~Abhimanyu~
Oh god.
Someone needed to go tell the neighbours that playing loud drums at 6 in the morning was a terrible idea. I sat up in my bed and leaned against the headrest. It was then that the drumming stopped and a loud pounding began. Except this time, it was in my head. Even the sound of the drums that I had woken up to earlier were nothing but a figment of my imagination.
I didn't even remember the last thing I had done last night.
All I knew was that I had gone to a restaurant, gotten into a fight with Shanaya and decided that my time would be best spent getting drunk at the bar.
And I had a conversation with the bartender. Avani? Alia? Akshi? Akshu? Akshara.
Yes. That had been her name. Akshara. And that was all that I remembered.
There was light peeking out from behind the curtains, so it seemed like the time was definitely not 6am. My phone was sitting on my night table, plugged into the charging outlet.
Did I do that?
Had I been sobered enough that not only had tucked myself into bed, but I had also put my cellphone on charge?
Because as far as I could recall, I had been nothing short of blackout drunk.
I unplugged my phone from the charger wire and before I could turn it on, I saw a small baby pink note sitting on the table, right under where my phone had been.
Hey you,
I don't know if you remember me or not, but I'm Akshara, the bartender from Phoenix Bar and Grill. I hope you feel better today. You drank a bit too much last night and the Uber driver wouldn't drop you home alone, so I had to come with. And if you are wondering, I did have to pry the apartment keys out of your pocket, but don't worry, I did not try anything inappropriate. Okay, bad joke, I'm sorry. But yes, I did tuck you into bed and put your phone on charge. You're welcome :)
Your car is still parked at Phoenix. Come and get it any time you want. And also, on the table are two Tylenol tablets, and a water bottle which I found in your fridge just in case you have a pounding headache.
I looked around and there they were. Two Tylenol tablets and a bottle of water laying right beside the note. I swallowed the tablets and chugged the water from the bottle. Then I went back to reading the rest of the note.
Hangovers are hard. Please remember to drink some coffee or tea, whichever you prefer and also eat a good breakfast. And possibly also try to not drink yourself into oblivion the next time? I hope you have a great day.
-A
I turned my phone on to the screen flashing brightly from five missed calls from Shanaya, three from Vikram as well as a total of 10 texts combined from the two of them.
I tossed my phone onto my bed. I was not interested in what they had to say. They could not just go behind my back and hurt me and then act like they did nothing wrong. But it was even worse when it was with your best friend. Not only one, but I had lost two of the most important people in my life in one night.
~*~
I poured myself a mug of black coffee when my phone gave off a faint alert. My Uber had arrived. I grabbed the car keys from the counter and locked the front door before making my way out to the elevators. My phone vibrated once I was settled in the Uber. Unwillingly, I decided against my better conscious to see who was texting me.
"Plz AB, text me back. We need 2 talk."
A smart person would have looked at the text and ignored it. Turns out, I was not a smart person.
"We don't have anything to talk about."
My phone vibrated again.
"U have got it all wrong."
"Wrong? You slept with my girlfriend."
"That is not what happened."
"Whatever. I'm done with her, and with you."
The car came to a halt and I looked outside to see that we had arrived at the Phoenix.
"Thanks for the ride."
I double checked to make sure I had car keys, phone, and wallet in hand before heading out of the car and towards the bar. The sign on the door said 'Closed' and I checked my watch to see it was barely past 8. The bar would not open till 1pm. I was debating whether to leave and come back at a later time when I heard movement inside the building.
Taking my chance, I knocked on the door in the hopes that someone would hear and be kind enough to let me in.
After a few minutes of knocking and waiting for someone to show up, the door finally opened and out walked a guy, a few inches shorter than me with shaggy blonde hair.
"We're closed till 1."
"I know. I was here last night, and I got an Uber ride back. So my car is parked here and I just came to get it."
"Oh okay, and...?" The guy looked at me as if I was talking in gibberish.
"I came to get my car keys..."
