when dreams won't quit...

[tirsden]

Among many weird dreams last night I had one in which I went to a bar with a whole bunch of people. I guess they were my friends. Weird how dreams come with pre-made pasts... or mine do, anyways. And mind you, I have very little frame of reference for the whole "bar scene" social enterprise. I believe I've been in one real bar that I can remember, and it was only for dinner and the place had no atmosphere at all... and I hated the entire experience.

But anyways, here I am at this bar/club and from the end of the bar on my left was a guy in my group, sort of a weird mix of nerd and punk, we'll call him Mark. Next to him, closer to me was a girl who we'll call Jeana, and then closest to me was this really well-built and definitely cute guy with semi-long blonde hair, let's call him Ray. (Everybody did have a name in the dream, but I can't remember them, and the names I've given them suck except for maybe the girl's. My imagination is a little groggy right now.) All of these people were in my group, but I didn't seem to know any of them very well. On my right was a guy and some other people, who I didn't know and they were keeping to themselves more or less. The bartender was a guy, he was pretty cute too. Man, sounds like a movie, all these cute people *lol* (probably because that is my main reference point on stuff like this).

Well, the people in my group were talking about random things but then the subject fell to Jeana's and Ray's past. Apparently they had been an item at some point, and Jeana (who was quite sloshed at this point) said they used to bang all the time. Mark laughs about this and bugs Ray into admitting to it as well, although Ray doesn't seem as gung ho about discussing it as Jeana does.

I decide it's time to order a drink, and my "friends" seem occupied so I turn to the guy on my right and ask him what the best drink in the place is. I say I've had nothing but water all night (which is true, due to my allergy to alcohol) but I want to have one drink and it should be the best one, regardless of cost or alcohol content. The dude is pretty buzzed and seems familiar with the establishment, so I figure he might have some clue as to which drink is best. He tells me it is the one he is currently having, and points to it on the menu as well. It's a blue liquid on ice in a clear shot glass, and I have always liked drinks with funky colors (the main reason I liked Kool Ade back when I could actually drink it). This drink had a name, and for the life of me I can't remember what it was, except I think it was one word with two syllables. It was the sort of name that said "you'd never guess this was the best drink in the house."

So I order it, and the bartender makes it but doesn't hand it to me right away. He also makes another one for the guy who recommended it, as he's ordered another. Maybe the bar had trouble with people not paying for drinks (I remember someone saying they had paid $70 for just one drink) so I asked how much it was. The bartender said "thirty five dollars" and I figured what the heck, I don't know what drinks cost (and this is cheaper than $70) and it's my only drink for the night, so I can easily chalk up $35 for the entire experience.

I got some of my money out, and the weird thing was that it was not made of paper. It still had the normal printed money pattern on it but it was made of thin, foldable plastic that had a slight blue tinge to it and it was semi-clear. I had a fifty and a couple of ones, plus the twenty, ten, and five I used to pay for the drink. I remember Mark looking at me as I paid for the drink. I don't know why, but for a moment I thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea to be counting this much money in front of people I didn't know all that well. And it wasn't all the money I had either.

Oh well, I blew off whatever those thoughts were and enjoyed my drink, which I barely remember now but it was good, I think it tasted a little bit like berry-blue-style Kool Ade but with this unearthly, nifty coldness to it. I remember Ray seemed to be acting kind of odd to me, almost cold or... annoyed? Was he jealous I had asked some random guy what drink to order, instead of him? ...Did he like me? No way, I mean, I didn't consider myself attractive and he's sitting by a much prettier (and drunker) gal who he's already admitted to screwing and could probably get back with in half a second. I barely know this person, it seemed a little early for any attraction, especially on such a hot guy's part.

Strange. Well, being as I don't do the social thing too well, I decided I was bored (and slightly confused) and it was time to go home. I wasn't gonna wait on the group, and I had a car in the parking lot. I had probably driven someone to the bar but I figured they could get a ride home with someone else (maybe my passenger had been Jeana). It occurred to me that I hadn't tipped the bartender... and I was actually waking from the dream as I imagined I wrote my phone number on the back of a movie ticket I had in my pocket, winked at the bartender as I put it in the cup, and pointed real quick with my eyes towards Ray. I think I was trying to make Ray more jealous, or toy with him, or somehow test my theory, or something. Either way the bartender got the joke, and the dream faded back in for a moment as I vaguely remember something about the parking lot before I woke up.

My one question is... what the hell was up with that? I mean, really, I'm not the kind of girl to torture a guy. It was like the person in my dream was only half me... the food allergies were definitely something true from my life, and feeling a little out of place in a social setting hints to my real personality (although I'd be a whole lot more nervous), but then the truly unreal feeling elements are that I was at a bar with people I didn't know all that well and actually trying some sort of flirting game? *shrug* Maybe it's a part of me trying to say "hey, I want to do this stuff, and you'd do fine at it." Maybe it's just a weird dream and I should forget about it. Either way... it was interesting.

And apparently I was really tired... I discovered upon looking at my watch I had slept 15 hours. And I'm still groggy, as is obvious by the amount of times I changed tense while trying to regurgitate this story. *yawn*