SOBER FEELINGS - Joonas Porko

1 - on your own?

"Come on, we need to hurry! Eric is already waiting for us!" My friend Amelia kept dragging me behind her, nervously pulling at the hem of my tight dress while the cold wind of the night that was hitting my bare legs left me shivering.

"Amelia just in case you forgot, I am wearing platform boots. I don't think I can go much faster than this. Unless you want me to break my neck before we even get there?" I tried to unwind the messy strands of hair that were blocking my view while Amelia and I were stumbling past a group of giggling girls. They seemed to be even more drunk than we already were on our way to our favorite local bar.

I had promised Amelia that we would go out together again for ages now. For the last couple of days I had been feeling excited when the thought of finally reuniting with the bright blonde crossed my mind but as soon as she announced that she would bring her boyfriend along with her, I didn't feel like partying anymore.

I wanted to spend this night out with her alone, like back in the good old days when we still were two dumb teenage girls. At the time we had just graduated highschool and felt like we had to turn into rebels. While I seemed to still be stuck in this phase that I couldn't and didn't want to get out of, Amelia had moved on, clearly.

Now she was the kind of girl who simply didn't exist without her boyfriend. Everywhere he went, she went too. At this point it was kind of annoying if I was being completely honest but I didn't want to ruin the night by giving my friend a hard time.

I decided to just go along with the whole thing. I mean I really didn't have any other choice, did I?

"Come on, we're almost there. Can you see Eric? He is waving at us!" Amelia almost yelled in my ear with her high-pitched, squeaky voice.

"Yes, I can see him." I was glad my friend didn't see how I rolled my eyes at her through the black veil of the night that was surrounding us two girls. By now I knew the bright blonde long enough to know that she would have started a never ending discussion with me if she had seen me throwing an annoyed look in her direction.

"Eric!" Amelia ran right into the arms of her boyfriend, closing her arms tightly around him. Before I knew it I was standing akwardly a few feet away from the couple while they were downright devouring each other infront of my eyes.

How disgusting.

"Ehem. Can we please go inside now, I'm freezing." I cleared my throat at the sight of the two smacking their lips together over and over again.

Well that would be a fun night out, for sure.

"Yes let's go inside, come on baby." Amelia took her boyfriend's hand and finally we all entered our favorite bar.

I immediately felt how my muscles started to relax because of the soothing warmth that kept surrounding me when we started dancing in the crowded room.

Like I had predicted there wasn't a lot of time for Amelia and me to spend together. She was constantly glued to the body of the tall black-haired man that she loved, moving her hips from side to side while I was dancing alone for most of the time.

This wasn't at all how I imagined this night to go.

I maybe could have endured the whole spectacle if I had been drunk enough but at this point the effects of the bottle of white wine Amelia and I had emptied beforehand had long worn off.

I was in desperate need for more booze.

"I'm gonna get a drink." I said more to myself than to the two love birds who couldn't keep their hands off each other and walked off. I had a really hard time fighting my way through the crowd but after numerous collisons with strangers that most definitely would result in countless bruises on my arms and legs, I finally made it to the counter.