Adria's Choice

Chapter 4

The three of us got so very drunk that night. Karyl had long since passed out on the couch and Lexie and I moved on from beers to tequila shots. Her apartment was well-stocked with booze due to Tom's penchant for them when he used to come over.

On an ordinary day, that thought would have made me want to smash the bottles, but since we were all on a pretty mellow mood—how many did we have each, five beers and ten shots?—I felt content to just sit and drink with Lexie.

Since Karyl and I were co-workers and we both had work in five hours, we really had to get home. Lexie's place was two hours away from our office during rush hour, so I had to call Karyl's boyfriend to pick us up. John was not happy to be woken up by me, but when I tried to tell him in between giggles that Karyl had already passed out, his tone immediately changed from cranky to concerned. Lexie, who was just tipsy at that time, managed to give him the address to her place before she ended the call and dared me to play a game of "I Never."

I couldn't recall the things we said we never did that night, but I did remember plenty of laughing and snorting and more bottles being emptied between us. All I knew for sure was that I woke up the next day in my bed with a massive hangover, and still dressed in my clothes from last night. I lifted my head to take a peek at my phone's clock and panicked when I saw that I had an hour to get ready and go to work. I'm telling you, rushing to work with a massive hangover wasn't easy.

When I got to the office, Karyl was already seated on her chair, a steaming mug of coffee and several aspirin tablets in front of her. She took one look at me and handed me two tablets without saying a word.

"That bad, huh?" I asked after I downed the medicine.

Karyl groaned. "No, I just know how you feel. What happened last night after I...fell asleep?" she smiled impishly.

I sat on the chair in my cubicle, which was just across from hers. "Good Lord, I have no idea at all. I just recall calling John to come get us, then playing a game of I Never with Lexie, and then—" I stopped as a horrible thought occurred to me.

While I was talking, Karyl had closed her eyes but when I stopped, she gingerly opened one eye to look at me. "What?"

I whipped out my phone to text her this: I think we talked about her experiences with Tom. And how big his schlong is.

Her phone beeped and she opened the message. Her eyes seemed to pop out of her head when she read the message.

"Are you serious!" she exclaimed, in a tone louder than her usual Karyl range (which was already loud).

Unfortunately, our manager Ella Ramirez passed by that very moment and gave us both questioning looks. We both smiled sheepishly at her and turned to our respective computers to work on our magazines. Before we knew it, Karyl and I both got so absorbed in work.

— OoOoOoO —

"Okay, spill!" were Karyl's first words to me when we slid inside the booth at one of our favorite restaurants outside the office. Since we were on a flexible schedule at work, we could have lunch whenever we liked. We opted to eat at one o'clock so that the lunch crowd would be thinner—less people to overhear or eavesdrop on us.

We both quickly ordered our usual fare, without looking at the menu, before I responded.

"We must have been drunker than I thought to actually talk about that," I said, grimacing. "It's like in one of those revenge movies where you talk to the other woman and you compare experiences. Ugh."

Karyl tapped her fingers on the wooden table as she waited for me to continue. Fine.

"She said, oh boy. I think she said he was her first." Snatches of conversation were slowly coming to me.

"That bastard. I'm going to kill him!" Karyl said vehemently.

I knew just how she felt. "He's an asshole, all right. I can't believe he'll do that just to get some! I thought I knew him. I thought he loved me." I shook my head. "I actually thought we were going to get married in a few years. I was just waiting for him to finally reach that point that men need to reach before they want to settle down. Shit." I looked longingly at the bottles of booze lined up along the counter across from our table.

Our conversation was cut short by the arrival of my hot dog and fries, and Karyl's carbonara. We dug in like we hadn't eaten in ages.

Karyl, as usual, finished first. I was finishing my hot dog when she asked, "So, did she tell you if he was big or small?"

I choked and she had to whack me on the back while laughing hysterically.

"You should have seen your face!" She mentioned in between wheezes.

I glared at her. "You did that on purpose!"

"You're right, I did. I just couldn't resist, with you eating a dog and all," she smirked. "You're not getting out of this one, missy. So, should we be happy that you dumped him or should we bemoan the breakup?"

I sniffed. "I'm not going to tell you!" I was trying to contain my mirth as I remembered what Lexie told me.

Karyl stopped laughing instantly and poked me. "Oh, come on. Let your bestie have some fun."

I couldn't contain my laughter anymore. "Oh Karyl, I am so glad!" I burst out.

It was a few minutes before both of us could speak and breathe normally again.

— OoOoOoO —

Through the next four months, I met with Lexie more often than I would have thought possible. Since Karyl and I had been best friends for years, I was invited to all their birthday celebrations. And since Lexie was now officially part of the Buenavista family, she and I had begun seeing each other, for four times already, and each one of those encounters had been quite awkward. I always felt my confidence wavering. I was even invited to Lexie's birthday, but I didn't bother to bring a gift. I just hoped the Buenavistas, aside from Karyl, didn't think much of it, especially since I always gave each of them a gift on special occasions. The Buenavista family's birth dates stopped in October so I hadn't seen Lexie since then.

With every occasion, I would see her give a gift to every birthday celebrator, but her choices usually missed the mark. For example, she gave Rico a video game, but Rico didn't even play video games, except on his phone. She gave a copy of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice to Katherine, a book she already had a copy of, and read five times. For Emma, she just got a gift card, thinking Emma could just buy whatever she liked, but Emma had a dislike for that particular mall and its owners, so she never shopped there. Each time, I watched Lexie discreetly take back the gift and vow to replace it with something they'd like, not settling for their reassurances that it was okay. I actually felt sorry for her, knowing she just wanted to be part of the family, but I didn't say anything. Without my alcohol-induced bravery, I didn't know how to talk to her anymore.

November rolled around quickly, and I barely noticed it as I was so busy at work. I was just promoted to senior graphic editor. Tom called me almost every day for the first month after the breakup, then weekly on the second month, but I'd had enough. After three months, he stopped contacting me completely. At first, it was unsettling; I had to get used to having my Saturdays free again, to not be able to call anyone and just rant when I'm having a really bad day at work and he'll offer to take me out to a nice dinner to relax. I had to get used to not calling him whenever something great happened to me. And I had to be used to not knowing anything about him anymore. But after six months, I finally started to feel that my life was regaining its semblance of sanity.

That was, until, Lexie called me out of the blue.