You’re three drinks in.
Faces are losing their recognition but it’s the same crowd as usual. No one will notice you missing so you grab a bottle from the kitchen on the way to the basement.
It’s a going away party for your kid to get their masters. Same as when they were accepted to college, graduated high school, made varsity, and the like. It doesn’t feel any different than before. Of course, you’re not going to be an asshole and not congratulate for succeeding in life but fuck, who cares anymore?
You abandon your heels once you reach the ground floor. It’s cool and quiet as opposed to the claustrophobic, hot noise upstairs. No more pretending.
The bottle’s almost empty.
You don’t need to be the perfect mom, wife or woman down here. You can let out your zipper and peel off your shapewear, rub the back of your hand through your makeup-covered face and sob freely. No one there to whisk you into another room with a fake excuse, no haunting rumors trailing behind your back.
Down here, you can drop a glass and ring your maid to clean it up… so you do.