You're Not Lost

That night as Elizabeth lay in bed, she went through a roller coaster of emotions.

A part of her was still nervous. What had Janie's friends thought of her...What were they saying about her now that she was gone. And why was Janie drinking? She only had one drink, and it didn't seem to affect her much, but she had never mentioned drinking to Elizabeth before. Elizabeth had heard stories of Amish kids her age sneaking off in the night to go and drink, and the result was usually someone getting hurt or in big trouble. She was concerned for her cousin and she made a mental note to confront her about it soon.

But another part of her was excited. She had never done anything like that before. Janie's friends were indeed strange, but at the same time they all seemed so...carefree. A few of them might have come off as a bit rude, but Elizabeth thought they were just being honest. It was actually a little fun to be around those kind of people, despite the fact that most of the night was dedicated to her answering some bizarre questions.

She replayed the night over and over again in her head until sleep finally hit her.

--

"I hope you don't mind me dragging you around the next couple of days, but I took off the whole week from work to show you around!" Janie smiled at Elizabeth from across the kitchen table.

"I don't mind. I forgot you had to go to work, actually."

Elizabeth shrugged, while stirring the odd looking breakfast cereal and milk in the bowl in front of her. She had completely forgotten Janie's stories about her job at a nearby supermarket.

"I'll have to take you there sometime. It's boring, but I'll bet you've never seen anything like it."

Janie took a spoon full of her own cereal and pressed a few buttons on her cell phone.

"You sure are on your cell phone a lot..."

Janie looked up, surprised.

"What? Oh, yeah! Sorry, it's a bad habit. I was just talking to Zack."

She pushed her phone to the side to give Elizabeth her full attention once more.

"You were...talking to him? How...?"

Elizabeth made a face indicating she was confused. At the same time she set her spoon down into the bowl. She decided that she had enough of the sugary sweet puffs that were now soggy with milk.

"Yeah, I was texting him."

She replied simply. Elizabeth nodded. Janie had explained texting to her before, and while she was still not completely clear on the definition, she understood the gist of it. Many English things seemed a bit pointless to her, but she rarely questioned them.

"What did he say?" She asked, avoiding an awkward silence that seemed to be creeping in.

"He wants us to go see his band play tonight. Do you want to go?"

Elizabeth stayed quiet. She honestly didn't know the answer to that.

"It will be fun. It'll be just like last night, only it will be indoors at a bar somewhere. And there won't be a fire, but there will be music, and more people."

Elizabeth shrugged once more. Janie had a way of making things sound interesting but not giving too much away. It always left Elizabeth feeling curious.

"Alright."

"Yay! I'll tell them we'll be going. They'll be happy to see you again."

The thought of everyone from last night reminded Elizabeth of something.

"Janie, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course!"

"I couldn't help but notice that last night you were drinking...Do you do that...a lot?"
She tried not to sound judgmental as she spoke.

Janie only smiled, not taking any offense to the question.

"Not really. I've only ever been drunk three times. It's fun to drink with friends. It's not like we're going around doing bad things when we drink, it's just for fun." Janie tried her best to reassure her cousin that everything was ok.

"Aren't you too young to be drinking? I mean, since you told me not to tell your mom, I thought..." Elizabeth trailed off. She didn't know what she thought. This was all very new to her.

"Well I have two more years before I'll be allowed to drink. But I figure, why wait? As long as your careful and don't get behind the wheel of a car, I say do what you want." Janie grinned.
Elizabeth still felt uneasy.

"Alright...I'm just concerned for you, Janie. That's all."

Janie stood up to giver her cousin a hug.

"I know you are. And I appreciate it very much!"

Nothing else was said about the issue and Elizabeth hoped it wouldn't come up again.

--

Later on that Saturday night, there was a sight to be scene at X Club; a local bar off of Main Street.

Elizabeth, in her typical Amish attire, bonnet and all, was perched on an old leather bar stool in between Janie and Jill.

Jill was dressed quite nice, but a little too revealing in Elizabeth's opinion. She had on a low cut, black, sleeveless top, and short white shorts. She wore a lot of silver jewelry, including a ring in her nose. Her long hair was down and framing her pretty, made-up face.

Janie's look was not too far off from Jill's, the only differences being her green top was not as low cut, and instead of shorts she had on a pair of black, tight looking jeans. Both girls wore flip flops and were attracting a lot of male attention.

Elizabeth was attracting attention too, but not for the same reasons.

"Jill's trying to flirt with this bar tender so he'll give us free drinks without ID-ing us."
Janie whispered. Elizabeth barely understood what any of that meant but she nodded anyway.

"C'mon, our friend came all the way from Amish country, don't you think that deserves a round of shots?!"

