You meet old friends you haven't seen in awhile and wow, how some things never change.
Its been 5 years since E, C, T and me, buddies from University, hung out together. We were jolly good friends and hostel mates. Cliched as it sounds, we practically ate, shit, slept and mugged together through the mid-nineties. Ok i failed to add 'bitch' as well :)) But that's another story...
Fights? a dozen or so. Girls? Never enough! But laughs, oh we had lots. And i mean the rip-roaring, rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-your-ass-off kinda gila guffawing. The laughs I remember most
So last night, we met up. Dinner was supposed to be followed by drinks. Wives and Girlfriends were left at home, thankfully. And predictably after a dozen or so Kilkennies, tongues loosened up considerably.
E's now a highflying AVP at an American Bank, drives a German Coupe and as good-looking as he was when he was University Hall Mr Manhunt '94. I swear the pub's comely waitress was flirting with him as she took our order, all coquettish 5ft6", 25 years of her. E always had all the chicks, having banged all the worthy ones in our faculty before our 2nd Year. Lucky Bastard! But he had a childhood sweetheart at the time, and she was none the wiser, being miles away Downunder. E married her eventually, there was no doubt he would not. And so we thought, finally, the bugger would stop screwing around. Until he threw open an invitation to the 3 of us for a night out at a premier KTV lounge, Gordon Bleu and 'tips' on his account. E hadn't changed, but he had sure 'upgraded'. C jumped at the opportunity, T deliberated for all of 2mins and gave in, I gagged on my piece of naan and declined respectfully. I did! Honest. So off they go on Halloween's Nite, wives and girlfriends definitely not in tow.
T was always the rich kid among us 'brothers'. Hell, in 1994, when pagers were all the rage, he had a Motorola Startac and was driving a 2nd-hand Suzuki. The rest of us poor undergrads had to take the bus. On weekends, T drove back to his semi-D in District 10. We never understood why he wanted to rough it out with us at the hostel. We suspect he was there for the girls, which he later confessed was his initial desire before he entered our 'brotherhood'. Yeah sure! Anyway T revealed that the semi-D actually belonged to his Brother-in-law. 3 years ago, T and his parents moved out and jointly purchased a house. 6 months ago, his parents were prematurely retrenched and they found it hard to keep up with the joint instalments. Thanks no doubt also to the kind of spending power both parents and son have always been used to. So what did they do? They sold the house and now rent a swish apartment in Tanglin. "At least there are no rising interest costs", he surmised, "And I get to keep the Saab". Can you argue with such logic? I sipped my Amaretto.
C was always the cute blur one, you know the type girls loved to shower their maternal instincts on. C looked 18 when we were freshmen, now at 32, he looks 24. Bugger! I swear he was dropped into the fountain of youth at birth. C used his inheritance to purchase a nice uber-kewl bachelor pad along the East Coast. He lives there with his Persian feline. He has a driving license but still takes cabs. Why? Cos his live-in girlfriend ferries him around in her 3-door RAV4. She's 34 and he tells us she's pretty deft with the mop and wok. C's an Asst Director in public service and can get to work at half past 10 in the morning! HALF PAST 10! I think I want to complain to PSD. It helps that his boss is female I suppose. Before I could ask C if he was screwing her, Harry's was closing for the nite.
Some unkers never change...