Happy

Phil leaned over the toilet seat, waiting for the room to stop spinning. He hadn't actually vomited, which was a surprise. Apparently he could handle more alcohol than he thought. Chris, PJ, and some other friends had taken him out for his bachelor party, a week before the wedding. Dan would go on his tomorrow. Phil wondered if their friends would survive two nights of intense partying or if Dan might end up getting Phil's original wish of a bachelor party spent playing video games instead of hitting every bar in London. Feeling a bit better, Phil pulled himself to his feet and staggered out to the sink, splashing cold water on his face.

Exiting the bathroom, Phil was struck again by the familiar vibe of the musty bar. All dive bars must look kind of alike, he figured. "Susan!" he shouted, running up to admire the fish mounted on the wall. It made him think of Dan and him playing the Sims 4, which made him think of Dan, which made him deliriously happy. Or maybe that was the 14th shot kicking in.

"There you are!" Chris shouted. "We thought we'd lost you! So, we thought we'd have one more round of shots here and then hit one last bar.."

Phil groaned. He was very happy to marry Dan, of course, but he was starting to think they really should have just eloped.

"Come on, man, we have to do this properly!" Pj laughed. "We'll go order the shots and settle the tab. You can sit in the corner and ask one of the bartenders for some water if you want.."

Phil nodded and lurched toward the dark, inviting corner counter space. The bartender didn't look up from wiping the bar down. "What'll it be?"

"Water, pleassse.." He was leaning forward a bit and the bartender winced visibly at the smell of his breath.

"Right away," she grabbed a pitcher and headed for the sink. When she returned, Phil grabbed her wrist and babbled,

"I'm getting marrried.." He was lost in a sappy haze. The bartender's laugh rang through the din of the bar.

"That's nice, to whom?"

"The most wonderful man," Phil drained his glass in one gulp. She refilled it. "His name is Dan, and he's handsome and smart and fun…" He took another sip met the bartender's eyes, which were an invitingly familiar shade of brown. He leaned forward and sloshed water on the bar. "Dan? 'Sthat you?" But it wasn't. Phil was drunk off his ass, but definitely sure that a woman, not Dan, was placing the pitcher to one side and grabbing a towel to clean up his spill. He did know her, though.

"Hey, Phil…" she mumbled, half-smiling but avoiding eye contact.

"Sa.. Samantha?" Phil struggled to be sober, or at least act like it. Even in his current state, he knew he'd wanted to talk to Sam for a while. Ever since he found the ring, he'd wanted to apologize for the way he'd treated her, for the way she found out, but she had blocked his number and his profiles on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. He had decided going to her apartment would have been too stalker-y, so they hadn't spoken at all in 2 months. During that time he and Dan had decided to go ahead and get married since they had basically been dating for years. With all those thoughts, he only managed to verbalize, "How are youuu? 'sbeen a loong time."

"Yeah, well, I've been busy," she was still looking down, now cleaning a particularly resilient bit of liquid from the counter.

"Hey, I'm sorry." Sam stopped scrubbing to acknowledge the sudden apology. The liquid courage made it a little easier for him to cut to the chase. "I never wanted to hurt you." He really meant it. Samantha was probably the best friend he'd ever had, aside from Dan.

"I know you didn't," she smiled a real smile this time. The same sad smile she'd worn the day they met.

"I miss youuu…" the alcohol fog was making this conversation turn out a lot differently than he'd pictured it.

"Phil, what are the chances of you remembering any of this in the morning?" she asked bluntly. He replied with equal frankness,

"Not great." It was good to hear her bell-like laugh again.

"Well then, I've missed you too. But I think it's better this way, don't you? You're getting married, and I'm…" she gestured helplessly toward her feet and trailed off. "It would be too weird."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Phil sighed. He felt sleepy all of a sudden. The boys called to Phil to join them for the last round. "Ah, hey, Sam!" he gushed, filled with sudden inspiration. "I'm already pretty drunk-"

"Obviously," she interjected.

"Right, so, do you want to take my shot for me? It'd be like when we used to go out and you could always hold your liquor better than I could!" Phil knew he wasn't making a whole lot of sense. He felt giddy and just wanted to hug Sam and make all the bad feelings between them disappear.

"No thanks, I'm uh, not feeling well," Sam said, resting a hand on her abdomen. "Upset stomach, sorry."

"Thass a shame. Guess I'd better gooo…" Phil struggled to get up from the stool and focus on Chris waving from across the bar.

"Phil… I am happy for you," Samantha said, quietly. "You know that, right?"

Phil grinned toothily and managed to slur out, "Thankssss, I'm happy too," before vomiting.