Jill giggled as the bar tender playfully rolled his eyes. He was tall, tan, and had dark shaggy hair that fell into his eyes. He looked to be in his late 20's, and Elizabeth couldn't help but admire him a bit.

"Well maybe," The bar tender leaned both his elbows on the bar and studied the three girls before him. "That depends, are you really Amish? Or do you just wear this outfit out to try and get free drinks?"

He let out a laugh at his own joke while Jill quickly laughed along as well.

"Oh no... I'm really Amish." Elizabeth could feel a blush creeping on her cheeks.

"I've never seen an Amish person in a bar before, are you sure you're not lost?" He winked as he set three shot glasses down on the bar. He spun around to grab a bottle. Jill flashed her two friends a grin and a thumbs up while his back was turned.

"She's not lost, she's my cousin!" Janie replied, as the man spun back around.

"So does that make you part Amish?" He joked again. Janie laughed.

"I don't think it works like that." She grinned.

"What's your name?" Jill asked, as all three of them watched a dark liquid pour out of a large, glass, square bottle and into the tiny glasses.

"My name's Greg, what's your name?" He smiled. Jill returned it.

"My name's Jill. That's Janie, and this is Elle."

"Pretty names for pretty ladies! So Miss Elle, do the Amish like whiskey?"

"I, um...I don't know..." She muttered, nervously playing with the strings of her bonnet.

"Well, here's a free sample!" Greg laughed again and pushed the shots towards the anxious girls. Jill happily grabbed hers and downed it in a heartbeat, almost as if she were afraid he would take it back.

Janie picked hers up and held the glass to her lips before she noticed Elizabeth. She was staring at the shot looking very apprehensive.

"It'll be alright, Elle. It's only one shot of liquor. It might burn going down, but you'll feel good after."
That being said, Janie tilted her head back until her shot glass was empty.

Elizabeth was really weighing her options here. She could pass up on the shot, and sit quietly at the bar all night while she watched her cousin and her friends have fun. Then at the end of the summer she would return home feeling the same, lost and unhappy.

She decided that was enough thinking. A nervous hand brought the glass up to her lips, and she tilted her head back just as Janie had. The liquid tasted putrid and she was tempted to spit it out the second it hit her tongue. She made a face as she felt a burning trail go down her throat and into her stomach. She began to cough until Greg passed her a glass of water.

"Easy there, guess the Amish aren't too keen on liquor."

He winked at Jill who smiled back. Elizabeth shook her head as she waited for the liquor to work and make her feel good.

In a flash Greg had concocted a new, regular sized drink consisting of a juice and three more types of bottles, this time containing clearer liquids. He passed the pink tinted drink to Elizabeth, who looked to Janie once more.

"Ooh, that looks good! Try it!" She urged. Jill agreed. Slowly, Elizabeth sipped the drink. This time, however, she was pleasantly surprised.

"Oh! It's good!" She said in delight. Greg smiled, seemingly proud of himself, as he made up two more of the same thing.

"Enjoy, girls." He passed them each a matching drink before heading to new customers on the other side of the bar.

"Jill, you are too good at getting free drinks." Janie laughed. Elizabeth laughed as well.

"Wait till the guys hear about this one!" Jill laughed. As if on cue, the music that was playing from a stereo had stopped and a voice echoed through a microphone. Elizabeth stared over at the small stage that was a few feet away. She was already mesmerized and the band hadn't even began to play.

"Hi everyone, we're All Time Low...ready to hear some songs?"

Alex asked the fairly medium sized crowed that filled the club. The was a bit of cheering, mostly by Janie and Jill, and then the band began to play.

Elizabeth recognized everyone on stage as Janie's friends from the previous night. She watched as lights flashed and people danced and clapped along. She wouldn't admit it, but that night she really didn't see what all the fuss was about- the 'music' only sounded like noise to her. It was very loud, almost inaudible. She didn't mind it though, and despite what she heard, what she was seeing was really making up for it. Alex was singing and playing a guitar different from any kind of guitar she had seen before. Jack and Zack were hopping around with their own instruments like they couldn't stand still, while Rian beat away at a drum set like she hadn't even seen! It was different and outrageous and magnificent all at once!

"This is...incredible..."
She spoke, unaware that she had already finished half her drink. She was beginning to feel like she was in a dream.

"Aren't they good!?" Janie asked, bobbing her head along with the music.

One more songs later, Greg had made his way back to the girls.

"Guess the Amish do like liquor!" He yelled over the music. Elizabeth only smiled.

"It always helps to have a hott bar tender!" Jill grinned. Greg smirked.

"You girls want another?"