Choose Your Own Adventure: Cinco De Mayo

At the park, your crush is nowhere to be seen as they had “some work stuff to do” this afternoon, before they can really go out and have fun tonight. You are bummed because you probably won’t see them until later — if they decide to come out again. You’re not close enough to text them yet on your own so it’s up in the air.

Sitting down on the blanket your friends have spread out, you open a beer and decide to just enjoy being outside in nice weather with your buddies. As soon as the music starts, you realize that you kind of hate mariachi music. It strikes you how strange it is that no one at this park (aside from the musicians) is actually Mexican but everyone is just appropriating this holiday as an excuse to get wasted. Seems weird.

A couple friends are at this nearby booth painting sugar skulls. You walk over to them and strike up a conversation about how their latest work project is going. It’s been so long since you’ve been able to hang out that you accidentally reference your friend’s ex without knowing they’d even broken up. The mariachi music only adds to your embarrassment, like a weird upbeat soundtrack to your failure to be less self-involved and more in touch with what’s going on with your closest friends. You take another swig of Modelo and start looking at Twitter on your phone.

You see on Twitter that some other friends are going to a Mexican restaurant/bar and so you bid these people goodbye and head off to this bar. Guess there will be no crush hangouts today.

At the bar, your friends are doing tequila shots. You do a bunch out of despair at missing an opportunity to hang out with your crush. You sway your hips a little to the Spanish music someone has put on the bar’s jukebox until someone puts on Selena’s “Dreaming of You.” You take another shot in memory of Selena. Someone else puts on “La Bamba.” You wonder again if this is cultural appropriation.

Your phone buzzes and it’s a text from your crush. They’re sorry they missed you and want to know if you want to come to a roof top party!

Just then, your friends pay their ridiculous tab and start rounding everyone up. They want to go salsa dancing.

You: Go salsa dancing with them or head over to the rooftop party.