MY life. MY stories. : Joy Ride

She is older than me. She is smart, funny, exciting, and old enough to buy liquor. She is my best friend, Ariel. Ariel is 21 years old, and I am 17. We always have fun together…especially with the alcohol, drugs, and joy rides. We were always partying in the club every weekend, and my rebellious actions were steadily increasing.

I am at Ariel’s house and we are getting dressed to go out for the night. We have bottles of Ivanabitch (liquor), and flavored juice to go along with it. We agree to take 2 shots of liquor together before we leave. Ariel’s mother is cool, and she doesn’t care if we drink inside of her house. Neither does she care about what time we arrive back home, but my mom does.

We are finished getting dressed, and Ariel tells her mom that we are leaving. That was a lie…considering that we were walking down the street to get some weed. Ariel wanted to see her boyfriend before we left, and I wanted to hit the blunt a couple of times before we left. We arrive at Ariel’s boyfriend house. While they are making out…I am sitting over to the side rolling my eyes while rolling a blunt. I am ready to leave, and I am ready to have some fun!

Ariel and I are in the car now with the music blasting. I have made myself a mixed drink, and I am gulping the liquor down while Ariel is driving. We finally arrive outside of the club, and Ariel parks the car. She takes out a cup from her purse, and we begin to take shots together. Our goal was to get as drunk as possible without making ourselves look “drunk” in public. This was our nightly routine before we went out, and we were experts at it!

Ariel hands me her expired I.D. to get into the club. She tells me to stand a few spots in front of her, so that security does not detect that we have the same I.D. Ariel’s plan works once again, and both of us are now inside of the night club.

I am having fun, and I am really enjoying myself. I’m in VIP, and I am sitting on the couch…intoxicated and high. I begin to feel a tap on my shoulder. I look up, and it’s an extremely tall man standing beside me. He begins to speak, but I cannot hear him…I guess he completely forgot that we were inside of a club. Any who, he sits on the couch next to me, and he begins to speak to me. He introduces himself as Cody. I have not seen him around before, but he’s attractive. I begin to try and sober up…maybe he won’t be able to tell that I am drunk; maybe he can.

We exchange numbers, and my night continues to go great!

It has been a few months, and Cody and I have been chilling with each other a lot! He is a few years older than me, but I don’t mind. I’m 17 and he is 23. My parents have no idea that Cody even exists. I have to hide it from them because of the age difference. I am underage, and getting caught with Cody is the last thing on my agenda.

I have come to visit Cody. He picked me up from my friend’s house earlier. Now, we are chilling and watching television at his sister’s apartment. We have plans to go out to eat at a restaurant and to go to the movies later. Sadly, none of this goes as plan, and our date does not happen.

This is because Cody decided to lie about having a car…when in reality he didn’t even own a bike. I was fooled once again by a man. I cannot blame him though. I blame it on my ignorance, and allowing myself to become gullible.

My mother has sent me a text message telling me to be home by 2:00 AM. I ask her for a 30 minute extension, and she agrees. Let’s just say I did not make it home on time…

We are still sitting on the couch watching television, and I am ready to go. Cody picked me up from Ariel’s house, so I needed someone to come and pick me up from his sister’s place. I begin to text everyone in my contacts, but no one is available to come get me. I am stuck at Cody’s sister’s apartment, and I’m there until he can take me home.

At this point Cody is saying that his sister is in his car, but I am catching on to the reality that Cody does not possess a car…nor an apartment.

Cody asks me if I want to smoke. Why not? I am stuck here until his sister comes back home, and I have no idea how long that will be.

Car headlights begin to shine through the window. It is Cody’s sister pulling in from work. Finally! We can leave!

Cody tells me that we will be leaving soon, but his actions are not saying the same thing. He is in no rush to leave. I could tell by his sister’s actions that she had no idea that he had to take me home. I began to think about my 2:30 AM curfew, especially since it was already 1:-- AM. My mom was going to KILL ME!

How was I going to tell Cody that I had to leave? How was I going to explain that I had a curfew to a grown man? I had to think of something, and I had to think fast.

Cody comes into the living room and asks me if I am ready to leave. I immediately said, “Yes!” The only thing that was on my mind was going home! I gather my belongings, and we begin to walk outside to the car. We get inside of the car, and I notice the Tweety Bird steering wheel cover. Yep, this is his sister’s car, and he is officially a liar.

He begins to drive, and I know that we have a long drive ahead of us. His sister stays a great distance from my mom’s house, and I am praying that I make it home on time. All of a sudden, I see blue lights flashing. The police are pulling us over, and I am pretty sure that I am going to miss my curfew. The police officer asks for Cody’s driver license. The words that I was dreading to hear are exactly what came out of Cody’s mouth, “They are suspended.”

That was the last thing that I wanted to hear at that point. Not to mention, the police officer was taking forever to finish writing the ticket. After all of the paperwork was completed the police officer handed Cody his ticket, and asked for my driver’s license. Luckily, I had my driver’s license in my purse. The officer made Cody and I change seats, and I was told to drive.

Yes! I can speed home!

Cody is sleep in the passenger seat, and I have my foot on the gas pedal…FLYING! Before you know it…I see blue flashing lights in the rearview mirror. Shit! Not again! Cody wakes up, and he’s pissed. I don’t care though…I just want to get home. The officer begins to ask me the usual “pull over” questions and I give him my driver’s license. I look at my phone, and it is almost 4:00 AM. The police officer is still writing my ticket, and I am feeling hopeless. I throw the ticket in my purse, and…

I begin to head home…again. The only difference is that I am doing the speed limit.

I pull in front of my mom’s house, and I am more than terrified to walk inside. I have disobeyed my mom, and I know that she is worried. I am turning my key into the door, and I step inside. The alarm goes off, and I begin to run towards the alarm system to turn it off. My mom beats me to the alarm system, and begins to look into my eyes. “You’re drunk!” Little did she know…my high was over, and my red eyes came from simply being tired.

My mother never said anything to me about that night. I must say as a daughter I felt terrible. I was a teen breaking rules that my mother was trying to enforce to protect me. It was because she loved me, and wanted me out of harm’s way. If you are a teen out there reading this PLEASE, PLEASE, PLLLLEEAAAASSEE listen to your parents! I can honestly say that if I would have listened to at least 60% of what my mom said…I would have avoided a lot of troubling events in my life. Do not wait until you are older and in your 20’s to get it right. Start now!

Sometimes we think that we know it all, so we tend to rebel with our actions. Sometimes we even choose to rebel verbally to our parents, especially when we THINK we are right. Believe me when I say that they have lived longer than you, have experienced more than you, and what they are telling is more than likely true. Never, intentionally try to drive your parents crazy. If you think an action of yours will hurt your mother, father, or guardian…please spare them the heartache and the headache. They have already been through enough in this crazy world.

-Justice