"We will be late," I said to Xavier.
"We should be celebrating your big day; you just got the biggest job you will ever have..." Xavier said, opening the door to the bar.
The dimly lit room was alive with music and a rainbow of colors, and the many faces I could see smiled back at me. It seemed these people knew Xavier.
"Xavier, I should not be drinking with you..." I said, following behind him.
"Is it because I am your teacher, or was I wrong about your age?" he said, eyes up and his cartoonish face turning as he walked backward, acting like he owned the place.
"No, not that, but Alyssa might kill you. You still have to drive me back, teach," I said, walking past him, not impressed by his cool act, thinking I was his first student to drink with him.
"Now, who said I would be drinking? Don't be starting bad rumors about me when you leave the school," he said, walking right beside me now.
Reaching the pub counter, we took our seats. He looked at me and said, "He'll take the special, I'll have a light margarita."
"Not even a 'hi,' Xavier? Stop trying to act cool with students. My name is Lay," said the girl with the neat blue-collared jacket and red ponytail, which hung in the back, with a few strands of red hair framing her green diamond-shaped eyes.
"Hello, my name is Ash. This is my goofy professor. It seems you already know him," I said. We got along, as we both started laughing, while my professor just looked like a wet dog—alone and sad that he couldn't play anymore.
"Now, pretty boy, you alright with tequila?" she said upfront, without hesitation. I looked back and said,
"I trust you more, so if that's what you've got, I'll take it. But not much—I'm not much of a drinker," I said to her. To be truthful, I hated drinking because it tasted awful, but some days, you just have to get wasted, live a little, and let go of what shouldn't be.
After Lay left, assuming she was getting what she needed to prepare, Xavier started to ask about Cain.
"So, you said yes... and you agreed. I'm happy you agreed, even after seeing all that. My heart is just not in the right place to be a part of that, so I let Cain down. But I promised I would find someone better to finish his last slot to save the world."
Drinking the water I had, I almost spat it all out—what came up were just pebbles.
"What do you mean I'm going to save the world, because..."
"You don't understand. Your work is going to change the understanding of everything. From the moment I met you, I knew you were the one."
"What do you mean, 'the one'?" I asked.
"First, it was your mind. You were brilliant, and the quantum mathematics, how it all worked. Second, you're a good person, and you wish to better things." He paused, then continued.
"You were always a kid who wanted to better the world, and now you can. But I read your essay for the school entrance exam, and there were many things missing... Could you tell me more about yourself, Ash? I feel lost in your journey."
"Xavier, you could have just asked. I would have told you."
"Would you have told me the truth, or just a fantasy?" he said, as he reached for the drink Lay brought him.
"Ask me, then. I will be honest."
"Who was your first love?" he said, drinking away his drink.
Before taking a sip of the drink Lay just put down, she paused, just like me, and walked away before getting swirled into a boy's conversation.
"What are you saying, professor?" I stared, blushing, as my hands moved to my head, trying to cover what he just said.
"What... should I have said, 'Crush'?" he said, looking back with his face red.
Was he already drunk, or was I just seeing a blush?
"Alright then, I said..." Taking the tequila, pouring it into my mouth, a light drop of ice reached my mouth and into my mind, and the flames of my mind infused, making my mind go cold.
Then I let go of my mind and into the ice, and my body worked like that of a machine to survive, and my heart beat like the pounding of a drum.
Thud
Thud
Thud
Thud
Then the words came out of my mouth, unsealed by the moment in time. "My first love, Aurora, she was like no other girl," I said, looking at the light wrapped around the ceiling. Its bright light mesmerized me, just as the memories of her did.