Of course I did.
We walked to the club from her house and upon entering I realized two things: Firstly, that I was slightly overdressed. I was wearing nice boots and a lacy top, while most people there were wearing much more casual gear. And second, besides Courtney, I was probably the youngest person there by at least 20 years.
Trying not to be conspicuous, we hovered around the entrance for a moment while Courtney looked for her friends. A man playing an accordion wearing what I assume was some sort of traditional German getup saw us and said, "Come on in girlies!" and waved to us while everyone in the vicinity turned to look at who he was talking to. Slightly embarrassed, we walked through the middle of the room towards the table where Courtney's friends were. As soon as we arrive, Courtney says Hi and then two small boys appear out of nowhere.
"Hi Courtney!" They exclaim, then give her a hug. I am introduced to everyone at the table including the kids, and then we go over and grab some food from the buffet style arrangement. Since there are not tables available in the main room, we head over to a more secluded area and sit ourselves down. The two boys immediately join us at our small table.
"Hi." I say. "What are your names again?"
"Jerome." Says the boy on my right. "I'm ten. I'm making mush, see?" And yes indeed, he is swirling his ice cream around in his bowl, making it into a soft serve consistency.
"Nice, that's how my sister used to eat ice cream. How about you?" I ask, looking towards the smaller kid.
"I'm Nolan. I'm eight years old."
"Ashley has a brother who's eight!" Courtney says to him. "But he lives far away."
"Where?" Nolan asks. "China?"
"Not that far." Says Courtney.
"South America?"
"No."
"Where then?"
"Philomath."
"Where's THAT?" Nolan asks. "Is it very far?"
"It's about two hours south."
"Oh." Says Nolan. "That's not that far." Then Nolan proceeds to spill a drop of ice cream on his shirt.
"Oh no dude! You got a little somethin-somethin on you." I say, pointing. Nolan notes the ice cream, grabs his shirt and brings it up to his mouth. He sucks on it until the ice cream is gone.
"Ahh, much better. You look good now!" I say.
"I can look even better! Hold on a second." And Nolan runs off into the other room. I turn to Jerome.
"What are you doing?"
"Playing Asteroids."
"What's that?"
"It's a game where you fly around space and shoot things."
"Cool. I play Candy Crush sometimes. Do you play that?"
"No, but my mom does!"
"Look!" Nolan returns to the scene and he is now sporting a clip-on tie under the collar of his button-up shirt and a cream-colored fedora.
"Wow! You DO look good!" I say, impressed. Nolan crosses his arms in front of him and drops his chin a little bit. The essence of cool. "I love your hat!"
"Everyone says that." says Nolan.
"That's because it's awesome."
"I know."
"Nolan, do you have any good game recommendations? I play Candy Crush, but I want more games."
"Yeah! Clash of Clams!"
"... did you say Clash of Clams? What is that?" I ask, confused.
"Nooo, Clash of CLANS." He says. "You fight people and make castles and join up with other people playing and raid villages, all my friends at school play it.You should get it and then you could play with them!"
"That's right, me and a bunch of 8-year-olds, battling others for glory."
Nolan giggles.
Courtney brings me a beer and I take it gratefully.
"Do you like beer?" Nolan asks. Jerome is still playing his Asteroid game.
"Yes I do."
"Me too."
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah!"
"When did you have beer?!"
"My dad let me try it! But I don't like Boneyard."
"Yeah, me either, it's an IPA so it's really bitter. You would probably like a pilsner."
"Why?"
"It's lighter and not bitter."
"Ohhh."
"OR," Courtney chimes in, taking an interlude from her adult conversations with her friend, "You would probably like apple cider."
I almost say, "Yeah, hard cider! So good. You would like that." but then I realize that Courtney is trying to get this conversation back under control and stop me from discussing alcoholic beverages with an 8-year-old. So instead I say, "Yes, apple cider is great."
Nolan nods, and Jerome nods too, still looking at his phone. Then Courtney hears someone say something about playing the Chicken Dance. "Yes! Let's play the chicken dance. Do you guys know that song?"
"Yeah!" The both chime. Courtney and I then start singing it and doing the little dance. They follow along.
"Where is the music? I want to dance the Chicken Dance. Are they gonna play it or what?" Courtney says huffily.
I turn to the kids. "What kind of music do you guys listen to? One Direction? Selena Gomez?" Jerome instantly looks up and says, "I like Dr. Who."
"What is that?"
"It's this old BBC show from the 1960's."
".......and.... how do you know about that?"
"My dad showed me." Jerome then opens up YouTube on his phone and starts to play a weird, space themed and electronic song. "This is the theme song from the show, he travels through space in this purple phone box and has all kinds of adventures. This theme song is extended for just one of the episodes in 1963, so it's longer than the normal one" I am baffled. Jerome is staring at the swirling vortex of the purple phone box, which looks like it is traveling through a black hole, as though he's being hypnotized. Peeling my eyes away from the swirling effects, I turn to Nolan.
"And what kind of music do you like? I can bring a song up on my phone if you want."
"LMFAO."
"Nice. What song?"
"LMFAO, I like them."
"Okay, but what song?"
"....LMFAO."
I stare at Nolan. He stares back. "....What about Party Rockers?" I suggest.
"What is that?"
"..... an LMFAO song." This kid does not seem to know what LMFAO is.
"I like classic rock." Nolan says.
"Oh. Why didn't you say that before?"
Nolan shrugs.
"Okay here is a good song, Living on a Prayer."
"What song is that?" Nolan asks. I show it to him. "I've never heard that song."
"Well what song do you know?" I ask, slightly exasperated but amused by this kid.
"ACDC." Oh no, are we going to go through another LMFAO episode? Choose a song, kid!
"Ohh, I like ACDC too! Here's a good song." And I played Shook Me All Night Long. Nolans eyes light up. Thank God, he recognizes it! And not only does he recognize it, he starts dancing. But not just any dancing... we are sitting near a dance floor and Nolan takes full advantage of it by busting some moves and then running and sliding on his knees or on his stomach, then twisting around, standing back up and busting some more moves. I hold my phone out so he can hear the music better, and Courtney is filming the whole scene. "WOOOO!" We shout as Nolan wiggles his hips and kicks up his knees in time with the music. Then suddenly Courtney shouts, "WHERE IS THE CHICKEN DANCE MUSIC?!" I look at her incredulously. I have never heard someone so passionately demanding the chicken dance in my life.
"What is wrong with you?" I ask casually. She shrugs.
"I just want the chicken dance."
"Yeah, I got that."
We then grab some Shirley Temples for the kids and walk outside into the dark and look at the marina where all the boats are. That yacht club was FANCY. But without those two kids there to entertain me all night, it would have been just okay. But those kids were AWESOME. Sometime I have more fun hanging out with kids than adults... though I should really check the settings on my personal censor.
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