Be Cool
Monday, May 24, 2010 Early January 1987
"Be cool." That's all I requested of my brother and his two friends after we got into the bar. Joe and his buddies were 17 and I was 20. We all had fake IDs, but Joe & Company didn't look old enough to drive.
I was living in a condo at the Continental Country Club in Flagstaff, Arizona, pretending to attend college that year. Joe and his friends came up from Phoenix to ski for a weekend and partay with the big kids. Classes hadn't resumed after first semester break, so the town was relatively dead. Getting three young-looking boys into a bar with obvious fake IDs, and using my own ridiculous alias of Lupita Gonzalez wasn't difficult when I knew the bouncer at Senior Frog's.
My boyfriend at the time was a nice SAE who lived in a neighboring condo with about 457 other guys. He was amused by my brother and his friends, also knew the bouncer and thought I might need some help. SAE-Boy and a couple of his roommates joined us that night.
I wore my cutest Belinda Carlilse "Mad About You" outfit [black leggings and black hip-covering turtleneck] with a 3/4-length red wool coat. Joe and his friends looked very preppy. Sweaters tied around their necks, spiffy loafers, coiffed hair and they smelled niiice.
The bar wasn't crowded but there were enough people to make it interesting. I mingled with strangers, found a few familiar faces and lost track of SAE-Boy, my brother and his friends. I tossed my coat over a seat at the bar next to an old guy [he was probably 30]. The old guy told me he'd keep an eye on it for me.
Throughout the evening I noticed the bartender making big fruity drinks. Very unusual in a small, college town bar in the middle of winter. I also noticed the bartender and the bouncer exchanging glances, shaking their heads and appearing generally irritated.
SAE-Boy approached me and said, "That old guy threw-up on your coat."
The old guy had leaned over [aiming for the floor], emptied his stomach, and some of his yack had gotten on my red coat. Time to go home.
I went to find my brother. Joe and his friends were sitting in a corner booth, at a table that was a little too high for them, emphasizing their youth/still small-ish stature, sipping giant blue drinks decorated with umbrellas, swords, fruit and bendy straws. They were laughing and flirting with a couple of obliging college girls.
Mortified, I walked over to Joe and said, "What are you doing? I told you to be cool."
He gave me a sincerely confused look.
"What are you drinking?"
I took a sip. "We need to go. Some old guy threw-up on my coat and you guys should be drinking beer. Nobody orders Blue Hawaiians."
Joe and his friends conspicuously and happily finished their drinks, sucking all the alcohol out of the pineapple pieces. They grabbed the paper cocktail parasols along with their coats, and we left Senior Frog's.
**********
My brother turns 41 today. Our birthdays are less than two weeks apart so as adults, before life separated us by a state or two, we usually celebrated together at Mom and Dad's house. I have at least a dozen pictures of the two of us holding our shared cake while Mom takes our picture.
Happy Birthday, Joe. When I see you this July, let's go out for Blue Hawaiians.
Reader Comments (22)
I was such a massively Good Grrrl, I never snuck into a bar. Of course, the drinking age was 18 WAY BACK THEN, and so I could legally enter bars when I was a senior in high school. Still I was never into the bar scene, not even in college.
My next oldest brother is four years older than me and took me to a few college parties when I was in high school. He carefully instructed me NOT to eat the brownies (ha ha ha) and to deflect the attentions of certain lacrosse players that may (or may not) have been interested. My first boyfriend was one of my brother's friends, and when he broke up with me, my brother took me out for ice cream. More recently he took an entire week off of work and drove to Virginia from Buffalo to take care of me when I had surgery.
Brothers are a very good thing. : ) Happy Birthday to you and Joe!
I have been awkwardly referred to as his wife before while I was nannying his kids.
Love the photo.
Happy birthday Joe!
Now that you mention it, there have been a few times Joe and I have met for a drink that I'm sure people have assumed we're a couple. It honestly never bothered me. I was thankful not to have to deal with icky guys hitting on me. However, there have been a few occasions when I've been out with my dad [minus Mom or my husband] that I very pointedly and loudly refer to him as DAD... just in case. :)
I love, love, LOVE that you made an appearance here, Stephanie! [Internet friends, meet my sister-in-law. She's super nice. :)] I'm sure you can totally picture this scene. Joe and I chatted yesterday -- we're certain it was Steve, and pretty sure the other friend was Robb. Joe visited a few times with various friends when I was at NAU. We toggled between having fun and fighting!
but drinking Blue Hawaiians is so uncool it is almost cool..
Happy Birthday Joe ..
and to you to Chris if we are not in touch before..xx
I was devastated about the coat. I'm STILL the girl who doesn't like people sitting on my bed. [My poor husband is like, "I LIVE here..."]
Happy Birthday Joe!
Happy birthday, brother-who-is-the-same-age-as-me! Hope it was a good one . . .
I remember using my own fake ID. The bouncers knew it was fake but I played "cute girl" and it worked.
I often drank Sloe Gin Fizz can you spell "sweet"? ech!
Your bro. is adorable.
:-D
Even without make-up you're super-cute!
So, let's see... your mom and dad had a thing for "romance" in late August? Sorry, I hate thinking about my parents having sex too.
Um, forget that last paragraph ever came up, okay?? Thanks!!
:)
Happy belated birthday, little bro!
xoxo