"Ammika tells me you hate her." Klara told him as she poured a drink into a glass."Why's that?"
"She really said that? I think hate is a strong word." He chuckled. "Where is she anyway?" He asked, his eyes wondering around in search of her.
"She stepped out but she'll be back in a minute. There was an incident with some drunk prick." Klara explained.
"Is she okay?" His eyes quickly shifted to Klara, with some hint of concern in them.
"Yeah, she is." She replied pushing him the glass. "Here she is actually." She went on having caught Ammika from the corner of her eye.
Klara walked away with the bottle in her hand, leaving the two.
Neither of them wanted to break the awkward silence that was consuming them.
"Klara told me what happened, are you okay?" He asked again, finally breaking the silence.
"I am." She answered softly, still avoiding his eyes.
"Hey I'm sorry for walking out on you the other day, I shouldn't have done that." He told her, his eyes fixed on her. She slowly raised her eyes and met his.
"I should be the one to apologize, I shouldn't have called you a-"
Hiram quickly cut in. "No, you were right. I am just some random guy to you. One who comes here to drown his sorrows in liquor."
"Hiram you know that's not true." She objected.
He was silent for a moment, tracing mouth of the glass with his index finger. "Are we friends Ammika?"
"Are we not?" She returned. She warmed up to the smile that had formed on his face. "I'm sorry I didn't own up to our friendship, that was wrong of me and of course we are friends."
"Can I get an extra glass." Hiram suddenly requested, leaving her with a puzzled look but got him another glass nonetheless.
He poured half the contents of his glass into it and slid the glass to her. "To new beginnings," he proposed a toast raising his glass.
Eying him, she picked up the glass and clinked his. "To new beginnings."
"Are you sure Leo would is comfortable with you drinking with me?" He teased with a soft laugh.
"Hiram, I'm not drinking with you, that was just a toast to our friendship." She said and quickly added a smile, concluding that she might have been a little too harsh with that statement.
****
Over the next couple of weeks, Hiram frequented the small Malibu bar, spending hours on his usual bar stool over a glass of whatever drink either Ammika or Klara had suggested.
Trisha on the other hand had distanced herself from Hiram and the entire friend group, claiming it was a move to "find herself" but would occasionally join them for meet ups. No one had asked more of the matter, knowing how delicate she was. There was some truth in that but the main reason she stepped away was to try and fall in love again, she figured that wouldn't happen if Hiram was still actively present in her life. They would occasionally bump into each other in one hallway or another around campus, exchange pleasantries and that was just about it.
Trisha quickly found out that falling genuinely in love was easier said than done. Maybe because Hiram had set the bar pretty high. She was aware that it would be hard to find a man like Hiram. That's why she had fought so hard for their relationship after the breakup. Whenever she met a guy, she quickly grew disinterested, mostly because none of them was as perfect as Hiram. He wasn't perfect of course, but he had been perfect in the way he loved her, perfect in the way he treated her, perfect in the way he valued her. All she wanted was someone to love her the way he did. Was that too much for a girl to ask for? A perfect kind of love?
On one of his visits to the Malibu bar, Hiram went overboard and drank a little bit too much. His vision was a glass away from being blurred, he could barely balance himself on the bar stool, the dim bar lights seemed too bright for him. He found himself blurting from time to time. His sister Callie had called him but he was too wasted to engage in any meaningful conversation with her.
"Ca…can I…can I get…another." He struggled to say, trying to balance his glass on two of his fingers. Ammika quickly grabbed it before it fell.
"You shouldn't do that." She sternly warned.
He muttered something under his breath that Ammika didn't hear. "I…just wan…wanted another glass." He cried.
"You've had too much to drink already, that's enough for today." She softly told him. "How on earth are you going to get home?" She asked, looking behind him at the almost empty bar.
"Don…don't you worry, my…my car can drive itself." He informed her. "I should…I should probab…probably get home now." He went on and tried to get up with little success.
