I was sitting through the entire French lecture staring at Caleb’s empty seat. I hadn't seen him since this morning. Maybe something happened at the party yesterday. Or maybe he just had a hangover or something. But as far as I knew he was not a heavy drinker. Perhaps not even a drinker.  

We didn't actually talk at the party. I only saw him walk out of the house, about an hour before I left. I didn't think much of it at that time. He usually didn't go to all these parties his friends went to, so I figured he just wanted to leave. Actually, his friends and him were quite different. Wonder how they got along. Basketball, I suppose. 

Now I had this strange feeling in my gut that something was wrong. He did say that we needed to complete the project earlier, so he wouldn't have disappeared for no reason. Maybe I was just worrying too much. 

Today, I didn't have a shift at the cafe, so I would probably work on the project by myself and then head to the bar. 

------

When the bell finally rang, I was so happy that I shot right out of my seat and out of the classroom like a bullet. I walked over to the library and sat down to do my work. 

As the library closes at six, I decided to go to the bar early after dropping into my dorm room and getting a change of clothes. 

As I had already guessed, the bar was almost empty. The only customers were a small group of old men who always seemed to be at the bar. So, I went to meet the owner, Roxanne, and had a chat for a while. I had a sandwich for dinner, as those were the 'closest to edible' stuff they had at the bar. Most of the other things seemed to have some unnamed sauce dripping from them and gosh did it smell! When I asked Roxy whether she was trying to kill someone, she gave me a smirk and laughed. I’d think the woman was evil if I didn’t know otherwise.

By 10: 30, customers started piling in. The DJ, bartenders, waiters and waitresses also made their entry, and by 11: 00 the bar was stuffed. 

I was waiting tables, when suddenly, in the midst of all the bar noise and music and crowd, I thought I saw a familiar face. But the crowd swallowed the face up before I could get a good glimpse of it. 

I left the waiting tray and went to join Kyle, one of the bartenders, at the counter. Customers were already shouting out orders before I even got there. When I looked along the long bar counter, I was surprised to see Caleb. I thought it was him back then but he was not the kind of person to get wasted away at bars. And right now he was drinking pretty heavily. 

After about fifteen minutes I decided to go and have a chat with him, only to see him being dragged to the rooms on the top floor by none other than Lillian, one of my co-workers. She was always making customers sleep with her against their will, although most of them didn’t really mind. I saw her dragging the poor intoxicated guy up the spiral staircase, tripping after every step. I wanted to help but the counter was way too crowded at the moment. So I started speeding up the orders and sneaking glances at the staircase. They were almost out of my sight. Thankfully, Roxy came to the counter to join us and I asked her if I could leave. 

'Hey Roxy, can I leave early today? I have school stuff to catch up with. ' I said with a pleading face. 

'Well, you did good, for today. Go on, home. See ya next time. ' she said with her usual smile. 

'Thanks so much. ' I said with gratitude. 

'No problem darlin’. You always seem to be taking on too much. ' she said. 

She was one of the few people I liked. Anyone could see why. One wondered how she ended up owning a bar like this one. (It wasn’t really that terrible but I feel she could have done a lot better). I never really bothered to ask though. It’s no wonder Vi likes hanging out here so much. 

I smiled, grabbed my stuff and ran towards the rooms upstairs. I had already wasted enough time. 

I went to the room she usually used and found them in an... awkward position. Lillian was in her underwear and was trying to pull K's pants down. It looked like he was resisting her, but there was only so much he could do. He was under the influence and very wobbly in his movements. 

I wasted no time in pulling them apart. K stood behind me and looked over my shoulder fearfully at her. He looked so vulnerable, it made me angrier at Lillian. 

'Come on now Ash, don’t be jealous. ' she said, with a pout. ‘You can have a go too…’

'Lil, we talked about this before. Can’t you see he’s out of it? ' I said. 

