In case you haven’t read my previous stories, I’ll fill you in on a few things here:

1.) Joey bartends for a place called The Asylum – possibly the most popular bar in town. Every Monday and Friday, they have what they call “Free Food”, and it’s pretty self-explanatory. You show up at 6:00, you order yourself a drink, and you grab a plate of free food. Best. Thing. Ever.

2.) I have a crush on Ryan.

At 5:30 on Monday afternoon, I headed down to Asylum for Free Food, and found myself getting hit on by two creepy old guys sitting at the bar. “You got a man? My girl’s in jail!” I did my best to humor them for a minute, while Joey’s going, “Brittany, what do you want?” Um, you. I mean, a Raspberry Wheat. Finally managed to escape with beer in hand, and found David, Jay, and Ryan’s girlfriend (oh crap) sitting outside on the back patio. They all yelled “Hey Brittany!” while I made some witty comment about apparently being too beautiful for the men in this town to handle. At least both boys at my table agreed. Ryan showed up shortly after, pulling a chair up next to mine. After some chat about the day’s tours, Ryan, Jay & Mary starting making funny hand-gestures and sound effects in rhythm to a story that David was telling me. Something about an animated movie where a little boy is playing in a stream in the woods and his toy breaks and he asks his dad to fix it and his dad says “Yes, we’ll fix it later.” And then his dad pulls him out of the woods and then aliens show up and the father hands his son to an alien and says “I have to go on another ship. It’s going to be okay.” And the little boy is crying and “THAT’S JUST THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES OF THE MOVIE!” I literally had no idea what the fuck was going on, but the way Ryan, Jay and Mary were laughing – this must happen a lot. Mary eventually was just like, “David, she doesn’t want to hear any more of your stories! She’s just too nice to say so.” Fair enough.

Devon showed up next, giving me a smile and a pat on the shoulder. After one of the stories I had read about him, I was slightly afraid that he was gonna be a dick, but he absolutely is not. Quite the opposite, actually. He couldn’t find a chair to sit on, so he made use of a keg instead, saying “I’d tap that!” Despite being there for free food, I made the mistake of not eating really anything (one jalapeno popper from Jay’s plate and one grilled-pork-bite-thing that Mary handed me – God damnit I could not even hate her if I tried), though splitting a pitcher of the Summer Ale with David. I had run into Danielle earlier in the day and gave her my number, wanting to invite her to a bonfire that my friends were having later on that evening. She texted me now, however, to say that she had sliced her finger on broken glass at work and spent the day in the ER. Poor girl. She thanked me for the invitation, but assured me that she wouldn’t be back in time to make it to the bonfire. Which is a shame, because -- as mentioned earlier, I was aching for some girl time.

Out of nowhere, I found myself being rushed out of the place by Devon and Jay, who informed me that we were gonna sail to the bonfire (while the others drove). We sailed for about three minutes on a zodiac boat before docking again next to our friends’ sailboats. Not really sure what happened – but apparently, the original plan of boating to the fire was a no-go. Met up with Sarah – Devon’s girlfriend. They are totally adorable. Somebody had the great idea of stopping by the liquor store to get more to drink – and needless to say, that’s where I got myself into trouble. Note to self – drinking on an empty stomach is a b.a.d. idea. Jay and I walked back up to the apartment for a bit while Devon and Sarah went…somewhere. In search of our ride, maybe? Really couldn’t tell ya. Jay and I blasted the Pirate Radio soundtrack from Sam’s computer, while singing along and people-watching out Joey’s window. At some point, when I wasn’t paying attention, he grabbed me from behind and tackled me onto the bed. Pretty sure that’s also when he looked and me and said “I’m just gonna keep hitting on you, you know.” I rolled my eyes and said, “I know.” Eventually got word from Devon, and we caught a ride to the bonfire with…Katherine? I think? Don’t really remember how we know her.

This bonfire was awesome. I mean, what else would you expect about a fire on an Alaskan beach? All the Ketchikan Seasonals were there – a huge group of young people fulfilling their dreams of escaping the real world. At least, that’s how I see it. I so wanna be one of them. I managed to lose Jay the second we got there, and later found out that he took a dip in the ocean. Not at all surprising. Next thing I know, David’s pulling me away from the group into the darkness, wanting to make out. Yeah, that didn’t last long. Definitely took a tumble on the rocks while running away from him, which could explain the big-ass bruise that showed up my knee a few days later. I’m hoping nobody saw it. Met a girl named Kate – another seasonal who I believe works with Devon at the kayaking place. She and I exchanged numbers and made plans to go hiking the next day (though never actually happened due to the fact that she got called into work). There was cake at some point. Not sure where it came from, but it was delicious. Also know that I tackled Ryan in a bear hug at some point, while he’s going “Who’s this? Oh hey!” Pretty sure I did the same to Joey about two seconds later. He’s the one that ended up driving us – Ryan, Sam, and I – home and put us to bed.