Counting Down The Days To Go

“ Zzzz. Zzzzz. Zzzzz.”

Something was moving around under my head, and making an awful noise. It made my ear throb along with its vibration. I tried to search around for the stupid thing that was waking me up from my peaceful slumber and my hand enclosed around a small rectangular object that just won’t stop vibrating.

I pried open my heavy eyelids and saw that it was my phone. My vision was blurry and my head was throbbing to a dull, heavy beat. I blindly pressed a button and pressed the phone to my ear.

“Hello?” I said groggily. My mind was still not functioning well and I had a queasy feeling in my stomach and throat; the feeling that I always have before I was going to puke. It must have been all the alcohol that I consumed last night.

“Crystal? Hey, can you do me a favor and give me Amanda’s number? It’s really important,” A male voice said on the other side of the phone.

“You are?”

“Mike. Remember?”

Oh. So it was him. Asking for Amanda’s number eh? He must be trying to call her to officially hook up with her, only to find out that he doesn’t have her number. So who else does he ask but the ugly best friend?

“I’d text you her number.” I whispered, hoping that my voice would not betray the whirlpool of negative feelings I was feeling, and hanged up on him. Call me a bitch but I’m having a hangover from hell and thinking about Amanda and Mike and what happened last night was so not the first thing I want to do today.

I quickly scrolled through my contacts and found Amanda’s number. Swiftly in a few seconds, my nimble fingers managed to send her number to Mike even though my head was still in pain. After all, we wouldn’t want to keep her future-boyfriend No.35 waiting, do we?

****

After that little call from Mike, I napped for awhile more and woke up about an hour later. Thank God I didn’t puke or anything because my stomach felt way better then when I woke up for the first time this morning. I took a long, hot bathe just to wash all the stress of the previous week away and changed into fresh clothes.

My stomach growled so I decided to prepare some lunch for myself . Just as I was heating up some leftovers from the previous night, my phone started vibrating madly on the counter.

Glancing at the caller I.D, I saw Amanda’s name flashing on the small screen. She probably called to tell me about her and Mike.

“Congratulations,” I said, not bothering to say hi.

“Huh? Why are you congratulating me? You mean you know?” Amanda’s puzzled voice answered me.

“Yupp. Totally. Your darling Mike woke me up from my slumber just to ask me for your number,” I said bitterly. Knowing Amanda, she probably wouldn’t know that I was using my ‘bitter voice’.

“My darling Mike? Hold up! What the hell are you talking about? Here I am, sitting on the toilet bowl with my heart completely broken and you are spouting nonsense over the other end!” Amanda screeched into my sensitive ears.

“Lower you volume Amanda. Aren’t you and Mike together now?”

“Together my foot! Would you listen to my story? I don’t know what the hell you heard but it's so not the truth. Last night, right after I told you that I might like have a crush on Mike or something, I tried to confess my feelings to him. At first he was like totally cool and stuff. But I thought he was playing hard to get. I thought it was nothing, you know? Maybe he was just fine, I thought.” Amanda paused.

“So we danced for a bit and drank a few drinks. But then I got woozy like I usually get when I’m almost drunk, you know? So I was like asking him if he wanted to go sit down. We sat down at first and I’m like bolder when drunk so I started sitting on him and stuff. I thought nothing much about it. And you know what? He responded! He was like touching me and kissing me. So I thought all was well, maybe he really like me after all, you know?” She paused to breathe again. Images of Amanda and Mike’s public display of affection in the red room last night began to pop up in my head.

“We didn’t have sex, of course. I’m not that cheap you know. So after that, I drove both of us back because we couldn’t find you anywhere. Mike even kissed me goodbye and he went back home. I managed to reach home safely and I passed out. Then, Mike called me up this morning and he told me to forget everything that happened last night. He said that he-“ Amanda paused again, and I thought I heard her sniffing.

“ He- he totally didn’t mean what he did! He said that he was drunk, and that whenever he got drunk, he would somehow cosy up to other people more easily and be more affectionate without meaning to. He said that he only saw us as friends, you know. Nothing more, he said!”

“ Mmm.. He really said that? Well, people always do things they don’t mean when they’re drunk. You of all people should know that. Just chill. It was just some kissing, right? No biggie.” I said, trying to comfort the agitated Amanda.

“But that’s not all! So stupid me decided that that was the time to confess my feelings for him and do you know what he said? He said, I’d never see you as anything more than a classmate. He said that he likes someone else! And he also said that he found fake blonds disgusting. He said I was disgusting!” Amanda wailed.

Amanda continued ranting but the sentence that kept repeating in my head was “ He said that he likes someone else.”

He likes someone?!

Hmm.. like as in like like?

I wonder who that girl is…

“Crystal! Are you fucking paying me attention or not? Here I am, facing a reality shock, and you are daydreaming! Just like usual. Urghh. I’d be at the Coffee Bean later on to chill. Do you want to come along?” Crystal asked.

“I’d think about it. I’d text you if I’m going.” I replied. We both know that when I say “I’d think about it”, it means no but I’m just too nice to decline her invitation.

We hanged up after saying goodbye but the conversation that I just had with Amanda just wouldn't leave my mind.

The crucial bit of information that Amanda just passed on to me led me to think, ‘Who was the lucky girl that Mike likes’?