Luigi's parents rested on the hotel that night while he went out with his friends to celebrate their graduation. They drank in a bar like they have the strongest liver in the world. Alcohol was good when one is happy but it hits different when the drinker is broken.
After the song from a female singer, the platform was occupied by another band. The audience that were once sitting on their chairs left the bottles of alcohol and crowded over the platform.
There, warm colors of lights highlighted the group of performers. The cheers from the crowd were full of excitement. A loud chuckle through the microphone made them rave more. "Hi! You guys are not drunk yet? How come you're still energetic after drinking too much?" The vocalist socialized with the audience. He sounded friendly, it was no wonder that everyone likes him.
"Okay. Calm down. Tonight, we're playing our first song, 'Wish on a Shooting Star'. I hope you guys like it!" Jian exclaimed and was then followed by rhythmic intro. The loud harmony of drum beats, bass and guitar excited the audience. Out of the exciting melody, a poetic lyrics was sung skillfully.
"Let me wish upon a shooting star
Someone wrap the space,
Take me back in time.
Drop me at a point of the string,
When he held my hand
Back in April's spring.
Let me pray on celestial gods
Someone find a place
Where he smiles just fine
Drop me on some universe
parallel or alternate, wherever's fine
Just take me back to those times...
Take me back,
Oh my wish on a shooting star..."
From the very first verse of the song, it sounded really fun and poetic. Yet isn't it just a cry of someone filled with regrets? Luigi looked at the boy with blue hair on the platform. He snickered, "Him? He has regrets?" He laughed at his own pattern of thinking. He chugged another glass of beer and listened until the end of the song. His heart was full of mockery listening to Jian's song that if he could turn back in time, he'd do everything to hold Sean's hand.
The alcohol drowned his thoughts and judgment. He got drunk. His friends also got drunk. They were unrestrained till they drop dead on the ground. The establishment owner paid the bands that performed with drinking vouchers. Jian's band wouldn't have performed tonight just to receive alcohol as wage but the owner was their friend who provided them the studio they use for practice.
Instead of drinking with his band mates, Jian's eyes caught a glimpse of Luigi who seems like falling from his chair because of drunkenness. He remembered the cold words from the man before and turned his eyes away but a thud stopped him. Luigi fell and his moaning seemed like he's hurting so much. Jian sighed and looked back.
"Ugh!!! Why do they drink until they drop dead?" The owner complained. He was problematic about their bill since everyone looked so out of it. To his dismay, Jian gave his vouchers and took the fallen man away.
On their way, Luigi heavily leaned on the man assisting him. He sniffed him and groaned, "You smell like smoke. Did you smoke?"
Jian did not pretend and answered, "Yes, so what?"
"That Jian, you know that motherfucker?" Luigi asked mindlessly.
The guy who was called a motherfucker rolled his eyes and wanted to throw the heavy guy away on the streets. "So what?"
"That Jian killed my best friend." Luigi said. "That's why I hate that bastard."
Jian saw an alley and turned there. He casually threw Luigi on the garbage pile. "What? Are we home now?" Luigi asked thinking that the plastic bags were his bed.
"Luigi, I hope you rot in here. As much as you don't want to see me, I'm also sick of your sad boy emo face. Goodbye." Jian turned his back and walked away. But suddenly, he was pushed into the wall and Luigi pressed his body on him. His lips touched Jian's ear and heard Luigi's odd words, "Hey, your smile riles me up for some reason."
The heavy breaths made his ears tingle. Luigi then leaned his forehead on Jian's shoulder and asked, "If you could really turn back the time, can you return Sean to me?"
Jian felt him trembling with the sound of thunders overlapping his cries. When the rain poured down, they were sheltered from the raindrops yet his shoulder was slowly getting hot and wet.
Jian has never comforted anyone, he could not even remember the last time that he comforted someone or the time when he received comforting when he needed it. He slowly tapped the big guy's back and lazily answered, "Yeah, sure, whatever."
After a while, Luigi stood up straightly and wiped his glasses with the hem of his shirt. When he wore the glasses again, he saw the guy underneath smile at him. "You okay now?"
"Don't smile at me." Luigi complained.
Jian groaned, smiled bigger and told him to "Fuck off!" He then pushed the big guy away yet the drunkard pushed him back down and soon, as he was about to swear at him again, Jian's mouth was blocked by forceful lips. Luigi kissed him. Before this information was processed by his brain, a tongue slipped inside and playfully pushed his way inside. He was kissed terribly. There was no trace of experience in the kiss.
After a long session of sucking, Luigi withdrawn and breathed. "I told you! Your smile riles me up!"
Jian looked at the drunk guy in front of him and remembered the last time he was comforted by some stranger. Yeah, of course, one can also comfort another person through physical intimacy, how can he forget such method?
He pulled Luigi's shirt and kissed him the way he usually do. Their saliva mixed up and got themselves checked in to the nearest motel. Making out mindlessly from the front desk towards their designated room.
Luigi had no experience, his instinctive acts and courage were only because he was intoxicated with alcohol. Who would have thought that this act would not just bring him close to heaven but also back in time?
He woke up feeling dizzy. Oddly, it was not the headache he gets every time he has hang-over. He got up and felt that his pants were wet. He looked through the sheets and it looked like he just had a wet dream… but he was sure the pleasure last night was real, how can it be mere dre—
He was startled and looked beside his bed. He remembers vaguely about getting ridden to heaven by Jian. But this bed was not king-sized. He laid on a single bed with plaid bed sheet, not the auspicious red satin. A pair of legs standing came to his sight but as he looked through upwards, it was not Jian but his older sister wearing a disgusted expression over her short uneven trimmed bangs "Ma!!! You have to wash Luigi's bed sheet again!!!"
He remembers that his sister has only trimmed her bangs once to imitate a supermodel's hairstyle but she gravely regretted having bangs because it did not suit her at all and she became the joke of their class.
Luigi asked, "Ate, why did you trim your bangs again? Did you not learn from you senior year high school experience?"
"What are you talking about? It's the summer vacation and class has not started yet! And take back what you said. This is the current hairstyle trend. I got it trimmed like Ms. Jackie's bangs. I look good like this, right?"
Luigi looked at the calendar on his study table. It was indeed summer break. He was struck with the realization of going back in time. He got out of the bed and run out of their house, he was followed by Yumi, his golden retriever dog that died three years ago based on his memory. He quickly opened their neighbor's gate filled with variety of green ornamental plants that has wilted away before when Aunt Sarah mourned Sean's passing. He stopped by Sean's bedroom and took a deep breath.
The door slowly opened and the guy with fluffy brown hair laughed as soon as he saw him.
Luigi couldn't believe what he saw, if it's true, then thank any god or whoever made it happen, if it's a dream, then he prayed not to ever wake up again. He hugged the boy tightly.
Then, Sean told him off, "Get away from me dude! Change your pants first, yuck!"