How to Kill a Man in Thirty Seconds

Chapter 21: Stay Off the Booze

Startled, my gaze darted over my shoulder. It immediately landed on the tall figure standing on the other end. Adrian stood in the distance, a bottle of alcohol clutched in his hand, the breeze blowing the tousled ends of his hair over his face.

I felt a pang of irritation upon seeing him; Adrian was the last person I needed to see right now. What was he even doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be some sort of social leper?

"Did you follow me here just to annoy me?" I spat out bitterly, "I'm done with your shit, Adrian. I mean it."

"I'm not here to dampen your mood, Charley," Adrian replied after a moment, sounding resigned, "It's just that the party's so loud it's killing me. I came out for some fresh air."

I glanced back over the waters, feeling too exhausted to conjure up a reply that would convince him to leave me alone.

The sound of footfalls on the deck informed me that he had taken my silence as a white flag.

I took a gulp from the cup of beer I clutched in my fist when I heard him sink to the floor beside me. The bitter taste hit me hard, leaving my throat feeling scorched and I gagged.

"I honestly don't know what I was expecting," I heard Adrian mutter to himself beside me in apparent disappointment, "Of course there was going to be a bunch of hormonal teenagers who can't keep their hands to themselves." He frowned, "And someone with a very bad taste in music."

Despite everything, my lips twitched at his words.

For the first time, I cast him a sidewards glance. Adrian sat beside me, his unwavering gaze on the still waters as he hugged his knees to his chest. I noticed the bruises on his face from his last fight had begun to heal and were lighter, less visible now. His black hair was tousled under the night air and with his unsmiling face, he appeared morose.

I released a low chuckle before taking another swig of my drink, "I'm surprised. I expected a guy like you to be into this kind of stuff."

"A guy like me?" his emerald gaze met mine, brows furrowed.

"I don't know. I mean, you're a rule breaker, a bully. Guys like you generally dig the booze... and the chicks. Partying like this with your friends is supposed to be your kind of paradise."

I didn't know if I was hitting a nerve. Perhaps I wanted to. I had had a crap day and my verbal filter was malfunctioning.

To my surprise he let out a low chuckle, and instead of anger, the sound was tainted with bitterness.

"Friends? What friends?" he scoffed, before raising the bottle of booze he clutched to his lips. I watched as he chugged it down in gulps, drops of it escaping his lips and trickling down his chin in his desperation.

"Christ, slow down," I cried before I could stop myself, snatching it out of his reach on instinct. Seeing his forest green eyes widen in surprise, I added quickly, "If you choke on this stuff, I am not dragging you back to the house and calling an ambulance."

He opened his mouth as if to argue, but then shut it in resignation.

My gaze lowered to the clear liquid in the now half empty bottle. Oh screw it. Lifting it to my lips, I took a swig. A much more intense bitterness hit me this time, scorching my tongue and searing my throat as I swallowed.

"Don't. That's too strong," I heard Adrian cry out before I yanked the bottle out of his reach. I downed the rest of it.

When I sank back down again, feeling the long forgotten burn at the pit of my stomach, Adrian was glaring at me. But I had got what I wanted. I could feel the high starting to settle in. This was supposed to help, wasn't it? It was supposed to drown away the pain.

And as much as I knew I would regret it in the morning, right then, I wanted nothing more than to not feel.

It wasn't long after that I lay on the deck, staring up at the giant sky in silence. My brain had slowed. The pain had numbed. Adrian was still seated beside me in silence and he was staring into the distance, lost in thought.

"'The universe does not allow perfection,'" I recalled the words I had come by many years ago. They had meant nothing to me at the time, but the truth to it was slowly starting to sink in.

Adrian's gaze flickered to me and he said nothing.

"Stephen Hawking said that," I murmured, lost in my thoughts. My gaze was unfocused, and something was rising up my throat. I swallowed it down.

"He was right."

My gaze darted to Adrian's in surprise, before a low chuckle escaped my lips, "I think that's the first time we've agreed on anything."

I thought I caught a slight twitch to his lips but he had returned his stare to the vast hills before I had so much as blinked.

"He believed in the multiverse too," I murmured, "... Do you?"

A moment passed in silence.

"Do I believe in an infinite number of parallel universes? You have strange drunk talk, Charley," Adrian murmured disapprovingly, then paused, "I don't know if I believe it. Perhaps I want to."

"Why?"

He shrugged. "If there was another you, in another universe somewhere in the galaxy, wouldn't you like to think that she, atleast, was happier?"

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A/N- So I've never actually been drunk, so I don't know if I got this right... apologies if I didn't. Either way, thanks for all the lovely comments you guys left me on my last chapter!