Awakenings: Joanna

Worst Evening

It was slightly quieter there, but the smell of alcohol still lingered. It was probably part of the structure at this point. She sat down at the table and patted a chair next to her.

I had no idea what I was doing there at that point, so I just automatically obeyed her and sat down next to her. The chair was comfy, and I felt my tiredness and sadness coming back with a vengeance. I suppressed a sob and just leaned my head on my hands for a second, then took a sip from the drink.

It tasted sweet with a slight tinge of something warm. I actually liked the feeling. If this was a strong drink, I had no problem believing people could get used to it. There was a slight aftertaste of something unfamiliar, but it wasn't overpowering. It tasted slightly of lemons and it had fizziness. I had flashbacks of drinking carbonized sodas when I was younger. Kinda like that, but with an unfamiliar aftertaste and warmness to it. I can't say it burned my throat, but it left a super-warm feeling in it afterward. A little stronger and it would have burned. Now it was just... kind of pleasant.

I sighed and glanced over at her. She was leaning on her hand and looking at me with her head tilted slightly and a weird expression on her face. I'd say 'amused' if she didn't look so sad.

"That bad, eh?" she asked. "Don't answer," she added, "Let me guess. There was a man involved. A man that you've known for a while now, but not long enough for it to have been serious enough for the 'marriage' talk. No, I'd say... little less than a year? Maybe half a year, or slightly more?" she asked.

I stared at her, disbelieving. How could she know? How... "Is it written somewhere?" I asked quietly.

She laughed. A pleasant and vivid, warm laugh. It sounded like brightly colored flowers on a summer day. "No, no," she said, still laughing. "It's just that I've seen that look too many times before.

"Let me continue," she said and smiled at me. "There was another woman involved, possibly multiples. For an extended amount of time, maybe even from before you met him. And nobody you thought of as friends told you anything, and then you found out by accident that he's been cheating on you this whole time and your friends suck."

She leaned her head on her palms and fluttered her eyelashes at me and smiled. "That's about it, I'd guess," she said.

I stared at her in disbelief. How could she... somebody told her? "Is this Hidden Camera?" I blurted out aloud. "Did somebody set me up? This is not fun anymore!" I said and took another sip from my drink.

"No, darling," she said.

I was about to say something about her use of that word, but somehow it didn't seem offensive coming from her lips. I decided against saying anything, and just took another sip.

"This is your first time in an establishment like this, yes?" she asked.

I looked at her with a straight face and just blurted out, "Alright, who are you and why do you know so much about me?" I was done being played with. Not again. Not after today. Not anyone. Not anyone.

"My name is Katherine," she said in that beautiful voice of hers, "but you can call me Kat. I assure you I don't know you, nor has anyone set me up in any way. I'm just too familiar with that look because I spend much of my time here. I've seen that look on so many young faces! And it's almost always the same story - cheating men and shitty friends. You don't look like that if you've lost a dog or gotten fired. The betrayal in the eyes, and the slumped shoulders, and the dead voice... that all speaks to me louder than you could scream about what happened," she said.

I buried my face in my hands and let out a sob; I couldn't help it anymore. She patted my shoulder gently. I had no idea why she was doing this. If she didn't know me and this wasn't a stupid joke played by one of my so-called friends... I didn't know.