It’s probably not a very good idea to sit in a corner of the room with question marks in the air, I thought. The slogan kept haunting my conscience every second as I pretentiously convinced myself that I wasn’t dulled. It was the weekend and, somewhere deep down inside, I refused to waste my privileges of enjoying each and every bit of it. However, no matter how poorly my heart and my mind synchronized, a bored mind was my only companion at the time. Getup and do something for God’s sake! A weak inner voice kept badgering me. I decided to put on my hoodie and jeans and step out for a walk. While hunting through my wardrobe, a phone call interrupted me.
“Hey Nathan,” said the voice on the other side. “I’m bored, dude. Wanna go clubbin’?”
For some odd reason, my mind was in a state of disagreement with my heart. I was bored, alright, but I surely did not have clubbing on my mind.
“Clubbing, hmm...,” I mumbled under my breath with skepticism.
“So… should I take that for a ‘yes,’ dude?” he said after a brief moment of silence.
By then, I had realized that my response didn’t matter, as Josh would bring me to the bars anyway. I finally agreed to the plan and hung up on him. I put on a fancy evening jacket; sprayed on my favorite evening cologne; and quickly, yet hesitatingly, got myself in the mood to rock and roll the night away!
Within thirty minutes, a dazzling silver Mazda stopped at my apartment. While making myself comfortable in Josh’s car, a blow of unacceptable fumes took me aback.
“Josh! You are drunk! You can’t be driving like that, and I am not letting you drive like that either,” I exclaimed.
Josh reacted uncannily with a smirk that gave me goosebumps. I stared at him in disbelief.
“Is drinking and driving a bad combo, Nathan?”
Josh seemed to have quite a time with his own silly jokes. His cold and careless attitude made me skip a beat. The minute we left my apartment complex, Josh burst into a fit of laughter. I giggled at his mannerism perplexedly.
“Now, what was that for?” I asked.
“You know Nathan, my mom almost caught me with alcohol in my car.”
Josh chuckled nonchalantly and broke into a fit of hearty laughter, while I sat there and wondered. I didn’t want Josh to get caught by a state trooper. I secretly started praying!
Finally, we hit the bars at around 11:00 PM. As usual, the bouncers seemed engaged in their duty of verifying everyone’s IDs. They even frisked those whom they identified as suspicious visitors. As I frantically looked through my jacket for my wallet, Josh held me by my arm and superficially grinned at me.
“It’s alright. You don’t need your ID; the guy knows me,” he boasted.
Josh’s watery eyes and strong breath were a bit excessive for me to handle. When we reached to the front of the line, the bouncer exchanged dramatic “bro-handshakes” with Josh.
“Hey Josh! How’ya doin’, bro? Long time, no see, eh! Where had you been all this while?” rambled the bulky bouncer.
Before he could utter his next words, Josh interrupted him and pulled him to the side.
“Logan, this is my friend Nathan,” whispered Josh.
Josh asked him to let us enter the bar without checking our ID’s. We thanked Logan and moved on. The moment we entered the bar, I nearly tripped on a spilled beverage.
“Ah! And you say I am drunk,” quipped Josh.
His sarcasm embarrassed me, and I evidently felt the irony of the moment. Given that I had no prior plans, I kept thinking to myself that a visit to the bars would unload me of my boredom for the rest of the evening. And now that I was there with my favorite music playing, I felt absolutely terrible and wanted to leave as soon as possible. The loud and smoky ambience failed to uplift my mood from the get-go. However, with the passing of time, I tried to blend in with the crowd. I began conversing with a few pretty girls who, just like me, sought an acquaintance. But alas, I wasn’t even halfway through my conversation when I heard a familiar voice... in an unfamiliar fashion! I witnessed a brawl between a few ‘boozed-out’ men and Josh. Not again, I sighed. This wasn’t the first time that an incident of such nature had taken place. I guess I was mentally prepared for the melodrama of a bar-fight. The time had finally come for me to jump in to my pal’s rescue. I rushed toward Josh.
“Josh, stop it!” I kept yelling at the top of my lungs. “Quit it, dude! You’ve had enough for the day. We need to leave now!”
As I dragged Josh through the main door, an entertained crowd booed at us. It was embarrassing, but I had no choice left. I drove a semi-conscious Josh back to his home. My only concern at the time was that his mother, Mrs. Stevenson shouldn’t come to know of what had happened; no matter what! After parking Josh’s car halfway into his garage, I silently snuck into Josh’s house through the garage door. I escorted him to his bedroom and quietly put him in his bed. As I proceeded to remove his shoes and drape him with his comforter, I heard Josh’s uncomfortable moans.
“Nathan, wha...” murmured Josh for a few seconds before going completely quiet.
I stood there calmly watching him as he dozed off. I then took off with his car and finally reached my apartment. My calm apartment awaited me. I was exhausted and strained at the same time. Josh’s humiliating behavior was pretty distressing for everyone around him. I changed back into my pajamas and slowly started to wonder about the ruined evening. A rejuvenating massage would be a good treat, I thought. I glanced around my surroundings one final time, before completely dropping myself on the bed with my face buried in my pillow. The thoughts of a wasted evening started to linger around in my thoughts. As the night swept through with silence, a cloud of sleep started to flow above me pestering me to end my day. I finally fell asleep at around 1:00 AM.
Daddy Marvel / Roshan 
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