More hungover than he’d ever been, Noah awoke to a familiar pain that covered his entire back. A cursory glance of his surroundings told him that his night had ended up with him passing out on the roof of his dorm shirtless. The familiar pain had been caused by one of the angriest looking sunburns that he’d ever seen in his life. His phone was not in plain sight, so Noah assumed it had been a casualty of a night that had gone too far. Without its help, it was hard to tell exactly what time it was, but it felt like he’d been out of consciousness for days. “Ow, ow, ow,” he hissed as he carefully raised himself off the ground. Even standing still seemed to hurt. His entire body was screaming at him, but he couldn’t even remember what he’d done to earn its wrath. As he retreated back to his dorm room, he attempted to retrace his steps in the figurative sense as well.
Noah knew that it had started with your average UNLV party (alcohol, cocaine, etc.) and he had partaken in the festivities without a second thought. No matter where you fell on the political spectrum, parties like this made a patriot out of everyone. The memory of a group of girls bringing apple-pies to the party made Noah’s stomach turn. Just the idea of food was enough to make him feel like sprinting to the bathroom, but he managed to keep his cool somehow. Red, white, and blue had begun to blur at around one in the morning despite the old adage about those colors not running. Clearly, whoever had said that lived a much more sober life than a college student with poor judgment. “That was when the fucking fire started,” he suddenly recalled as he laid out in bed, mumbling into his pillow. His roommate looked at him, slight concern etched into his features, but he was more or less used to this behavior by now.
The Lee and Thomas Beam Music Center had been locked up for the night, but that had never stopped a group of determined drunks, and that wasn’t about to change. Noah had been drunkenly hammering away at the piano, taking whatever requests were sent his way, when the fire alarm had gone off. A group of established peers had the bright idea to play with sparklers indoors. There had been screaming and people running about like chickens with their heads caught off until someone collected themselves enough to remember how to use a fire extinguisher. Noah wished he could say that he had been that person, but he had remained planted at the piano simply staring dumbly at the flames. Having been too drunk to pronounce his own name, he was certainly too far gone to be able to think on his feet. Or at all, really.
Not wanting to get caught, everyone fled the music center after that. After the quick escape, Noah’s memory went black and picked back up hours later at the tables outside of his dorm. Usually, they were reserved for smokers, but their purpose had shifted to shots and lines of coke tonight. The infamous upper managed to wake Noah up with a feeling of invincibility. A friend of his had somehow procured a baseball bat and, in lieu of baseballs, was swinging at whatever objects he was offered. Highly amused by the situation, Noah tossed his cellphone into the mix and watched as it went flying across the courtyard. He hadn’t even bothered to collect the shattered remains. It was fine, the man with the baseball had told him, those things only existed so the government could listen in on conversations anyway. At the time, Noah had believed him.
“Fuck’s sake,” he groaned into his pillow. “Novakovic, do you mind? I’m trying to study.” There was a clear edge in his roommate’s voice. “Fuck off, Tim.” Noah’s voice was much clearer now. He had no interest in catering to Tim’s needs while he was desperately trying to trip down memory lane and figure out how he’d ended up half-naked on a roof. That’s when it hit him. July in Nevada is akin to a summer vacation on the sun, mix that with coke, and you’re liable to die of heatstroke. Noah had opted out of an early death by stripping himself of his shirt. Shortly after that, he had noticed a feline-shaped blob poking its head out from atop the roof. In that moment, the mysterious cat had become the most important creature in Noah’s life and petting it was his top priority. He scrambled to make sure he didn’t miss out on his chance to meet this very important cat and was relieved when it seemed to be waiting for him.
Noah and the cat he’d dubbed ‘Friend’ got along famously. So famously that Noah had laid down on the roof for a more comfortable petting experience. Before he knew it, he’d passed out on the roof and the cat had abandoned him for someone who still had working hands. Remembering this, Noah made a promise to himself to lay off alcohol a good while. He did not keep this promise. In fact, he broke it that following night.
