6. Drunk and sober at the same time

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I imagined Maggie completely different than she is. Turns out she's caring, smart girl. I'm glad Felix is no longer alone in Australia. At first, I was afraid that he would go crazy from loneliness and the amount of work.

The nightmare I was experiencing last night didn't allow me to get enough sleep. As the morning came, my eyes, during the first rays of the sun, decided to give me a break. I woke up later than I usually wake up. I believe it was lunchtime.

As I walk down the stairs, I see Maggie all worried and angry Felix leaving the house. Mom's home today, and you can smell her kitchen specialities in the air.

"What happened? Maggie, are you okay?" - I ask Maggie, although I see she's shaken and not ready to talk to me.

"Everything will be fine. We have a jet-lag, so we're nervous." - answers barely refraining tears.

My mom sees me, she gets a smile on her face and she puts a spoon in my mouth and I try her famous salsa.

"Mmm, I missed your cooking." - I sound like my mom never cooks. She cooks, but she doesn't have time with all her work.

"I took a few days off. I don't get to see my son every day!"

My mom was finishing lunch and dessert, and Ruby and I were playing with our little dog, Diesel. Maggie was locked in Felix's room, and Felix was nowhere to be found. Dad kept calling him on his mobile, but there was no answer. After forty-five minutes of absence, the doors open wide and Felix enters with a smile;

"Something smells nice! Mom, is lunch ready?" - He acted as if he hadn't rushed out the door until recently.

"Just ten more minutes! Girls, set the table, please!" - We immediately jumped to our mother's command.

As soon as we started eating, Ruby took the phone and started taking selfies.

"I don't think I want the pictures where I'm stuffing my mouth with food!" - I started complaining even though I enjoyed family lunch.

"Oh Maggie, when did you move to Australia?"

I didn't even know Maggie wasn't really from Golden Coast.

"As a child. I don't remember. My mom's Spanish and my dad's American. When they could not agree on where to live; In Majorca or L.A. Long story short - we ended up in Australia."

I was not surprised by her answer. She is beautiful. More like she's working as a model rather than sitting in an office eight hours a day.

For a moment I forgot about all the problems and I was happy. I got interrupted by a mobile phone ringing. Carrie's name jumped on the screen.

"Hey, are you alive?"

"Hey, yes. I'm sorry I didn't answer. I was just calling Alex. Are you free for drinks tonight?"- asks Carrie.

"Yes, I need that! See you in Red Lyon?" - That was our pub. We always spent time after school there.

"See you, L. Eight o'clock straight." - she said and hung up.

I open the pub door and I immediately see Alex and Carrie in our corner.

"Hey, you've become a stranger. Tell me, how is it with the curly one?"- I ask but I see on Alex's face that something is wrong.

"Well, it's great. He wasn't just an adventure for one night." - She says - "I called you here tonight because I have something to tell you."

"Don't scare me, just say it." - I'm getting some kind of chills all over my body.

"Alex was able to briefly tell me that you saw Harvey. To cut it short, Niel, my little curly boy, is Harvey's very good friend." - Briefly explained.

"Well, it's not so bad that you had to scare me like that."

"Yes, that part is not. Like I said, they're very good friends. Niel knows what happened to you guys, why you broke up and... "

"We broke up because he was a jerk. It turned out to be a big shit after that. Harvey told me a little while ago. Spare me the nonsense, I don't want to relive it. I've had enough trouble with him already." - I interrupted her in the middle of a sentence because I didn't come here to talk about my ex-boyfriend when I didn't even decide what I was going to do.

"Lila, listen to me. Listen to me for a minute. I'll eat myself if I don't tell you."

"All right, talk then!" - I know she wants me well, I overreacted a little.

"So the night Harvey broke up with... He hates himself for it. He hates that he didn't fight for you. He drank, he drugged himself every night until he wound up in the hospital. So whenever Niel asks him why he hates himself, why he doesn't tell you that he wants you back and that he made a mistake, Harvey always told him he couldn't, that he was forbidden from being near you. But he never explained that part."- Carrie explained and Alex's jaw dropped to the floor.

Listening to all this, I don't understand anything anymore. He's forbidden to be near me? What a nonsense.

"He must have been drunk when he said that. What's forbidden to him? Who forbid it? I'm just so annoyed. "- I was angry, bitter. I wanted answers, but I knew Carrie didn't know anything anymore.

"I don't know. Niel told me everything right away. We were just talking, we were looking at my pictures, and he said he knew you from Harvey's pics."

Harvey's pictures... It's the only thing that rang in my head. He kept the pictures.

"Harvey doesn't have a single picture with me anywhere online anymore."

"I didn't say he saw them online. He saw them in his album on his mobile phone."

Harvey saved them. This whole thing doesn't make sense. Then why did he leave me? All those questions in my head and no answers.

"I don't give a fuck about him and his pictures in the phone. Am I crazy if I think I shouldn't forgive him when he left me like a piece of shit?" - My voice cracked and the tears started coming.

All I can see is Alex staring at us like we are ghosts and Carrie was spinning her hair around her finger as a sign that she's nervous.

"It's not your fault, Carrie. Thank you for telling me. It's just ... It's been two years. Why did he decided to crawl back into my life right now?" - I spoke through tears. The Pub was half empty, so I was calm because no one could see me like this.

I talked to the girls a little bit more, tried to calm down and then I went for a walk. I was walking through the wonderful London that I love so much. I couldn't have wished for a better city to grow up and live. My mind was killing me so I decided to distract myself. I stopped at the supermarket and I bought a vodka. If I want to distract myself, then alcohol is the solution. I sat down with a glimpse of the Thames and I began to drink my venom.

I had a real carousel in my head. Who has forbidden him to be with me? And why would anyone do that? I didn't know at all that there was a person who was able to command Harvey. He never did what he didn't want to do.

After drinking more than half a bottle of vodka, I decided to go home and sleep this shit off. I waited for Uber and listened to the songs. Song that I love started to play in the right moment. "Bad energy stay far away, make it stay far away" - I sang and hopped. I looked like a lunatic but I didn't care.

I came to my room, I barely got out of my clothes and then someone decided to knock on the door. It was Maggie. Crying Maggie. For fuck's sake, Felix, do you do anything but make this girl sad?

"Can I come in?" - She asked.

"Of course. Are you all right?"

"No, Lila. I am not. I came here hoping that we were going to have a good time. But Felix cannot keep his promise."

"If it's not foolish to ask, what did he do?"

"I've been telling him to talk to you for two days. He got mad at me today because I wanted to tell you. I'll tell you everything. He threatened to leave me, but I think you deserve to know. You're his sister."

I think I got sober hearing her words. Can this night get even worse?

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