Roller Coaster

RC --- Chapter FORTY-ONE

Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over. - Unknown

January 11, Saturday

11:50 PM

Azotea Towers

A few glasses of martini plus a half bottle of tequila yet Miguel could still feel a little sobriety left in his body signaling he wasn’t drunk enough. He left the club 30 minutes after Alex painfully left him. He pondered where to go next but his feet led him to his pad straight to his bar and readily opened a bottle of tequila.

For the night, he wanted nothing but complete oblivion. Tomorrow… tomorrow he would decide which things were worth fighting for and which ones needed letting go.

It took him awhile to realize his door bell had been ringing nonstop. In uncoordinated, staggering steps with the tequila bottle in one hand, he managed to open the door revealing his mother’s worried face and Prita’s annoyed one.

“What the heck?! What are you doing Miguel?” Prita manipulated her chair entering his place at once.

Miguel sniggered bitterly and walked back to the bar counter crashing his bottom on a cushioned stool. His mother followed with cautious but worried eyes however Prita continued blabbering incessantly.

“Look at this mess!” Prita’s horrified eyes traveled throughout the visible living room. It was indeed untidy with furniture disarrayed, clutters everywhere as if a cleaner had not visited the place for a month. Prita advanced her wheelchair towards her brother and tightly grasped his arms. “Miguel! Would you snap out of it?! This is not you!” Her voice amplified slightly.

Miguel’s drooping eyes turned to look at his sister’s then callously retrieved his arm away from her grasp. Then his focus shifted back to the glassy container which seemed to be the most important thing at that moment.

Momentarily Prita was taken aback by her brother’s cold treatment as she moved backwards but feisty as she was, she pushed even further. “You are one laughing stock Miguel. How could you be affected by something or someone for that matter so irrelevant?”

Miguel’s grip on the bottle tightened then without warning he threw it on the wall, missing his sister’s spot for only a few inches. The shattering noise along with pieces of glass and diffusing liquid made Prita and Mrs. Charlotte yelped in shock.

“Irrelevant?! Who do you think you are to know who is or isn’t important to me?! Who the fuck are you to mess with my life?!!” It was apparent Miguel reached his boiling point. His body was trembling while his eyes slitted, both because of almost uncontrolled fury.

“Miguel… anak…” Mrs. Charlotte’s shaken voice was not enough to bring Miguel’s control back. Prita’s form suddenly cowering from her brother’s no nonsense outburst.

“Do you think I wouldn’t find out?!! Do you think I would listen to what you will say and not hers?! Do you think I’d take your side like I had always done before?!!” Miguel continued shouting. “You have no right to hurt her!! You have no fucking right!!”

Prita’s temper have been ignited upon realizing what Miguel‘s statements seemed to be insinuating. Her eyes met his revealing the power she thought she had. “Lahat ng sinabi ko sa babaeng yun ay katotohanan. You are in fact engaged Miguel.” She tried to sound confident.

“Engaged because of your selfishness!! Because you are one foolish, thoughtless spoiled brat who couldn’t even do anything right for our family!”