Someday, I'll Find My Way Home

Axel sits with strangers.

When I arrived at The Sherwood Place in Taft, I parked at a nearby fastfood chain and met Karla at Plato Bar. The last time I went here was with Paula when she asked me to accompany her with her now ex-boyfriend at a college reunion / party. I disguised as Paula's cousin--her ex-boyfriend found out about it a week alter--and drank a couple drinks, played beer pong, and talked to a few strangers.

As far as I knew, Sherwood Place was the equivalent of LB Square in UPLB. It was a collection of pubs and bars that was frequented by college students of DLSU-Taft. The place had two floors, and the Plato bar was on the first floor--occupying a part of the sidewalk with tables and a makeshift roof.

I saw beerpongs table along the way as I searched for Karla and her friends. The music was loud, but the crowd was deafening with their collective chitchats, screams, and yells. I brushed away the smoke from a vape as it always gave me a headache.

Karla was sitting on a long table with about ten to fifteen people.

She noticed me when she was chugging a Red Horse.

"Guys, guys! He's here! The one I'm talking about!" 

She stood up and clung her arms on mine as she dragged me to her table. All of them waved at me and offered me a drink as soon as I sat down. I bowed and gladly drank when I received the shot glass.

I didn't need a chaser for that. Bitter suited me well tonight.

Karl introduced me to her friends, but I couldn't remember all of their names. There were six girls and nine men. The only names that stuck on me was the two boys in front of me--Jax and Harry--who were too clingy to each other as they shared a single glass.

Her friends ordered more food and drinks for us, although some of them looked wasted. I digged in to the pepperoni and four-cheese pizza, alternating between these and shots of Bacardi.

Something felt off. Something that I couldn't pinpoint at the moment.

But this was an off-night for me. I lost a best friend completely. I was caught in an argument with my closest friends. But most of all, I was confused on my identity.

I looked at Paula. Do I still feel a connection to her? Yes. Am I attracted to her? Definitely. 

Karl always finds a way inside my head. 

Why him, of all people?

I was reminded of all the mistakes I've done to him. I didn't know that staying as his best friend hurt him so much. If I knew from the beginning that he had feelings for me...

What would I do if that was the case? Would I open the door for the possibility that we could be lovers instead of friends? 

Remember, Axel. Did I really just see Karl as a friend back then, or was there so much more underneath?

My head throbbed, but it was nothing that rum wouldn't fix.

I tried to laugh with them and answer their questions as I always do. But all of their heads were covered with masks. They were strangers that I never had a connection to. Only Karla didn't have that, but her face was starting to blur out too.

I scanned my eyes around the place. It wasn't the bar that I was accustomed to five years ago, where I was with my friends singing karaoke and getting wasted with Emperador Light. This one was more modern, unlike the worn-down Copacobana in UPLB.

They did their ways not to make me uncomfortable and left out, but I ended up feeling that way.

An hour later, some of her sober friends played Beerpong, while the wasted ones and some who wanted to chitchat stayed. Karla and three of her friends occupied a space on the table to share some gossips about their batchmates.