When We Were Drunk

Night 005

            It’s already 11PM when I reached the 38th floor. I was so tired, I feel like I’ll collapsed any time. But whatever, I missed my beer yesterday. I gotta have one now.

            The familiar back of a guy welcomed me. He’s here, again. I bet he is becoming fond of this messy rooftop too. Well, I can’t blame him. This rooftop has its magic, it makes you feel a little better.

            “You weren’t here yesterday,” he said.

            His statement made me smile. Looks like someone missed my presence. “Aww, poor Alfonso got bitten by mosquitos alone.”

            “Yeaaaah, they clung onto me ‘cause you weren’t here.” His words were a bit slurred. His eyes look sleepy, too. Maybe he’s been drinking for a while now.

            I sat beside him and removed my hair net. I’ve been wanting to remove this the moment I wore it. I’m not really a fan of this thing. “Well, Mr. Esquivel, not everyone is as rich as you. I gotta do some job to feed myself.”

            He opened a can and gave it to me, which I gladly took. I realized I forgot to buy some beer, good thing Alfonso’s here to sponsor.

            “You’re working?” he asked.

“Yes,” I took a sip from my can. Beer tastes so good when it’s cold. “Rumor has it that we no longer own the biggest manufacturing firm in the country.”

            It’s funny how one day you’re at the top then the next day you’re just staring at your old life from afar. But it’s alright, I am now well adjusted. At least I’ve mastered making my favorite frapuccino.

            “I used to work as a crew in this famous fastfood chain,” he revealed.

I looked at him weirdly.

“An Esquivel? Working?” I raised my brows at him. “Not a perfect combination, dude.”

“Unlike you, I wasn’t born rich, Santua. My father is, but not me. I needed to work in the past so mom and I won’t starve to death.”

And here I thought this guy has it all easy. I wonder how many things he’s hiding under his sleeves. People only know what’s on the surface, surely, he doesn’t allow everyone to get past his walls.

He drank from his can. “That’s not the story I was trying to tell, but long story short, I rarely eat fried chicken now. It used to be my favorite, but after eating it every duty, dude…I got tired of its taste.”

Oh, gosh. I can only imagine.

“Still, that’s free chicken!” I laughed.

He shook his head. “I thought the same but after months of eating it everyday? No, thank you.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of frapuccino though, it basically runs in my veins.” I said, as a matter of fact. I can’t live a single day without my daily dose of caffeine. Luckily, I was able to land a job at some coffee shop nearby. It feels less like a job ‘cause I love coffee.

He smiled. “Along with the beers?”

I returned his smile with a laugh. He’s getting me now, I see. “That’s basically the components of my blood, dude.”

“Guess my blood components,” he suddenly blurted out.

My forehead creased. “What?”

“Oh, come on, Marg,” he laughed. I swear this guy is really drunk tonight. He’s quite talkative and he’s giggling around. According to what I’ve been hearing at school, Esquivel is very kind. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not interested with the guy. His fangirls were so loud that some info got stucked in me.

He’s not the usual “suplado” guy based on his fangirls. Although he has it all—the looks, money and brains, he’s very down-to-earth. However, he rarely laughs. And he’s not that talkative.

Maybe he’s being like this ‘cause he’s drunk already. Well, he speaks okay but the weariness is very evident on his face. Alcohol plus exhaustion is not a really good combination but it helps in having a good sleep. That’s actually one of the reasons why I can’t go to sleep without having even a single shot.

“Fine,” I gave in to his request. I scanned him and suddenly noticed that he is wearing a jersey. Is he a player? As far as I know, he’s not. He’s got a really nice built, though. Maybe he’s a regular in gym, but what I like about him is he’s not too muscular and he’s not too thin as well. He’s just normal—the ‘lean with a bit of muscles type’ maybe.

“Let’s see, maybe…your blood is composed of alcohol ‘cause duh, it’s obvious.” I raised my can and clicked it with his. We both laughed as we did it. “Plus…coffee because how can you survive Bio without it, right?”

“Right!” he shouted and put his thumbs up.

I shook my head at his foolish actions. He’s really hyper tonight. “What else? Hmm…cola?”

“Nah,” he lazily said. “I’m no longer fond of carbonated drinks. I don’t wanna have needles on my wrist again.”

“UTI?” I asked.

