Instead

The night of the fiesta, Rafa decided we'd take a cab to the host's house.
The entire day had been scattered with showers, so instead of risking it, we just hailed a cab once we exited the Safeway (being the good guests we tend to be, we made a beer and chip run before heading out to the party. Negra Modelo and Tostitos, to properly represent our home country).
The conversation at the party was, as previously stated, somewhat overwhelming for me at the start. I'm highly intimidated by these smart people.
After about an hour, D and I were fully incorporated... especially when we had the "Stupidest thing I did while intoxicated" contest.
We sat in the living room, the heavy rainstorm in the background, and we all took turns recounting the stupidest decisions we made while under the magnificent influence of alcohol.
I definitely didn't win. The winner was one of Rafa's colleagues, who was drunk driving one night while at Princeton, and had three passengers in his car. I guess there's a very infamous railroad track where everyone gets stuck. Welp, this dude had one of those moments. However, he was boxed in the vehicle by the two... what are they called? Those little arms that go down when the train's about to pass? Well, those things. They had him pinned, and basically, all they did was prepare for impact... which never happened. They all just pretty much pissed their pants.

So yeah... once we all shared those embarrassing, yet somewhat comical stories, we were completely at ease (the guy who won the contest stressed about three times how not ALL Princeton students are drunken idiots... just the cool ones... I kid. But he was concerned about our opinion of the students after that train track story... which of course, didn't negatively affect my opinion of the guys. I felt relief. WE'RE ALL STUPID and make horribly terrible decisions sometimes! Yey!!).

Back in May, for Rafa's graduation, I remember meeting one dude I was extremely drawn to. Let's call him T.
T was at the party.
Furthermore, he was totally vibing with me at this party.
The thirteen-year-old in me was jumping up and down, gushing... as the 26 year old exterior was trying to be calm and relaxed... which only made me a very confused, sleepy female (being calm and collected makes me sleepy. I'm sure I'm not the only person with this problem).
Once it was time to go home, we all said our goodbyes, and the BEST hug of my life was given to me by T. After the hug, and as I began walking down the hall and out of the house, T rushed in order to leave with my siblings and me.
The sky had cleared up, and the cozy little residential area looked like a post card.
The wet sidewalks glistened under the moon, the autumn leaves still hung on the trees... yellow, orange, red... some green... some still dripping a couple of raindrops.
Rafa and D walked ahead... and I walked next to T... slowly.
Cute, funny, sweet, adorable, beautiful lips (apparently I'm BIG on lips all of a sudden. I don't know what the fuck is up with that... but guys with pouty lips are SO fucking hot to me right now. I have no clue what celebrity to blame for this shit), beautiful eyes... intelligent, great taste in music... ex violinist. Easy-going.
Oh MY GOD! YOU'RE FUCKING AWESOME!

But you know the fucked up part of it all?
There I was, hanging out with a guy I had been crushing on since May... the sweetest guy I've had the pleasure of meeting... in such a gorgeous setting... and all I could think was:
Daaaamn, imagine if instead, he were Darcy... !

I proceeded to look off into the distance, as I occasionally kicked my closed umbrella, and smiled to myself.
So there's this one dude...