‘Oh come on, stop being such a killjoy.’ I could see her mask fading and the annoyance was starting to show.

‘Just stop, he’s a friend of mine and he’s not used to drinking.’ I said calmly with an intimidating look.

'Leave. Now. ' she ordered. All the playfulness had left her voice. I could see she was being completely serious. I guess she’s got her sights set on Caleb and she wasn’t gonna let go so easily.

'Fine. ' I said sternly and took Caleb by his hand and led him to the door. Before we got a chance to get out, Lillian pounced on me. 

'You know I meant without him you bastard, ' she growled at me. 

'Fuck off. ' I yelled. 

I threw her off me in one swift move. She was flung aside and fortunately landed on the bed. I wasted no time in looking back and took Caleb's hand once again and dashed out of the room. I led him carefully down the stairs and out of the bar. His face looked green when I got a better view of it outside and he immediately puked out the contents of his stomach. This happened a couple of times, so I rushed to my car and got him a bottle of water. He rinsed his mouth, drank some of it and washed his face. He had sobered up a little. But his posture was still quite wobbly. 

'I'll drive you home,' I told him. 

'No thanks. I -' he started saying something but I stopped him. 

'You're still drunk. You can get arrested or worse, get into an accident. ' I said as sternly as I could.

'Not really. I didn't drink much. ' he mumbled. 

I gave him a look. 

He sighed and said, 'I'll have to leave my car. ' 

'Then leave it. I'll bring you here tomorrow morning to collect it. ' I said. I wasn’t letting him drive in the state he was in and especially after what he just went through. I wonder if he even remembers. Would be better if he didn’t to be honest. I’m really glad I got there in time.

He hesitated for a minute but agreed to go with me. I helped him into the car and then we drove out of there. 

'Can I ask you to do me a favour? ' he asked, his voice soft. 

The car ride was silent. Well until K decided to talk. 

'Yeah, sure. '

'Can you keep this a secret? This entire night? ' 

I took a glance at him and saw how tired and troubled his face looked. 

I sighed. 

'It's not like I was gonna tell anyone anyway. ' I said. 

'Thanks. '

'No problem. '

'And also thanks for earlier. For helping me out. I was- am really tired.' So he did remember.

'I knew you wouldn't want to do it. Lillian's like that all the time. She’ll bite back with vengeance, I’m sure.’

He looked over at me worriedly. That was kinda cute actually. I had to try and hide a smile at how worried he looked. 

‘I’m sorry you had to go through that. ' I said finally after a moment of silence.

‘Nothing really happened so it’s fine. I should probably treat you to a meal for that. ‘ He said, managing a smile.

‘You don’t have to do that. Why were you so tired anyway?’

‘Uh.. I haven’t been able to eat well these days.’

Is he really this stressed about Stacey? Maybe I should ask.

‘Take a right here please.' He said, directing me to his house. 

I followed his directions. Even though he was partially drunk, he seemed to have a pretty good sense of direction. The night was dark and the street lamps provided just enough light to see what was ahead. The windows were rolled up as the night was starting to get a bit chilly. 

'Why were you at the bar?' I asked him after a while. I was curious. I didn't want to pry (who am I kidding?) but I still wanted to know. 

He hesitated a while and then shut his eyes and gave in,‘Well for one, things are not going well at home, my godma’s sick and had to be admitted to the hospital and they haven’t been able to figure out what’s wrong. And I can’t get in touch with my Godpa to give him the news. I... I just don’t know what to do anymore.’

It seemed best not to speak right now. So I just listened. I never imagined he was having such a hard time. He fooled me and the world into thinking he was a guy with no problems but I suppose no matter who you are, hardships exist in some form or the other. My grip on the steering wheel tightened. I felt so fucking helpless.

He stayed quiet for a while and then finally spoke again. This time he was barely audible and I almost didn't hear what he said. 

'And Stace, she broke up with me.... '

--------------------------------------------