Its the story of how I went for a farewell party with some graduates from my work. I was their team lead. I am a married Indian malayali (mallu) woman, mom of 2. From a conservative upbringing. I am a migrant who has settled in a western country. What started as an after office drinks event soon turned out to be one of the wildest nights of my life. The paid drinks organised by the company was a dud event, not many turned up as it was the graduates who were leaving. Being someone who takes pride in drinking, I decided to go for drinks with the graduates when they invited me as I used to be their boss at work. The graduates are Ryan, Theo, Scott, Natalie and Chloe (names changed of course).
I knew I shouldn't have been drinking too much, especially because I still had to drive home later. But I couldn't stop myself, they kept ordering drinks for me. It was only when I realized I had reached my limit did I tell them that I would only drink water or soft drinks from then on. They laughed at this statement, making fun of me for being soft. I was challenged to drinking games. I lost every single time, I thought I was better than them at it. Clearly I was not! We decided to head back to the rented apartment, Ryan, Theo and Scott helping Natalie, Chloe and me back.
Ryan walked next to me while holding onto my waist firmly, giving me enough support to walk properly without falling over. I was feeling a little embarrassed, thinking inside that this was inappropriate behavior considering I was their boss and also a married woman. They asked me to not drive home for the night, but spend the night in the apartment with them. I refused initially, but they told me I was way too drunk to drive and insisted I stay the night. I agreed reluctantly.
Back at the apartment, Ryan got us all comfortable on the sofa and put on some music. He turned off all the lights except for the lamps near where we sat. Everyone was pretty relaxed, talking about work related things and laughing about stuff. I felt like I should have been doing something, but I just sat there watching everyone else do their thing. I was feeling out of place as they all seemed so comfortable in that setting. It was not something I was used to, given my Indian upbringing.
They talked about the fact that I was the most conservative out of them. They joked about how I was a hard boss at work and that I was not a fun person. They said that I was like a strict mom to them, always looking after everyone and making sure everything went smoothly. They also said that they wanted to see me in a different light, as someone who could have fun and relax once in a while. That made me feel good, knowing that they respected me for who I was. Little did I know that this was a ruse to get me to open up and do different things.
After a few hours, the guys suggested playing truth or dare. At first, we played truth only but soon they started asking each other to do dares instead of truths. I watched them do some really dirty things, including stripping down to their underwear and dancing together. Then it was my turn again and they asked me to do something similar. I hesitated at first because I wasn't sure if I wanted to expose myself like that in front of them. Chloe suggested that I show off my cleavage to them. I was reluctant to do this, and everyone made fun of me. I decided it was little harmless fun, so I decided to go ahead. Having other girls there with me and them doing similar things also made me feel more comfortable.