Retrouvailles (EN)

It's nice to hear that you have a great head for a hat and it's nice to meet as if it wasn't a year since you've last met. We've known each other for 7 years now, that's quite a while. I remember back then when we met that I had a  boyfriend. It was my first serious relationship and my boyfriend was depressed. We used to talk about it.
This night we talked about throwing bananas in the hallway and imagined gay women. It was obviously a year since we last met because his shirt looked a little different on his body, just a little.

It's weird, last time we bumped into each other it was in a supermarket. I wished him a wonderful wedding and a lot of luck with his fiance, but that obviously didn't work out  and that is very sad. I'm in a relationship now so we talked about that too, but everything else was very much the same and I liked it. 

I walked to the bar to order a drink.
'Can she check if she has money first', my friend suggested this after I had told him that I didn't know if I had money on my bank account since I had been a little bit of a big spender the last couple of days. I had told him that I might have 10 euros. I  meant 10 guilders, but the switch from euros to guilders when I'm back on the island is always a hard one for me.
So I swiped my card in advance, before the guy behind the bar poured my drink, and  waited impatiently and a bit anxious for the machine to respond. Exactly what I expected and dreaded: 'insufficient funds'.
'Well just a sprite then', I said. My friend paid for me with the only 5 guilders that he had, which was meant for gas. He said he didn't have much because it's almost the end of the month. I was hoping he would have had more money with him because I didn't have money at all.

I had asked my mother to lend me some money when she and my siblings picked up their stuff and had left, leaving me behind, after a great day of sun, sea, sand and family. 'Don't worry if you don't have money', my mom had said 'He doesn't do Dutch treat. He's from the Caribbean. He will pay for you. '

Well.. She should have just given me money, but no worries.

An hour or two after the sprite my mouth had become a little dry so I walked up to the handsome guy behind the bar again.
 'A wodka with ice, without wodka, with water', The young man with the dark curls behind the bar laughed.
I asked how much that would be. Another guy behind the bar replied: That would be 3004 guilders. I laughed. 'Can I have two of those then?'

I returned with two cups of water and ice and we decided to toast and shake it and sip it as if it was strong alcohol, so nobody would know that we were both broke, not that we really cared but it was fun to become drunk on water. I think there was something in the water...

Our engines ran smoothly on 'wodka with ice, without wodka, with water' for the rest of the night, which, lucky for us, was free.

Turns out, I had gone to school with the young man behind the bar. He had recognized me as 'the sister of...' and I had no clue who he was, but turns out that I used to know his brother. I recognized the name when he mentioned it. About everyone knows about everyone here, one way or another. It's a small island and I love it.

It had been a long day and I couldn't suppress my yawns, but I was happy to be there. I felt surrounded by love and happiness. I didn't feel like I had to impress anyone. I didn't feel like anyone was judging me or was thinking that I wasn't good enough. I wasn't auditioning for any role.  I walked into the open door and instantly became a part of the room I entered and I know that I'm always welcome there.

People of all ages were dancing around us and I loved it: People my age, a few grandpas, parents with their children, children with their friends without their parents. There were even little ones in pampers running around the speaker boxes. I was worried their little ears would go deaf. Where were their parents?
I watched a few little blond boys, 10 years old or so, shake their bottoms on the stage where a great band had performed a while ago.
They were shaking their bottoms like they meant it. And they were doing more age inappropriate moves.
I had to give it to them. They sure were entertaining and it takes guts to act silly.


Everyone was happy. 3 or 4 hours later my friend drove me home in his car which he calls a wreck and it is. I manually lowered the window. I think I had a wonderful night.