Day 4 - Hangover
At eighteen, I was not very experienced with alcohol, and even today I wouldn't count myself as much of a drinker. I have never been objectively hammered, so I only know about hangovers from other people describing them to me. From my own research, I have since learned that MDMA can cause its own brand of hangover. From descriptions on the internet, molly hangovers are a different flavor of misery, much worse than what my friends and I experienced the next day. Apparently we got off easy, because we started out with a relatively small amount to share between the four of us, and we each only dosed once. That is not to say that our morning after was all sunshine and rainbows.
For starters, MDMA dehydrates the absolute fuck out of you. Manu had the right idea when he demanded that we all drink water and Gatorade before rolling, but that kind of sound thinking went out of the window once things took a turn for the group sex. I woke up parched, the inside of my mouth feeling dry and unpleasantly hot. When I got up to grab myself a glass of water, I discovered that my entire body was sore, not unlike the feeling after a long night in the mosh pit. My room mates were no better off; nobody spoke much, but there was much groaning and frequent complaints of thirst, aches, and fatigue. I heard quiet murmurs coming from Kelly and Manu's bed, and then Kelly got up and began to get dressed in her clothes from the night before.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Going down to the kiosk to get some water.”
“Okay.”
As the door shut behind my sister, I rolled over to face Manu.
“There is kiosk around here?”
“Yeah. By the main building.”
We didn't talk any more until Kelly returned with the promised water, as well as a few bags of snacks. We greeted her with subdued enthusiasm. I gratefully took a bottle of water from the shrink-wrapped pack and wasted no time cracking it open and drinking at least half of it in one go. As I set the bottle down to catch my breath, I noticed Kelly sitting on her bed, opening a pack of ballpoint pens.
“Why did you get those?” I asked.
“When I was at the store, I saw they had some stationery items. I remembered you writing in your journal the other day, so I thought I'd write one too.” She held up a pristine ring book.
“Oh nice.” In hindsight, I admit I am somewhat proud that I inspired my older sister to take up one of my favorite habits. This short exchange also got me to dig out my own journal and write down my thoughts and impressions of the night before. I'm looking at that entry right now, and I decided that I wouldn't paraphrase it, but instead just transcribe it verbatim:
“What the fuck? Did last night really happen? This kinda shit only happens in movies. Porno movies. Nerdy white guy sleeps next to his hot lady friend and she wakes him up to fuck. Seriously, that is a porn plot, that does not happen in reality. I saw Kelly get fucked by Manu, just absolutely getting railed. Then we went out to this town, what ever the fuck it's called, did some drugs, partied like an 80s rock band and went home to have sex. Judy just went to town on Kelly's pussy, like it was no big deal. I just came up from behind and we banged doggy style. I just let myself in and she rolled with it, like I was her friendly neighbor coming over for a coffee and a chat. Does ecstasy give you crazy dreams? Or did I actually do that? And I saw Kelly have sex with Manu, just right there in front of us. That was the second time in 24 hours. Guys at school always talk about how they get laid like a rock star, how they can't swing a dead cat without hitting a girl they fucked. Yeah right. They wish they did. They wish they had high as fuck group sex in the Caribbean. Seriously, this is not reality, this is some kind of fantasy land. But we actually did that shit. Not that I'm gonna tell anyone. Would sound mighty weird. 'Hey Kyle, how was your vacation?' 'Oh, it was fantastic. I swam in the ocean, ate this badass Dominican barbecue and went to a night club with my sister and our friends. Then we went to our hotel room and had an orgy. Good times!' Yeah...no.”
My scribbling was soon interrupted by Kelly's voice.
“We should all take a shower. And open a window. When I came back in here I just noticed how everything in here smells like sweat, spit, cum, and pussy juice.”
Her suggestion was met with grunts of agreement and chuckles. She had a point. We were all still sticky with the above-mentioned bodily fluid, and I can imagine that our room smelled none too pleasant. I got up to open the sliding door to the balcony, while my room mates shuffeled into the bathroom. We didn't take turns in the shower because we didn't need to. At this point it should come as no surprise that the showers in this hotel were large enough to fit four adults comfortably. While Kelly and our friends simply stood under the showerhead, letting the warm water wash the fatigue away, I noticed the bottle of massage oil Judy and I had used two nights before. I took it from the little cubby it was sitting in and examined the label to see what scent it was supposed to be. It was all in Spanish, but from what I could glean from the label, it was supposed to smell like campanita. I don't know what a campanita is, but going by the picture I would assume it's a sort of flower. I could be entirely wrong about that, because the oil itself had a creamy aroma, almost like that of chocolate.
“Why is this thing almost empty?” I asked aloud, more to myself than anybody in particular. This elicited a small laugh from Judy.