He drank from his can and smiled. “Yes, that awful disease. I wonder why I didn’t receive a loyalty award from the hospital because of that, I deserved one, dude!”

I smiled as a memory flashed in my head. When we were kids, my Kuya was a fan of cola, as in he cannot last a day without it. Guess what happened next…he got urinary tract infection. He was just nine years old that time, I was eight. Seeing him cry because of needles became a usual scene to me.

“Oh gosh, you won’t believe my Kuya got one! It’s even framed in our house.”

His eyes looked amused. “No s**t?”

“Really,” I laughed. “He literally lived in the hospital that his room became an extension of our house. I even got my own drawer for my clothes in the hospital’s room closet!”

            The certificate was kind of a congratulatory thing, actually. It was given by the hospital the day he was released. According to them, he was the longest kid who stayed in that room. The staff, nurses and doctors were also very fond of him because my Kuya is really a playful kid. He even memorized the names of everyone who works in there ‘cause he loves going out of his room even if he’s not allowed.

            “Your Kuya must be really awesome. Is he an alumna of our university?” he asked.

            I wish I could say he was. I used to think it was very shallow, one of his dreams was actually to become an alumna in our university ‘cause it’s where my parents met each other.

            I shook the can of beer and gulped from it. With a sad smile, I looked at him. “He…he didn’t make it on the graduation day.”

            “What do you mean?” he looked confused.

“He survived it all,” I smiled. My Kuya would want me to smile whenever I talk about him. He told me to never get sad whenever I think about him. I’m trying my very best, but it’s not easy.

I sighed and looked at the sky. Talking about it never gets easy. “Even though he’s in the hospital, he managed to defend his thesis. He even won best thesis. Weeks before the graduation, my Kuya was doing his best to recover fast because he wanted to attend his graduation. But I guess God has a different plan for him.”

“I’m sorry I asked,” he said, sounding guilty.

Alfonso looks at me apologetically. Sometimes, it even gets sad when people do that. When people say sorry, it feels like talking about your deceased family member is a burden to you. It makes me lonely, yes, but it’s definitely not a problem.

My Kuya was a very kind man and I’m very proud of him. His story deserves to be shared to the world.

“No, Alfonso. It’s alright,” I assured him with a smile. “I’m still not used to him being gone but my Kuya will like it if I’ll be able to talk about him without breaking down.”

If Kuya is watching me from above right now, I’m sure he would be very happy to see me like this. He is a very sensitive topic to me. Until now, I still can’t sleep without him on my last thoughts. But slowly, day by day, I’m trying my best to move on.

I know one day I’ll be able to think of him without picturing him on the coffin.

He gave me a very genuine smile. “I’m sure your Kuya is proud of you right now.”

“Oh, he should be. Or else I would remove his very ‘gwapo’ picture in my room, according to him.”

Apparently, Alfonso here is fond of my gestures and stories. He shook his head while laughing. He opened two can of beers and handed me the other one. I didn’t realize my can was already empty.

He took a swig from his can and looked at me. “I’m sure your Kuya and I could have been friends.”

“Oh, gosh, I can only imagine,” I pretended to massage my head as if I have a headache. “The two of you being friends will surely be the death of me.”

Eventually, we run out of beers. Alfonso, being his silly self tonight, refused to go down to his unit. According to him, he doesn’t want to sleep. I told him that unlike him, I’m very tired as f**k. But well, Alfonso being Alfonso again, he didn’t allow me to leave the rooftop.

Fortunately we still have snacks. So we chatted over the leftover boy bawangs. He made me tell him a lot of stories about my Kuya. By the end of the night, he was completely head over heels with my Kuya.

“I always knew you’re a gay,” I teased.

Alfonso didn’t give me the satisfaction of teasing him, though. I was so surprised by his next action that I even threw a can at him because I can’t contain my laugh.

He puckered his lips and gave a flying kiss, “Alfonso Esquivel. 21. Philippines.”

His voice was very big and manly but his actions were so on point. At one point, I was almost convinced he got a gay side on him.

And that’s how we spent the night—him trying to practice for Miss Universe and me being his coach for the upcoming pageant. I can’t believe we even did a catwalk.

I swear us being left alone with beers is not a very good idea. Good thing no one saw our craziness that night.

To be continued…  

 [Note: "Kuya" means older brother]