Drunk

The last night at the Creek, the Colonel decided he wanted to get drunk. They'd deserved it, he said, a little celebration after the hell that was finals. So at eight PM Lara snuck quietly around the dorm-circle to Pudge and the Colonel's room. It was just the three of them. (Takumi had left the day before.) Pudge looked rather uncomfortable when Lara entered, and he bailed on them after the minimum socially acceptable time had passed with the pathetic excuse of going for a walk, never mind that it was after lights out and there was absolutely nothing to do. Lara was exasperated. She had thought they were past this avoiding shit.

Lara took another swig of ambrosia and made a face. She felt somewhat awkward and uncomfortable as the door swung shut behind Pudge. She hadn't really spent much time with the Colonel, not one on one at least. The Colonel recognized this as well, but awkwardness wasn't his style.

"Decapitation?" he offered, and they sat down on the old beat up couch to play the video game. They were evenly matched: Lara didn't know the game as well, but she was very competitive, and the Colonel was drunker and getting progressively more and more so.

"Ah, fuck, no," the Colonel said as he lost again. Lara cackled gleefully. "Fuck this. I'm bored," he declared.

"Yeah right, more like scared I'll beat you again," Lara replied, but she indulged the drunk person all the same. She got the Colonel a glass of water and headed over to the map of the world. She ran her hand along it then pointed. "There," she said. "That's where I'm from, Bucharest."

"That's the capitol," the Colonel noted.

"Yes."

"Did you like it there?" he asked.

"No. I mean, sort of. We weren't, uh, well off and the entire situation was shit. We lived in this tiny sort of apartment, but we shared a kitchen and a bathroom with four other families."

The Colonel was surprised and felt a rush of sympathy. Sure, the trailer was small, but at least it was all theirs.

Lara must have seen and understood his expression for she said quickly, "Which wasn't all bad. One of the families had a daughter my age: Katarina her name was. We would meet in the kitchen late at night to drink wine we'd stolen from our parents."

"You drank before you were twelve?"

"Not much. Barely enough to get tipsy. But we acted like we were much drunker than we were." The Colonel laughed at that.

"Do you miss it?" he asked.

"Sometimes, but I like it here."

Lara told him all about her life in Romania, her move to the states, her father who was a doctor, her mother who was a nurse, how that meant that they were pressuring her into pursuing medicine which she wasn't sure about. The Colonel listened and told her about his childhood, his mom, and even mentioned his dad, but changed the subject hastily saying he wasn't drunk enough to talk about that. He's interesting to talk to, Lara thought, he's honest. She's a lot more than meets the eye, the Colonel thought, tough in her own quiet way. They were alike, they both realized, they'd seen inequality first hand and kept pressing on like it was no big deal. Neither liked admitting the fact of pain. And they did not admit this now.

At some point Pudge came back, and Lara and the Colonel left so as to let him sleep undisturbed. They went to Lara's dorm room (Katie was out partying).

They continued talking: swapping childhood stories, discussing books, sharing memories of Alaska, which led to talk of exes.

"It was just shitty," Lara was saying. "I'm not stupid. I know something happened between Pudge and Alaska." The Colonel did not deny it. "And of course I couldn't compete with Alaska, especially not after you know, who can compete with a dead girl? This is super shitty but sometimes I was jealous of her. I didn't want to be, really, because she was my friend, is my friend, and again being jealous of someone who's… I missed her, and I missed him, and I was angry at her, and I was angry at him. Do you think that makes me a bad person?"

"No. Alaska could be a bitch. And Pudge, well, Pudge is an idiot. No, I don't think that."

"Thanks. It's just… yeah." She let out a sigh burdened by pain.

"Shit." The Colonel wished he could say something more impactful, more understanding, more helpful that just 'shit', but he couldn't think of anything. What could he say? But Lara gave him this little smile that said 1. she understood and 2. she was done talking about this now.

The Colonel changed the subject. "That makes my relationship with my ex seem like rainbows and gumdrops. It was easy with Sarah. We just argued all the time."

"That doesn't sound easy," Laura dissented politely.

"I guess. I said to Pudge once: it's nice to have someone to fight with. Do you know what I mean? No, of course not. You're a sweetheart." Then as an after thought "I miss her."

The Colonel had had a lot to drink at this point, and it seemed to his inebriated mind perfectly logical to go find Sarah and tell her he loved her, so he told this to Lara and headed for the door.

"Uh, are you sure this can't wait until you are sober?" Lara asked following the Colonel.

"True love cannot wait a moment. Or semi-like hate cannot wait a moment." He was running now. Lara grabbed his arm and tried to drag him back. She spoke calmly, trying to coax him out of doing something he would regret the next morning. She tried logic, then promises of rewards, then flat out insistences that he was too drunk to make any decisions. This slowed him sometimes, but failed to get him to return inside.

Finally Lara said, "Think about this: she hurt you. A lot. She made you miserable."

The Colonel contemplated this. "You're right." Lara's relief was brief. "She made me miserable. The bitch! I need to talk to her. Who does she think she is?" He staggered forward, and inspiration struck Lara.

"Here, I'll take you to her," she said. She took him by the arm, and led him back to his own room. By the time they'd gotten there he'd forgotten all about seeing Sarah. Laura got him a glass of water. "Drink, or you'll be hung over tomorrow." He drank and somehow managed to get up to his bunk.

"Lara, you're the best," the Colonel mumbled, and he repeated this as he drifted off to sleep.

"Goodnight, Colonel," Lara whispered, and walked back to her own room.

-More stories about Lara and the Colonel's friendship to come! Reviews welcome! 3, Luna Earnshaw