It's Our Time to Shine
We'll Drink And Dance The Night Away.
“There they are!”, Bert burst out in an effort of trying to drown out the loud noise coming from Rock Rock Bar’s music speakers.
The both of us walked over to the table where we found Quinn, Jepha and Dan.
“Hey, what took you guys so long?”, Jepha asked as we approached them.
“Nothin´. Just finished my smoke. And, fuck – that Daigo guy was annoying!”, Bert responded.
“What Daigo guy?”
“Just some random local dude hat kept askin´ me n’ Lina all these stupid questions. Seriously, I wanted to fuckin´ choke him.”
“Screw him, let’s order some drinks”, Quinn suggested, making Bert and med sit down with them.
“What are you drinking?”, I asked Jepha, looking at him with a curious smile.
“Guess twice.”
“Tea? Green tea?”
“Haha, yeah. Didn’t come as a shock, huh? I hardly drink anything alcohol-related, so tea’s the best option for me.”
“Way to go”, I smiled, giving him a dorky ‘thumbs up’ before receiving a small laugh.
“So, guys – what do we want to drink?”, Quinn asked, taking a sip from his Corona beer.
“I don’t know. I think I’ll start with a beer“, Bert answered, scratching the back of his neck.
“Pussy.”
“Fuck you”, he then smirked, bumping into Quinn’s shoulder.
“What about you, Lina? And don’t give me that ‘I don’t have any money’ crap ‘cause I’m buying.”
I smiled and rolled my eyes at my own stupidity just by thinking of all the numerous times I’ve said that line.
Bert had a very convincing look upon his face which made me realize that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Okay, I’ll have a drink. Something sweet, maybe. Vodka with strawberries or something?”, I said, not really giving it much thought.
Now they all started laughing and I didn’t have the slightest idea why.
“Vodka? Lina, that’s not sweet at all. It burns. But seriously, if you want one – sure, that’s fine by me”, Quinn giggled.
“Yeah… Thanks”, I replied, feeling slightly awkward after realizing that I had taken vodka for actually being ‘sweet’.
“You know what? Scratch the beer, I’m going all the way and order vodka too. I have a feelin´ it’s gonna be a long night”, Bert grinned, making Quinn head for the bar to order.
“I can’t wait for your hangover headaches to start kickin´ in tomorrow morning, guys”, Jepha said, having the smirk of an idiot before taking a sip from his cup of tea. “It’ll make my day.”
“Go choke on your tea, dude”, he replied, shaking his head with a giggle.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
“I’m back with the drinks, guys”, Quinn announced, sitting down by the table before placing two large glasses containing nothing more than pure vodka with a hint of strawberries.
“Hey, now that we all have our drinks, why not make a toast?”, Dan asked.
“Good idea, dude. Cheers to us. All five of us”, Jepha said, raising his cup of tea, making the rest of us do the same with our glasses.
During the night, we kept on ordering drinks after drinks by strong encouragement from Jepha who was as sober as he could be.
Quinn and Dan had drunken six beers each before they called it for the night, while Bert and I were drinking vodka as if there was no tomorrow.
“Lina…”, Bert suddenly said, having a hazy look in his eyes as he was trying to focus. “Don’t ever do drugs, okay?”
“What?”
“I mean it – don’t do drugs. They fuck you up.”
“… But I’ve already smoked weed with you guys?”
“Oh, yeah… Fuck, I forgot about that. But that doesn’t kill you. It screws with your mind, yeah, but you won’t die. Just promise me you won’t do drugs, okay? It’s not good for you.”
“Yeah, I promise”, I slurred. I had no idea what Bert was talking about. I’d had too many drinks to understand anything at this point, so nodding to every question seemed like a good way to go right then.
I closed my eyes as I smiled, something I always seemed to be doing when the alcohol was streaming through my veins and going straight to my head.
“I’m gonna get these two so drunk we’ll have to carry them back to the hotel”, Jepha said, getting agreeable nods from Quinn who was constantly sending childish grins to Dan.
All three of them were giggling like little school girls from where they were sitting next to each other by the table.
I figured the several beers, along with Jepha’s green tea, had made an impact on them too.
“I wanna dance”, Bert suddenly whispered, leaning into my ear with an awkward move before getting up from his seat. “Dance with me, Lina.”
