Fragments

Drunk (0.5)

I have a secret.

James has such low tolerance for alcohol. He parties whenever he is free, and he looks like someone who could finish 20 Jäger bombs in one sitting, but the truth is he goes to the clubs for the dancing and company. However, these past few weeks, he'd been drinking like the world will run out of alcohol anytime. Every time he and his friends go out, he would blackout and Bret had to let him stay the night to sleep on his sofa. Or on the floor. Sometimes on the bath tub. But let's not go there.

That's just the tip of the iceberg.

My real secret is how I know all of these things. James told me? Nope. He is too drunk to remember anything. I go partying with him? Nope, not a chance. I wouldn't even dare asking permission from my mom. Bret told me? Yes.

And asked me to come over to help him take care of his wasted best friend.

I know what you're thinking, I could've, should've said no. But I remember Bret's response when I asked him, "Why me?" that night he called me for help: He's asking for you.

He's actually pretty lucky that every time Bret would call me, I'm at home or I just got off from work. So since then, during those nights when he's drunk from partying, I always find myself in front of the door to Bret's condo to see how he was doing.

Tonight was one of those nights.

This is the first day of my life, swear I was born right in the doorway

He slept like a baby.

No, I'm not talking about the peaceful type. See this idiom is kind of misleading, don't you think? Sleeping like a baby equals sobrang daming demands at ayaw magpatulog. Yung bigla bigla na lang magigising at mag-iingay. Di ba?

I had been sitting on the floor for about 10 minutes now, watching him sleep. I could hear collective "Don't you get tired of looking at him?" on the back of my mind, and my answer is yes, you just don't get tired of his ridiculously good-looking face. Nope.

"Where's Bret?" He slowly opened his eyes and ran his hand down the length of his face. He looked groggy and reeked of alcohol and smoke. Me eyes watched as he stood up abruptly and his body inclined to the left, then to the right, only to fall back on the bed.

"Hinahatid si Andi. Ako muna bantay mo." He looked disoriented with his sleepy eyes and messy hair. Not everybody could pull off this look, but it worked for him.

I went out in the rain suddenly everything changed; they're spreading blankets on the beach

He got on his feet again and walked towards the window. His hand drew the curtains to one side and said, "I thought it was raining?"

I don't know if it was possible but I could actually hear alcohol in his voice. Like everything he says comes out of his mouth in a sing-song manner and everything ends with an awkward rising intonation. "Huh, kanina yun. Mga four hours ago." Nung hindi ka pa lasheng. I sat on the bed and watched him stare outside with tired, squinting eyes.

"How are you feeling?"

A smile played on his lips as he turned away from the window. "Hell." He rolled his eyes at me then took shaky, unstable steps towards the bed. He practically dived in the space next to me, and lay face down. "But you're heaven, so that kinda makes everything okay."

I silently wondered if he would remember this conversation in the morning when he's sober.

Wondered, I shook my head as I grabbed the blanket and covered him with it. You just didn't simply wonder, Nadz. You hoped he would.