SMACK! I slapped Gary hard across the right side of his face. He looked shocked.
"Don't ever bring the mark back to the room!" I sternly scolded him. He looked even more dumbfounded.
Ric and Gary had planned on visiting Busch Gardens for the weekend and I got invited along. I looked forward to it since I hadn't been to Busch Gardens in a while and this was to check out the Halloween themed "Howl O' Scream" treatment they did each fall which I hadn't seen yet. If it was anything like the Halloween Horror Nights that Universal did, I knew it was going to be great.
Ric drove us all, crammed into his little red Isuzu truck down to Tampa and we checked in at the Belmont Inn, a fairly decent budget motel right across the street from the west side of Busch Gardens theme park. After getting unpacked and refreshed, we all went down to Busch Bar and Grill right next door. It was a neighborhood sports bar type place. Ric and Gary, who had stayed at the Belmont before on weekends to Tampa had said they both liked this place for its cheap prices and amiable customers.
We all were in the midst of our usual party-now, pay-later attitude when I had started to strike up a conversation with some lady at the bar. I saw her pay for her drink order with a hundred dollar bill and I immediately thought that I should try to hit this chick up for some money.
After about 30 minutes of me telling her my sob story of the fact I was dirt broke and staring down eviction (which, it turns out would be true in a few months time) she started to cry (since by now I had turned on the water works) and broke a hundred in order to give me $50 (don't you know, I was thinking to myself, why couldn't she just give me the hundred!) and I humbly accepted her assistance.
After a few minutes, we'd all been ushered out of the place since it was closing and my posse and I headed back to our room. Now Ric and Gary had no part in my motives towards this lady but they had seen me crying with her and thought I had some special connection to her...like she apparently thought...'cause not fifteen minutes after we'd gotten back to the motel room, she's at the door. Gary saw her outside the motel while he was smoking and invited her up. Apparently I'd let it slip during my conversation with her at the bar that I was staying with friends at the Belmont Inn next door.
She said she came over to check on me since I seemed really down and wanted to make sure I was alright. I assured her I was and she left telling me that things will get better..she has faith. I shut the door and turned to Gary who had no idea I'd gotten money off her and that's when I slapped him.
Ric, who was near comatose from drinking was lying on the bed that he and Gary were sharing, saw me slap Gary and rose up to his defense. There was a lot of shouting and pushing and accusations of who was drunker than who, but, like most drunk-on-drunk fights, it wore down quickly and we retreated to our respective beds to sleep it off.
The next day I apologized to both Ric and Gary. Gary would quietly confess to Ric that his jaw continued to ache for months afterwards and that he didn't like me as a friend anymore, but this is contrary to how he treated me. To me, he said he got over it. Ric was perplexed as to why I acted as if the incident were some sort of organized con or something.
But to me the night proved that I was in a different mentality. A desperate mentality. I knew the end was nigh, as they say, and I was mentally getting prepared for what I had to do to survive in the coming storm.
No matter what the costs.
"Don't ever bring the mark back to the room!" I sternly scolded him. He looked even more dumbfounded.
Ric and Gary had planned on visiting Busch Gardens for the weekend and I got invited along. I looked forward to it since I hadn't been to Busch Gardens in a while and this was to check out the Halloween themed "Howl O' Scream" treatment they did each fall which I hadn't seen yet. If it was anything like the Halloween Horror Nights that Universal did, I knew it was going to be great.
Ric drove us all, crammed into his little red Isuzu truck down to Tampa and we checked in at the Belmont Inn, a fairly decent budget motel right across the street from the west side of Busch Gardens theme park. After getting unpacked and refreshed, we all went down to Busch Bar and Grill right next door. It was a neighborhood sports bar type place. Ric and Gary, who had stayed at the Belmont before on weekends to Tampa had said they both liked this place for its cheap prices and amiable customers.
We all were in the midst of our usual party-now, pay-later attitude when I had started to strike up a conversation with some lady at the bar. I saw her pay for her drink order with a hundred dollar bill and I immediately thought that I should try to hit this chick up for some money.
After about 30 minutes of me telling her my sob story of the fact I was dirt broke and staring down eviction (which, it turns out would be true in a few months time) she started to cry (since by now I had turned on the water works) and broke a hundred in order to give me $50 (don't you know, I was thinking to myself, why couldn't she just give me the hundred!) and I humbly accepted her assistance.
After a few minutes, we'd all been ushered out of the place since it was closing and my posse and I headed back to our room. Now Ric and Gary had no part in my motives towards this lady but they had seen me crying with her and thought I had some special connection to her...like she apparently thought...'cause not fifteen minutes after we'd gotten back to the motel room, she's at the door. Gary saw her outside the motel while he was smoking and invited her up. Apparently I'd let it slip during my conversation with her at the bar that I was staying with friends at the Belmont Inn next door.
She said she came over to check on me since I seemed really down and wanted to make sure I was alright. I assured her I was and she left telling me that things will get better..she has faith. I shut the door and turned to Gary who had no idea I'd gotten money off her and that's when I slapped him.
Ric, who was near comatose from drinking was lying on the bed that he and Gary were sharing, saw me slap Gary and rose up to his defense. There was a lot of shouting and pushing and accusations of who was drunker than who, but, like most drunk-on-drunk fights, it wore down quickly and we retreated to our respective beds to sleep it off.
The next day I apologized to both Ric and Gary. Gary would quietly confess to Ric that his jaw continued to ache for months afterwards and that he didn't like me as a friend anymore, but this is contrary to how he treated me. To me, he said he got over it. Ric was perplexed as to why I acted as if the incident were some sort of organized con or something.
But to me the night proved that I was in a different mentality. A desperate mentality. I knew the end was nigh, as they say, and I was mentally getting prepared for what I had to do to survive in the coming storm.
No matter what the costs.