Nausea

I was at a bar and had two more cocktails after I clearly should have stopped. I left, stopped by a taco truck, and ate the mushroom burrito I bought on my walk home. I got back to my apartment around 3 am, brushed my teeth, put on my Invisalign retainers, threw my clothes on the floor, and got in bed. I looked at the ceiling. The room was spinning. My head was throbbing. I didn’t feel quite right, and I thought, I know I could fall asleep, but I also know I could vomit. I have the power to decide.

So, out of respect for my tomorrow, I dragged myself back to the bathroom and knelt over the toilet bowl until I was successful at ejecting some toxins and their bystanders. Nice to see you again, burrito con hongos. I’ll chew you better next time.

There was something about that moment that made me very self-conscious—my head in the toilet bowl, vomiting, staring at the food and drink I spent a fortune on, feeling terrible, not laughing anymore. How did this happen? Have I no self-control? What would my parents think if they saw me in this state?

And then, in what may have been either genuine bashfulness or a drunk attempt by my subconsciousness to lighten the mood, I was reminded who had front-row seats to this whole ordeal: my Invisaligns. I had this questionably serious thought about them: I hope they’re not judging me.