My name is Joey, and I’m currently a junior at Columbia University in New York. I have been learning about aerospace engineering since I was a freshman in high school. I have been such a huge nerd about space since I was a young boy. I used to be able to tell you the names of all 95 moons surrounding Jupiter. I loved the idea of going to space, and I just can’t resist it anymore. I’m bringing my best friend Mikey with me on a trip to the moon launch at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. We plan to fly in later today for the launch that is happening in two days. I’m bringing all of my notes to the event to see if everything I have learned in the past seven years is really true. Mikey is going to be at my house in a couple of minutes to leave for the JFK airport. The cool December air numbed my face as I sat on the stoop outside of my apartment building.

“Joey!” Mikey yelled from the backseat of his friend Kia. “Are you excited, bro?”

“Of course, dude, I’ve been waiting for a chance like this for my whole life!” I replied excitedly. 

"Come, wait out here; our Uber should be here in about two minutes.”

 Our driver, Krish, let us out of his blue Honda at gate C. Quickly, we headed to our TSA precheck, where we were scanned for anything illegal. Neither of us had any large suitcases to check because we were only going for 3 days.

“Damn it!” Mikey sighed. “I forgot my toothbrush on the counter in my bathroom."

“It’s fine; there’s a CVS across the street from our hotel,” I exclaim.

"Oh, good,” he replies.

“Dude! Hurry up!” I yell, “We can’t waste time buying bagels when our flight leaves in 22 minutes!”

"Chill, bro, we’re fine,” Mikey explained. “I got you a bagel too. Don’t worry. We should just enjoy the trip and not stress.”

We run to gate 122 and board with group 4. We bought seats in economy plus because we’re both very large. I’m six feet four, and Mikey is six feet four. Mikey fell asleep for most of the flight while I was enjoying watching a pair of movies, including one of my favorites. I watched The Outsiders and my new favorite movie, Pixels. I always loved Pixels, but for some reason this time watching it was an absolute blast. Since we sat in economy plus, we got some extra perks that came with our seat. I got a full can of Dr. Pepper and got an extra Coke for Mikey when he wakes up. They also offered the biggest scam of all time. To buy the little snack box, it was $22. All that was in it was a pack of pretzels and Chex mix. I could get that at a convenience store for $5.

“How’d you know that Coke was my favorite soda?” Mikey asked sleepily.

“Dude, we’ve been best friends for 12 years; how would I not know?" I replied.

I decided to mess around with the screen on the seat in front of me because the boredom was really getting to me.

“Hey, man!” the large man in front of me exclaimed, “quit messing with my chair before I knock your face in!"

“Alright, I’m sorry, sir,” I replied cowardly.

He was a really big guy, and I did not want him to hurt me before my big weekend. The rest of the flight was really boring. We got a good picture of the skyline of Orlando, but that was all that was interesting. The tires finally landed on the runway, meaning that we were finally here. The flight was longer than I expected, and we still have to go through security. We weren’t going to be at the hotel until 6 or so. Our hotel was about half a mile from the launch site, so we planned to drive past it.

“I think we should get dinner at Smokey’s Bar and Grill,” Mikey randomly exclaimed. “It has really good reviews.” 

“Alright, I’m starving; I’d have anything,” I replied.

"Yo, I’m going to order an Uber to the hotel,” Mikey exclaimed.

“Alright bet!” I replied excitedly.

The Uber driver’s name was Jose, which is also the name of our professor at Columbia. There were so many people at the airport. Orlando Airport is commonly referred to as the most populated airport in the United States. Now I understand why.

A white Tesla pulled up next to the airport pickup area, and a tall Indian man stepped out of the car. He opened the trunk for Mikey and me to put our suitcases in.

Then he says with a very strong accent, “To the Marriott sirs?"

“Yes sir!” Mikey answers.

The ride down was quite pleasant. The car was super clean, and it seemed really expensive. I was confused as to why he was being an Uber in such a nice car.

Eventually, we arrived at the hotel, and a very pretty lady was at the front desk. She had straight brown hair and perfect green eyes.

She exclaims, “Are you Joey Smith?”

"Yes, I am,” I reply in awe. “You are so pretty, by the way.”

“Thank you so much!” she replies. “You are very handsome as well.

“Should I ask her to dinner?” I whisper to Mikey.

“It’s up to you,” he whispers back.

I look back up at her and ask, “When do you get off your shift? Would you like to get dinner with me?”

