11 PM....
At Platter's Place...
"Another one, Sir!" Joey puts his hand on his forehead. The effect after drinking two huge mugs of beer is starting to get in his head.
"Geez, Kid. You're surely having a great time," the waiter, who is a middle-aged man says with a hip tone.
"Opposite, actually," Joey states, his voice sounds weak.
Slowly he puts his hand on his head. After asking the taxi driver to wonder around the city, he eventually found a nearby restaurant which sells beer and is open till late night. In his impulsive state, he didn't want to think much about having to go to school tomorrow. He is still gonna visit his mom at the hospital, but plans to skip school. After seeing his dad making out with another woman when his mother is sick at the hospital, he didn't know what else to believe when the world seems unbelievable. He wanted to escape the frustration of reality and just decided to get drunk at a random restaurant.
Other than that, tonight he let his impulsive self to made an impulsive decision which he thought he wouldn't logically do when he's at a normal state. After he finished his second huge mug of beer, Joey drunk texted Taylor asking her to meet him. While being drunk, desperate, and frustrated, he didn't care at the fact that she's probably still angry at him after the argument they had. Right now, he only knew that he's trying to run away from his problems, and that the person he wants to see right now to be his shoulder to cry on is Taylor, no one else.
"Joey Carlson!"
Taylor's voice rings through Joey's ears. Even when he's drunk, he still recgonized her voice perfectly. He lifts his head up to see Taylor standing in front of his table, with only her baby blue pajamas and a cardigan on.
"What the hell are you doing this late at night?" she asks in a worried tone.
"Ugh...you came," he says in a drunk tone.
"Damn it, Joe. We have school tomorrow morning," Taylor says with an attitude.
"Here's another huge mug of that beer," the same middle-aged waiter says as he walks by to Joey's table and places the mug of beer, before leaving again.
"What the," Taylor became speechless when she sees the waiter had placed a huge mug of beer at Joey's table. More surprisingly, Joey actually drinks it despite being badly drunk at this state.
"That's it. We're going home," Taylor says in a bossy manner as she starts to drag Joey up from the chair, yet he refuses.
"No way! I wanna stay here," he says, trying to insist her.
"You're badly drunk, Joe. It's time to go," Taylor says as she tries to pull Joey up from his seat again.
"I don't want to see that jerk, Tay," he says in a louder tone, hence making Taylor raise her right eyebrow in confusion.
"Jerk? Who?" Taylor asks with a confused tone.
In a drunk manner, Joey takes another sip of his beer. His eyes really looks drunk at this point, but other than that, what Taylor noticed the most is that his eyes had looked sad since she first got here. She knew something is not right.
"Joe, you're badly drunk. Let's get you home first," Taylor says.
"I DON'T WANT TO SEE THAT JERK," he suddenly shouts with tears coming out from his eyes, instantly making Taylor shocked.
"What the hell? Joe, I didn't mean,"
"That bastard doesn't deserve to live! I don't want to see him ever again," Joey says with rage in his voice and tears in his eyes. He then breaks down, finally crying his eyes out in front of Taylor.
Taylor became speechless and surprised. This is the first time she is witnessing Joey actually crying in front of her. The boy who she had known to be the soft yet protective best friend, is now crying his eyes his front of her, looking like he's at his weakest state. A feeling of empathy suddenly crawls up in Taylor's heart, despite the fact that she was upset with him before. But seeing him tonight looking all broken, she couldn't lie that her heart also felt sad at the sight of her best friend being at his weakest point. He had always been her shoulder to cry on for years. Like every time she got bullied back in middle school, he was always the one to stand up for her. She always sees him as a hero figure, so seeing him crying tonight is really a different sight for her. Now, she wanted to comfort him like he comforted her in the past.
"What happened, Joe?" Taylor asks. She pulls out a seat to sit next to Joey.
"My dad," Joey says in between sobs, yet he tries his best to catch his breath and remain strong. He knew breaking down in front of Taylor wasn't really a solution to his problem.
"I saw my dad making out with another woman tonight," he states, sadness could be heard obviously in his voice.
Taylor widen her eyes at his statement. She didn't expected to hear that. More likely, she didn't expected it when she remembered Mr Carlson used to be very caring towards his wife.
"He was suppose to be at the hospital earlier. But instead, he was busy making out with a woman half his age at home," he says, again making Taylor speechless. She is too surprised to even react at the sudden statement.
Upon hearing these statements, Taylor became silent for a while. She felt sorry for Joey and didn't expect him having to face all of this. It was enough for him to deal with his mom being sick, but now he has to deal with his dad cheating on his mom's back. Taylor could imagine just how broken he is. He probably felt like the whole world is against him.
"I'm sorry, Joey," Taylor says in a low tone.
Joey turns his head to see Taylor looking down at the ground. Her face looked uncomfortable, yet her eyes are filled with sorrow. He could tell clearly from her eyes that she felt sorry for him. Yet, he didn't want her to pity him for his impulsive state. He called her because he wanted to see her, not because he expected her to worry about him.
"It's not your fault, Tay. Bad things happens in life. We never expected them coming," he states.
Hearing this, Taylor turns her head to see Joey, still looking frustrated. At his lowest point, she could see that the hopes he once had in his eyes are now gone, turned into sorrow in the night. Even from the side, it was obvious to see how broken he is, which broke her heart into pieces.
To be continue...