My return to Austin was going pretty well by now. I was temping at Apple again, I had been to four concerts with two more on the horizon, I found a coffee shop in Round Rock to hang out at and best of all, I was making new friends. The sudden move out of Mel’s apartment was five weeks behind me and matters over living in Loree’s house were working out well in my opinion because I was barely there. After work, I usually went to dinner, took in a movie, doodled on my PowerBook or hit the coffee shop. When I was home, I was going to sleep or I kept to my room to read a book.
While at Apple I did make friends with some fellow temps who sat near me: Darren and Ethan primarily. They also knew a couple others: JoAnna and Garrett. We socialized, gabbed and dined together. I found them to be a pretty decent group of people to associate with outside of work yet I stayed a tad distant since I was still trying to regain my bearings. The Mel debacle made me apprehensive and I wanted a permanent position which narrowed my focus a bit unnecessarily. Then there were the attempts at meeting women which were filled with numerous stops and starts, like job hunting.
One Friday, Ethan invited me to a party at his place (that’s how it sounded to me. I thought, why not, all I’d do at the end of my shift was eat dinner and see a movie before going home. Ethan gave me directions to some address in northwest Austin and said he’d be late because he was closing the queue. Garrett would get the festivities started, don’t worry if I showed up early.
The drive was interesting. In my previous days in Austin, I never ventured deep into other neighborhoods outside of Hyde Park so I factored in additional time for getting lost. Eventually I arrived at the address. The house was rather…large. I figured I was at the wrong place but I would stick around and wait for Garrett to appear. My thinking was, if I messed up, I would just go home in 30 minutes, apologize on Monday or something (affordable cell phones have changed this line of thinking). Then I noticed a cat and I couldn’t resist petting him, he appeared to be friendly. He had white fur with black spots. He seemed cool over me picking him up.
Garrett appeared shortly afterwards. I felt relieved, put the cat down and followed the co-host through the garage into the house. I jokingly blurted out to Garrett that if this is Ethan’s place, he must be putting in more overtime than I originally thought. It turned out the party was happening in Ethan’s parents’ house because they were out of town and he was living with them temporarily. (Garrett’s explanation was more caustic than what I just wrote.) My stupidity continued as I saw the same cat walking through the kitchen yet his fur changed to solid gray. I was more interested in how he got into the house. “Cat door and he is a different cat, what are you, an idiot?” was the gist of Garrett’s follow-up. I used the darkness outside as my defense but I readily admitted to not using my entire brain after 5 PM.
Additional guests arrived and when Ethan showed, I think we got going on making the fajitas. The best part was the tour; Ethan always loves showing off the secret passage he convinced his parents into installing. What a house too. It’s something you’d only see in magazines or TV shows hosted by Robin Leech. I really enjoyed the party too. A nice affair with plenty of food and drink but more importantly, conversation without loud, jarring music drowning out the attendees’ voices.
The evening grew very late and Ethan generously let some of us spend the night. I fortunately got dibs on the Murphy bed in the library which turned out to be improperly installed. What relief when Ethan told me several days later. I was prepared to pay for it since I thought we broke it; one would think a simple lever-like bed folded out easily without making disturbing, cracking noises.
Going to the party was a smart move. It helped me become better friends with Ethan, Garrett, JoAnna and Darren. We would go on to see more concerts, movies, numerous meals, parties and eventually weddings! Hard to believe such a friendly after-work party would lead to greater, enjoyable memories and relationships. It certainly vindicated my decision to return to Austin and I owe a big debt of gratitude to Ethan for prying me out of the drab routine I had been following.
I remember that party fondly, and I too am really glad that you made it, Steve!