“It was full when we got to this room,” she remarked after rinsing the shampoo out of her hair.
“No, I'm pretty sure it was already like this when we tried it. Why would they leave an opened...” I tried to retort, but I was interrupted by Manu.
“It's not from the hotel, it belongs to our mamá. She must have left it here when we rearranged the rooms. I imagine her and papá have been sorely missing it.”
“They used half of this on their first day here? How?” I asked. In hindsight I must acknowledge that it was a stupid question, but right that second my mind was still a bit foggy.
“They put it on their salad,” Judy quipped. “What do you think they use it for? They give each other massages, dummy.”
“Normal massages or happy ending massages?” Kelly asked, out of left field.
“Yes,” was all that Judy had to say in response, making the rest of us laugh. It was like we were gradually coming back to life after our rager the night before.
“And when did you say you tried this?” Kelly asked with a grin.
“Oh, you know, I was having some, uh, dry skin. Judy showed me this stuff, and what can I say, it's a fantastic moisturizer,” I answered, trying my best not to laugh. Judy, meanwhile, was cracking up through this entire conversation.
“Gotcha. I figured that's what she was doing yesterday morning, helping you rub it in.”
“No, actually it was the night before,” I answered, then paused. “Wait a minute. You saw us yesterday morning?”
“We saw AND heard you two moisturizing each other,” Manu said, dryly.
“That was the first time I saw somebody else have sex,” Kelly remarked.
“Oh, so you watched us?” Judy asked. At this point we had stepped out of the shower and were drying ourselves off.
“For like thirty seconds,” Manu explained. “Then we turned on the shower, so you couldn't hear us and we wouldn't be distracted by you two. Kind of like a courtesy flush, but for sex.”
“Good thinking,” I complimented them. “I'll have to try that one myself some time.”
“If you give me like ten minutes, I think I'm almost hydrated enough to get wet again,” Judy said with a huge grin on her face. We laughed it off, because none of us actually had the energy or desire to have sex at that moment.
Once dry, I walked out of the bathroom and turned the TV on. As I zapped through the channels, trying to find Cartoon Network or maybe another channel I could understand, I began to feel a familiar pang in my stomach.
“Anybody else hungry?” I asked into the room. The answer was a unanimous “no”, but Judy still urged us to get something to eat:
“We can order from Rafael's. That way we'd at least have something for tomorrow.”
So we ordered. Or, more accurately, Judy ordered for everyone, while the rest of us continued laying around. As we waited for our food, Kelly began to scroll through her phone. She apparently found something good, as evidencced by her letting out a loud laugh before crawling over into our bed to show me.
“When did I do that?” I laughed. “And why?”
“I dunno,” Kelly answered.
The picture on her phone showed Judy holding a bottle of water against her crotch, with me kneeling in front of her like I was about to suck her imaginary dick. Like I said, I didn't remember when we took it. Judging by our surroundings and the amount of clothes the two of us were wearing, it must have been in Cigua the night before.
Once our food arrived, my sister and my friends realized that they actually hungry too, so I didn't have to eat by myself. We spent the rest of the day cuddling and watching a movie. When Kelly brought up that she would like to go to the beach again, it was quickly agreed that we would do so the next day. The sun had barely passed below the horizon when Kelly fell asleep again, and the rest of us soon followed suit. Through the open sliding door, we could hear how the other guests were just warming up to have a good time. We were still feeling the exertion of the night before though, so sleep came easily.
As a whole, the fourth day of our trip doesn't stand out much. And I would have shortened my retelling of it, or even considered leaving it out altogether, if it hadn't been for Kelly's new notebook. If you remember the introduction I wrote for this whole story, which I'm sure you all read, I'm not just using my own journal to write this, but Kelly's as well, with her permission. From her first entry I learned that she was still on the last day of her period when Judy and I observed her and Manu having sex in the bathroom. In her own words:
“Flow was really light, Manu didn't care anyway. Thought it would hurt a little, but felt good actually. I guess it makes for good lube? Sorry not sorry.”
I would keep that in mind from then on. During that time of the month, just put towel down and man the fuck up.
Sten's Notes
MDMA hangovers occur when users take multiple doses over a short period of time, such as one night or a weekend. This results in an ongoing high, which eventually depletes the body's serotonin. While the body has to produce new serotonin, users will often feel depressed or irritable. Common terms for MDMA hangovers are “Blue Monday” or “Tuesday Blues”.
Campanita (cubanola domingensis), also known as tree lily, is a shrub endemic to the Dominican Republic. The fragrance of its flowers is described as similar to that of warm chocolate.
Menstrual blood can function as a natural lubricant during period sex.
