By the time I turned eighteen I was freshly single and entirely free of any power beyond the law. My fathers disappointment was the only repercussion I had to answer to on account of not being able to scrounge up any shame of my own. I was having fun, smoking weed, drinking until I passed out, crashing wherever, getting on first name basis with the owners of strip clubs, and kissing anyone who was clean and willing.
I had no real friends and no real morals on top of that, and it was a wild train ride of fun with a brick wall waiting for me at the end. My general manager began asking around to see if I'd gotten addicted to any hard drugs, and while I always gave it my all while I was at work, actually getting there on time was beginning to prove a difficult task.
However, I don't regret anything about those reckless months. I got it out of my system fast and hard and had irreplaceable adventures along the way.
It was an ongoing joke in my circle of friends that I had a fondness for women. It wasn't the sort of fondness that some of my female friends pretended to have when I took them to the strip club; talking it up how hot the girls were but never actually touching them because "she wasn't really my type". They all knew I'd do any single one of them.
Maria was my favorite of our group because although she was completely whacked out in the head, she was hot and she didn't have much shame either. She had no problem leering at me under her thick fake lashes and proclaiming "I'm going to get you drunk so that you'll fuck me." to which I'd respond by throwing my head back in laughter and letting her kiss me.
Finally one night Maria's fairy godmother came in the form of weed laced with cocaine, seven jell-o shots, a shot of gummy bears, two beers, and a bottle of UV. Yes, I took all of those. No, not in that order. To be fair, I didn't know the weed was laced when I smoked it, and I'd never tried