“When they fuck up your story, I’ll tell it the way that you told me.”
https://open.spotify.com/track/5eAR1QuDO23Em4r8o5yLul?si=58c6cc851bd14f76
October, 2024. Derian’s bar.
“Ckckck… Look who decided to appear after being MIA for three fucking decades.”
Alexa chuckled at her cousin’s snark. “Yeah, I missed you too, dramaqueen.”
Alexa and Atlas just came back from administering the required documents for their visa this afternoon, and they were about to spend the night watching Stranger Things when suddenly she missed her cousin and decided to drop by to say hi. While she went up to the bar, Atlas was still on the first floor, cooing over some goods that had just arrived on Derian’s leather shop.
Derian wasn’t exaggerating; Alexa hadn’t set foot in this bar for longer than she could remember.
Usually, with repentance came withdrawal; so to take her mind off of things, she started to sort out her life—with the help of Atlas. He helped her putting up her portfolios, building her website and credentials, and trying to find potential clients. He was a coach, a computer program, and a problem-solver all wrapped up within that buff body of his. “It’s like… when you’re trying to lose weight and he’s that one crazy trainer doubles as a nutritionist and he will lay out a meticulous meal plan for you to follow, and he will torment you with a set of crazy cardio and when you’re about to die on the floor he will pick you up and give you a kiss on the forehead.”
Derian sighed. “Yeah, yeah, my bread is too buttery, my steak is too juicy, bla bla bla… What else? I guess the bed chem is crazy as well.”
Alexa shook her head. “I haven’t had sex since July. We haven’t done it either.”
“So you’re abstaining and your mind get cleared up. Finally an advice I could use.” Suddenly Derian’s expression got serious as he leaned closer to Alexa. “Nicholas came here the other day.”
“What?? You didn’t tell me?”
“And what? Risking this new blissful marriage of yours? Nah. I decided to take the matter into my own hands. Nothing much, really. He just sat there, and before he even ordered a drink I told him to piss off and never come back.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
He shrugged. “This was one of your safe space.”
Derian was the only family she had left. Her other family, especially from her father’s side, lived in different towns far from here, and they barely checked on her. Meanwhile, her mom was already an orphan before she met Alexa’s father.
Derian and Alexa had become each others’ rock ever since, and he had always been her ally since day one—talk about hiding bodies and providing alibi kind of ally.
She touched his hand slightly. “Thank you.”
Derian smirked as he put a glass in front of Alexa. “My newest creation. Whiskey, rum, a bit of beras kencur—it’s a traditional Indonesian drink, if you don’t know—and finish it with this cigarette I roll on my own. Special ordered tobacco; you won’t find it anywhere else.”