"Hey dude, I don't know what sort of drugs you are on, but we never keep our guests' car keys here for cars that get parked overnight. The guests take the keys home and then bring them back."
"But my keys..." I move my hands up to tell him that I did not have my keys on hand when the car keys jingled in the side pocket of my jacket and made themselves known.
"I'm sorry about that..."
"No problem."
I turn around to leave when I remember about the bartender who had helped me home last night. I needed to thank her. And leave her a generous tip for her suffering.
"Oh, one more thing."
"Yes?"
"Do you have a server...named A...Aksha...? Akshara?"
"Yes, we do. But she's not here right now. She only works evenings."
"Do you have her contact number or something?"
"I'm sorry but we do not give employee information out like this."
"Okay, but is she going to be working tonight?"
"I can't be sure. I only work the morning cleaning shifts, but I do believe she's working tonight. She works evening shifts on weekends."
"Okay, great, thanks."
"No problem. Do you need me to give her a message from you or something?"
Did I?
"No, it's fine. I guess I'll just come around tonight to meet her."
Now that that made me sound like a stalker. But I did want to meet her and thank her for taking me home and making sure I was in bed. She had seen me at my most vulnerable and still managed to somehow not be disgusted or judgmental.
~*~
As I entered my apartment complex, I saw Vikram waiting on the main lobby beside the elevators.
"What are you doing here? I told you that I don't want to talk to you."
"Fine. Don't talk to me. But I want to talk to you and you have to listen."
I pressed the elevator button.
"I did not sleep with Shanaya. She just said that to make you jealous. She was sad that you were not paying attention to her. She called me, crying. She told me that she did not know what the future held for you two, she wanted to know if she had a place in your life long term. I was just trying to comfort her."
"Are you telling me that nothing happened between the two of you?"
"I did not sleep with her. She was sad. She needed a shoulder to cry on. I was just comforting her. And then the comfort turned into a kiss. We kissed. That is it. But we stopped as soon as we realized that what we did was wrong."
"And how is that any better?"
"You need to know the reason for why it happened. I am not saying that we are right, and that you don't deserve to be angry at us, but we are trying to tell you the context in which it happened."
"Context? Vikram, there are many times that Shanaya and I have argued, but never once did I go out and kiss her best friend. You kissed my girlfriend. It's a bro-code. A reason for trust. And you both broke it."
"I am not denying that. I'm saying that I am sorry that it happened. But we did not hide it from you. We were going to tell you. You just found out before we could tell you."
"So now you are blaming me for finding out that both my best friend and girlfriend shared a moment together?"
"Abhimanyu, what I am trying to say is that not everything is black and white. You are hurt that Shanaya and I kissed, even though we both stopped because we knew that what we were doing was wrong and were going to tell you about it, together. But I just want you to take a moment and understand why we kissed. Yes, no reason that can be good enough to break the bro-code, not even a mistake.
"Abhimanyu, you spent hours, immersing yourself in your work. You would not come home till late at night. And sometimes you are gone middle of the night. I've had Shanaya call me to find out your schedule so that she can plan dates that work around your schedule. I've seen you ignore her texts and phone calls even though you were in your office doing nothing. Just giving her your credit card and expecting her to be compensated is not good enough."
"I'm a goddamn cardiologist Vikram. My patients need me. Doctors don't get to go out and have fun and mingle when there are literal patients' lives at stake."
"There were times when I wanted to grab drinks with you but you'd always tell me that Shanaya has plans for the two of you, or you would say you're too busy with work. We work in the same hospital man. I am your boy Friday. I know your schedule because I'm the one who makes it. I knew you were lying. So maybe the problem isn't us, maybe it's you. Goodbye Abhimanyu. Just think about what I said and give me a call once you're ready to talk. You know where to reach me."
Vikram turned on his heels and left.
Was I really in the wrong?
Was I responsible for pushing the two closest people to me away?
I closed my eyes and waited for the elevator to open. Was it really me? Or was Vikram just saying all this to mess with my head? Had I really been that much of an asshole to the people around me?