Hello SWD followers! I’m SW’s roommate “J”, & thus the witness to most of her escapades. She’s at work on this chilly Saturday, and I’m home with nothing to do, so she asked me if I’d like to do a “guest blog” about our New Years Eve. Here we go…
SW’s friend “A” was visiting from Texas for the week, and New Years Eve was to be her last night in NYC. Of course, we couldn’t disappoint. Although SW had taken A out and gotten her drunk every night of the week (and even managed to cram in a good deal of sightseeing during the daylight hours), we knew NYE would have to be better than the average night out in Greenwich Village. How hard could that be? Three single girls ready to party the night away, without having to worry about catching a train home – should be simple right? Well yeah, it would have been, if our hopeless neighbor hadn’t invited himself along.
I’m not sure how much SW has said about “the neighbor”, so I’ll just try to sum him up. He’s a nice guy, but not at all attractive. He’s entertaining in a dorky, trying-way-too-hard kinda way, and…he’s completely infatuated with SW. He hugs her for several seconds more than a reasonable length of time, surreptitiously smells her hair when he thinks she won’t notice, and longingly gazes at her from across the room in a look that could only mean, “I want you to be the mother of my children”. Gag. She’s done her best let him know that he’s strictly in “the friend zone”, but to no avail – he’s smitten. As part of her effort to let him know that he HAS NO CHANCE WHATSOEVER, she’s even made up a fake boyfriend. Although I thought we were bound to slip up with the boyfriend story sooner or later, “the neighbor” is still convinced that SW is in a committed relationship (albeit with a busy yuppie who’s constantly jetsetting in and out of NY, with little time for SW). Still, the neighbor (let’s call him “TN”) seemed ever-hopeful that SW would someday realize that he was the man for her.
Okay, back to NYE. SW, A, and I pre-gamed with some cheap wine and blasted music across our apartment as we got ready for the night. We put a little more effort into our appearances than usual – after all, we knew we’d have to fight the effect that TN’s looming presence would have as we were trying to flirt with guys. At about 9pm, TN knocked on our door. We opened it up and in he danced with a pair of those hideous “2010” glasses, a flashing strobe light, and his laptop blasting “Tonight’s Gonna Be a Good Night”. Seriously.
Shots were poured (likely in effort to forget TN’s ridiculous entrance), and we headed out into the cold & rainy night. After cabbing it over to 2nd avenue, we descended into our regular east village pub and ordered a round of Magner’s cider from our favorite Irish bartender. Sigh, I love him. At one point, when SW and A were talking, TN turned to me and said “You know, since I’m a guy and…you’re a girl…I just have to say….you look really pretty tonight.” Gahhh!! “Ughh. Thanks. You look nice to!” I said, and swiftly turned back to SW and A. TN took this opportunity to make a sappy toast, where he talked about how happy he was to have met SW and I and how he looked forward to us hanging out a lot more in the future. Okaaaaay. After a drink there, we were ready for a real party. We headed around the corner to a larger bar/lounge (which somehow didn’t charge a cover, score!) and made our way up to the top floor. Although all the tables/couches were marked as “reserved”, we settled down anyway and figured we’d move if anyone asked us too. Of course, no one did. The scene was pretty boring for a while, but once it picked up there was a decent number of guys around. SW and I did a few walk-throughs and met one very cute boy,“Kyle”, who happened to be a junior at NYU. (See SW – we met an NYU undergrad after all this time!). He was adorable, but drunk off his ass and dancing like a fool. Midnight struck without any countdown or warning, just a few cheers. Some guy grabbed A (or vice-versa, I have no idea) to kiss her for the first few seconds of the new year, while I avoided TN’s glances, and SW stood safely a few feet away, talking to two guys. Shortly after midnight, I spotted SW and TN sitting in uncomfortable silence. SW caught my eye and shouted something near “Let’s go find boys!” and jumped out of her chair. TN started to stand up, when SW turned to him and said “Someone should probably stay to watch our stuff.” Harsh.
We moved throughout the crowd and talked to some people before making it back to our spot, where TN sat looking absolutely miserable. “I’m not watching your stuff all night.” He told us. We told him he didn’t have to, and that he could just leave it there, but TN couldn’t seem to think of anything else to do. I felt a little bad, but we had warned him ahead of time that we were going to be trying to meet people – it was new year’s eve after all. Anyways, he should have known what he was getting himself into, going out with three single girls on NYE – none of whom were at all interested in him. Cold, hard, truth.
Finding the group of guys we were talking to a bit disappointing, I spotted a tall, blazer-clad, blonde sitting at a table a few yards away and pointed him out to A. “He’s hot.” I said. She agreed, “What do you want me to do?” “I don’t know,” I said, not really on my game, “just tell him I think he’s cute?” A went over the blonde’s table and was back within 2 minutes. “I told him I didn’t like blonde’s, but that you did.” Haha, good enough. A few minutes later, while I was talking to TN (see? We didn’t ignore him all night), the blonde walked straight up to me and said “I’m Kendric, are you Jenn? Want to get a drink?” Good job, A. Kendric bought me a drink, and we chatted at a quiet end of the bar. He was kind of a douchebag, as evidenced by this part of our conversation:
Me: I like your blazer.
Him: It’s cashmere, touch it.
Me: Very nice.
Him: My girlfriend got it for me.
Me: Oh, cool.
Him: Just kidding, I don’t have a girlfriend. Wanted to see what your reaction would be.
Yes, a totally pretentious douchebag – but a hot, blazer-wearing one – and it was NYE. After a few more drinks and some time hanging out with his table, we ended up making out in the darker room at the back of the lounge. Later on, I was sitting with him back at his table with his friends, when TN stormed up to me and said “We’re going, and A has your stuff.” “Uhhh, okay…” I stalled, mentally weighing the ramifications of leaving my cute blonde to search for A and my coat. “You need your coat.” Prodded TN. “Fine, ok.” I followed him into the abyss of the first floor of the bar, and spent 10 minutes hunting for A to retrieve my coat, and another 20 minutes waiting to use the bathroom, remembering why I usually only go out on weeknights. After going back upstairs and not seeing Kendric and his friends anywhere, I finally gave up and put my coat on. Right as I neared the door, a hand reached out and tapped my arm – it was him. “Hey, you leaving?” “Um, yeah.” I said, with too much pride to take my coat off and change my mind. “Oh, uhh…okay.” He said. Damn it. I flashed him one last smile and dashed out the door.
Somehow, I managed to navigate the subway in my increasingly drunken state, and finally made it up the stairs to our apartment – where I was sure I’d find SW, A, and TN. Except – it was empty. WTF. I called SW and she told me she was on her way home – she had still been at the bar. No idea where TN and A were.
Okay, SW can finish the story, and explain how she probably shattered TN’s heart into a million little pieces that night…
