Free Life As I Blow It by Sarah Colonna

girl, and so were her roommates. Those girls were fun to drink with on a Saturday night, but I didn’t know if I’d want to wake up to them every day—kind of likehow I felt about most guys I’d met. What I did know was that these girls lived within walking distance of Dickson Street, where all the bars were.
    As far as the house went, everything was perfect. My share of the rent was $150, which seemed like a lot then but now seems ridiculous. The house had the four bedrooms, a big kitchen, two bathrooms, washer and dryer—everything. I was envisioning my first big summer party and how good I’d be at keg stands by October.
    Caryn was one of the nicest people I’d ever met. She was also one of those people who wore Christmas sweaters with pine trees and bells on them—even in July. She also loved to wear these big cow slippers that went “moo” with every step she took. We shared the same side of the house, along with the same bathroom, yet she would always seem surprised when I’d get up early on days that I didn’t have class.
    One morning I was particularly hungover and she found me standing outside the bathroom with a look of death on my face.
    â€œWhat are you doing up?” she asked me. She was all smiles, fresh from the shower.
    â€œReally?” I asked. “Fucking really?” I had woken up thinking that there was a herd of cows inside my bedroom.
    I picked up one of her slippers that was lying by the bathroom door and stuck it in the toilet. Without saying a word, I went back to sleep. From then on Caryn wore normal, quiet slippers—and avoided me in the mornings.
    Leanne and Shannon were my other new roommates. Shannon was this blond, sweet girl who fooled you into thinking she was low-key but could drink more than me on a bad summer cruise. We sat up night after night drinking whatever was left in the house. Leanne was the loud one.She was on the rifle team in high school and loved to get drunk and perform her routine to the
Grease
soundtrack with a broomstick. She’d spin and twirl it until every person and every thing in our house had to run for cover. During our time at that house, we went through a lot of lamps.
    Leanne seemed like a lesbian to me and to most other people, but she insisted that she liked men. She always said that she didn’t want a boyfriend because her heart was once broken and that she was just “not interested.” She is now out of the closet, very happy, and can still twirl the hell out of a broom.
    I became best friends with one of the guys I worked with at Bert’s. His name was Andy. He and I did everything together, from movies to drinks to taking quizzes in
Cosmo
. He was the perfect gay best friend, only straight. I couldn’t remember having a friend like Andy since I had graduated from high school. I didn’t even realize at the time that I had already put most people from high school behind me. I had outgrown them in less than a year. You’d think I would have felt more of a loss for the people I’d been going to school with for the past seven or so years of my life, but I didn’t. I just moved on. I’ve never been one to hang on to the past. I don’t have coffee with exes, and I certainly don’t check in from time to time to “see how things are going.” Plus this was the new me, the college me. It was the fall of 1992 and I had college friends. High school was so six months ago.
    The only loss I really felt was my friendship with Lindsay. Since we’d graduated, she and I had completely drifted apart. She got pregnant and married right after high school; I don’t remember in which order. We tried to hang out a few times, but her husband would always get mad before she even left the house. He had this idea that I was a bad influenceon her, which was stupid. We didn’t urge each other on like some bad after-school special; we were just girls who grew up