America 1982-Chapter 94 - 12: Jason White’s Magical Night
Jason White struggled to open his eyes; blinding sunlight was streaming in from the window, prompting him to raise his hand to block it as he muttered, "Tommy, you’re still alive... holy s**t! Who the f**k is in my bed! Tommy! It better not be you!"
Before he could finish speaking, he felt something smooth sliding onto his thigh, which scared him into screaming. Then he sat up and threw back the covers, only to find he wasn’t in the familiar dorm room but a completely unfamiliar one instead.
The walls were adorned with the flag of the United States of America, movie posters, and other decorations; there was even a guitar in the corner, suggesting it was a guy’s dorm room.
But the most outrageous thing was, as he pulled back the covers, there was a woman lying next to him with disheveled hair covering most of her face, sleeping soundly on the pillow. Feeling the chill from the covers being lifted, the woman groped for the blanket with her hand, muttered a complaint, then wrapped herself back in it as though Jason’s shouting hadn’t awoken her at all.
Jason slapped his face hard, trying to sober up, but his memory was completely lost after he and his rookie friends, fueled by an assortment of drinks, mustered up the courage to display their lengths to the girls under napkins and were chased to the backyard with champagne poured on them.
"I scored with a girl, but... but unfortunately, I can’t remember our wild night," Jason said, looking at the girl next to him with a hint of regret.
Although he couldn’t recall what happened last night, the presence of a real girl sleeping beside him suggested he must have done something right; otherwise, why would a girl be willing to bring him back?
"Good morning, Jason, I came back after hearing your voice from next door," a clean-cut, sportily dressed, brown-haired young man entered through the door and greeted Jason, who was sitting on the bed.
Jason White swore to the heavens he didn’t recognize this youth who entered and called his name, his gaze wary as he asked, "Who are you?"
"You’re joking, right? I’m Chad, you should drink less," replied the youth claiming to be Chad, who then sat at the desk, opened a book, and appeared to be preparing to study.
Jason moved slowly, stepping down from the bed to grab his clothes and put them on, then approached the young man, "Uh... Chad, you know, I had a bit too much to drink last night, so could you fill me in on what happened? Like where is this, who is the girl in the bed, and why are you here?"
"This is Davenport Community College, my dorm room, friend," Chad said without looking up from his book, "I don’t know who the lady in the bed is because you didn’t introduce her when you brought her. And the reason you’re here is that you lost a bet, so I brought you back here to stay in this dorm while I bunked in another room."
Davenport Community College, less than a mile from Stanford University. Jason, with a blank expression, listened to Chad finish, glanced outside the window, then returned and said, "OK, I need a more detailed introduction, where did we meet?"
"We met at Stanford University, buddy, you’re a student there," Chad looked up at Jason, his expression incredulous, "You really don’t remember anything?"
"Yes, I don’t remember anything now. Why were you there?" Jason asked, slightly nervous.
"A few friends and I heard about various parties there and wanted to see the world, you know, the parties at the community college aren’t very fancy. When we went, we found out many parties were not open to outsiders, so we were preparing to leave when we saw you and some guys running after campus deer like lunatics, even enthusiastically inviting us to join. The scene left a deep impression; we all swore we’d never attend Stanford for further study after community college," Chad recounted the previous night’s events, his expression turning serious.
Jason’s face twisted as he stared at Chad, "Are you sure? You’re f**king sure you saw me and a few people chasing deer on campus? Alright, continue, go on."
"Then we thought maybe you guys had some mental problems, so we asked if you needed help. You said the deer seemed to make people stronger, and you Spartans wanted to try its blood," Chad continued.
"Then we took you to see a doctor..."
"Why did you take us to see a doctor?" Jason threw out another question.
Chad furrowed his brow, "Jason, you should take a look at yourself in the mirror."
Jason walked over to the dressing mirror and found a bruise on his face, which had largely faded but still left a noticeable mark.
"What happened? Why did I end up like this?" Jason pointed at the mark on his face and turned his head to look at Chad.
Chad shrugged, "Last night, you guys said it was the price of fame or something. Seems like you went to some place called the Phoenix Society, stood at the front door of someone’s living room and peed, and got chased for it."
"Was there anyone named Tommy Hawk among those people?" Jason asked.
Chad shook his head, "Nope, you all really hated that Tommy Hawk guy, cursing him for leaving early with girls and not passing down any experience to you brothers."
"Alright, back to the earlier question—if I came back with you to crash here, how could you possibly not know the identity of the girl in the bed?" Jason expressed his doubts.
Chad sighed, "After you came back to the dorm with me, you ran back out pretty quickly, saying you were determined to achieve your goal. Then, about two hours later, you came back with this lady, and I went to crash in another dorm, leaving the room to you two."
"You’re such a good guy, Chad. Compared to you, my roommate is an absolute scumbag without any brotherly love," Jason said as he patted Chad on the shoulder, complimenting him.
"So could you hang out in your previous dorm for a bit longer? I need to ask the lady in bed who she is and stuff."
"Sure, you don’t need to praise me. It’s what should be done. After all, a man’s got to keep his word. Since you dared to mess with Mrs. Marcus, we of course had to honor the bet and lend you the dorm," Chad said as he got up from his chair, preparing to leave.
Jason grabbed Chad’s shoulder, "Wait a second, who the hell is Mrs. Marcus?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
"The black lady who owns the convenience store next to Davenport Community College. You guys said you wanted to buy some booze to share with us, but we told you Mrs. Marcus wouldn’t sell to students. You said anything’s possible, then you walked in, and about fifteen minutes later, you came out with a bottle of vodka, boasting that you turned on the charm and finally got her to agree to sell it to you. As you came out, you also said, ’good heavens, she must be nearly fifty this year, some guy sacrifices himself, yet she’s still so picky...’"
"I actually said that?" Jason’s eyes widened, "I was flirting with a black lady older than my own mother or something even more horrifying?"
"Maybe, maybe not; none of us dared to get close enough to watch," Chad said, his eyes roving before finally speaking to Jason, "Just thinking about that scene is disturbing enough; we lacked the courage to look directly at it."
"Goodbye, Chad. Let’s never see each other again. And forget everything that happened last night!" Jason said, then turned and walked toward the door.
Chad called out from behind Jason, "Weren’t you going to let me leave so you could ask the lady in bed who she is?"
"Hey, my sweet little sugar, are you leaving without collecting your money?" The woman in the bed sat up lazily, pulling back her hair, and sleepily asked Jason, who was about to leave.
Jason turned around and realized that the woman must be at least in her forties, looking at him with a satisfied expression on her face he despairingly asked, "What money?"
"You know, the overnight fee. I can give you a little extra tip, you’re as strong and tireless as a colt," the woman said to Jason with a smile.
Chad looked at the numb-faced Jason, "Great, now we know what you did in those two hours and the identity of the woman. Stanford University’s brightest is moonlighting as an escort, Jason, you’ve made a name for yourself."
