Relax.

I bet you did not think the title would be so simple as the word, Relax. It took me awhile to think of the title for this story of my experience with alcohol.

I have had quite the experience with drinking but none i regret well, except for this one time i drunk texted this guy i really really liked and basically ruined any chances I had with him. Aside from that night, i want to share a story of drinking with one of my best friends Dean. He is in his late 20′s, gay, from a small town and full of life. He had been through a lot, such as myself and maybe thats why we got so close.

I will never forget when we went to this tiki bar on the beach and he and his then boyfriend did karaoke. I personally do not like singing karaoke but he just jumped at the chance with no fear and lots of confidence. One would think, “Wow its probably the alcohol making him so this.” but nope that just how he is. fearless. The tiki bar was just where we started from there we decided to bar hop downtown. We had so much fun, dancing, taking shots, having many laughs with each other. Obviously we had lots to drink but my intolerance is pretty high for my size, I could still function. We went to use the bathroom in this one bar me, Dean and his boyfriend. I went into to the ladies and by the time i came out. Dean nor his boyfriend were in the bar nor outside. His boyfriend found me and was asking me if i had seen him which i replied no. I had him go check the bathroom but nope, he was not in there. We were kind of freaking out because Dean can get a bit rowdy when he is drunk so we begin walking all of downtown and in the bars searching for him. I called his phone several times and no answer. We even walked back to where we had parked to see if maybe he was there but he was not. Finally, we decide to just get in the car and drive around downtown to see if we spot him. We drove to the bar where we left him at and looked out the window and there he was walking back to it so we yelled out to him. At this point, he was intoxicated of course so he believed that we had left him and things got a bit physical. He was very angry mainly with his boyfriend they had a huge arguement. I told him to relax and explained that we went everywhere looking for him. He was upset, crying with his face so red like a tomato from all the anger he had. I talked him down the best i could, because i am that friend. No matter how much alcohol I have had, no matter how things get. I relax.

That night i noticed something more deepening inside was wrong with him. You know people assume alcohol brings out the worst in a person but I noticed it brings out what people are scared to talk about or show. Real emotions. That night he had mentioned something about being beaten and left. So at first, i was shocked when we found him he had reacted in a way i had never seen but his immediate reaction all made sense. People are scared to come to face with their past that they take on drinking. Drinking alcohol for recreational use is fine by me but using it as an escape to not have to deal with your personal problems is where I don’t agree with it.