So last night was fun, very in fact. I was actually invited to a party last night. Nothing fancy, just a couple of drinks, green mangoes, my cousins and their friends. I guess it was made special because I was the first time I was actually allowed to attend said party. Gatherings like those were held on my cousin’s rooftop every weekend and I’d get invited weekly, but my brother won’t let me attend them.

I know it sounds princess-y and all but that’s how it is when you’re the youngest girl in the family. My brother’s never really allowed me to “mix” with my cousins’ friends because well, to put it mildly, he didn’t trust them. It’s just one of those extra-protectiveness kick brought upon by the fact that we didn’t grow up here, you know?

But last night, for some reason he was persuaded to come and because I was feeling rebellious and randy about the whole fixed marriage thing, I decided to go whether he allowed me to or not. As I’ve stated before, it was fun. It was the second time I hung out with my cousins’ friends and at first it was very awkward.

Good thing that my cousin Oliver kept me company through the awkward phases, but then there was no need for the pity chatter when the drinks made its rounds. The poison of the night was vodka with Sprite and everybody enjoyed it. When the buzz kicked in everybody was laughing at the two gay dudes who made the jokes.

At around midnight my brother and my cousins’ friends decided to call it a night, leaving just me and my three guy cousins to finish up one more bottle of gin. I actually thought about going home because I thought that it was going to be more awkward than the party before. I mean these were the guys that I grew up with but haven’t spoken to in years. And the markedly reduced number of people, I knew, was going to be a big factor.

Fortunately enough, things have a weird way of working themselves out. I guess I underestimated the effects of the gin, because the moment we started drinking again everything became easier. I actually shared deep, intellectual conversations with them; we even got into a debate about religion.

And then the topic of sex was opened up (I forgot who brought it up, actually) and lo, to my utter surprise, these dudes whom I haven’t spoken ten words to in the past four years shared their…erm…escapades. To say that I’m shocked was an understatement. I guess it was because we were all of the same age anyway, so it didn’t matter? Or maybe it was because they never really told a girl of their escapades before? However they might act, these cousins of mine are extremely old-fashioned and think that girls shouldn’t meddle with the boyish, cruder and crasser things in life. I guess telling me was sort of liberating to them? Or maybe I just have that je ne sais quoi that makes them spill their deepest and darkest secrets to me?

Ah, who am I kidding? They spilled their guts to me because they were drunk, LOL.