cornerstone:: lrh

t h r e e

another night, another strange bar.

outside the entrance, there was a large, very colorful parrot holding a sign that said, "the parrot's beak." on the glass door was a sign that said, "push," so i pushed. a bell rang, and the friendly bartender gave me a toothy grin from behind the massive wooden bar and said, "hey man. what can i getcha?"

"four coronas please," i gave him a weary smile back and sat at the bar on a tall, red leather bar stool that had tons of rips in it. i stuck my finger in one of the many holes as i awaited my beverages.

spinning the bar stool and scanning the place, there wasn't much to it. just black tables with black leather chairs under the extremely dim lighting. there was a few arcade machines here and there, along with a couple of dartboards. a group of men sat at a high table near the dartboard laughing as their very intoxicated friend attempted to throw a dart, missing the dartboard entirely.

at the back, there were bathrooms. they had a red and blue neon sign above them with arrows pointing to them. just as i was looking away, in my peripheral vision, a woman with long, dark hair and ivory skin sneaks into the men's restroom. my mind immediately went to my ex-lover.

victoria?

no, no. it couldn't be her. my glorious victoria... it couldn't be.

but it couldn't hurt to find out.

curiosity moves me from my place on the red, leather bar stool and my strides make a straight shot to the men's restroom. i approach the glossy, black, wooden door and push it open. i am immediately met with the woman from my peripheral vision, as well as very loud elevator-like music blaring from the speakers exclusively in the bathroom. the woman wears a white peasant top and blue jeans along with white sneakers. a leather jacket is draped around her shoulders and she has a broken arm, as it is in a pink cast with writing all over it. get well messages of friends, i suppose.

she turns around, a burning cigarette in her mouth and the bathroom's smoke detector in her good hand. some of her hair has made its way into her mouth and she sports dark makeup.

definitely not my victoria, but still beautiful. looked just like her.

had the same aura, too.

i was so close.

so close.

she waves at me awkwardly. "hello!" she shouts over the elevator music. "don't mind me!" it was too loud for me to hear her speak.

"sorry, what?!" i yell, shoving my ear in her direction and scrunching up my face.

"i said, 'don't mind me!'" she yells back.

"oh! okay! me neither, don't mind me!" i scream in response. she's still messing with the smoke alarm, trying to disarm it. "need some help?!" i yell.

"sure! thanks!" she gives me a flawless smile and my stomach explodes into a zoo of butterflies. i take the smoke detector from her, whip out my switchblade, unscrew a few screws, and take the batteries out from it. "thank you!" she says, smiling again. she takes a drag of the cigarette, blowing the smoke into the air.

the smoke clogs my airways, and i begin to cough.

"not much of a smoker, huh?!" she leans close to me, her hot breath on my ear. she giggles.

"no, not my thing!" i reply loudly.

she laughs, throwing her head back and swaying back and forth.

her laugh was just like victoria's too.

i leaned against the wall, suddenly needing support. i looked towards the ceiling, tilting my head back and resting it on the wall. feeling moisture in my hair i pulled away, wiped it off, and stood idle in the middle of the strange, transporting bathroom. it took me to an entirely separate dimension. the strange lighting, the blasting of the peculiar elevator music, the beautiful girl...

she was close, so close that the walls were wet...

on the vanity in the bathroom, there were some Letraset letters scattered about. i began to spell out words, my mind simply putting together whatever first came to mind, which began with the letters c, a, and n. the letters stuck to the large mirror, i, c, a, and two l's.

soon enough came together the letters n, a, m, e, and lastly, a question mark.

'can i call you her name?'

she cleared the mirror and wrote out in the Letraset, "no, you can't call me her name."

she smirks at me, and before i knew it, she leaves the bathroom forever.

i would never meet the same girl again, and i would never be in the same bathroom again, and i would never feel the way i felt again.

that's what i loved about new york.

you'd never meet the same person in the same place ever again.

and that's what i loved about victoria.

you'd never feel the way you felt with her with anyone else.