Chapter 1: How the Hell Did We End Up Here?

“I have had a pretty interesting college experience, I think, but this really takes the cake for weird,” I said. I was seated on the floor in the hallway of a college dorm and it was around 1 AM on Sunday morning. It was the weekend before graduation and parties were in full swing across campus.

“Yeah, you’re telling me, how the fuck did we even end up here?” Janelle asked. She was slumped on the floor opposite me. I thought her question over. It had been a long road.

It really began somewhere during my sophomore year of college when I was working as a mover. I had grown up solidly upper middle class and I liked dipping my toe into a true blue collar working environment. The owner made us wear pants rather than shorts which sucked, but other than that he was a good guy. He liked to joke the only thing I was majoring in at college was Jack Daniels (he was not entirely wrong). I liked feeling like part of the crew, and the pay wasn’t bad for a teen.

It didn’t hurt that when I got back to campus after summer break for my sophomore year, one of my best friends had commented how ripped I looked in a plain white t-shirt. Compliments from girls are always nice, but when your bro is noting you look like a transformed man, that really helps the self-confidence. Knowing I had put in the work hauling furniture in the sweltering heat of summer also didn’t hurt - I knew I had earned my physique.

My girlfriend Haley also liked that I did manual labor during the summer and had shown her appreciation in ways that were extremely enjoyable for a teenage guy. My parents didn’t know about that part but they knew I had a bit of an infatuation with good old Collins Moving & Storage and were determined to ‘put me on the right path’ instead of working another summer as a mover. Their offer was that I would participate in my university’s summer study abroad program. Eight weeks in Spain, all expenses paid, and I could knock out two courses which would put me halfway to a Spanish minor.

It was an offer too good to turn down and before I knew it I was on a flight to Madrid. I had made a plan with a couple of people I knew were coming from other parts of the US to link up at Barajas. I landed first and was pleased with myself that I tracked them down before they even knew where they were. A two-and-a-half hour train ride to Sevilla’s Santa Justa station later and we were at our destination. Then it was just a short taxi ride (this was all before rideshares) with my new roommate to the Villegas y Marmolejo district to meet our host mother. She was a Spanish lady in her 60s and didn’t speak more than ten words of English. Luckily her son was home from college and helped us get settled.

The 20 of us studying abroad were a close-knit group, I made many friends that summer and many great memories. However it seemed like three of us always ended up hanging out together at the end of the night when we went out as a group. One was a mild-mannered guy from Florida named Adrian, he was a year younger than me and always thought I got funnier as the night went on, which endeared him to me; everybody likes to think they’re funny when they’ve been drinking. The other was a blonde girl from Texas named Madison. I honestly don’t even remember where it started but we clicked immediately. We had shared interests, the same sarcastic sense of humor, and we both felt like we had undercooked our first two years of college and needed to catch up in the partying department. I considered myself Type A, but Madison put me to shame in the organization and control departments. I sort of made it my mission for the trip to get her to loosen up and Adrian was my willing accomplice. Back at school I was usually the one looking out for my friends when we went out drinking, so I liked leaning into being the shit stirrer instead of being the responsible one. Adrian was always there to rein me in if I went too far.