The Golden Ticket

Sometimes when they drink, my friends achieve genius status.
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There's a cloud of disillusionment that suspends itself above me and pesters my existence when people deceive me in exquisite fashion, leaving me in the dark for no other reason than their own cowardice. There's a sense of resolution that follows once I realize others actions are not a reflection of my character, but simply a lack of their own.

There is a light... One that shines when the dust has settled and I realize that yes, I've dodged a bullet.

But before all that, when I'm deep in that tunnel and clarity has yet to set in, there's only one viable method of eradicating that knot in my stomach: real friends, introspection, and the golden ticket.

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It's no surprise writing a public blog about real life events gets me in more trouble than a diabetic child dipping his hands into a cookie jar after dinner. There's sadly no exception to this rule but fuck it, you can't really please everyone.

Last week I wrote about the perils of thinking too much while partaking in coitus with Ethan, a boy I've known since adolescence who's no longer a boy at all, but a man in his own right. When you're outspoken in public but wary of strangers in private, friends like Ethan are an essential part of life.

Yesterday he sent me a text:

Ethan: Um. You couldn't get wet?

Me: Hello to you too.

Ethan: Sorry. Hi. SO. YOU COULDN'T?

Me: Of course I could. When have you and I ever had problems in that area, Ethan?

Ethan: Never. But you always say your blog is 95% true. And my mind began to wander.

Me: Don't let it do that. Something tells me you'll need it. Sides... You're my golden ticket.

Ethan: Your what?

Me: Nothing. Just something Britt made up which I find hilarious but I'm sure you won't find half as amusing.

Ethan: I see. . . It's hard to stomach your honesty at times. You know that, right?

Me: So I hear. Maybe it's time for me to take another celibacy vow. Makes life so much easier.

Ethan: Nooooooooooo.

Me: I'm kidding. Speaking of... Is it Thursday yet?

Ethan: Not even in China.

Me: Patience is a virtue, I guess.

Ethan: In more ways than one.

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And so the cloud lifts and is slowly but surely replaced with the conviction that things happen as they should. That at some point like right now it's Thursday in Miami but also in China. That tomorrow will bring sweet endings to beginnings made bitter by people who don't know any better. That the world will continue to spin on its perfect axis despite every battle big and small taking place on it. And that I will return to the person I was before I almost lost my faith in love and the goodness in others.

C'est la vie, boys and girls.

And it's mine for the taking.