Duckrey

4/5/24-Potions & Poisons

Dark crimson lights. Wealthy, white people crawling around the floor and leaving a trail of vomit behind them. Girls, caked in makeup, pressing up against young men, hoping that they would take an interest. In a dark corner of a bar, Kendrick sat in a casual outfit while carefully spying on everyone around him. He was meant to be meeting a friend but they were going to be quite late. His eyebrows furrowed in impatience. In the distance, Solána was dancing to Espresso -a well crafted pop song- and glanced at Kendrick.

"Hi, there!" Solána ran towards him with lots of vigour and hugged him.

"Hey." Kendrick replied, a smile played in his face.

"Are you writing any new songs?" she asked.

"Nah," he moved his head to the side," you drank tonight?"

"Not really. I'm having a good day." she said.

"You are drunk, I know it." he chuckled.

"Alright, alright," Solána giggled," I'm a little bit drunk, not high though, I'm never high. Oh! I have an idea!"

"Another one of your ideas?" he groaned sarcastically. Her thoughts were usually amusing however he didn't wish to carry one of them out. The last one was a reckless mistake.

"It won't be that bad!" she beamed, "I have a drinking game to play."

Kendrick's expression brightened and his demeanour became more relaxed. "Oh alright then. What is it?"

"It's named after the bar we're in: Potions & Poisons." she explained. "We either choose to tell a dangerous truth, do a strange favour or drink two shots of Polish vodka."

The idea of this game bounced back and forth in his analytical mind ,well, he believed that Potions and Poisons was a dreadful notion but Solána was a close friend of his.

"Alright," he decided, "who goes first?"

"I guess I should." she said. Solána took out three pieces of paper, which made it obvious that she had planned this game, and the papers read, "Potions, Poison Favour, Poison Truth" . She put the papers in different places on their table and spun a bottle of rose wine. 

"Oh!," she exclaimed, "I got Poison Truth."

"How dark should the secret be?" Kendrick asked.

"Let's start off light." she suggested," I used to date Drake in '09."

What? To say that Kendrick was astonished would be an understatement. He knew that Aubrey was a playboy but how could he refuse to tell him that he used to date his best friend years ago? That man was a different sort of creature roaming around this planet: he was utterly despicable and unhinged. As if someone up there could hear his thoughts, the idiot phoned his number.

"I have my favour." Solána smirked," Don't respond to that bitch." She invited her other friends to the table to watch how Kendrick's rival would react. This was going to be fun.

Time rolled on at a leisurely speed; it was quite late thus everyone in the bar kicked back and relaxed. All the customers were either high or drunk at this stage plus conversations gradually became unintelligible. At his friend's crowd, the game of Potions & Poisons was quite enjoyable and exceedingly deafening. Aubrey was buzzing his phone, but honestly, it amused him. Pretending to be social around everyone felt much better than having to face his foe half intoxicated. A faint smile flickered on his face as he lifted a cheers to his recent victory.

"Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A-Minor..." a familiar slurred voice hummed. Kendrick twisted his head in curiosity and was delighted to see Dave Free. With a chiselled face, pointed nose and mischievous eyes, his old friends with benefits was still as striking as he was a decade ago. He was standing upright with two tanned girls hanging off both of his defined shoulders, a cunning smirk wrapped around his spectacular features. "You better watch your ass." The flirt caressed his back then walked away laughing. 

It was an odd threat, to say the least. The alcohol was clogging up his mind but he managed to begin creating a strategy. This could be an attempt at murder yet who was stupid enough to shoot a gun in California? The laws there was quite strict but a rogue policeman could worm their way through. Perhaps, it was a joke, indicating to some sort of surprise party. His birthday was a month away however all his friends knew that shocks kept him on edge. Offenses and defences rushed through his data-filled brain until a loud clatter was heard to the east side of him. 

Mr Fucking Grahams showed up.