Chapter 6 Inside The Bar

• Arianna’s father’s wish was granted. They successfully had their lunch and dinner at a fancy restaurant. After that, Van sends her home and of course, they can’t bid goodbye without the main course. And they did it thrice that day.
• First, inside her car. Second, in her room. Lastly, inside the bathroom. The following day, she got her monthly period, and she told to Van. And he can’t do anything about it but wait until it lasts.
• It seems like Van is already having fun about their setup. And Arianna can’t believe that she’s in that situation. Even though Van has this remarkable background, still she’s grateful that the guy saves half of her broken piece.
• Van cultivates her how to learn new wild things. She’s not that young anyway, she’s turning twenty-six in a month, and in those stages, she must be already on the verge of building her new family. She owes everything to Van. If he doesn’t come into her life, maybe she’s still insane thinking about how the hell Miles cheated on her.
• “Yana, are you coming with us tonight?” asked, Lea.
• Arianna sipped on the straw of her milk tea, “yes,” she replied.
• They’re inside a milk tea shop near her condominium. And she’s with Lea and Chloe.
• “The same spot?” she asked.
• “Yes, we can’t waste a discount, you know,” Chloe uttered.
• “You know what, you two were stingy. I want to go to a place that is something new. What if…” she took a bite from her Spanish bread, “we’ll try to find one, the one we have not been through. You know, for a change.”
• Her friends look at each other seems like they’re sensing something going unusual from her. A smile arouses on their thin lips.
• Arianna arched her left brow. “What?” she asked.
• “It’s just me or what. There’s something in you, that we can’t understand. Usually, you’re the one who doesn’t like to waste money—a discount. And now, you’re suggesting that we will try other bars? Wow! Pretty amazing,” said Chloe.
• Arianna rolled her eyes. “You were imagining things.” She sipped on her milk tea. “So… do you agree with me?”
• “You see,” Lea said and look at Chloe. “She’s changing the topic, right?”
• Chloe nodded, and Arianna rolled her eyeballs again.
• “Care to share?” Lea asked but she just laughed.
• “You know what, let’s just finish drinking this,” she lifted her cup of milk tea, “so we can go home.
• The two grimaced and just continue eating their food. She’s wondering why she has friends like them. But honestly, she is grateful to have them by her side. They’ve been friends for seven years. She met them when she was just in college.
• They don’t have perfect friendships. They still have fights, and misunderstandings, sometimes when they fought over something, they won’t talk to each other for a day or two. Among the three, Arianna was more patient than Chloe and Lea. Because the two act like five-year-old kids when they can’t have what they want.
• Arianna and Lea were closer than Chloe. Because they always accompany each other, not unless when they’re busy.
• In Chloe’s case, she is always on a trip abroad. Because when Chloe’s father died, she takes all the responsibilities left by her late father. And most of it was located outside the country.
• Chloe is half Aussie, half Filipina. Her mother died when she gave birth to Chloe. While Lea was a pure Filipino. All of them are the only successors of their empire.
• AT NIGHT, they travel much longer to find a new bar. Her friends were left with no choice. Besides, there’s nothing wrong with doing new things.
• They agreed to go to GXX Bar and Restaurant. They choose the farthest bar in town, and they travel for an hour to see the place.
• Van called her lately, but she didn’t bother to answer it. Besides, she texted him that she was with her friends. She also needs to hang out with her friends and set aside first her agreement with Van. Her monthly period was last yesterday that’s why she can drink tonight.
• She didn’t tell Van that they were outside, the man only knows that she was with her friends. As if, he cares. They’re just fuck buddies.
• As they enter the bar, the smell of the smoke from vapes, shattered around them. The lights were slightly blinding, they need to adjust their vision. When it was done, Arianna gasped in surprise.
• The place was vast and filled with too many people. There were strippers in the center. Shit! She cursed under her breath. The signage of the bar shouldn’t be a bar and resto but a clubhouse instead. The name doesn’t describe the inside.
• The soft and enticing music embraces their ears and Lea grumbled, “This is a bad place, Yana. For goodness’ sake, we’re virgins.”
• They were seated in front of the counter. “Three vodka ala Mello, please,” Arianna said to the bartender. “Really? You two were virgins. Whom you’re fooling?”
• Chloe got devirginized when she was eighteen, and she doesn’t know who the guy is. Because Chloe won’t tell her story to them. What they only know is that it’s a guy Chloe met in a bar in Brisbane.
• Lea also is not a virgin anymore. She gave in to the best friend of her cousin on the mother’s side. What was his name again?
• “Lea, what was the name of that lucky person who got your V-card?” Arianna asked, mockingly. She gets their drink and handed one to Lea and the other glass to Chloe.
• “Shut up!” Lea answered, seeming pissed.
• “Not a virgin, my foot,” she whispered.
• And of course, Arianna is not also a virgin anymore, and they don’t know about it. All they know is that… she’s still a virgin.
• “Oh, I remember his name,” said Chloe. “It’s Flitzer Marco Vergara,” she added and chuckled.
• “Will you two stop it? I hate hearing that name. I cursed that name!” Lea said, seeming furious.
• “Hmm… admit it… you had great sex with him. You moaned and—”
• “Shut up, okay?” Lea meddled with Chloe’s words and drink from her glass. “How many times do I have to tell you, I was drunk that time? I didn’t know what exactly happened. I was drunk. Gets?” Lea said and glared at Chloe, but the latter just laughed.
• Arianna just shook her head and smiled. When they finished their drinks, she ordered more. And it’s a bucket of beer this time.
• “Let’s drink all night until we get tipsy,” she said and give a toss.
• Arianna diverted her gaze at the dancefloor—where the strippers swing their bodies on the cold silver pool wearing just the undergarments. They keep on dancing and circling on the pole, swaying their hips to the beat of the daring music. Men around were drooling like it was a kind of food that they have a grave for.
• She winced. Men do love that kind of stuff, huh? She drinks again in her glass and rests it on the countertop. It was already a half when she suddenly feels the warmth from the alcohol. She took off her blazer and placed it on the countertop.
• “Better,” she mumbled.
• She wears a royal blue sleeveless dress. Well, she likes to wear a dress with no sleeves. The weather is hot anyway, and she got used to it. She tossed the last drops of her drink and ask for another one.
• “Hey, Yana, not too much, okay?” said, Lea.
• “Don’t worry, I won’t,” she replied.
• She grabbed another and drink it. The taste of the alcohol is really good. It’s been days since the last time she visits a bar.
• “Yana,” Chloe called her. And she immediately faces her, but it seems like she did a wrong turn. Her neck hurts. She surveyed it using her hand as it lingers on her nape. “Ouch.”
• “Hey, are you okay?” Lea and Chloe asked in unison.
• Arianna smiles. “Yeah. I think I did a wrong turn when I faced your direction. Anyway, what do you wanna say?” she asked Chloe.
• “When we’re done here, we’ll going to stay and do a sleepover in your condo,” Chloe said.
• “Sure,” she replied. Her hand is still on her nape. She tried to lift her head to barely ease the pain, but her eyes widened, when she saw the man upstairs, hand resting on the rails, staring at her with his blazing eyes.
• Van.