Rebuilding

Not Much of a Drinker

“Okay BYE GUYS!” No, that wouldn’t do. I’d have to try again. “Love you guys, bye!” Eh, that wass a bit better. I was sat there in my room for another thirty minutes trying to film a usable ending for my latest video. After what seemed like a million takes, I finally settled on one and deleted the rest. I vowed to edit the video later; I was in bad need of a drink. I was never one to drink alcohol regularly, in fact I hadn’t tasted alcohol since that New Year’s party at Chris’s house, but I found myself entirely too stressed at the moment and just needed that little buzz to take the edge off. I wandered into the kitchen where I found my flat-mate Dan pouring himself a bowl of cereal.

“Dan, it’s three in the afternoon and you’re eating Shreddies, seriously?” I taunted my friend as I made my way to the fridge, in search of a drink.

“Well Philip, I guess you could say I’m for cereal.” Dan cocked one eyebrow as he stuffed a spoonful of shredded wheat and milk into his mouth.

“Once again I say you can’t be serious.” I opened the bottle and took a swig. Not being a regular drinker, I wasn’t quite accustomed to the bitter taste. I remembered why I didn’t drink it often. I forced myself to swallow the cold beverage.

“Never took you as much of a drinker, Phil.” Dan was eyeing me up over his now empty bowl. What was his problem? I could drink if I wanted to.

“Yeah, just thought I could have a drink without getting lectured.” I took my bottle with me and left the kitchen, not in the lightest mood. Dan followed close behind me, obviously curious as to why I had been so snappy.

“What’s gotten into you? I was just jok-,” Dan’s words were cut off by the door slamming in his face. I walked into my room and flopped face down onto my bed. I let out an exasperated sigh. I guessed that was a bit uncalled for, so I decided I’d have to go apologize. I got up and went out into the hallway and saw that Dan’s door was now closed.

I knocked. “Hey Dan, can I come in?”

“I would say yes, but I don’t want you to think I’m lecturing you.” I took that as a yes and let myself inside. Dan’s room was much neater than mine, as it usually was. At the moment, I found Dan sitting on his bed, occupied by a Rubix Cube. I went over and sat next to him on the bed.

“You know, they say you should make a white cross first.”

“The hell are you talking about, Phil?”

“To solve the cube. Make a cross out of the white blocks first.”

“Oh,” Dan said, “thanks.” He made a few more changes to the cube before setting it down on the bed.

“I’m sorry for storming away like that earlier. I’m just not in the greatest mood. I’ve been trying to film this video all day and now I’m not even sure if I should put it up.” This was true. I had always felt a little self-conscious over the Internet. In all the seven years I had been on YouTube, I had managed over 900,000 subscribers, but for some reason I still never felt 100% comfortable with myself whenever I uploaded a video or started up a live show. I was always concerned that I would say something offensive or stupid and would never hear the end of it. Dan’s voice broke my self-pitying train of thought.

“It just took me aback, is all.” Dan flashed that smile of his and let his dimple show.

“Alright. We good?”

“Phil. You really think we wouldn’t be?”

“Yeah, you’re right.” I went to take another drink from the bottle and found it empty. I assumed I had adapted to the taste. “I’m gonna go throw this out and then figure out what I’m gonna do about this mess of a video.” I got up to leave Dan’s room.

“You should, Phil.”

“Should what?” I looked back. Dan was now sitting in his chair at his computer, logging into Twitter.

“Post the video. I’m sure it’s entertaining,” he said, without even looking back.

“Oh. Well, alright.” Well that was just great. Now I had no choice but to post it, or I would never hear the end of it from Dan. I tossed the bottle in the bin in the kitchen and headed back into my room. I heard Dan talking into his camera, no doubt making a new video. I shut the door behind me and sat in my desk chair. Filled with an odd mixture of boredom and stress, I pushed myself away from the desk and the chair and I went sliding. I slid all the way across the room, bumping into a shelf. A box fell from the top, and its contents spilled open.

 “Ah, hell.” I exclaimed under my breath. I got up and began to pick up the items. Gum wrapper, rubber band, old concert ticket, dinner receipt, picture of mum, coupons- my eyes fell back on the old receipt. It was from a year ago, a receipt to the Olive Garden. I had taken my old girlfriend there for our year anniversary. That was before I found out she had been cheating on me for nearly half our relationship. I crumpled the receipt up into a tight ball and dropped it back into the box before shutting the lid and putting the damned box in the bottom of the wardrobe. I sighed heavily and went back to the computer to edit the video. Of course now I was way too uptight to do anything productive, so I got up from my chair and went into the kitchen to grab another bottle.