a
giant bottle of vodka and another of cranberry juice to chase it with. Brandyn
continues to drive us to the party. We end up somewhere in North Hollywood.
Anna meets us in front of the apartment complex to let us in. She is about
five feet tall, dressed as a school girl. She could truly pass for one. We go up
to the third floor and arrive at the party. This is my second time walking into
a strangers apartment tonight, and I am completely surprised yet again, but
not in a good way.
It is pitch black in this new apartment. I cant see anything, but again,
the smell of marijuana fills the air. There is no music playing in here. It is
dead quiet except for the person loudly whispering, Shut up, shut up, the
cops are outside. I feel like I shouldnt be here. I want to go home. After a
few minutes of silence and darkness, the lights go on and low music stars
playing. Im in the kitchen with my group. I can see out into the living room.
This is such a strange party. People arent interacting as a whole, instead

Perez 5

there are random groups formed everywhere. The five of us look around at
each other and exchange weird looks. We all have a feeling that its going to
be lame. We shrug it off. Devin pulls out the bottle. Six paper Dixie cups are
lined up. One for each of us: Devin, Brandyn, Stacy, Jon, Anna, and I. A shot
is poured into each cup. I start to feel uneasy, Ive never taken a shot before.
One, two, three, we take them. The cranberry juice is passed around to chase
off the vodka. I pass on the juice, saying I dont need it. I can feel my gag
reflexes being triggered and my eyes watering.
It cant be more than ten minutes later, when the second shot is
poured. I am already feeling drunk shortly after taking my second one. I am
twenty years old, about one hundred and twenty pounds, and have never
taken a shot prior to this night. We take a third, and by this time I am barely
aware of what is going on. I walk to and from the bathroom. When I get back
to the kitchen, I find cupcakes. They are red velvet, my favorite. I eat one,
then another one, and the next day, I would find out that I ended up finishing
almost the entire rack of them. The vodka gives me the courage to kiss Jon
and then to dance with him. I wont end up remembering anything after this.
When I wake up, and figure out where I am, I am unaware of a lot of
my actions from the previous night, but I have a feeling that I have behaved
very badly. I am a dead woman. I dont have the courage to call my mom, so
I text her letting her know that Im okay. I lie and tell her that I fell asleep at
the birthday girls house and that my phone had died. She tells me she is
glad to know that Im okay. She changes the subject immediately after this, I

Perez 6

guess she is just so relieved to know that I am alive and well, to even talk
about it or be mad at me.
Devin is rushing to get ready for work, he is supposed to be there at
eleven, and it is about fifteen minutes til. How am I going to get home? I am
too scared and embarrassed to call anyone in my family, besides they are all
at work. Not being able to think of anyone else, I call my friend, Mikey. He
agrees to come pick me up, and I text him the address. Devin leaves for
work. I am alone in his bed, confused and terrified. It takes me a while to get
up. I feel like a zombie, alive but dead at the same time. I gather my
belongings and leave the empty apartment to wait for Mikey.
It is October 31, 2014, 11:00 AM. I am sitting on the curb in a foreign
neighborhood, cold, hungover, and scared. Fighting back tears and throw up,
I pace up and down the block waiting for my ride to show up. Mikey finally
arrives to take me home and I am so happy to see a familiar face. He has to
stop half way home, for me to throw up at a gas station. We make it to my
house and I apologize and thank him. Being into photography, he snaps a
picture of me on his Polaroid camera and sends it to me months later. I still
have it. It serves as sort of a mugshot to me, every time I look at it, I think
about what I did that night and I promise myself never to let it happen again.
I get home and I remember that I am supposed to be at the elementary
school, volunteering at my little sisters classroom. I am three hours late. I
rush into the shower, put on some clean clothes and get in my car. I drive to

Perez 7

the school and arrive at the classroom. Mrs. Lack greets me. Hey! There you
are! she says. My little sister runs to hug me, probably being worried about
me being missing earlier. Mrs. Lack shows me to my station. My job today is
to help the first graders carve pumpkins. I am surrounded by twenty-eight
kids that are oozing with excitement and energy. I am having such a hard
time keeping up. The noise is making my pounding headache worse. Im
holding back the nausea and trying as hard as I can to act happy and excited
for the kids. The school day ends and I drive myself and my little sister
home.
We sit on the couch watching cartoons as we wait for my parents to
get home. I sit there terrified and dreading their arrival. I am in deep shit. At
around 3:30 PM, I hear the garage open. My dad walks in with the meanest
expression on his face. Glaring at me, he says, I am very upset with you
and he walks upstairs to his room. My heart sinks. I feel terrible for having let
my parents down.

I go upstairs as well and start getting ready for work.

Its six o clock and my shift begins at work. I still feel horrible,
physically from the hangover and emotionally from knowing that I messed
up. Its hard to get through my hosting shift because, I feel like Im going to
die, but my job is to smile and be the first impression of the restaurant. Jon is
working tonight and doesnt say a word to me besides hi. I dont
understand why, but throughout my shift, Anna fills me in on everything that
I did at the party. I feel humiliated and shocked at hearing all of the
scandalous things that happened. I want to quit my job and never speak to

Perez 8

anyone that works here again. For the next few weeks, Jon, Devin, Anna, and
I are the talk of the restaurant. I am so new here, and nobody really knows
me, but I have made this horrible reputation for myself from one crazy,
mistake of a night. I feel disgusted and disappointed in myself. Ive let myself
as well as my family down. I shouldve kept my promise to my mom. I
learned my lesson, and havent gotten drunk since.