The Painter & The Pianist

xv.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The doors to the bar opened effortlessly, as Amadeus entered, he noticed the drunken men who laughed and gave each other playful punches in their arms. He scrunched his nose at the horrible smell.

"Hey, at least it serves alcohol." He whispered under his breath as he made his way to the bar. "What would you like handsome?" The bartender said. She gave him a small smile and patiently awaited his answer even though she clearly had other people who were less patiently awaiting her. "Just a beer, the brand doesn't matter."

She slid a cold beer to him with a wink as she turned to the next customer. Monserrat, why do you do this to me? What's up with always ignoring me and- he went to take another swig of his beer, only to find he had nothing left.

'Another." He said as he raised it up in the air before he placed it back in the hands of the women, who kindly replaced it with another. I can't believe h-he just said thank you...was it really hard to say I love you too? He took a huge a gulp as the smell in the bar lightened up a little, still awful, but at least bearable now.

The woman leaned on the counter to look into Amadeus' eyes. "Aw, what's wrong sweetie?"

"I-I have boy troubles." The man next to Amadeus shot him a glare, but he didn't want to start a fight.

"Here's another beer. Now tell me what's up?" Amadeus looked down at her name tag.

"Oh, Jannette! I said I loved him!"

"And...?"

"He thanked me." The tears came back, he tried to suppress them by taking another big swig of his drink. "Hmm, sounds like you got strong emotions for your relationship, him, not so much."

Amadeus finished off the drink and pulled out his wallet to pay. "Consider it on the house, hun." Amadeus gave her a polite smile as he got up and turned to walk out. "Hold on a moment, hunk!" The voice sounded unfamiliar and was light and perky.

He turned to see a woman who was unbelievably beautiful. "Yeah, you! Come and take some shots with me!" Amadeus contemplated it for a moment before he decided he needed a little flirting to lighten his mood. Her eyes lightened up when he began to make his way toward the table she had been sitting at. All the shots were lined up, ready for the taking.

"Ready to drop some sick BOPS?" She shoved a glass towards Amadeus he took a breath in, a memory of Monserrat's comment rushed into his head. He wanted to forget, he wanted some fun, he wanted the shot. He quickly threw the poison back and pounded the small glass down on the table.

The smell of the joint dissipated further.

*

Amadeus fiddled with the opened envelope in his hands. Joy encompassed him, and he desperately wanted to tell Monserrat. The apartment was quiet, and Amadeus had opened one of the windows and fresh air flowed into the living room. The door clicked open and shut swiftly as Monserrat closed it behind him.

Blood dripped onto the hardwood floor from his hand and Amadeus rushed to his side. Monserrat's arms wrapped around Amadeus' torso and he held him close to his chest. "Monserrat," he whispered, "Your hand..."

Monserrat pulled away and glanced down at his hand. "Oh, yeah," he mumbled and he set down the bag of food onto the counter. He trudged to the white couch, not caring about anything, really. Amadeus rummaged through the cabinets in search of the First Aid Kit. As he knelt at Monserrat's side, he felt a sense of deja vu. Usually, it was Monserrat that was the one who doctored him up, not the other way around. He remembered the first night he arrived at his apartment after he had gotten kicked out, bruised and drunk.