" Being Lonely Is a path you choose, but sometimes it's better than being surrounded by snakes"

~Muella.

The Moon was at it's highest peek, the stars glistened the skies. The dark blue shade of the night sky was the most beautiful thing Stephanie swore she had ever seen. Compared to her life, it was all dark, nothing beautiful. She only drunk herself to sleep. The only thing that kept her sane was her job. Life without all the luxuries she once had wasn't easy but she had managed to survive.

After all she wasn't the best student in her class for nothing. She graduated with honors and so it was enough to get her a decent job. She entered the bar, not looking at anyone. After all, she wasn't meeting anyone. She only had her eyes set on the bartender, he was after all getting her something to drink. She sat right before the bar tender.

"The usual?", The bartender asked her as she sat there completely bored. She nodded and he passed her a bottle of Cognac and a glass.

She helped herself as she poured herself a glass and let it down in a go. She didn't flinch from how strong the alcohol was, neither did she wince. This was a normal routine on a Friday night after work. She'd spend her weekends drinking to her heart's content. She ran a hand through her dark curls.

She had let her hair grow too long, and so she made a mental note to cut it later.

The air around her felt suffocating when she sensed movement around her.

"Calm down Steph, you good, you don't own this place and  it's supposed to be packed", she told herself as she took calming breathes. With shaky hands she emptied another glass. She felt how drunk she was getting but she needed the alcohol. It would get her mind off things. It made her forget all her sorrows, it made her forget how unfair life has been for her.

"Hi", a voice said.

And she knew very well it was directed to her but like always she ignored it, focusing on her drink, now more than ever.

"You don't talk much do you", the voice asked but again he was met with silence.

"Hi, I'm Aiden", he smiled.

"Hi",  he repeated  as he tapped her shoulder.

She jumped, spilling her drink all over herself. She turned to face the voice. And  Aiden could have sworn he saw fire in her eyes. She looked angry.

"Don't touch me", she gritted her teeth.

"If you're talking and you're being ignored, it literally means no, I'm not dancing with you and no I'm not a hooker", she yelled, her anger bubbling in waves. This was probably the most she had talked to someone other than her Boss in years.

"Woah, pretty one, feisty, I love it", he laughed.

And Stephanie couldn't be annoyed more. She poured herself another glass then took a sip.

"I'm sorry if I startled you, I just thought a pretty girl like you would look good with a handsome dude like me, so let's get on with it and release some stress", he smirked, then winked.

Was he even for real, that was what Stephanie thought.

"Aiden, please get away from the Miss, go find someone else to play with", the bartender told the young man, clearly it was an advice, if he wanted to leave the bar a full man with his balls fully attached to his body, he'd move away from her.

He rolled his eyes and said " I don't play with women Bob,they simply love me."

Bob gave him that look that said "I warned you", then went back to pouring drinks for his customers.

"So, what's your name beautiful?, Care for a dance?", He asked, but with his cockiness didn't wait for a reply and tried to grab her arm. Before he knew it, he was drenched in alcohol.

She just stood up then passed a couple dollars to Bob, without saying a word grabbed the bottle of Cognac, then left.

Bob laughed as Aiden stood there smelling like Cognac.

As Stephanie walked out, she didn't even spare the poor guy a glance.

She made her way through the crowd, her head was spinning from moving so fast. She knew very well this was going to happen when she was so drunk. She felt dizzy. She had almost fallen down when large manly arms held her waist, pushing her into his arms. She laid her head on his chest for a while, making the dizziness subside, then she pushed him away, reached for the door and without no thank you or anything, left the bar.

"Weird", the guy muttered and moved forward. He moved his eyes, searching for someone. Then he felt his phone vibrate in his jean pocket. He took it from his pocket, looked at the message and walked to the bartender.

"Ethan, my boy, good to see you. Care for a glass of Hennessy?", Bob asked him soon as he saw the man.

"No thanks Bob, I'm not drinking tonight, I just came for my brother", he replied.

"And what happened to you?, He asked Aiden, you smell like Cognac", he added and Bob couldn't help but laugh.

"Like always hitting on women, but it seems he found the wrong one to hit on and she poured her drink on him", Bob laughed.

"It's not funny", Aiden said all reading getting up. He turned to walk away.

"Hey, won't you pay me", Bob asked. He was still laughing. Ethan passed him some dollars,then followed his brother out. He knew their father didn't like it when Aidan wandered off, getting himself drunk. At least, today he didn't get himself drunk. And Ethan knew he had the lady who poured her drink on his brother to thank. If she were like the rest of the ladies, caught in his beauty, the night wouldn't have ended so soon.

"She was an angel in disguise", and so he thought.

