Liquid Courage

Night 005

It’s already 11PM when I reached the 38th floor. I was so tired, I feel like I’ll collapsed any time. But whatever, I missed my beer yesterday. I gotta have one now.

The familiar back of a guy welcomed me. He’s here, again. I bet he is becoming fond of this messy rooftop too. Well, I can’t blame him. This rooftop has its magic, it makes you feel a little better.

“You weren’t here yesterday,” he said.

His statement made me smile. Looks like someone missed my presence. “Aww, poor Alfonso got bitten by mosquitos alone.”

“Yeaaaah, they clung onto me ‘cause you weren’t here.” His words were a bit slurred. His eyes look sleepy, too. Maybe he’s been drinking for a while now.

I sat beside him and removed my hair net. I’ve been wanting to remove this the moment I wore it. I’m not really a fan of this thing. “Well, Mr. Esquivel, not everyone is as rich as you. I gotta do some job to feed myself.”

He opened a can and gave it to me, which I gladly took. I realized I forgot to buy some beer, good thing Alfonso’s here to sponsor.

“You’re working?” he asked.

“Yes,” I took a sip from my can. Beer tastes so good when it’s cold. “Rumor has it that we no longer own the biggest manufacturing firm in the country.”

It’s funny how one day you’re at the top then the next day you’re just staring at your old life from afar. But it’s alright, I am now well adjusted. At least I’ve mastered making my favorite frapuccino.

“I used to work as a crew in this famous fastfood chain,” he revealed.

I looked at him weirdly.

“An Esquivel? Working?” I raised my brows at him. “Not a perfect combination, dude.”

“Unlike you, I wasn’t born rich, Santua. My father is, but not me. I needed to work in the past so mom and I won’t starve to death.”

And here I thought this guy has it all easy. I wonder how many things he’s hiding under his sleeves. People only know what’s on the surface, surely, he doesn’t allow everyone to get past his walls.

He drank from his can. “That’s not the story I was trying to tell, but long story short, I rarely eat fried chicken now. It used to be my favorite, but after eating it every duty, dude…I got tired of its taste.”

Oh, gosh. I can only imagine.

“Still, that’s free chicken!” I laughed.

He shook his head. “I thought the same but after months of eating it everyday? No, thank you.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of frapuccino though, it basically runs in my veins.” I said, as a matter of fact. I can’t live a single day without my daily dose of caffeine. Luckily, I was able to land a job at some coffee shop nearby. It feels less like a job ‘cause I love coffee.

He smiled. “Along with the beers?”

I returned his smile with a laugh. He’s getting me now, I see. “That’s basically the components of my blood, dude.”

“Guess my blood components,” he suddenly blurted out.

My forehead creased. “What?”

“Oh, come on, Marg,” he laughed. I swear this guy is really drunk tonight. He’s quite talkative and he’s giggling around. According to what I’ve been hearing at school, Esquivel is very kind. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not interested with the guy. His fangirls were so loud that some info got stucked in me.