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Back again, back again. See, I am decent! Updated Corridors and here writing another One Shot. Enjoy mes amis : )
Another Song Fic, well kinda anyway.
Song Credit : Comfortably Numb [Pink Floyd]
Oh, and Anissa, this is for you.
| Comfortably Numb |
=|=
There he was, just as she had expected.
Head held in his shaking hands, and a glass filled with wine kept silently to his left. She tried not to notice the five empty ones rolling all over the granite counter.
An inevitable smirk twisted her lips in a cruel manner as she walked towards where he was seated. He had always preferred wine. Even back in their college days, he had prided himself on his exclusive taste for the sophisticated drink.
While she had drunk herslef into oblivion with the help of cheap beer, he'd remained loyal to his wine. Drifting occasionally between red and white, but always sticking with wine.
She had often mocked him about his choice. That he liked it merely because he was the Ambassador's son, and as she stated, Wine was the Drink of the Diplomats.
For the first few times, he had said nothing. Only cracked that infamous smile of his. But that had changed when his father had fallen prey to a particularly volatile cardiac arrest.
After the funeral, he'd walked straight into the bar on 7th Street. And he had ordered a beer. Ten empty glass bottles had lain upon the very counter Arnav Singh Raizada hunched over at this hour.
But it was not beer this time, for it was wine once again.
Khushi blinked once and walked to where her friend sat. She saw his head rise as she approached him, and Khushi knew that he had perceived who his visitor was, quite correctly.
"I knew you'd come to save me. You always have Khushi, haven't you?"
She said nothing, not bothering to reply as she slipped into the bar stool beside him. The burly man tilted his head in a familiar manner, and she replied with an unfamiliar shake of her head. The waiter appeared shocked at her decision.
After all, Khushi was a regular consumer of alcohol as Arnav called it. But she just liked being called a drunkard. The crude term suited her.
"What's wrong? Wine again?"
He looked at her for a moment, and then turned back to his presently filled glass. A short laugh left him as he traced a sleek finger over the crystal rim.
"I miss mum."
This time, Khushi sighed and looked at her friend's half shadowed face. There were lines on his forehead that would disappear entirely to the world if he stopped frowning. But they were not peripheral, and thus could not vanish so easily.
They were lines of grief.
"Auntie's birthday right?"
He nodded and raised the expensive tumbler to his lips. The liquid gushed down his throat and Khushi saw her friend grimace as he kept the glass back upon the table.
"My mother hated alcohol, and here I am, honoring her demise with wine."
Arnav's tone was light, yet Khushi felt the undercurrents of self-loathing and pain shine clearly out of his words. She had known-and loved him-long enough to understand his each action and attitude.
"Auntie loved you Arnav."
Her words appeared to cut the man deep inside. The glass was thrust against the countertop so violently, that it shattered into a thousand beautiful pieces.
"Yes she did. And I never acknowledged it. I was the definition of narrow minded, wasn't I Khushi? That woman sacrificed her dreams so I could enjoy the life I wanted, and I repaid her with hate."
He established his point by emptying another glass of his now less favored drink, in one blatant move. Khushi knew the reason for his frustrations. When had he ever gotten drunk on wine?
Never.
"How do you feel Arnav?"
At her easily uttered question, her friend turned towards her and smiled. It was not the smile she loved. No, it was the smile she had come to hate. For it highlighted the agony behind this man's impeccable facade.
Arnav looked away again, and twisted himself so he faced the source of soft sound in the bar. It was deep, and it was profound. It was the song she had grown up with.
It was the song he hated.
Her friend stayed quiet for a moment, his eyes closed in a superficial feeling of being at peace.
Arnav's mouth opened, and he phrased the words while the singer stated them;
"I have become Comfortably Numb."
And with that, he reached for another glass of wine. Without a single grimace, he took it all in and calmly placed the crystal tumbler on the counter.
Arnav smiled sadly at her, and lifted himself off the bar stool. His stance was perfect, unaffected by the amount of alcohol he had just consumed. Dropping a few dollars on the granite, he ruffled her hair and then proceeded to walk out of the bar.
Khushi felt the tears drip down her cheeks as she watched him leave. Agony settled deep into her heart as she signaled to the waiter.
She needed that drink after all.
=|=
I do not know why I wrote this. Really.
*Facepalm*
*Facedesk*
But reviews would be appreciated, yeah? đ
*This work is my own. Do not copy or reproduce it without my permission.
Jhanak
Shiv Shakti
10