The Birth of a Friendship
by Z.E. Grockle
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James Wilson was halfway through his third gin and tonic when he heard the familiar opening notes. Oh, great, he thought. He'd come to drown his sorrows, not be reminded of them. I knew it was a bad idea to let her pick our song. He finished off the drink in two gulps and motioned for another, trying to block out Billy Joel's voice. As the bartender pushed a new glass in front of him, he transferred his attention back to the envelope, carefully picking at one edge of the flap without actually opening it.
It was stupid, he knew. It wasn't as though the damn thing was holding any surprises. They'd been growing more and more distant over the last few months, and his affair and subsequent confession had pretty much sealed the deal. Still, he couldn't bring himself to read it in black and white. To know that he'd screwed up that badly, and to face letting her go, was more than he could handle right now.
He felt his eyes sting as the song came to an end, but was grateful that at least he hadn't collapsed in sobs on the bar. There was a moment of blessed silence, and then... Unbelievable, he thought, turning to see a balding, middle aged man standing in front of the jukebox. The lyrics started all over again, and he slid off his bar stool and made his way over only a bit unsteadily. He tapped the guy on the shoulder.
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"Sorry, it's just, could you play a different song next time? This one reminds me of someone I'd rather not think about right now."
"Well, sucks to be you, don't it? I'll play what I damn well want."
"Um.. look, there's plenty of other songs on this thing. Probably lots of others by Billy Joel, even. I'm just asking if you wouldn't mind not playing this one. You've already heard it once."
"Yeah, I would mind. Got a problem with that?"
James gave it up as hopeless, figuring he'd be better off just waiting for the song to be over. He made it back to his bar stool just as it ended, and gave a sigh of relief.
"Now, because some people can't let a person enjoy a good song, I'm going to play that one again!" announced the guy from behind him. James wasn't the only person who groaned.
He made it through the third rendition with the help of another gin and tonic, but when the melody began to repeat again, he'd had enough.
"Lay off the song, already!" he shouted over his shoulder.
"Just for that, I'm going to play it again after this!" came the reply.
"Oh, come on!"
"I've got twenty bucks to spend. I can do this all night, buddy. You don't like it, you can just go somewhere else!"
"Can't you do something about that?" James appealed to the bartender.
"Sorry, man. He's allowed to play what he wants."
James snarled and began to pick at the envelope more viciously than ever. He would just go to another bar, but he was already quite drunk, and the logistics of getting somewhere else and then back to his hotel seemed like too much at the moment. The music faded out and, sure enough, began again. Alright, that is it!
The bartender had set down a bottle of bourbon a few feet in front of him as he waited on another customer. James reached for it, and -
SMASH!
His jaw dropped as he stared in shock at the shattered mirror. I didn't know I was going to do that...
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Notes: Okay, this is going to be longer than I thought.. next chapter will be from House's POV, I think. Reviews?