“I can’t dance. I suck.”
“Fuck that. I’ve seen you walk – you can dance. And besides, I can’t dance either, but I dance, so I can dance.”
What Bert just said didn’t make any sense at all.
Either I was too intoxicated or he was, neither one of us was sober enough to make anything sound understandable.
“Come on”, he said, reaching his hand out. “Dance with me. Please?”
“Oh, come on, Lina – dance with him. Make him shut up with the nagging”, Quinn encouraged with a asinine smile.
“Fine”, I replied, emptying my glass of strawberry vodka before grabbing Bert’s hand as the both of us staggered to the almost empty dance floor.
Quinn, Jepha and Dan were all now cheering and laughing as they were waiting for me and Bert to start dancing.
“I only know waltz, but I doubt that I’ll get far with that here, so I guess I’ve got nothing. But I have my own dance, though. It’s my drunken dance”, I snuffled, not really knowing what I was saying as I was looking at him.
“Show me your moves, babe, and I’ll show you mine”, Bert replied, snorting like a little girl while rubbing his face.
Without knowing how, I just started dancing – and to be honest, I hadn’t felt as dizzy as the last time I took a roller coaster a couple of years ago.
I went up and down, sliding sideways and jumping while doing arm movements that should’ve been illegal.
“Babe, that was some serious kickass moves!”, Bert grinned, trying to focus on having eye contact with me.
“Now it’s your turn”, I replied.
“You asked for it. Here’s my dance.”
Even before he started dancing, I began to laugh.
It was hilarious to watch him, and all he did was to move his feet a little for then to touch himself all over his body.
Bert let his hand slide up and down his stomach, occasionally pulling his tee so that some skin was being exposed.
“You hot now? I know I am”, he said while cocking his eye, now having a hard time standing up straight.
“Yeah, it’s hot in here. I need something to drink again soon.”
“Dance with me. Let’s dance together.”
“How?”
“Just dance. Come here”, Bert smiled, before pulling me close to me and wrapping his arms around me.
We moved around slowly, hardly lifting our feet up from the floor as our bodies were like glued to each other with no intentions of separating.
“This is great.”
“Yeah, it is”, I replied, resting my head on his chest while listening to the stabile beatings of his heart.
“Have you ever loved someone?”
“What?”
“Like, have you ever loved a person?”
“Of course I have.”
“I mean intimately.”
Even though both Bert and I were heavily intoxicated, I suddenly felt completely sober at that point as I dwelled on his question for a couple of seconds.
“Well”, I started, still resting my head on his chest and taking a deep breath. “There was this guy once. We were best friends and we used to go to church together all the time and do all these crazy stuff when we were hanging out. After a couple of years or so, I realized that I had feelings for him and that I was in love with him. One night, I got really drunk and gathered enough courage to call him. I revealed my secret and told him about my feelings then. I told him that I loved him, but when we wet up 15 minutes or so later, he ignored me. I tried talking to him afterwards when I was sober, explaining him that everything I said was true. But he didn’t have anything to say about it… He just didn’t care. And because of that, I felt that I couldn’t keep on being only friends with him anymore. He didn’t understand that. I told him over and over again that I couldn’t bear the thought of faking that everything was okay when we were hanging out, so I just shut him out. When I did, then he wanted attention again. But I just couldn’t keep on pretending like as if nothing had happened. No, over two years later, I still see him at school where he always makes sure to say hi, just to break my heart over and over again. He still doesn’t get the fact that every time I see him with some new girl that he calls his ‘girlfriend’, I die a little on the inside. It just hurts, Bert.”
“If he were here right now, Lina, I swear to God – I’d kick the fuckin´ hell outta him. He has no idea what he’s missing out on, turning you down like that. That’s just betrayal. And you guys were best friends? Fuck that. I hope he dies and burns in hell.”
I felt a tear running down my cheek at that point before I quickly dried it off.
The alcohol was starting to take its toll on me and my body was as exhausted as it possibly could be now.
“I love you, Lina”, Bert said, squeezing me tight against his body.
“I love you too”, I responded sniffing, listening to the tunes of the loud music that was pumping from the music speakers while filling the entire bar…
The both of us walked over to the table where we found Quinn, Jepha and Dan.
