Deal Breakers
I was invited to a joint bachelor/bachelorette party on Sunday night at a great little club downtown. Now, when I told this to my male friends their first response was usually “Dude, poor guy”, but in actuality, this party was much more male oriented than one would expect. The betrothed pair both work in the nightlife industry, and there was no shortage of go-go dancers or strippers in attendance.
I found this a refreshingly modern approach to celebrating. This wasn’t a “last hurrah” before surrendering to the doom of commitment. These two admitted that any night out celebrating wouldn’t be as much fun if they weren’t together, and insisted that since they plan on continuing to party together well after their big day, this was nothing more than a great excuse to throw a burlesque/risqué themed party. They trust each other enough, and are comfortable enough to accept that there will always be temptation placed in front of their eyes, but that they will still choose each other at the end of the night.
I’d met many friends of the couple during previous nights out on the town, so I settled into the couch, and began my hellos and quick catch ups. Just I had exhausted the “How is work going, wasn’t it a beautiful summer” game you play with casual acquaintances, a long pair of legs crammed into the seat next to me. As I looked up, I was excited to see a t-shirt, mischievous smile, and playfully ruffled dark hair attached to the long legs. He was a friend of the groom, and an investment banker up from Boston for the celebration. Always a sucker for an accent, I did the best I could to strike up a conversation, but after every couple minutes of witty banter, he seemed a bit distracted.
My mystery was solved moments later, as his eyes lit up to greet a friend with a hearty handshake. As he turned back to me, I mentioned that he was grinning as if he had something to hide from everyone in the room. Turns out, he did, but wasn’t so concerned with hiding it. After turning his back into to the corner, retrieving the tiny package from his hand, and sniffing oh-so-not-discretely, he turned his full attention back to me, and was ready to talk a mile a minute. Unfortunately, he had just lost my interest completely.
In a room full of celebrating two people who had found someone they want to spend the rest of their lives with, I wasn’t about to sit and spend another minute talking to someone who needed chemical assistance to find me interesting. We may all have our own vices, but we also have our own set of deal breakers, and one of mine had just materialized. I vowed to put in another phone call to Cash the next day, in hopes that one bad message wouldn’t be one of his.