| Milan |
"Drink! Drink! Drink!" my friends goaded me on as I necked the last of the five vodka shots they had placed before me. It was my birthday and I very much planned on getting as wasted as possible. I might not have been American, but 21 was still a big milestone. Now, if I went to America, I could drink legally and I counted that as a win.
"Mate you're insane! I fucking love ya man," my friend, Elias, shouted over the pumping music. His wild afro bounced as he rocked his head to the beat playing out of the speakers and his chocolate eyes glistened with the distinct expression of a man who was very much drunk, the absolute lightweight.
"You're the only man I know who's so willing to drink vodka straight and not even break a sweat afterwards. Seriously what is wrong with you?! You absolute motherfucking beast!" exclaimed Eden. Eden was like a sister to me and let me move in with her when she moved to London around three years ago. I was only seventeen at the time and would rather have slept on the streets in the menacing cold of England's winter than stay with my parents another night.
"Come on Diya you too!" I shouted towards my third, and final best friend, who hadn't even touched a single drop of alcohol yet. How could she stay sober on my birthday? My friends and I had made it a rule that we all get absolutely plastered on each of our birthdays. Diya was a newer addition to our little group though so she wasn't aware of how seriously we took our little birthday drinking sessions, but we were more than willing to teach her.
"Okay! Okay, someone pass me a fucking bottle," she laughed. "My mum would so kill me if she knew I was doing this."
"Hey, what she doesn't know won't kill her," I chuckled. Diya came from a south Asian household, and while they were lax about most things, alcoholism wasn't one of them.
Diya was fucking beautiful with her caramel skin and big round eyes and silky soft, black hair which laid pin straight against her neck. I had a major crush on her when we first met although that had long since disappeared, with me realising how much of a great friend she was and not wanting to ruin that or put any of my shit on her. Besides, she knew what line of business I was in, as did Elias and Eden, and she made it very clear, one night when I kissed her, that while she didn't judge me for my life choices, she didn't want to be with me.
I took offence to it at first, but I understood. Who would want to be with a man who sold his body and had been with so many people? And anyway, she explained it was because she liked monogamy and she couldn't ask me to give up my profession, which I doubt I would have done for her because I wanted the money.
I was a selfish man I know but there was no one truly looking out for me except myself, so I did what I had to. I know my friends would help me out if I was in dire need, but I didn't want to ever have to rely on them. Friends were for spilling secrets and talking about bad hook-ups and partying with until it hit 3am when we either passed out or one of us said something deep and depressing so that we all ended up crying as we clung to each other. Friends were not for me to leech off of.
After some irresponsible drinking, Eden turned the music off and everyone started signing me happy birthday as Diya brought out my birthday cake. They had bought me the notorious Colin the Caterpillar cake and stuck some candles on top and if I didn't already love my friends enough, I definitely did now.
I blew out the candles and made a wish.
"What did you wish for mate?" Elias asked me.
"Just for things to stay the way they are," I replied before Eden could even stop me.
"NO! Ughh Elias why'd you ask him that. AND WHY DID YOU ANSWER," she screamed turning towards me. "Swear you're not supposed to tell people what you wished for, otherwise it doesn't come true."
I chuckled, "Well I'm sure Colin the Caterpillar can make anything happen." This just made Eden laugh before Diya started laughing and then Elias was laughing, and soon I was too.
We continued to drink after that until Elias and Diya were both passed out; one on my couch and the other just unconscious on the floor. I had a high tolerance for alcohol, and, after my shots, I hadn't drunk too much more, so by now I was back to just being tipsy. I made sure my two friends had both their airways clear and put a blanket over Elias on the floor and one of my jackets, that was on a nearby chair, around Diya on the couch.
"Feel like a having a smoke? I could use a fag," Eden said to which I nodded before following her out to my balcony. I had a pretty good income from my job, so despite London prices I was able to get a pretty nice flat for myself with a balcony overlooking the busy city.
"Did your parents call you?" Eden asked me as I watched a couple make out on a street below us.
I took a drag of my cigarette before replying and told her they hadn't. "My sister did though. I couldn't bring myself to answer. She sent me a text after a while just saying happy birthday."
"You reply?"
"Nah."
"Okay."
We were silent for a while before I spoke again.
"Happy birthday León," I whispered into the night air as I looked at the moon, thinking of my twin brother who was no longer with us.
"Happy birthday mate," Eden said too.
She soon went to crash on my bed after that, and I stayed where I was on the balcony, in the cold, thinking about my brother, because he deserved to not be forgotten, before I felt sleep's kiss beckon me into unconsciousness.
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