“Hey, what took you guys so long?”, Jepha asked as we approached them.
“Nothin´. Just finished my smoke. And, fuck – that Daigo guy was annoying!”, Bert responded.
“What Daigo guy?”
“Just some random local dude hat kept askin´ me n’ Lina all these stupid questions. Seriously, I wanted to fuckin´ choke him.”
“Screw him, let’s order some drinks”, Quinn suggested, making Bert and med sit down with them.
“What are you drinking?”, I asked Jepha, looking at him with a curious smile.
“Guess twice.”
“Tea? Green tea?”
“Haha, yeah. Didn’t come as a shock, huh? I hardly drink anything alcohol-related, so tea’s the best option for me.”
“Way to go”, I smiled, giving him a dorky ‘thumbs up’ before receiving a small laugh.
“So, guys – what do we want to drink?”, Quinn asked, taking a sip from his Corona beer.
“I don’t know. I think I’ll start with a beer“, Bert answered, scratching the back of his neck.
“Pussy.”
“Fuck you”, he then smirked, bumping into Quinn’s shoulder.
“What about you, Lina? And don’t give me that ‘I don’t have any money’ crap ‘cause I’m buying.”
I smiled and rolled my eyes at my own stupidity just by thinking of all the numerous times I’ve said that line.
Bert had a very convincing look upon his face which made me realize that he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.
“Okay, I’ll have a drink. Something sweet, maybe. Vodka with strawberries or something?”, I said, not really giving it much thought.
Now they all started laughing and I didn’t have the slightest idea why.
“Vodka? Lina, that’s not sweet at all. It burns. But seriously, if you want one – sure, that’s fine by me”, Quinn giggled.
“Yeah… Thanks”, I replied, feeling slightly awkward after realizing that I had taken vodka for actually being ‘sweet’.
“You know what? Scratch the beer, I’m going all the way and order vodka too. I have a feelin´ it’s gonna be a long night”, Bert grinned, making Quinn head for the bar to order.
“I can’t wait for your hangover headaches to start kickin´ in tomorrow morning, guys”, Jepha said, having the smirk of an idiot before taking a sip from his cup of tea. “It’ll make my day.”
“Go choke on your tea, dude”, he replied, shaking his head with a giggle.
“Don’t mind if I do.”
“I’m back with the drinks, guys”, Quinn announced, sitting down by the table before placing two large glasses containing nothing more than pure vodka with a hint of strawberries.
“Hey, now that we all have our drinks, why not make a toast?”, Dan asked.
“Good idea, dude. Cheers to us. All five of us”, Jepha said, raising his cup of tea, making the rest of us do the same with our glasses.
During the night, we kept on ordering drinks after drinks by strong encouragement from Jepha who was as sober as he could be.
Quinn and Dan had drunken six beers each before they called it for the night, while Bert and I were drinking vodka as if there was no tomorrow.
“Lina…”, Bert suddenly said, having a hazy look in his eyes as he was trying to focus. “Don’t ever do drugs, okay?”
“What?”
“I mean it – don’t do drugs. They fuck you up.”
“… But I’ve already smoked weed with you guys?”
“Oh, yeah… Fuck, I forgot about that. But that doesn’t kill you. It screws with your mind, yeah, but you won’t die. Just promise me you won’t do drugs, okay? It’s not good for you.”
“Yeah, I promise”, I slurred. I had no idea what Bert was talking about. I’d had too many drinks to understand anything at this point, so nodding to every question seemed like a good way to go right then.
I closed my eyes as I smiled, something I always seemed to be doing when the alcohol was streaming through my veins and going straight to my head.
“I’m gonna get these two so drunk we’ll have to carry them back to the hotel”, Jepha said, getting agreeable nods from Quinn who was constantly sending childish grins to Dan.
All three of them were giggling like little school girls from where they were sitting next to each other by the table.
I figured the several beers, along with Jepha’s green tea, had made an impact on them too.
“I wanna dance”, Bert suddenly whispered, leaning into my ear with an awkward move before getting up from his seat. “Dance with me, Lina.”
“I can’t dance. I suck.”
“Fuck that. I’ve seen you walk – you can dance. And besides, I can’t dance either, but I dance, so I can dance.”
What Bert just said didn’t make any sense at all.
