The air was cold and just perfect. I shivered slightly, but the chill was invigorating rather than uncomfortable. The sky outside the bar was very dark filled up with hundreds of stars. The night was quiet, with only the vast expanse of the skies above, stretching out like an endless canvas. Nothing stirred, not even a rustle of the leaves. The only sounds were the distant hum of the city, and the muffled roar of cars passing along the dark, cold roads at regular intervals. The stars twinkled brightly, casting a faint glow over the surroundings. I could see them in front where I sat, just the skies, nothing more, nothing more than the sounds of cars passing along the dark cold roads at regular intervals.
The air was crisp, with a slight chill that made one pull their jacket tighter around them. It was a peaceful night, with no disturbances to break the calm. Just me and me alone, not even my stressful thoughts were permitted at this point and time. They were gone. I'd think about them later but definitely not at this moment. This moment was only for me. Me alone.
I stared down at my table. Two bottles of alcohol were already down and I was in no mood to stop anytime soon, the alcohol was already doing something in me and i loved the feeling. My eyes darted to he clock by the corner of the bar and I realized that still, I had to make my way home. It was just about time.
I looked around the bar, just six people were remaining including myself and the bartender. I oddly wondered why they were all here tonight. I wondered if they only wanted to rewind just like me or if they had other reasons. I giggled at the realization of my thoughts. Silly. The alcohol was beginning to kick in. My eyes darted around the bar and I suddenly locked eyes with Daniel the bartender and the owner of the bar. He had a smile on his face and I remembered how barely he smiled. He should smile more often. I looked around for his wife and I found her at a corner of the bar settling someone. I wondered if Mr Daniel would have smiled at me the way he did tonight if his wife was watching. Probably not. I giggled at my thoughts.
I began to feel the alcohol turning in my system some more. The drinks I had consumed were slowly making their way through my veins. My head was as light as an air balloon, and my feet were like jelly.
I knew it was time to go home. The night had been long, and the drinks had been flowing freely like water into my system. I tried to regain my balance as I staggered up from the table. The room seemed to sway around me, and I had to hold onto the edge of the table to steady myself from crashing back to my chair or worse, from crashing to the floor.
"Wait. You're going?" The man that had been sitting opposite me asked with a slightly uncomfortable look on his face, almost a frown. I giggled, he looked like a high school teacher. I nodded my head like a child in response to his question.
"Well, that's a shame. The night is still young." He said and I unconsciously raised a brow at him.
"Stay for some more bottles, I'll pay." He said again and I giggled. He smiled. He was either a high school teacher or some sort of book freak. He sounded exactly like that.
The idea of an extra drink soothed me and I crashed back on my chair. His nerdish smile returned, plastered all about his face. As long as he was paying, I had no other choice but to stay. I wouldn't be that rude to decline his polite offer. I would never do that.
He made his way towards the bartender while my eyes roamed aimlessly around the bar as I waited for him. My focus suddenly returned back to the table in front of me. I counted the bottles on his side of the table. He had just taken one bottle while the other one was untouched at a corner. He seemed like a light drinker or a strong headed drinker sort of. He finally returned with two very cold bottles of strong wine in his hands.
"One of me and you for...?" his voice trailed off and I didn't realize he was looking at me expectantly until I looked directly at him. He was asking for my name. I realized it was the first time he was asking for my name since he started talking to me tonight.
"Oh. Uhm. It's Ciara." I fought the urge to make my usual joke whenever I introduced myself to someone and I won. I even forgot that same old boring joke. I'd definitely remember the joke tomorrow. Definitely.
"It's..Ciara." I said again. My speech was very slurred.
"i heard you loud and clear Milady." He said. He offered to help me open my drink and I nodded my head in consent. I wondered why he wasn't acting like me already, I mean, he had taken a reasonable amount of alcohol. He wasn't even staggering at least, he didn't seem to be under the influence of the strong drink one bit. I finally concluded that he must have a strong head. Just like Abel.
I smiled when I remembered Abel. My best friend from highschool till college. Even after college we were as close as anything until he traveled out of the states. Now we barely even speak but anytime we found the time to, we would reminisce on all the good times we spent together. Most especially, moments like this. I made a mental note to text him when I get home. Of course I'd forget by the time I got home.
The man sitting opposite me finally opened my drink. He placed it in front of me and then he opened his. He poured wine from my bottle into a glass cup for me and then he poured another shot into a glass cup for himself.
"Lets make a toast to Ciara and a toast to me." He said with a wide grin across his face. His smile was very pretty. He suddenly didn't seem like a highschool teacher anymore.
I wanted to ask what his name was. It was a very pressing urge to ask him but instead I locked eyes with him and said, "you have a very pretty smile." His lips turned into an even brighter smile.
"Well, I love yours too." he said.
"I didn't say I loved yours." I joked and he nodded with a smirk.
"Well I feel you do." He reached out for my bottle and poured another shot into my glass.
"I guess it's time we made that toast."
"but what for?"
"For tonight." He said seriously.
I resisted the urge to ask what he meant by "for tonight." I understood partly. Tonight seemed peculiar, like something was happening. Or that something would happen. I felt it just at the moment. It was too much of a strong feeling, very peculiar.
Our glasses clinked together so loudly that I feared they would break and scatter to the ground. I gulped down the entire content from the bottle leaving nothing remaining, not even a single drop.
For a second I passed out. I could hear nothing, I could see nothing, I could only feel the pure excitement of my extreme drunkenness.
He began talking. I heard him talk and talk to me but I couldn't grasp a single thing he said, I couldn't process anything. I knew he was saying something about the song playing but I couldn't understand. His voice was beginning to sound very afar and distant. One thing I knew, he talked too much. Another thing I was aware of was the very pressing fact that I had to go home, it was just about time to go home.
I wanted to thank him for the drink. I wanted to stand up and stagger my way out of the bar like every other Friday night but rather I sat still on the chair. Something else pulled me and I knew it wasn't just the alcohol, it was just the mood. The entire mood of the bar. I glanced to every other person sitting down away from me, they looked the same way.
The man opposite me had given up talking to me and was simply swaying his head left and right to the slow music playing. He seemed very far away.
Maybe I could stay for just another hour. Maybe I could even have one more drink. Or two. Or more.
Maybe I was waiting for something peculiar to happen. Something different from other Friday nights or from any other nights.
And it did happen.