Scene from public transportation

The train meant to take me home from the Dragon Gate show pulls into the station the moment I step onto the platform. I enter the nearest car with my friend Max and his friend Harold. I know I have the longest ride of anyone, so I claim one of the empty seats to the left of the door.

I hear a voice call to me from the back of the car.

"Hey. You. Red shirt." (I'm wearing my Arik Cannon as Kool Aid Man tee.)

I look over, see a kid of about eighteen. He's wearing a backwards Sox cap, a faded black t-shirt, and jeans with a large hole in the knee. A bunch of his friends sit in the seats surrounding him.

"Hey," he repeats and that's when I notice his eyes are bloodshot, dull from the film of a heavy glaze. "Hey, you wanna party?"

I look down and shake my head. I wish I could be more firm and direct, but I can tell that it won't take much for this kid to get confrontational, maybe even belligerent, and so I opt to avoid engaging him in a discussion.

Unfortunately, my avoidance tactic makes him that much more persistent.

"Hey. Hey, Kool Aid. Come party with us."

Hoping to get him off my case, I smile and say softly, "No, I can't. But thanks."

"Why not?" he asks, his voice rising getting close to a whine.

"Just can't." I look away, hope that this signals the subject is closed.

One of the kid's friends glares at him, says, "Will you shut up?"

This shames the kid into silence for like three stops. Max reaches his point of departure. About five stops later Max's friend has to leave the train as well. I'm left sitting alone, and I can feel the drunk kid staring at me if he's completely forgotten our previous conversation.

"Hey. You wanna party?"

Now I'm really getting annoyed but there's clearly no reasoning with this kid. So I set aside my reluctance to come across as rude and I ignore him.

His other friend, sitting next to the only girl of the group, shifts in his seat, looking back at the kid with annoyance. "Dude, you're just pissing people off now. Cut it out."

"I'm not pissing people off. You were as messed up as me last night. Didn't bother you then." The kid leans forward, but then slumps back in his chair. Moments later, the train reaches another stop, and he stands, extending his arm across the aisle. "You gonna be like that, gimme back my vodka."

The friend rolls his eyes and pulls a clear water bottle filled with clear liquid from a backpack. The kid takes it and goes to sit back down. The train lurches forward and he loses his balance. He flops forward, lying facedown in the aisle for a minute, looking as if he plans to sleep there.

"Dude, get up." the first friend says, clearly exasperated.

They get him to return to an upright position, and he leans against the window of the train, closing his eyes for a few minutes. Right before UIC Halsted, they snap back open and lock on me again. I brace myself for the now familiar question as the group gathers their things and gets ready to depart the train.

"Hey. You should come party with us."

At this point I can't help but laugh at the whole situation, at this poor, fucked-up kid who isn't going to even remember that I exist when he's nursing his hangover the next morning. I decide that I should give him some friendly parting words, so I thank him and say, "No I shouldn't. But I hope you have fun."

He looks back at me as his friends drag him toward the exit door. "I'm not gonna have fun unless you're there."

The girl of the group is the last in line to leave, and she makes eye contact with me, and in a tone that's a little apologetic, a little embarrassed whispers, "Sorry!"

"S'alright." I nod to let her know that it's really no skin off my back. The second the doors close and the train pulls away I pull out my journal and jot down some notes so I can remember the details well enough to regale all of you with this amusing tale.