Fifth-Wheeling at My First Rave: DURING AND AFTER THE RAVE
(Part 2 of my raving experience)
-AT THE RAVE-
As we get closer to the venue, we spot Regina and her group of friends already in line. Gretchen and Regina run up to each other again and hug as if they haven’t seen each other in years. Both are either drunk or drugged up (or both) so they fall down as they’re swaying and hugging (not going to lie, the sight of it looked like the beginning of a lesbian porno). They get up and start talking in their friend group again. Gretchen did introduce me to everyone, but I stayed my usual quiet self and couldn’t strike up a conversation with anybody. They were talking as they usually do, and I was left on the side. Still, the whole time they were talking, Gretchen didn’t let go of my hand since it’s really easy to get lost at these types of events.
We get in. Regina’s friend group left her and her boyfriend with us while they all used the bathroom, and we stood outside the doors to the theater waiting for them. Gretchen and Regina are talking still and I’m just looking at them and nodding my head as if I understand anything. I notice that Regina starts looking a bit empty, as if the life from her eyes suddenly vanished. I try distracting myself from their conversation by looking at all the other people and the acts going on in the theater. All the sudden, there's a feeling of something cold and wet around my ankles so I look down. There’s nothing there so I thought maybe it was some water that got spilled over. Then, I noticed Regina was bent down and with a closer look, I saw some watery red chunks on the ground too. I guess the Adderall and alcohol didn’t mix well. Gretchen and Regina’s boyfriend hadn’t noticed since they were talking with each other. Once they got the hint, Regina’s boyfriend took her over for some water and fresh air, leaving just the three of us again.
We decided to go into the theater now and have some fun. It was still just the openers and the main DJ hadn’t gone on yet but it was still okay. Because of how faded and gone Gretchen was, her boyfriend had to make sure she wasn’t accidentally bumping into anyone and falling on top of them. She starts dancing and letting loose, but even after all the alcohol I drank I’m still sober and straight as a pin. Slowly I begin to let go, but I’m just getting used to it all. When I try to headbang, my rhythm is off. When everyone’s head is up, mine is down, and when everyone’s is down, mine is up. Still I try to have good time. The whole time Gretchen is holding my hand to make sure I don’t get lost. The rave very much is just a bunch of people coming together to vibe to music. I like it. The vibes are cool. I’d be willing to go again with different people.
Very quickly, Gretchen turns around to us and tells us she needs to pee. She tells us to stay and takes her phone with her to the bathroom. One song goes by before her boyfriend turns to me and says, “Oh shit she took the wrong phone. I still have her's.” So we leave the packed crowd and head to the designated bathrooms. We find her in line and make the switch, but she tells us to go back so we don’t lose our spot in the pit. The main DJ hasn’t gotten on yet so the theatre wasn’t as packed yet, and Gretchen wanted us to be close enough to get a good view of the stage.
Her boyfriend and I begin to head back, before he decides we should all get a drink at the bar upstairs. I interrupt him instead and ask him if it’s okay if we could go buy merch first. Since it’s my first rave, I wanted to buy a shirt or pashmina as a memento before all the merch sold out. We went, got the shirt, and by then, Gretchen had texted us that she was done, so we went back to the bathrooms to meet up with her. There, we all stood on the side for a bit to sober up and retouch our makeup. Gretchen is watching me reapply my lip gloss so I jokingly puckered my lips like I was going to kiss her. To my surprise, SHE ACTUALLY KISSED ME. I turned over to her boyfriend and jokingly asked, “Are you jealous?”
Anyways, we then start to head up upstairs for the drinks we wanted, and although I wanted to get some alcohol, none of the options looked good, so I opted for a Red Bull. After downing our drinks, we went back to the theater just in time for the main act. By this time, there was a considerable amount of new people in the crowd. Where before you could maybe have a small bubble to yourself and would just have an occasional arm bump into you, now, to squeeze everyone in, no one gets any personal space. If you try to dance, you’d be accidentally smacking yourself into someone next to you. Even just standing straight, someone would always be touching you on all sides. Still people are nice and everyone knows that some pushing and shoving is inevitable so some light dancing, head bobbing, and jumping is okay. It’s not bad until entitled people think they can just push their way through the crowd without saying ‘excuse me’ or ’sorry’.
We had fun. Good music and good vibes. If anything I was really glad the dress attire for these raves are women in lingerie because the theater got overheated very quickly. It’s only cause I’m tall that I could get sparse breaths of fresh air, but other than that it was just very musty and sweaty. Also, for the last 2 hours of the rave, on my left, there was a couple making out nonstop. It seems like they were both on ecstasy or something because they were realllllyyy into it. At one point, I turn over and I notice that time girl is gone. Until I look down and find that she’s straight up just giving him a blowjob. But other than that, the rave was fun. If it was with different people, I’d do it again.
-AFTER THE RAVE-
When the rave was finally over, everyone began leaving the venue. Because of how loud the raves are, your ears are left kinda muffled afterwards. It sounds like everyone's trying to talk to you through a sock and there’s a constant high pitch ring in the background.
Gretchen wanted to meet up with her friend one last time so we went to meet them. She finally saw Regina again and asked how she was after throwing up and everything. Luckily, Regina was able to have a good time, but coincidentally both her and her boyfriend’s cellphones died so they had no way of contacting Gretchen that they were okay. Regina offered us to sleepover at her house before heading back home in the morning, but I put my foot down on leaving because I was meeting with another friend that morning.
As Gretchen, Gretchen’s boyfriend, and I were going back to the parking garage to drive back, we realized we lost the ticket for the parking garage. Right at the exit, there was a sign that said “$45 Lost Ticket Fee”. Begrudgingly, we had to call the office to raise the bar to let us out. When the guard came out, he asked if we never got a ticket in the first place. Gretchen’s boyfriend took that excuse and ran with it. I think the guard was too lazy to care so he just let us go free without making us for parking nor the fee.
We still had to go to Regina’s house since my car was still there. Gretchen’s boyfriend dropped us off and although we tried waiting for Regina to finish her shower so we could all say goodbye, we were all too tired and left anyways. I still had to drive Gretchen home before getting to my own house.
When it was getting close to Gretchen’s house, I saw the road had 2 open lanes so I naturally go to the left most lane since most people consider it ‘the fast lane’. There were no cars on the road since it was close to 3:30 in the morning and it was a smooth ride. We talked about how fun the rave was and listen to whatever music Spotify spat out. After a while, I’m looking at the road in front of me and I’m starting to think, “Why does that car look like it's coming straight towards me?” I wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the lights or if I was just so tired I started seeing things, but I let the cars get closer and closer until the last split thought of, “Oh shit I’m in the wrong lane.” And just as both cars were about to hit each other head on, I swerved into the right lane. So, the road had dashed lines and because of the yellow streetlights, I wasn’t sure if they were white dashed lines that were tinted yellow, or if they were actual yellow lines. If I wasn’t sleep deprived, I probably could’ve deduced that it was a two way street and not a one way street from context clues, but I was loopy and needed caffeine.
Anyways, we both laugh about it and I drive her safely the rest of the way home. I personally didn’t get home until 5 in the morning and I still had to take off all my clothes, accessories, and body gems.
TLDR: the rave was fun, but the people were only okay.