Every time I start getting a little drunk, my besties confiscate my phone because they know a drunk me using my phone is not a good idea. And sober me has given them the permission to do so. In fact, I have started many of my Friday nights by giving my bestie these instructions, ‘If you see me using my phone after I am down four drinks, please take it away from me and hide it.’
You guessed it right, I have the habit of drunk texting people… Okay, who am I kidding? I have the habit of texting guys I have a crush on or my ex-boyfriends. Yes, in my mind the most suitable time to start flirting with the guy I find cute and/or to express my emotions to my ex is when I am under the influence of alcohol. Needless to say, most Saturday mornings my hangover is accompanied by regret.
On January 1st, last year, while I was nursing a terrible hangover with a cup of black coffee, my friend casually mentioned, ‘You know, on our way home last night, you said that you messaged Bharat.’
‘No, I didn’t,’ I replied, as I checked all the apps that could be used to send someone messages. I couldn’t find any message. Bharat and I had ended our year long relationship some three years back and hadn’t spoken to each other since then. I was pretty sure there was no way I’d message him. But my friend didn’t look convinced; she told me that she even gave me the wrong password to her wifi so that I don’t do something stupid. With full confidence that I had not done any drunk texting, I went back to my coffee. Suddenly, my phone beeped and guess what? It was a message from Bharat. It just said, ‘Hey, how are you?’
So I guess I did message him and even managed to delete the message… FYI, not only do I message people, I even delete those texts before I get sober! And I have no idea how or why I do this.
But then it’s not that bad every time… More than once, drunk texting has actually proven lucky for me. I did hook up with this rather good looking guy I’d met at my friend’s Diwali party. After that party we’d only had one or two conversations over WhatsApp until that night I drunk texted him. Let’s just say, the morning after, I just had to deal with a mild hangover without any regret. The tragedy is that not all of my drunk texts end up in a booty call.
There are times when I get too emotional and start pouring my heart out through messages. At the receiving end of such emotional rants can be either a friend or an ex. It isn’t much of a problem if it’s a friend because a) most of my closest friends know about my habit, so they know what to do; b) I’ve actually had a rather meaningful conversation once, which started as a drunk text. Of course, there were a lot of weird spellings and auto-corrected words, but then my friend knew what I was trying to say. Thankfully, I didn’t delete that chat history and reading it the next day gave me the reality check that I needed at that time. His affirmative words helped me move on from a rather shitty situation I was in.
The real trouble is when I text my ex… It is something I would like to avoid…but then, drunk me just loves getting sober me in such awkward situations. Once I actually almost started sexting with my ex who’s already married. Somehow, common sense prevailed and I stopped texting.
Actually, I think I am getting better at controlling myself. In the recent days, I have been able to stop myself from texting those whom I should not or cut the chat short before it gets to the point where it might be disastrous. And yes, even my friends have stopped taking my phone away… But if that’s because they trust me or if they have just given up on me is something I’m not sure of!
*Names changed to protect privacy
Images: Shutterstock
