THE SUN SHONE down on his face as he stirred from his sleep. He couldn't quite comprehend how he had fallen asleep in the first place.
He sat up, rubbed his eyes and looked around his room; remembering everything that transpired the night before. The memory clear as day in his mind’s eye.
Why? That was the one question tagging at his conscious but he stuffed it down and pulled the duvet over his head. He needed to forget everything and, soon.
"Liam."
He did not have to look at the person to know who it was. It was Evan, his best friend since kindergarten who sauntered into his room with a sly smile plastered on his face. "I know you're already up." Evan made himself comfortable on his friend's bed and letting it dip under his weight. "C'mon man, I've got something important I want to tell you."
Liam reluctantly pulled the duvet down and sat up straight turning to look at his best friend with irritation. "What now?" he asked arching an eyebrow at him.
"Have you been crying?" Evan, ever aware of everything asked with a confused look as he saw Liam's red puffy eyes.
Liam shrugged it off as if it were nothing and lied about it. "I think me alleges are back."
Evan didn't believe him but decided it was best not to push the matter any further. "I've got a date with that guy from the coffee shop," he said now full on smiling.
"And it's my concern because?"
"Because his roommate is new in town and he needs someone to hang out with. And the only way he agreed to go out with me was if his roommate came along," he answered all in one breath. "And I may have told him I have a really cool friend who would hang out with him. Plus, you can even bring Nicole if it makes you uncomfortable so it’s less awkward," Evan rushed on as rubbed his neck uncomfortably at the look his friend was giving him.
"Dude I totally forgot it was your three-year anniversary with Nicole, so how was it? What did you guys do? Weren't you supposed to spend the night with her?"
Liam sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair, dishellving it even more than it already was.
"Nicole broke up with me yesterday actually," he replied, trying to mask the heartbreak and sadness from him but Evan was still able to catch the heartbreak behind each word he uttered.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise, it's not like it's your fault. She-" Liam swallowed as a lump formed in his throat and he had to force himself not to cry in front of his best friend. "She said. she couldn't do it anymore and that I was stopping her from achieving her dreams," at that, his voice cracked.
Evan tried to think of something to say that would comfort his friend but he couldn't quite think of anything, his mouth opened and closed a few times before Liam cut him off.
"Just....can I just please be alone?"
Evan seemed to finally collect himself. "No, I'm not going to sit here and watch my best friend beat himself up because of a girl that broke his heart," he said as a look of determination flashed in his eyes. "We are going out and we are going to get you drunk as fuck."
Liam smiled at his friend's stupidity. I mean who went drinking not more than 24 hours after being dumped by his girlfriend of three years? No one sane that's for sure.
"Can you hear yourself?" he asked. "You're suggesting that I get drunk and drown my sorrows with alcohol, which is just beyond absurd if you ask me."
"No one asked for your smartarse comments Liam," Evan replied drily.
A sigh fell from Liam's lips and he ran a hand through his dark blond hair but didn't say anything in return to what Evan had just said.
His friend threw his hands up in exasperation. "It's a good way to get over a break up," he continued, "it's like in the breakup handbook or something."
At that statement, Liam cracked up with laughter. "The breakup handbook you say?"
"Yes."
"And you expect me to believe that someone, a normal and sane person, wasted their time writing this breakup handbook?" Liam asked humorously.
Evan was quiet for a moment as he tried to conjure up a perfect explanation that his over-analysing friend would eventually eat up. "Yes it's a thing, I saw it somewhere on the internet," he replied with all seriousness.
"Sure you did buddy, sure you did."
"Sarcasm won't work on me Liam, so are you coming or not? Because that coffee shop guy is hot and I don't want to miss out on any of that if you know what I mean," Evan said wagging his eyebrows in a much too suggestive manner.
Evan was an attractive guy no doubt, what with his big blue-gray eyes, blond curls that had blue highlights and a well-toned body that perfectly complimented his dark complexion. It was no wonder both guys and girls found him attractive and the fact that he was sexually open and active didn’t help things.
Liam guffawed at his best friend's stupidity but pondered the idea over in his head for a few minutes before agreeing to it. "Why not?" he eventually said, "it might just be a stupid enough plan that it could actually work."
"That hurt my feelings you know, I do come up with great ideas sometimes if I do say so myself," Evan fanned hurt as he placed a hand on his chest.
Liam just patted him on the back but didn’t say anything in response to the over-confident Evan.
"So are you in?" Evan cocked his head to the side in question.
"Yes, guess I'm going to forget all about Nicole with a bottle of vodka."
