standard on a school night. sure, why not?

thursday night. the hottest night in the city, according to my friend jordan, who’s lived here for over ten years. we decided to grab dinner to catch up. two weeks of not seeing one another was brutal on our friendship. it was going to be a low key night. we met at cafeteria, one of my favorite restaurants in the city. not so much for the food more so for the people. cafeteria is where i witnessed my first proposal. it was disappointing. dude got down on one knee next to a trashcan outside the restaurant and asked for the lovely girl’s hand in marriage. she, surprisingly, said yes. they embraced. not my idea of romance. to each their own, i guess. also the same restaurant where my roommate and friend shared a meal with 500 days of summer heart throb, my future husband, and father of my unborn child, joseph gordon levitt.

8:10p.m. i show up to cafeteria ten minutes late of course. i’m always punctual but for some reason never on time since my move. we sat outside. beautiful night in ny. we had dinner, well appetizers really. jordan ordered crab cakes, parmesan fries, tomato soup, and macaroni and cheese spring rolls. yum. i, on the other hand, ordered an artichoke salad. added chicken to spice things up. i’ve gained almost eight pounds since leaving lovely los angeles. unacceptable. i’m worried for my health. i was salivating as jordan took a bite from each delicious dish. we shared a few laughs and caught up on each other’s lives. after a delightful meal, we left cafeteria and took a stroll around the west village. we stumbled upon turks and frogs, a local wine bar, and enjoyed two cups of turkish coffee. coffee in a wine bar? yes, please.

i couldn’t finish mine, since it was much too sweet for my taste. this was the perfect place to people watch. an older gentleman with a plad jacket, jeans, and a cigar. odd looking. young, beautiful blonde girl with older white haired rich looking tycoon. really good looking guy with not so cute girl. it was great. while sitting there shamelessly passing judgment on whoever entered the bar, jordan got a text from his friend and told us to meet him at the standard. it was time to go, but first we needed more coffee. we made our way to meatpacking and landed at villa pacri. cup of coffee for me and shot of espresso for the man in the striped shirt. soon after, we walked over to the standard. made it through the red velvet ropes and entered the elevator. elevator doors opened and we headed right for the bar. we ordered our specialty drink. “two waters please.” no lemon just straight up water with some ice of course. neither one of us was drinking. self-control. we headed upstairs to check out the roof top. beautiful view of the hudson river. gorgeous. we headed back downstairs. parched. another glass of water, por favor. i was mighty impressed when I saw a huge hot tub strategically placed near the DJ booth. not so impressed, rather intrigued when I witnessed people dancing and getting “wild.” clothes on the floor. half-naked drunk people dancing in the water. i was in a brothel. my low key night, in the blink of an eye, turned into something more than i had ever imagined. me: sober at a bar. them: drunk. naked. dancing in a tub filled with hot water on a school night. all very odd, but entertaining to say the least.