Worst Evening
It was a terrible night. Rain, hail, wind, you name it; it had everything. I squeezed my jacket closed tightly with my hands and tried to keep myself as small as possible against the punishing wind. My umbrella had given up at the very start, and my hat was probably somewhere halfway to Australia. And I live in Europe!
Just a short while ago my hair looked good, it was tied up in a really beautiful bun that the hairstylist spent almost an hour doing. I had a single pastel pink stripe running through it, and it contrasted really well with my black hair. Now it was just a mess of strands flying any and each way possible. My dress under my jacket was probably ruined, as well. It was a beautiful black dress that had one silver highlight on the left shoulder, opposite of my pink stripe on my hair.
I didn't even want to think about my face and makeup!
It all started so well, so what went wrong? Was I really stupid enough that I hadn't seen that coming? Everyone else seemed to have known, and I saw looks of pity everywhere I turned. I hated it. Why hadn't any one of my friends said anything? For six months? Six months... So almost from the start... He never took me seriously, then.
I felt like crying, but I was too numb to care. I was cold to my bones and I could probably shake hail off myself for weeks to come. I just wanted to go home and forget the last year or so. Completely.
I wondered if I should start drinking. A full bottle of strong alcohol sounded pretty inviting right about then.
I steered away from my path and started to head towards the bar that's near my place. At least it was closer than my place, and warm. I'd never drunk much before, so if the stories were to be believed, I could get drunk cheaply.
I stepped into the bar. It was dim, there was loud music playing, and the smell of alcohol lingered in the air. It was surprisingly clean though; from the inside it looked more like a nightclub than a bar. There was even a dance floor, although only one couple (who were hopelessly too drunk to dance) was dancing there. I tried to shake all the water and hail from me with little success.
I walked to the bar and sat down. Three people were sitting nearby; a woman and two guys. The other guy looked like... him, and it set my heart on fire again. I tried to fight the tears, but I had to give up and shed a few. I wiped them off and asked the bartender for a strong drink. I didn't know any names, so I just asked for a strong one.
He looked at me with his eyebrow raised and asked me if I was sure. I nodded at him. Then I felt a touch on my shoulder. I glanced sideways and noticed it was the woman who was at the bar just a minute ago.
"Give her a Blue Angel, Jake," she said. "On me."
Her voice sounded beautiful. Full, warm, and bright. A voice fitting her. She looked striking, almost painfully beautiful. Her blonde hair framed her thin face like a painting. Her clear blue eyes glittered in the multitude of lights. Her beautiful, bright red lips were smiling a warm, genuine smile along with her eyes. She seemed to be slightly older than me; maybe five years, maybe ten, but no more. She looked at me with concern in her eyes and sat down.
"You look like shit, darling," she said. "That's a look people have when they've had their heart broken," she continued. "Grab your drink and come to sit with me. I can share an ear and a shoulder. And maybe a paper towel for your makeup, may it Rest in Peace."
I forced a grin on my face and looked at her. "Is it that bad?" I asked, fully knowing that it was. Probably even worse. I did have on waterproof makeup, but that rain and wind would go through steel and bone. A couple of layers of eyeliner, waterproof or not, was no match for it.
She looked at me and silently shook her head and closed her eyes. She put her hand on my shoulder.
"No," she said and leaned in. "It's much worse. Come now, darling. Gently," she added and grabbed my hand, pulled me up from the chair, and led me to a secluded table at the corner of the bar.
It was slightly quieter there, but the smell of alcohol still lingered. It was probably part of the structure at this point. She sat down at the table and patted a chair next to her.
I had no idea what I was doing there at that point, so I just automatically obeyed her and sat down next to her. The chair was comfy, and I felt my tiredness and sadness coming back with a vengeance. I suppressed a sob and just leaned my head on my hands for a second, then took a sip from the drink.
It tasted sweet with a slight tinge of something warm. I actually liked the feeling. If this was a strong drink, I had no problem believing people could get used to it. There was a slight aftertaste of something unfamiliar, but it wasn't overpowering. It tasted slightly of lemons and it had fizziness. I had flashbacks of drinking carbonized sodas when I was younger. Kinda like that, but with an unfamiliar aftertaste and warmness to it. I can't say it burned my throat, but it left a super-warm feeling in it afterward. A little stronger and it would have burned. Now it was just... kind of pleasant.
I sighed and glanced over at her. She was leaning on her hand and looking at me with her head tilted slightly and a weird expression on her face. I'd say 'amused' if she didn't look so sad.
"That bad, eh?" she asked. "Don't answer," she added, "Let me guess. There was a man involved. A man that you've known for a while now, but not long enough for it to have been serious enough for the 'marriage' talk. No, I'd say... little less than a year? Maybe half a year, or slightly more?" she asked.
I stared at her, disbelieving. How could she know? How... "Is it written somewhere?" I asked quietly.
She laughed. A pleasant and vivid, warm laugh. It sounded like brightly colored flowers on a summer day. "No, no," she said, still laughing. "It's just that I've seen that look too many times before.
"Let me continue," she said and smiled at me. "There was another woman involved, possibly multiples. For an extended amount of time, maybe even from before you met him. And nobody you thought of as friends told you anything, and then you found out by accident that he's been cheating on you this whole time and your friends suck."
She leaned her head on her palms and fluttered her eyelashes at me and smiled. "That's about it, I'd guess," she said.
I stared at her in disbelief. How could she... somebody told her? "Is this Hidden Camera?" I blurted out aloud. "Did somebody set me up? This is not fun anymore!" I said and took another sip from my drink.
"No, darling," she said.
I was about to say something about her use of that word, but somehow it didn't seem offensive coming from her lips. I decided against saying anything, and just took another sip.
"This is your first time in an establishment like this, yes?" she asked.
I looked at her with a straight face and just blurted out, "Alright, who are you and why do you know so much about me?" I was done being played with. Not again. Not after today. Not anyone. Not anyone.
"My name is Katherine," she said in that beautiful voice of hers, "but you can call me Kat. I assure you I don't know you, nor has anyone set me up in any way. I'm just too familiar with that look because I spend much of my time here. I've seen that look on so many young faces! And it's almost always the same story - cheating men and shitty friends. You don't look like that if you've lost a dog or gotten fired. The betrayal in the eyes, and the slumped shoulders, and the dead voice... that all speaks to me louder than you could scream about what happened," she said.
