Wayfaring Traveler

four

「 For @perseveredsouls, a wonderful writer on Wattpad 」

f o u r

She was absolutely succumbed to alcohol by three in the afternoon, speaking in slurs and some sort of unheard of language. We had run to the closest open bar in the afternoon, running around in the heavy downpour.

She still remained dignified at the hand of vodka, whiskey, and rum. She downed each drop quickly, the alcohol causing her to flinch each time she poured one down, indicating that she still wasn't used to the hot touch of alcohol.

I sat next to her, ordering one drink and taking the occasional sip every ten minutes, not allowing myself to get completely wasted.

The bar we were at wasn't exactly vacant, there were a few middle-aged men and college students.

She sat and occasionally mumbled things, cursing ever so often about her unfortunate ex, Vince.

Through her slurs I had found out that they began dating her senior year of high school and had roughly been together for four years, herself attending community college and then dropping out in fear of losing him to another. He had inherited a family owned Italian restaurant from his grandfather at the age of twenty-four and was constantly working. She would go to sleep when he came home and she would leave for work when he finally fell asleep. He would yell at her for the smallest things and treat her like a trophy wife, a mere arm accessory at parties.

In my eyes, their relationship seemed to be a toxic one in which was wise to dispose of.

"He is all these things, an enigma, however, my parents absolutely adore him and he would always speak of a future together which entailed three kids, a white picket fence in the suburbs, and a vacation home on the east coast where his family is from," she spoke of, not pausing for even a breath, "And the future sounded great to me, I had a man that was providing for me."

"But, was it a future you wanted?" I asked, interrupting her for the first time in the afternoon.

She cocked her head at me, her eyebrows furrowed and expression unreadable.

"No, it wasn't. It was the future he painted for us. I would always just nod," she said softly, realizing the truth of the matter.

I gave her a small smile, hoping to turn her frown into a smile too eventually.

"What future do you want then?" I asked daringly, out of personal curiosity.

She gave a small laugh and then began her next ramble, "Well, futures are a bit unpredictable but if it were up to me I would want just the opposite of what Vince wanted for us. I want two kids so they can be like my brother and I, two peas in a pod. I would like to perhaps move to California or somewhere sunny, I absolutely love my family but having no means of regular tanning is brutal. I'm a city girl so the suburbs with a horrid white picket fence won't work for me in the slightest. I would like to travel the world and learn about cultures. I want to stay in restaurants and cafes, I absolutely love it. I want to finish college, make a name for myself."

"And you will," I said, "I believe in you."

"You're going to make me fall in love with you if you keep saying such kind things," she stated jokingly.