You Can't Leave!!

Most of our floor got back to Rez a couple days before term was meant to start after Christmas break, it was my second year of Uni, I was having a TON of fun. Six of us met in the lounge and decided to go across the road to Duke's for a donair and a beer (or six). One of my friends had left the minute exams had ended in early Dec and had gone home and worked for 20 hours a day pretty much for the entire Christmas break. His Dad owned a business and Christmas was a key time for them to get work done. Anyway, he was flush with cash, pissed off that he hadn't had a real break and ready to drink.

We trooped over to Duke's and occupied a booth. Donairs, fried and beers were ordered and by about 6pmn we were all full of greasy food and a couple beers in. We then proceeded to descend into anarchy and literally drank the keg dry! By close to midnight we were all wasted and getting silly. I bought a pack of cigarettes and most of us lit up and started smoking. One of the boys was too drunk to remember that cigarettes generally made him puke and none of us were sober enough to care to remind him. A few puffs in he went green and ran out the front door. Much hilarity ensued as he purged in the parking lot. Needless to say he wandered back to the rez buildings, his night was over.

The friend who hadn't had a real break was in fine form, drinking hard, singing and carrying on. It was tons of fun! At one point, one of the boys wanted to leave and the catch phrase that has lasted to this day was born when the friend who hadn't had a break grabbed him by the front of the shirt, leaned in close and bellowed, "YOU CAN'T LEAVE!!". We all collapsed laughing and the friend who wanted to leave shook his head, sat down and ordered a rye and coke. We were into the whiskey at this point since the keg had emptied.

We drank steadily till closing time, smoked the entire pack of cigarettes between us and were all pretty much ruined by the time the owner asked us politely to leave. He knew us, we knew him, it was, if I recall correctly, a weds night or some such and so we all thanked him drunkenly and stumbled out into the cold.

Next door to Duke's was a convenience store, I think it was a 7/11 or a Macs, I can't remember which now. Of course by that point we all wanted something to try and take the edge off the booze so we traipsed into the store and bought a variety of chocolate bars, chips and Gatorade. The break-less friend got to the counter and handed over a $50 dollar bill. I was watching the guy behind the counter closely as he seemed to be a bit sketchy and was quite clearly looking for an opportunity to rip us off. When he handed back the change I suggested to my friend, in a very loud voice, that he should check to make sure he got the right change from his $50. My friend had a moment of clarity, counted up the change that was only equivalent to a $20. Angry, he asked the clerk what was going on. The clerk glared at me, produced the $50 and said something along the lines of, "oh sorry, I thought it was a $20" and counted out the rest of the change. My friend was livid, but kept himself contained and we left with our change and food.

It was a helluva night. A catch phrase was born, one person had turned green and we had triumphed over a dodgy cashier. We got back to the rez building, ate our food and then proceeded to break out the beer from the beer fridge and kept going till the very wee hours of the morning. I woke the next day, mid morning, curled in a corner of the lounge room clutching a half full beer and covered in potato chip crumbs. Oh and with a monster hangover of course. Nothing an ice cold beer in a steaming hot shower couldn't cure though! Good times...