That One Time we Went to a Bar for Tina's Birthday

Today, Tina turned 21. To celebrate we decided to flaunt our IDs and went to The Madison. 80s night opened at 9pm and there was no cover charge, so Tina, Sarah, Jess and I found ourselves pulling out IDs out and entering a bar on Center St. Outside was an old man in a jean jacket smoking with a worker in a red shirt. They saw us come up with our IDs out and made some comment about it, like here we were trying to prove we were old enough. They told us fake IDs would not be accepted. Obviously.

We entered the building and found a long bar with a sizable dance floor. Old Man took off his jean jacket and set it down on a chair at the far side of the bar. We sat down at the bar and looked around. Emptiness. Besides Old Man there was the bartender and the DJ. We drank water until we built up the courage to ask slutty bartender lady if she could make us some cool non alcoholic drinks. She said she could make us Shirley Temples or Safe Sex on the Beach. That was it. So Sarah got a Coke and the rest of us had Safe Sex on the Beach.

After sitting at the bar barely talking for a half hour, Tina, Sarah and I started dancing. Jess watched us. So did Old Man. Sarah did some jazz moves, I Zumbaed, and then Tina ran to do a Dirty Dancing lift. Instead, I unexpectedly lifted her up by one leg and her side and spun her around. Epic. During this escapade Old Man turned to Jess from down the bar and said, "they're real good!" Jess told me and I tried my best not to pee myself. I wasn't as successful as I would have liked to have been.

We decided to go for dancing round two. We left Jess again to continue our shimmying in an empty bar. Then Tina motioned at Jess. I turned around to see Old Man talking to Jess. I doubled over laughing. I felt so uncomfortable that I didn't even know how to help her escape. Instead, I hid behind a pillar and laughed. Sarah and Tina continued dancing. Eventually he walked back to his spot and I made my way to Jess. As I tried to ask what happened Jess started repeating multiple times, "just wait, wait for it, just wait." That's when I realized that Old Man had made a beeline for Sarah. He was asking her to dance. Next thing I knew they were making use of the entire dance floor, country dance style to something like "Sweet Dreams" or "Push It." While they were dancing Jess told me what had taken place.

Old Man had come up to her to tell her how great we were at dancing. "Your friend in the yellow, she sucked at first. But now she's real good!" He said of Tina. He went on to talk about how he enjoyed coming to the bar after work to have a few beers and dance. Then he mentioned that he had danced in Vegas with some professionals before. Then he asked Jess if she wanted to dance, and Jess made a shocked face that simply read "NO!" Old Man played it off and told her maybe a bit later, and then went for Sarah.

When they were done we sat back at the bar. We decided to ask to pay. Sarah went to the bartender and asked if we could pay. Bartender started to get awkward and glanced down the bar to Old Man. That's when I noticed that she was filling four glasses with grenadine. "That gentleman would like to give these to you," she awkwardly said. Sarah inquired about the rest of our bill. It had been taken care of. We uncomfortable drank our Shirley Temples so as not to be rude. Sarah waved at Old Man. The rest of us didn't know how to react. Then we left.

Best night of my life.