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As Lola sat behind the bar at the Rose and Crown pub, downing her fourth pint of Guiness, it was definitely safe to say she was extremely drunk. She wasn't normally such a lightweight, but given the emotional pain the night had already provided, she acquiesced to the power of the alcohol much sooner than usual.
The beer didn't seem to taste nice anymore. Rather than drinking for pleasure, she was drinking to numb the pain, which the Guiness had proved to do quite well. Lola couldn't feel anything anymore.
Her fingers trembled and her grip on the glass was loose, but she still managed to press it against her lips and pour the liquid down her throat. Lola's eyes flickered and she slammed them shut, as she felt her head begin to ache. It was fine. She would be fine. She just needed some more drink.
Tightly grasping hold of her drink, she chugged the rest of it, before slamming it down on the counter. She slid her hand into her pocket to see if there was any money left, but could only find a penny and the receipt from a shopping centre she had visited the previous week with Elowen. She groaned.
If she wasn't going to buy anything else to drink, the bartender would soon ask her to leave and then she would be stuck out on the streets with nowhere to sleep. Lola decided that if worst came to worst she could sleep in her car, but that idea seemed really unappealing to her. She had to find a way to put that off as long as possible and that meant she needed a way to stay in the pub longer.
With no money left, she couldn't buy herself another drink. She could hide out in the toilets, but that option was a last resort. The only other choice was to get someone else to buy her a drink. She had to admit that flirting with a stranger to get her way was very out of character for her, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
Lola looked around the pub, her head extremely dizzy by now and trying not to vomit, to see what sort of guys there were. A few lads her age were playing at the pool table, who she reckoned were reasonably attractive. Then there was someone she swore had attended her high school playing on the fruit machines. There were some other men too, either a lot older or if they were her age, they were even more far gone than she was - absolutely pissed out of their minds.
Deciding that the guys at the pool table were probably her best bet, Lola ran her fingers through her chestnut locks, before cautiously standing up. However, as soon as her feet made contact with the ground, it was as though the room had begun to spin.
She clutched her head in agony, before tripping and tumbling to the floor. The entire pub swayed, like an optical illusion you would find in a fun house. Her weak body collapsed onto the floor.
As Lola collided with the floorboards, every inch of her body ached like hell. She just wanted to go to bed (somewhere safe and warm), but instead, she had to stay in the disgusting pub, until she came up with a better idea.