"Maybe I should walk you to your car." Offered Ammika as she walked around the counter.
She gently helped him to his feet and slowly walked him towards the exit. They were a few steps away from his car when the headlights of a car blinded both of them. She blocked her eyes with her free hand while Hiram shut his eyes completely. When the car stopped, two ladies alighted and quickly walked to them. As Callie and Trisha drew closer, Trisha noticed Hiram's car keys on Ammika's hand and the idea that she might have drugged him with the intentions of robbing him popped up into her head. She hated her.
"That's my brother you're with, what happened to him?" Callie inquired.
"He drank more than he ought to have." Ammika answered, in her ever-gentle tone.
"He drank or you got him drunk?" Trisha threw at her, not hiding the resentment in her voice. "It's not unheard of for whores to get innocent people drunk and-" Hiram quickly cut it.
"Trisha!" He barked, silencing her.
"Excuse me!" Ammika followed immediately after.
Trisha snatched the keys from her, walking to Hiram's side and yanking him away from her.
Ammika exhaled deeply and silently walked back to the bar.
Callie helped Trisha walk her brother to his car then walked to the driver's side once Trisha and Hiram had gotten comfortable in the back. Soon after driving off, he fell asleep.
He woke up the following morning well past midday with little to no knowledge of the events of the previous night. In their friend group chat, he learnt that they would be meeting up later for a late lunch. With a long sigh, he set his phone aside and dragged himself from bed.
Later, at the agreed venue for the lunch, he put his shades on as he stepped out of his car and walked into the hotel. At the entrance, he was welcomed by a waiter who showed him to their table where he found all his friends.
Conversation and laughter filled their table as they ate. Hiram spent most of the time on his phone, dropping a comment or two in the conversation once in a while.
"Would it kill you to put that phone away for two minutes?" Artemis teased snatching the phone from him with a laugh.
Hiram was about to respond but Trisha spoke first. "He's probably talking to his new girlfriend."
There was a sudden silence as everyone's eyes turned to Trisha. "Tell them Hiram." She urged looking at him.
"You really wanna go there Trisha? After what you did." He wondered, screwing his fingers into fists under the table.
Rob and Artemis silently exchanged looks then turned to the two.
"You were too drunk to know what was happening Hiram, what I did was save you from-" Hiram cut in.
"Save me?! From what exactly?" He threw at her.
"That whore you were with. You probably couldn't see it but she was probably going to rob you. Or worse." She explained.
"Would you stop calling her that. You have no idea what you are talking about. She was just walking me to my car." He told her.
"Why are you defending her?" She wanted to know. "She had your car keys for heavens sake Hiram!" She was almost shouting.
"That's because I gave them to her."
"Someone mind telling us what's happening?" Rob finally spoke. His eyes shifting from Hiram to Trisha then back to Hiram.
"You wanna tell them, or should I?" Trisha asked looking at Hiram who remained silent. "For the past few weeks Hiram has been spending most of his evenings at some shitty bar down in Malibu. Yesterday I was at their house with Callie and it was getting pretty late. Callie called him and he didn't seem too good, so she and I went down there only to find him at the company of some girl. There was something off about her." She explained, stealing a glance from Hiram who remained untroubled. "I have never seen Hiram that drunk which only meant she had drugged him or got him-" Hiram didn't let her finish.
"That's not what happened Trisha!" He insisted with a stern look to her.
"Then why don't you tell us what happened." She prompted.
He considered it for a second but decided against it. "Why is this such a big deal for you Trisha?" He wanted to know. "Huh?"
Trisha was silent for a moment and right when she was about to speak, Hiram spoke. "You know what? I don't even wanna know." He stood taking back his phone from Artemis. "Enjoy your lunch!"
No one tried to stop him, they watched him walk away then turned to Trisha. "What the hell Trisha!" Artemis shot at her.
She didn't respond, just shrugged picking up her wine glass.