Party night in Declanville.

Gina will be there with Tom, of course. Marti said she would try to get there but she has something on. Ben has a thing but Ben always has a thing. Eva has asked me to keep a dance for her whatever that means and Anne will do her usual thing, stand by the wall with a drink, rejecting every guy who comes into her space. Anne is cool but she’s too cool if you get what I mean.

Simon was going to be my date but he got an urgent call to fly out to Jakarta for some computer emergency. I mean why don’t they have people there, a country pushing a billion people? This world is a mystery I tell you.

At the last moment Antonia, yes that Antonia, jumped in to say she’d go with me but I would have to buy the drinks. Sure Antonia, you are that special I don’t think.

Anyway, all this for a party? I mean really it’s not that big a deal and if I want to go I can go on my own. It’s not nineteen-fifty is it?

There use to be a time when Saturday night was the biggest night of the week. Me and Gina and Annie woud blow our pay at the mall and spend hours getting our makeup just right, tipping back voddies, getting primed .

Am I getting old? This stuff feels so pointless to me now. Even a year ago I would have spent all day prepping for this party but today, I slept ’til eleven then met up with a friend, Rikkie, for lunch, then on to a new gallery opening up near Central before hanging out in the park with my iPad, shopping for books online.

Two years ago spending a day this way was for olds and losers and now it’s my life. Can things change so much in such a short time? Really? I mean I get the biggest buzz now out of breakfast with a frothy coffee and a croissant and hitting the Paddington street market. I might find something handmade. Madness!

Here I am in front of my makeup mirror, eye-lining and eye-lashing and eye-rolling and thinking, why am I doing this? Simon’s off in Indonesia and even if he was here he would be away once we hit the party, talking to his friends about cricket or rugby or whatever it is they find to talk about, and Eva would be doing her best to get me into a quiet corner to work her charms on me. Until a few weeks ago I was the only one who didn’t know Eva was hot for me. I guess I knew she was that way and really, who cares, but I had no idea I was her type anyway.

Almost ready.

Marti just called to say she definitely has something on and won’t be going. Gina called to tell me Tom just slipped over in the shower and she has to take him down to Accident and Emergency to get checked out, something with his back. That would just leave me and Eva and a bunch of acquaintances I don’t really care for that much.

Saturday night, eh? It’s not what it was and maybe that’s not a bad thing. I like the way life is now, it feels comfortable and parties of the sort I used to like now seem more like noise than fun.

I just called Eva to see if she’d rather go for a drink at the local than shout over dub and strangers, just a drink. She said “yeah ok”. There was a tinge of excitement in her voice, unwarranted, it’s just a drink and a chat but then, who can quell the hopefulness in a heart set on conquest.  I can keep the makeup and throw on something normal to wear. Heels, sure, but not the spikes.

A quiet drink with a friend. That’s my Saturday night. And why not?

~ ^-^ ~

This is very loosely based on experience. It is sometimes slightly shocking to compare how you live now to even a few years ago. Attitudes change with time, locations and environments change, even friends change. Individuals within groups find other interests or become busy or enter relationships that hold their attention. It’s just life, I just chose to compress it into a small part of one night.