Chapter 2 FIRST TIME GET CRAZY

A hour latter, after Cindy dressed me with a skinny-fitting halter short dress that could barely be called a cloth, we were already inside a bar full of yelling and dancing people.

I was a little embarrassed by the sight. Some were making out in the middle of the dance floor and some were crying. Maybe they got dumped too.

Smoke was wafting through the air and it smelled like beer and something weird. The upbeat music prevented us from hearing what people were saying so we had to whisper in each other's ears just to be able to say what we wanted to say to each other.

Cindy walked towards a bar counter and sat on a stool. "Sit here beside me, Paula."

I sat beside her and looked around us. The bartender was busy juggling the three bottles in his hand and the other ones were making colorful drinks I am not familiar with. "Is this how this place looks every single night? I mean, are they always this loud?" I asked Cindy which made her laugh.

"You really are an innocent woman, Paula. Well, yeah. They are always like this every night. People often go here to forget their problems; they go here to feel happiness even for a small amount of time. Some even go here to meet someone new, just like what you need now, they go here to move on."

"Cindy... Don't you think grandma would look for me?"

"Of course, she won't and besides, I already made an excuse. I told her that I asked you to sleep over in our house." she winked.

I just shook my head while smiling. "You're really good at things like this."

"Of course, I am the expert! Hahaha!"

We laughed although it was still noisy. People are getting more hyped whenever the DJ is starting a new song.

"One long island iced tea and one zombie please." said Cindy which made my eyes widen.

"Z-Zombie? Did you say zombie?!"

Cindy laughed. "Silly, it's a name of a cocktail. That's actually my favorite."

"O-Oh. That's a weird name though."

"Right, everything's weird here anyway. Paula, tonight, let's forget about all our problems and just enjoy, okay? You can shout and cry, you can curse or talk shit about your stupid ex, no one's going to judge you here because we all went here to express it out." Cindy said with a long face.

I've never seen her this serious before.

I nodded with a smile. "I understand, Cindy. Thank you for taking me here."

"Here's your zombie and one Long Island Iced Tea. Please enjoy beautiful young ladies!" said the bartender, as he handed us our drinks.

"Thanks!"

Cindy handed me the other drink that looks exactly like iced tea. "That's for you, Paula."

"Thank You."

Looking at the weird drink in my hand, I took a sip. Not bad. I don't know what magic this liquid will do, but Jake already has someone. I know I will have no choice but to try to forget about him.

"You know, Cindy, I don't think Jake loved me truly. We used to talk about our dreams. I said just want to graduate and be a professor, I want to build a huge library for my grandmother, and I said I want to be a good wife to him."It was only a few days ago, but yesterday Jake was with another girl and told her he didn't know me.

"That would be a life to be envied. Did you two argued? I remember just few days ago in the Mrs. Jones's class when he running around the hallway while yelling PAULA EDWARDS IS SO BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE YOU! If he doesn't love you, he wouldn't be that crazy."Cindy rested one hand on her cheek and cocked her head at me.

"I thought so too. But it was all a lie to me. Even in his dreams there was never me. He said his dream is to become a famous football player. He also want to become a celebrity that everyone loves. He want to buy everything that he want, he want people to look up at him... An egotistical selfish bastard, isn't he?" I said, while tears running down my face.

Cindy patted my shoulders. "Maybe he did love you but changed his mind. Maybe he got bored and decided to find someone new."

"He got bored? Am I lame? Why would he get bored?"

"No, Paula. Maybe that dude wasn't really looking for someone who's gonna stay with him forever. Maybe he just needed someone so that he would be entertained. Boys are sometimes like that, you know."

"But he told me that he loves me, he always tells me that."

"Well, we don't know if he meant it."

I drank some more liquor and it continues burning my throat. It tasted so bitter; it tasted sweet, tragic... it tasted sadness...

"You know what, Cindy? Let's just forget about that asshole and get drunk as long as we want."

I wiped my tears away as I drank more liquor.

"Oh, Paula..."

I filled my stomach with liquor until I no longer taste the bitterness. I could only taste the happiness, the excitement, and the will to be happy and spend the night without worrying about anything.

Cindy suddenly stood up and grabbed me by the hand as he dragged me towards the dance floor where people were dancing crazily, as if there's no tomorrow. "Come on, Paula. Let's dance the night away! Let's spend this night the way we want and forget about the bullshits that happened!"