Kate was absolutely sloshed. I had to help her to the car even. Knowing that I would have to drive I made sure to take it easy and only had a few beer.... Ali was certainly feeling good, not hammered but certainly not sober. We headed home and Kate was basically asleep. We sat in silence for a bit then Ali spoke. “Hey Mike, are you going to bed when we get home or are you down to have a few more drinks?” My heart stopped. I couldn’t believe she was actually the one initiating something. I. "I waited until we were in the van and on our way out of the car park before I responded. "Don't feel too bad girls we've got plenty of time, the rest of our lives in fact."A quick visit to the closest bottle shop for two slabs of Vic Bitter, two bottles of whisky, brandy, vodka and bourbon plus the necessary mixers took fifteen minutes. It took another five to clear the town before I finally relaxed and held up my hand to take 'High Fives' from Anne and Meredith."You know what we're gonna do?". “By the end of the second day, I was wondering how it was that such a great country described in those magazines came to the miserable state that it was in. I was sad. I was angry. Hell, I was disgusted. I actually considered running away to see what else I could discover about the past glories of this country, but I knew what would happen to me if I did.“I grabbed a book and stuffed it into my backpack to read at home. I had picked it at random without really looking at the cover.”“What was. " That I can promise," I said laughing a bit."Or men for that matter," she said smiling, "have a good night."As I walked back to the dorms I felt strange. Part of me felt good, but another part felt sort of excited. I told myself it was nothing, that she and I could be just friends.A couple of days passed and I talked to Maria online but did not see her in person. I really did feel a connection with her when we texted each other. I was hoping she and I could just be friends.A couple of after.