Coronal Blast

Chapter 01:02

Steve went digging through the cold bottles at the bottom of the refrigerated beer display. Memories of the recent break-up danced in my head. Two years of lies and deception. I wasn't unaware it was happening, but I ignored it. With the sudden influx of beautiful women meeting me in this bar, maybe I should have been doing the same: looking for the next thing in line. I couldn't help but force myself to believe all of her lies, though. I'm loyal. It wass an irrevocable part of my character that my ego refused to release.

"She was a cheating bitch anyway," I said. "Would've happened eventually. At least she went quietly, and thank God we didn't have any kids."

"Yeah man. Kids catch the worst of break-ups," he said from the cooler. "My baby-momma never stops with her bullshit."

"Oh yeah, sorry. I forgot about all of that. How are the lawsuits going?"

"Never ending struggle, Bud. You want another one? I'm buying."

"Sure."

The bar was a filthy mess. Dust layered itself on the bottles. You could probably cut through it and see lines of color in a finger swipe, like strata in the rocks of the grand canyon. There was hardly a spot anywhere on the bar that your arms wouldn't stick to. Steven returned with an old plastic jug of mixed cocktail that never sold. He dropped two shot glasses on the bar and filled them to the lip. He slapped the bottle on the bar and slid one of the glasses toward me.

The ritual was routine. Take the glass carefully between the thumb and index finger, lift it with a toast, then drop your arm, send the glass for a touch-and-go against the bar, and kill it.

"To cheating bitches," he said, "may they crawl in a hole somewhere and die."

"Here, here."

The fruity liquid fizzled in my mouth a bit, souring my tongue and sweetening my cheeks with its syrupy succulence. It drained down my throat in a single gulp, leaving my mouth with the smell of watermelon.

I couldn't help noticing the changes in my vocabulary. It sucked that every so often, life kicked so hard that it converted me to a different person. I wasn't who I wanted to be. I knew there was a good girl out there for me, but I wasn't ready for her. "According to the TV," I added, "we're all going to die anyway."