"What's your story?" Julian asked as he and L sat in a booth at a lively bar downtown.
"I'd rather hear yours," she said, feeling as though the entirety of the night had already been about her. The two found themselves across from the other with a beer bottle in front of each of them and a cigarette in both of their right hands. L knew she was generously more buzzed than the man in front of her.
Though Julian had never opened up about his past to anyone, but he wanted to know if she'd judge him strongly by what he'd been through in contrast to her seemingly luxurious life, so Julian spilled his guts — telling her of his parent's divorce when he was young and how he nearly had to vie for himself most of his life, providing a dreary past that led to such a lonely present in which he separated himself from that life. The only people outside of his family that knew about his past were the friends he went to school with while it was happening. Julian never talked about it since, but something about L accepting him into her life gave Julian this sense of security talking to her.
As L listened, she took sips of the beer to fuel her buzz. Julian asked about her upbringing, and she told him about how she was pulled into her parents' prescription drug business. Though it sounded admirable from the outside, it really only consisted of materialistic people re-branding cheap medication to sell for millions. She felt kind of odd saying it to someone who was so estranged to the lifestyle.
"Oh, so pretty much same as mine," he joked.
The two laughed it off, sipping their beers. And, it made her realize that neither of their pasts defined them in anyway whatsoever. It didn't matter what either of them had been through. All that mattered was it somehow brought them together, and there they were, sharing themselves with one another.
"I take it Erica didn't like me too much," Julian said, watching her reaction as he took another sip.
"She's just really judgmental," L defended.
"And Jen," Julian added, taking a drag.
"Also judgmental," she continued.
"What about you?" he leaned in, inquiring about her thoughts about him, wishing he could cancel out the bar music. There was nothing he wished for more than to be able to stop the turn tables and just listen to her voice — her honest, though alcohol-fueled, voice.
"I wish I could just get away from it all," she said honestly, "I'm tired of everyone I know."
"How do you feel about me?" he asked, reiterating his question, playing on the suspicion that she was inebriated enough to be completely honest.
"You're real," she said, "You're like no one I've ever met before. Even when I'm not at work, I'm still told how to act, how to dress. My days off are scheduled with meetings and parties. You seem so free," she gushed, showing how much she admired him and his lifestyle, "You're your own person and not the product of everyone around you."
Julian took pleasure in her answer, feeling more confident about himself at her words. He wanted to tell her she could just leave everything and stay with him, but he knew that'd be too forward.
"And, what are your thoughts about me?" she asked inquisitively, wanting to know if he really only thought of her as some desperate bimbo as most guys at the parties perceived.
"I think you're lost," he said, eyeing her, "I think you're stuck in a society that you don't know how to escape from. You're surrounded by people who try to make you one of them when you know you just don't belong. You want to get away from it all, but you don't know how to." She nodded, terrified by how accurate he was. "Or maybe you're scared of what everyone will think if you do," he said at the risk of sounding harsh. She responded only by taking another swig of her beer.
