So Saturday night. My sister? My little baby sister? She turned 21. In good big sisterly fashion, I took her to the best bar on the Marquette scene. The one, the only, the beloved: Flanigans.
As I'm driving her and her roommate, Lynsey (she turned 21 that night, too), there, it occurred to me that they may not adore this hole-in-the-wall dive the way that I do. Katy might not be impressed by the horny old men or the charm of the off-key country ballads or the crowded-ness of the tiny space. So I warned them about it. "And Katy, sweetie? Please PLEASE don't shoot your mouth off."
She glared at me. "What. Do YOU. Mean?"
"We have big mouths. You don't censor yourself. Especially when you're not impressed. I have a feeling you're not going to be impressed tonight. Happy birthday, hon!!!"
We arrive at the blessed bar and immediately Katy and Lynsey start clinging to each other. Their eyes couldn't get any wider. Katy looked at me, pleadingly. "DON'T leave me."
I grinned. "I have to. I have to get you shots. It is YOUR BIRTHDAY." A fourty-something guy sitting at the bar took this as a sign to kiss Lynsey on the cheek. I thought welcome to Flanigans, guys and just watched, completely amused. Katy started laughing. We retreated to the back of the bar, where they gulped their first shots ever. (Seriously.)
Naive little girls that they were, they thought they'd be safe at the back of the bar. Less than two minutes back there and Katy was being hit on by the elderly cowboy (the same one that took a liking to wifey earlier this year). It was both unbarable and Hallmarky to watch the interaction from three feet away since Katy doesn't know what to do with herself when guys talk to her and/or hit on her. I wanted to simultaneously cringe, hug her and kick the guy in the nuts. All I could do though, was sit back and be all Yoda-like thinking learn by herself she will. She must.
The night progressed and the two newly-legal girls learned to ward off any unwanted leering by hiding behind Katie, Amanda and I. And if a guy looked at either of them, Lynsey burst out with "I have a boyfriend!!!" while Katy just glared. They also celebrated by not drinking. They did a shot each. And shared ONE mixed drink. Shared. One drink. At one point Katie D remarked "Wow, your sister must be trying to be the opposite of you."
(The opposite of Krissy is non-lushy. In case there was any confusion.)
The bar seemed to be out to impress the birthday girls. The country was more twangy, the older people more horny (if you're over 40, please don't grind. Please--for all of our sakes), the guys seemed more...guyish.
At one point, we were sitting there, enjoying the ambience when two fourty-ish guys drunkenly sauntered over.
Drunk #1: Why aren't you dancing?
All the girls: ...
Drunk #2: You ALL should be up there DANCING!!!
Me: We were. And then we got sick of getting groped, so we got a table.
Drunk #1: Oh. So why aren't you dancing?
Another guy started talking to Lynsey a bit later. We all began staring at him like he was the devil until he waved his left hand at us. "I'm married! I'm married! I can say this because I'm married! You're all cute! You should be dancing with the guys up there! You should all have guys!" We just wanted to do was make fun of the karaoke-ers; he wanted to be the Yooper matchmaker. While I appreciate the thought, dude, none of us were exactly aching to take home one of the drunken, spastic-dancing, got-dressed-in-the-dark guys that graced the stage that night.
We left shortly after Katy and I serenaded the bar with a stunning rendition of "Ghostbusters" (a favorite of ours growing up). It was late; we'd had our share of drunken guy debauchery and non-drinking. As I drove the girls home, they giggled about the experience they had. It was a decent way to start a 21st year on earth. And just another amusing night for me.
Ciao, dahling!
~*Krissy*~