400 Days After Fina

Day 501

400 Days After Fina by JellOfAllTrades
Chapter 34

I slammed the now empty glass on the counter and let out a loud and satisfied sigh.

"Uhaw na uhaw lang?" Denise commented while she wiped the bar in front of me.

"Isang taon ka ba naman hindi uminom?"

Denise smiled pitifully at me. "More?"

"Yes please."

She took the empty glass and went to the other side of the bar to refill it with my preferred beer. While she's away, I poured myself a shot of Blue Label and turned to look around the bar.

I arrived at the start of happy hour and watched as the bar slowly filled up with college kids and professionals that are eager to enjoy their Friday night. A few tables away, I saw a pretty face that has been eyeing me for the past half hour. I acted uninterested and gulped down the whiskey just as Denise returned with my fresh cold glass of beer.

"May mani pa ba tayo jan?"

The bartender nodded and reached for a bowl. She filled it with peanuts and placed it beside my bottle of Johnny Walker's Blue Label.

"Thanks,"

Denise winked at me and turned to serve a new customer.

The past few days flew by without much incident. I holed up in my old room in my parents' house, working, drinking, and thinking. I have lost count of all the wasted hours I spent staring at my bedroom wall, trying to summon my hallucination of Fina and producing nothing. At night I was haunted by nightmares of her faceless figure calling out to me.

My family was understandably concerned and they kept watch over me in case I tried to do anything harmful to myself. Several times they tried to convince me to see a doctor but I rejected, declined, and ignored them. The only reason they didn't drag me to the nearest hospital is because I showed up on the dining table for every meal and attended to my business like a high-functioning depressed alcoholic.

The only consolation I have in my personal hell was the few drunken moments I have before falling asleep when I could remember vividly the sensation of Angel's soft lips pressing against mine, her lovely voice singing me a lullaby, and the weak scent of her strawberry lip balm enveloping me in a warm embrace. Where Fina has become my nightmare, Angel was my deliverance.

"Am I seeing things right or is that really you on the bar?"

Jaime sat beside me and flashed his pearly whites at me. I reached for a new glass over the bar and poured him a shot.

"Cheers?" I slid the glass towards him which he gladly accepted.

"Cheers."

We finished the shot and I poured us another. My hand was so shaky that the whiskey sloshed in the glass and on the counter. But my best friend didn't interfere and I was glad for his understanding because the past week felt like everyone had been treating me with pity that I didn't need and deserve. At least his indifference for the wasted whiskey provided me with some much-needed dignity.

"Ano palang ginagawa mo dito?" He asked, wiping down the spilled whiskey with some tissue.

"Di pa ba halata?" I raised my mug of beer to water down the whiskey burning down my throat.

"Angel?"

"Don't say her name."

Jaime took another shot and poured himself another one. "So it is about her then?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

He looked at me with a sad smile and then tapped my shoulder. "I'm sorry it didn't work out."