“What if I want this to be my life? I might miss all of this,” Jen said reflectively.
“You’re not going to miss a thing,” Mandy reassured her. “Go and live your life. Find whatever it is you’re looking for — whether it’s a guy, a job, or a passion. My life wouldn’t make you happy. I love it, but I’m not you. I’ll never be an academic commodity like you. I’ll never have schools fighting over me. I’ll never consult powerful politicians. That’s you. Your brains have put you in a position to blossom into whoever you want to be.”
Sometimes Mandy made a lot of sense.
_________________________
Like just about every other single person he knew, Adam dreaded New Year’s Eve — the one holiday that is all about anticipation and new beginnings. The expectations for the night never lived up to their billing. Adam had spent an inordinate number of New Year’s Eves with the wrong girl at a romantic restaurant with an expensive bottle of champagne. The result was always the same — mediocre sex and a crushing hangover. Somehow, puking while the girl he wished was someone else tried to mother him always seemed like such a bad omen on New Year’s Day.
By the time Rob and Adam arrived at Bellbottoms, Minneapolis’s only authentic 70’s disco, the place was packed. Sweaty revelers bumped and grinded with each other as Donna Summer, The Emotions, and the Village People vibrated the club. Rob was drinking scotch like it was iced tea. He required excessive amounts of alcohol to unravel from his shell. With the exception of spring break during his junior year of college, Rob had never left a bar with anyone who’d sleep with him. He’d even had trouble getting laid during his marriage. It was one of those marriages where the counseling starts even before the engagement. Yet the guy somehow claimed to be an expert on women. Both Adam and Rob spent the night checking out the scene and trying not to think about how another shitty New Year’s was about to come and go. As the clock struck midnight and confetti sprinkled onto the dance floor, those barely old enough to drink partied and celebrated, not knowing that Saturn Return was lurking.
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