"Stupid jerk", Stephanie muttered as she slammed her door shut. Who'd be visiting her in her apartment, nobody, so she took her keys from her bag,then locked her door. She just marched straight to her bedroom, placed the bottle of Cognac on her bedside table, then threw herself on her bed, waiting for sleep to embrace her. She was ready for the headache that came after her intoxication.

________________________________________________________________________

"Stop", Stephanie groaned as she picked up her alarm clock and threw it away. Her head was hurting and the constant beeping of her alarm clock made it worse.  She picked up her phone to check the time and realized her phone was dead.

"God, I forgot to charge this thing", she said and quickly got up to connect to the charger.

She hadn't made it to the charger when her head started to spin. She had moved too fast so she sat down for a while,then finally got up. She connected the charger,then switched the phone on.

She decided to brush her teeth and go to bed again so she went to the bathroom and quickly did what needed to be done.

She went back to the comforts of her bed, loving the softness of the sheets. She didn't have to go to the office today, so she was just going to sleep, perhaps by the time she woke up, the headache would have disappeared.

Just when she felt sleep embracing her once again, her phone beeped continuously.

"Uhh", she groaned.

"Who could be texting her", she thought. It wasn't like she had any friends. And the only one who had her number was her Boss. She quickly got out of the bed when realization hit her. She fell flat on the floor. Her right hand found her forehead and she rubbed the spot. Why did she have to be clumsy at such an hour. She quickly crawled to her phone to check her phone.

"Holy Cow", she screamed. "How could I even miss this?", She asked herself then hurriedly got up from the floor and rushed to the bathroom. She needed to perform her morning duty as fast as she could.

She got under the shower to do her business. Then hurriedly covered her body with a towel.

Stephanie walked out of the bathroom. She checked her phone once again and saw a missed call from her Boss. She made a mental note to call back once she was ready to leave for the office.

She pulled out her curling iron and straightener. She sat by her dressing mirror quickly applying pomade on her skin.

She couldn't believe she was going to be late for the first time. How was she going to avoid the many eyes of her colleagues. She quickly pulled a cream blouse over her pink lace bra, pairing it with a black pencil skirt. She straightened her black hair and raised it into a high ponytail. She didn't really wear makeup, so she certainly wasn't wearing makeup when she was running this late.

She settled for her black pencil heels. She disconnected her phone from the charger, grabbed her handbag from yesterday and walked out of her room. After all, she had everything she needed in that bag. Just as she was about to return her Boss' call,there was a knock on her door. She quickly opened the door.

"Mr. James?", She asked a little bit surprised.

"Good morning Miss King?",he greeted.

"The Boss asked me to pick you up, he's been trying to reach you but you weren't responding", James said.

"Oh sorry about that", Stephanie apologized.

"Shall we?", James asked and Stephanie nodded.

The Boss never sent his personal chauffeur for any of his employees and certainly not his secretary. That would arouse gossips at work. People would think he was having an affair with Stephanie. The mere thought of that sent chills down her spine. And the fact that she didn't really talk to anyone at work except her Boss would make those wild accusations seem true. She wouldn't dare think of her Boss like that. She looked at him the same way she'd look at her father, he reminded her of her father. She missed him so much.

"Miss King?", The chauffeur called, opening the car door for her.

"Oh", Stephanie said. She had been so deep in her thoughts,that she hadn't even realized they had reach the luxurious ride.

A White Rolls Royce Phantom. From years ago, it was something Stephanie would think of driving.

"Thank you", she said and entered the luxurious ride. Seated in the car made her miss that life but she would never go back to the life of lies and deceit.

The only one who mattered in it was her father, and the man was dead and gone. She blinked away the stubborn tear threatening to be out. She wasn't going to cry, never again. She had learned to stay strong all these years. Staying away from her cruel mother, Elizabeth King. That was what she saw her mother to be, cruel. She didn't wait long after her father's death and got engaged to a millionaire. "What millionaire?", Stephanie thought and scoffed. That was her boyfriend, ex- boyfriend. She made a mental note to remember the awful truth. He was her ex- boyfriend and stepfather. She could puke on that, it was disgusting. She wasn't going to go into the past now, she was okay without them and that was just how it was going to be. It was just her,her job and a little bit of alcohol.

She smiled at her own quote,"alcohol,  woman's best friend."

"We're here ma'am", James announced.

"Thank You", Stephanie replied as she got out of the Car.

"DIAMOND SQUARE EP", it read.

Stephanie let out a sigh as she entered the building. Only God knew why she was called on a Saturday morning to come for work when she usually had this day off.

Well she was ready for whatever, after all, life for her was work or alcohol, a woman's best friend.