Happiness, your name is Strawberry
#3 in the "Strawberry -- a Shanghai Girl in America" stories. This story is the immediate sequel to "Strawberry Loses Face" (which in turn is preceded by "Strawberry's Halloween"). If you haven't already read those, then I kind of recommend you read in sequence before you read this one. Or not as you choose ď -but they do lead into this story... as always, hope you enjoy...
Synopsis of the story so far:
"Strawberry's Halloween" saw Strawberry accidentally jump into bed with her boyfriend Alan's housemate Pete, before she spent the rest of the night with Alan, only realizing her mistake in the morning. In "Strawberry Loses Face", Strawberry has gone out to dinner with Alan on the following Friday evening, got completely drunk, misunderstood something Alan said and chased him out ... which brings us to...
Happiness, your name is Strawberry
My head hurt so much on Saturday morning. So much pain. So much unhappiness. So big a mistake I made last night with Alan. I knew I'd been so drunk. My housemates were so upset with me after I threw up on all of them. But they took so good care of me even so. Linda, Ramona, Cathy, all of them so nice to me. I felt so guilty. So bad of me. So sick. So many Tylenols swallowed. I had never had that bad a headache with Swiss wine back home in Shanghai. Austrian wine was so bad. Never to drink that 1985 Austrian vintage again*. The sommelier had said that was a special year for Austrian wines, very popular with the Chinese market, entire year's production shipped to China except for a few select bottles.
Such a liar, that sommelier.
I called Alan on Saturday morning after the Tylenols and Advil's kicked in and the pain subsided a little. He didn't answer. I left a message. I left another message. And another. I texted Alan. I texted Alan again. I texted Alan twenty five times in two hours. No answer. So sad. So depressed. Such a mess you made, Strawberry.
"Don't give up Strawberry." Ramona sounded all chirpy as she made me another cup of Jasmine tea while I looked at my iPhone and checked for any messages from Alan for about the five hundredth time. Nothing. My iPhone a void. It was four pm and I must have drunk about two hundred cups of jasmine tea. Ramona had been making me drink it all day. I did feel better though. Slowly. "Maybe he has a hangover too. Go round to his house. He's just round the corner."
I perked up. That sounded like a good idea. If I dressed up, if I looked so good, if I was so apologetic and nice to him, maybe I could make it up to Alan. Apologize. Take him out for dinner. Somewhere with no wine. No alcohol. None at all. Maybe a nice Chinese restaurant. Eat Chinese. Drink lots more jasmine tea. Go back to his place and cĂ o him until he collapsed from exhaustion and happiness. Make up for last night. Strawberry, we have a plan! Suddenly, I felt more optimistic. Ramona approved. I didn't tell her about the "cĂ o him until he collapsed" part of my plan of course, she didn't need to know that much detail. Not at all.
In my bedroom, I took another Extra Strength Tylenol with an Advil chaser. I felt so much better after a long shower. What to wear? That was important, to wear the right clothes, to make the right impression. Contrite and yet a little sexy and so very tempting. I slipped on some lacy little black panties. So tiny. So designed to tease guys. No red tonight. Something subdued but still guaranteed to excite. No bra, just a little black camisole under a silk blouse. A nice short skirt, something to show off my long slender legs. A touch of perfume, a little lipstick, just gloss, nothing too bright. Brush my hair until it shone. A light jacket over the top. A small bag with some extra clothes. Of course Alan would want me to stay over and once we got started, I wouldn't want to leave. A girl should always be prepared. Panties. Bra. Skirt. Blouse. A few other necessary bits and pieces. All in my pretty little Shanghai Tang bag. I was so prepared for making up with Alan.
I took a deep breathe. Courage. Think contrite and just a little sexy. Time to go say sorry, Strawberry.
"Good luck Strawberry."
"Thanks Ramona," and I was gone.
Alan's was just around the block. A five minute walk. This evening it seemed like a thousand miles, my heart in my mouth with every step. By the time I walked up the steps to Alan's house, my courage had faded away and I felt like fainting. So nervous. So much feeling suspense. So worried. What if Alan was still upset with me? What if he was angry? My heart was pounding. I checked my iPhone just before I walked inside. No, no calls back. No text messages back. So sad. Alan must be so upset with me. But I needed to try. I loved Alan so much. I so regretted my bad behavior last night. I was planning on making it up to Alan. So bad of me. So drunk. Such shame. Such embarrassment. So many apologies needed.
I walked into Alan's house.
Nobody was around downstairs. I looked around. No-one. Okay. Where was Alan? Maybe upstairs in his bedroom? I still had that nervous feeling. I was feeling so worried. What to say? Worried and nervous as I rehearsed my apology. I was feeling even more nervous now. Maybe I should drink a glass of water to calm myself before I went upstairs and knocked on his door. I went into the kitchen, got myself that glass of water. I was sipping on it, my hand shaking, when I heard voices. A guy's voice. Was that Alan? A girl's voice. Who was that? Both of them talking happily. I peeked around the corner, I looked up the stairs.
It was Alan.
Coming downstairs with a girl. Talking happily to her.
A tall blonde gwei poh girl with big bouncy tits like a cow's. My heart sank. Sank? My heart plummeted into the depths. Alan had already found a replacement for me. Before even a full day had passed. It was so very heartbreaking to see that. So heartbreaking to see him with a so cheap looking gwei poh. They didn't see me. They walked right past me as I sagged down into a huge old armchair. I was so horrified. Alan's arm was around her shoulders, they were talking happily. It was so shattering to see that. I was so speechless. So wanting to collapse in a heap on the floor.
"See you tomorrow," I heard Alan call out to one of his housemates upstairs as he walked out the front door with that blonde gwei poh who stole other girl's boyfriend's. Tomorrow? What? He was spending the night with her? With another girl. Not with me? Was I so instantly forgotten? I sobbed once, trying to hold back the tears. So sad. I was instantly feeling so very heartbroken. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know anything anymore. I just wanted to cry and cry and cry. So stupid of me to behave so badly to Alan last night. I felt so dumb. I started to cry. I cried so hard. I was feeling so helpless. So alone. So not knowing what to do.