A Love Bargain

040: Unexpected visitor

Kachi

"James!" I yelled at my best friend, who was seated next to me at the bar counter, gawking at the girl that just walked past us. He was staring at her ass in particular.

I would have just drank myself to death, instead of calling him out to join me, because his presence right now was as good as nothing.

The weight I felt in my heart was becoming unbearable as the picture of the man, I saw at Pearl's house clouded my vision. Another sigh escaped me, joining the hundreds of sighs I had already released, after just twenty minutes of being here. 

My heart ached badly, making me feel like I was back to what almost destroyed me two years ago. Why on earth did I let Pearl, make me fall stupidly in love with her? Why did I think she was different?

She never for once told me she was, so where did I get that from?

"I'm sorry man, I just-- I mean-- that ass is so beautiful for me not to stare," James winked at me, accompanying it with a smile to soften my glare on him. But that was as ineffective as pouring water to soften a rock. "I'm sorry for what happened but I feel like you should hear her out, first." He stated, moving back to the topic at hand. He downed a large amount of his scotch and then, placed the glass on the bar counter.

The shock I felt meeting Brian at Pearl's house, was something James would never understand. Because if he did, he wouldn't give me some silly advice.

"It's really a small world and why on earth do y'all have to always go for the same--"

"Shut up, James!" I blurted. "Pearl is mine alone." I shot him an angry look.

"Okay okay... That was a mistake." James pulled his hands in surrender, and I downed the rest of the scotch in my glass with anger.

The burning sensation that travelled down my throat was nothing compared to the pain I felt in my heart. I signalled for the bartender to refill our glasses. 

"Alcohol will not solve your problem man," James said. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and I reached for it, eyeing him. Of course, I knew it wouldn't decipher my problem but what else would? "Just go home and sleep over it and then talk to her tomorrow." His words jogged into my ears as my eyes fell on the caller ID, and the picture which covered my phone screen.

She was the most beautiful person I knew, and her smile was the most beautiful smile I had ever laid my eyes on. But the thought of the man I saw in her house, and the fact that he kissed her caused the pain to puncture deeply in my heart, making me turn my phone off.

"I will never speak to her again," I muttered under my breath but James of course heard me loud and clear.

Right now, Last Last by Burna Boy was seeping through the speakers, filling not just the bar but my heart with hurtful pain. The constant sounds of clinking glasses seemed not to ever cease, and a good number of people were seated at all corners of the bar, filling the room with their voices and laughter. 

Our glasses had already been refilled by the bartender, and my gaze was now on the glass of scotch suited in front of me. I raised the rim of the glass to my mouth and took a large gulp, letting it burn down my throat.

"If you ask me, I would say you hear her out first." I paused on another sip, placed the glass on the counter and turned to James.

"He was in her house and they kissed, did you even listen to anything I said earlier?" I had told him every single thing that happened, down to my encounter with Vera but it seemed like he didn't understand my pain.

"Yes, just the same way you and Vera kissed." He slightly pressed his mouth together, released it and held his glass to his lips. With his brows raised in reaction to the glare that emitted my face like fire.