elixir

elixir, n.

Being seventeen and drunk for one of the first times in my life was electric. Every feeling was amplified and, unlike in sobriety at that particular age, every feeling was radiant and positive. I stood on the balcony of my friend Janet’s parent’s house at the top of the Saratoga hills looking down on the illuminated Silicon Valley below me, swaying to nonexistent music, and redirecting my gaze of admiration between the view of the my home cities to the ridiculously sweet concoction in my hand. Sour apple vodka and strawberry margarita mix, blended, most likely. I turned back towards the house which, on this side of the mountain, was almost entirely windows and offered me the view of my amateur alcoholic friends dancing around in various rooms with various articles of clothing missing. We had never been so in love with ourselves and with each other as we had been since we started experimenting with candy-flavored substances during our final year of high school.