“I get off in 30 minutes, actually,” she replies. “I have dinner plans with one of my friends. If she can join us, then I will go with you guys.”

“Is she single?” Mikey asks.

“Yes, very single. She complains about it all the time,” she replies.

“Is she pretty, at least?” Mikey asks.

“I think she is,” the pretty lady replies.

“I never caught your name,” I say.

“It’s Alexa,” she explains. “What’s yours?” 

“It’s Joseph, but most people call me Joey,” I reply. “Let me get your number, and I can text you the time and address.

“Lucky man,” he exclaims.

We headed to the bar, and the girls were there waiting for us. One was wearing a blue dress, and the other was wearing a pink shirt and jeans. They wanted to get a few shots of alcohol before we got our food.

“We’ll take 16 shots of whiskey,” the pretty girl’s friends told the bartender.

"Dude, 16 is a lot,” Mikey whispered to me.

“I know, I’ve never really had any alcohol before,” I replied.

“Just act cool; they’re so pretty, and we can’t look like losers.”

I had two shots in front of the girls, so I could look like I had done this before.

“Why are you guys down here?” Alexa asked.

“We’re going to see the rocket launch tomorrow,” I replied proudly.

“Very cool,” Alexa’s friend Ava exclaimed.

Alexa and Ava giggled together, and we just continued having shots. I was about 4 shots down, and it finally caught up to me. I could no longer walk in a straight line.

“Hey guys, we want to go see the launch tonight,” Alexa giggled.

“Sure,” Mikey replied.

Mikey was way more sober than I was. He only had one or two drinks while I was like six.

“Oh my god, there’s still 3 shots left,” Ava cried.

“I’ll have them,” I said regretfully.

I really took Mikey's word to heart when he said, Act like you’ve done this before.

“Oh my god, Joey, you’re so sweet. Thank you for finishing off the shots for us.”

Everything was blurry, and I could no longer think straight. I knew drinking would be a bad idea, but I didn’t expect to be this drunk.

“Hey Mikey, can you drive us to the rocket launch?” Alexa questioned.

“Of course,” Mikey responded.

We drove over there, and Mikey was telling the girls how we wanted to go to space one day and that we wanted to end up going inside a rocket one day. Eventually, we arrived at the launch base. Everything was blocked off by caution tape and do not pass signs. 

“Joey, since it’s your dream to go on a rocket, why don’t you sneak onto the ship?" Ava asked.

“Good point,” I replied.

I had no idea what was going on, and the alcohol really messed with my decision-making. I broke through the caution tape and hustled down towards the ship.

“Joey! No!” Mikey cried as I busted through the tape.

The girls just laughed as I almost made it to the rocket. Little did I know that the entire ship would be surrounded by police officers. 

“Hey! Why is there a man by the ship?” One of the officers yelled in his broken English.

Immediately after, I was being chased by seven or eight police officers. Soon after, I was caught. They beat me to the ground and put me in handcuffs.

"Sir, what do you think you are doing?” One of the officers asked

"Uhhhh, I don’t know." I replied.

"Sir, are you under the influence of drugs?"

“Of course not!” I replied.

They could tell that I was drunk based on the way I was wobbling.

“Boom!”

“He’s out cold!” The guard yelled.

"Phil, put him in your car and take him to the hospital immediately! The sergeant commanded.

“Yes sir!”

I woke up in the hospital with Mikey and Phil, the police officer, by my side.

“Where am I?” I questioned myself when I woke up.

“In the hospital,” Phil replied, “you had a BAC of 0.22.”

“Woah!” I replied, “that’s almost life-threatening.

“Do you know anything about what happened a couple of hours ago?” Phil asked.

“No."

"Well, you ran out onto private property and tried to get on an active rocketship."

“I don’t remember that."

“Of course you don't; you had way too much to drink.”

“At least I’m ok.”

"Yeah, that is true, but we will have to fine you.”

“Oh no! How much!”

“Your friend Mikey told me that you aren’t from around here, so we can’t give you community service,” Phil exclaimed.

“So how much do I have to pay?” I asked nervously.

“$2500”

"Ugh, I barely have enough money to pay for groceries.”

"Well, you have to pay for this. I expect to be billed within a week from today, or the interest on this will skyrocket,” Phil cried.

“Ok.” 

“Enjoy the rest of your trip and make smarter decisions next time. You could get yourself into a lot of trouble."

“Thank you, sir; I surely won’t drink ever again."