Either I was too intoxicated or he was, neither one of us was sober enough to make anything sound understandable.
“Come on”, he said, reaching his hand out. “Dance with me. Please?”
“Oh, come on, Lina – dance with him. Make him shut up with the nagging”, Quinn encouraged with a asinine smile.
“Fine”, I replied, emptying my glass of strawberry vodka before grabbing Bert’s hand as the both of us staggered to the almost empty dance floor.
Quinn, Jepha and Dan were all now cheering and laughing as they were waiting for me and Bert to start dancing.
“I only know waltz, but I doubt that I’ll get far with that here, so I guess I’ve got nothing. But I have my own dance, though. It’s my drunken dance”, I snuffled, not really knowing what I was saying as I was looking at him.
“Show me your moves, babe, and I’ll show you mine”, Bert replied, snorting like a little girl while rubbing his face.
Without knowing how, I just started dancing – and to be honest, I hadn’t felt as dizzy as the last time I took a roller coaster a couple of years ago.
I went up and down, sliding sideways and jumping while doing arm movements that should’ve been illegal.
“Babe, that was some serious kickass moves!”, Bert grinned, trying to focus on having eye contact with me.
“Now it’s your turn”, I replied.
“You asked for it. Here’s my dance.”
Even before he started dancing, I began to laugh.
It was hilarious to watch him, and all he did was to move his feet a little for then to touch himself all over his body.
Bert let his hand slide up and down his stomach, occasionally pulling his tee so that some skin was being exposed.
“You hot now? I know I am”, he said while cocking his eye, now having a hard time standing up straight.
“Yeah, it’s hot in here. I need something to drink again soon.”
“Dance with me. Let’s dance together.”
“How?”
“Just dance. Come here”, Bert smiled, before pulling me close to me and wrapping his arms around me.
We moved around slowly, hardly lifting our feet up from the floor as our bodies were like glued to each other with no intentions of separating.
“This is great.”
“Yeah, it is”, I replied, resting my head on his chest while listening to the stabile beatings of his heart.
“Have you ever loved someone?”
“What?”
“Like, have you ever loved a person?”
“Of course I have.”
“I mean intimately.”
Even though both Bert and I were heavily intoxicated, I suddenly felt completely sober at that point as I dwelled on his question for a couple of seconds.
“Well”, I started, still resting my head on his chest and taking a deep breath. “There was this guy once. We were best friends and we used to go to church together all the time and do all these crazy stuff when we were hanging out. After a couple of years or so, I realized that I had feelings for him and that I was in love with him. One night, I got really drunk and gathered enough courage to call him. I revealed my secret and told him about my feelings then. I told him that I loved him, but when we wet up 15 minutes or so later, he ignored me. I tried talking to him afterwards when I was sober, explaining him that everything I said was true. But he didn’t have anything to say about it… He just didn’t care. And because of that, I felt that I couldn’t keep on being only friends with him anymore. He didn’t understand that. I told him over and over again that I couldn’t bear the thought of faking that everything was okay when we were hanging out, so I just shut him out. When I did, then he wanted attention again. But I just couldn’t keep on pretending like as if nothing had happened. No, over two years later, I still see him at school where he always makes sure to say hi, just to break my heart over and over again. He still doesn’t get the fact that every time I see him with some new girl that he calls his ‘girlfriend’, I die a little on the inside. It just hurts, Bert.”
“If he were here right now, Lina, I swear to God – I’d kick the fuckin´ hell outta him. He has no idea what he’s missing out on, turning you down like that. That’s just betrayal. And you guys were best friends? Fuck that. I hope he dies and burns in hell.”
I felt a tear running down my cheek at that point before I quickly dried it off.
The alcohol was starting to take its toll on me and my body was as exhausted as it possibly could be now.
“I love you, Lina”, Bert said, squeezing me tight against his body.
“I love you too”, I responded sniffing, listening to the tunes of the loud music that was pumping from the music speakers while filling the entire bar…
♠ ♠ ♠
yup, the story about my formal best friend is true.i see him almost every day and, yes, it kills me
every time i see him with his girlfriend.
i love him and hate him all at the same time.
therefore, writing the pain away has always been my escape. <3
i just hope you guys like what you read. (:
xo,
lina.