The Middle

Barks had gotten me up from my slumber. I glanced at the clock on the side table then groaned. It was late and there must be something or someone who made my dogs barking. A couple of seconds later, I heard someone was swearing really loud from the outside of my house. I was so annoyed this time that I finally got up to check what is happening. One does not simply bother Zacky Vengeance when he’s sleeping.

I looked out from the window in my room, where a man was standing who was trying to find something in his pocket. Jeeeze what the fuck is he doing THIS late? That couldn’t be a burglar because he seemed familiar to me. He has that hairstyle like this certain man. Could it be.… Brian?

I quickly turned on every light in my house so I have enough illumination when I made my way to the front door. Just by the time he was about to leave, I opened the door. And my instinct was right, it was Brian Elwin Haner, Jr. ladies and gentlemen.

“Bri? What are you doing?” I made him turning around.

“Oh Zacky!” he hugged me in a sudden. “I didn’t knew this was your house”

I crooked my brows. He was just here this morning . How come he did not recognize that this is my house? But then I smelt a really strong alcohol coming out of his mouth and quickly knew why. Alcohol, basically.

I gestured him to come in. “Been out drinking without me, eh?”

“I’m all alone tonight, Zee. Don’t be so temperamental” he said. “Wanna play beer pong?”

I chuckled. “No, you had enough alcohol for tonight”

“I never get enough of alcohol. Come on, Zacky” he started to make his puppy eyes face.

“Still a no from me.” I said. “Umm Bri?”

"Yeah?"

I gestured at a tissue that was stuck in his nose. “That. What happened, man?”

"Oh" he stopped to take the tissue out. "That annoying fiancé slapped me. Thank God the bleeding had stopped now"

"Ouch. That must be a really hard hit" he frowned whilst nodding.

"Well, you shall take a rest now, Bri” I suggested and he just nodded, again.

He walked up to the nearest couch then passed out in matter of seconds. I shook my head, this guy can go from demanding to obedient that quick. I grabbed a spare blanket to cover his drunken body. Poor him. He must be really stress lately that he drank so much alcohol. But tomorrow holds much better things than today. I’ve planned something for him and hopefully it could make him forget about his problems. At least, for a while. And I hope nobody’s being a troublemaker this time. I want it to turns out to be a great day for us both.

I turned off the light, smiling to my now sleep best bro, before making my way to bed.

~

I woke up the next afternoon with pain all over my back. Gosh, I’m old. I looked at the reflection in the mirror, my hair was a mess but I didn’t seem to care. I walked downstairs to find Brian in the kitchen, making a coffee. I could feel the good vibe already.

“Good morning, Gates” I said, ignoring the clock that was clearly showing 11 am.

“Ah you finally woke up. How come I get here actually?” he asked, totally forgotten what happened last night.

“You were very drunk last night, mate” I took the coffee of his hand and he complained. I made myself chocked on my own drink when I laughed.

“Stealing isn’t good, Baker”

“Its Vengeance” I corrected.

“Its your real last name, come on!” he whined that made me even laugh a little bit harder now.

“Hey, you suggested me to play beer pong last night but I rejected. How about we do it now?” I asked.

“Is it too early to get drunk?” he questioned back.

“Dude, where’s your spirit?? Its never too early for beers!” I winked. That must be a very gay of me because I made him laugh. Though, I was glad that I did that. I didn’t want to see a sad Brian. I want to see that sunny side of him that filled with smiles and laughter – and craziness for sure.

We prepared everything for the game. The table, the cups, the ball, and of course, the liquor. Apparently, I didn’t have any beer in my house so we used whiskey instead and we change the name from ‘beer pong’ to ‘whiskey pong’ - Because it won’t be appropriate if we still call it as beer pong, am I right? Am I right??!

We done it quickly that we are now going to play rock, paper, and scissors to decide who is going to play first. I won with a rock over his scissors then he groaned. He seemed he had lost his power to win every game. I took that as an advance to win this one. Brian was hard enough to beat on drinking competition.

I took my first move and the ball bounched into a cup. “really? 2 already?” he said before drinking his whiskey. I know deep inside he loved it. He loves beer for God’s sake! Everyone knows that!

But bad luck was on my side when I took my second move. The ball missed and now its his turn to move. First, the ball lobbed into the cup. One drink for me. Second, the ball deflected. Two drinks for me. Third, again, the ball deflected. Another two drinks for me. Soon, I had no cups remaining while he still have four cups. I lost again. Damn it.

“Yippie I won!” Brian cheered like a little boy. I gotta admit that he was good at all drinking competitions. My thought earlier was invalid. I’m not going to win any drinking competition with him. All hail Synyster Gates, the master of drinking.

Its only 12 in the afternoon and I’m already drunk. I ended up laying on the couch, trying to deal with the liquor inside me while Brian was cleaning the mess we made earlier. I’m probably the one who should clean it but instead he was doing it for me. Being a good boy as he is.

After he was done, he came up to me with an interesting topic. He told me about meeting an attractive blonde girl when he went to a bar last night. He was describing every detail of her appearance and I couldn’t help but felt slightly envy. Even though he’s going to be married soon, he still finds another women attractive. Not that I complain. Beside, finding someone attractive doesn’t always mean you had a feeling on them. But then a brilliant idea came stricking into my mind.

“Drinking competition round 2 tonight at that bar? How’s that sound??” I asked him excitedly.

He stayed silent. Nervousness crawling inside of me. Is he going to reject that?…

Notes