I currently sat in the bar I had called home for the past last two days. I began to notice who the regular patrons were, meaning I was one of them. I sipped my refreshing beer, noting the specific patron I had continued to keep my eyes on. Today he was on his third beer, one more than his usual by this specific time. I wondered what drove him to drink faster today rather than the other days.
The sandy-haired bartender, Kenny, walked over to him and struck a conversation. Their body language signaled they were more than just customers and bartenders. I believed by just looking at the two of them, they were friends outside of this establishment. The bartender appeared to make a joke to attempt to bring the patron out of his reverie, but no avail.
As I continued to watch the patron chug his beer, his solum attitude radiating off of him like a stench, I could only assume he was here for the same reason I was.
Heartache.
He was nursing a broken heart. Part of me wondered if I was making things up to make myself connect to this man and feel better about my wallowing. Kenny walked over, for once in the last two days not sending a lude comment my way. He just refilled my beer and continued to walk on. I looked to the patron across the bar, noting his deep sigh. I hesitated as soon as the thought crossed my mind. I tried to shake it out but before I could comprehend what was happening my legs prompted me to get off the barstool and walk towards the other end of the bar.
The man looked up from his beer as I sat next to him, registering I was in his presence before he took another gulp of the ale. It took a moment for me to gain the courage to speak to him. I smiled at him as I took a sip of liquid courage. "Who was she?" I said aloud. He looked up to me confused, wondering if I had been speaking with someone else.
When he concluded it was him it clicked in his mind what I had asked. "Arianna." he said as he brought the beer to his lips.
I nodded moved the beer bottle in a circular motion on the bar. I felt a little out of place, awkward at trying to communicate with a stranger. I looked at him as he let out another sigh. I couldn't help the small smile on the corners of my lips. "I know exactly what you're going through. I know it doesn't seem like it now but you will get over her soon enough." I stated, wishing I could take my own advice that I gave so willingly to others.
He glanced back over to me, shocked at the words that were coming off of my lips. "How would you know? Your hot!" he bluntly stated. I let out a laugh not able to control myself.
I took a sip of my beet and angled my body towards him a little more. "I noticed that you are a regular here at the bar. Meaning I have also been here, basically living here for the last two days. You don't do that unless you have a reason.." I stated, looking away from his presence, the sudden loss of the relationship weighed heavily on my heart. I risked looking up to him, a look on his face of concern and pity yet still in his own sad world. I cleared my throat deciding to clarify. "I was left at the alter 2 days ago. Trust me, I know exactly how you feel." I said with tears brimming my eyelids as I thought of the shame I have felt.
The look on his face instantly went into regretful remorse. "Wow, I feel like an idiot." he said, as I laughed away, wiping the tears that had yet to fall from my eyes.
I sniffled, knowing that crying would get me nowhere for a long while. "Don't feel like an idiot." My genuine words floated from my mouth. I decided to switch gears from me to him. "So, what's your story?"
It took a moment as he thought about how much he seemed to want to share. I took a long pull from my beer. "She dumped me. We had been going out since high school. I took her to prom." he said spilling out the information.
I nodded in understanding. "My ex-fiance was my middle school sweetheart. I seriously thought we would be together forever. He'd been cheating on me with my ugly ass maid of honor." I said taking another very long pull from my beer.
It seemed like the awkward conversation was over for a moment. He looked like he was debating on continuing the conversation. Thankfully he looked over to me once more. "For once though me sitting here and drinking is not the reason for her. My dad died last night." he said becoming suddenly interested in his beer bottle.
My heart broke for the kind stranger in front of me. "I'm so sorry." I said, not knowing really what else to say.
He nodded for a second with a sorrowful look. "We knew he wasn't going to last a lot longer. It was only a matter of time." he said, and looked up. I nodded in understanding.
For a moment I considered not telling him more about my sorrowful story. It was amazing how similar our stories were. "My sister died last month. We moved the wedding so it would hopefully cheer my family. Little did I know that almost everyone else knew that my fiance was also screwing my sister behind my back, making me look even more foolish." I let out a snort. "Hell, at this point I'm pretty sure my mom is the only one that hasn't screwed my finace." It was then when I felt the sudden warm comfort of the alcohol coursing through my veins. I let out another snort before it slowly erupted into laughter.
I looked over to the man, expecting to see a horrified confused expression only to be met with a kind smile. "Here's to moving on and forgetting the assholes, and bitches of the past." he said holding up his beer. We clanked them together and drank.
We sat in relative comfortable silence for a couple of moments. Both of us processing the information we had learned from each other. To my surprise, he broke the silence first. "Don't take this as a creepy thing at all. But my two friends and I are going to South America. Do you want to come with us?" he asked.
I looked to him in confusion for a moment before letting out a laugh. "You know we haven't even formally introduced ourselves and you're asking me to go to a foreign country with you." I said gulping down the rest of my beer.
"Oh, wow you're right. I'm Izzy." he said and held out his hand.
I took the hand in mine, noting that it rough but not smooth either. I was intrigued by the firmness of the shake as well. "I'm Kami." I said with a smile. "And as bizarre as it is I think I'll take you up on that offer and go with you and your friends to South America." He looked a little surprised for a moment at the strange acceptance. I felt I should clarify myself more. "It's time for me to live. Plus my honeymoon tickets were to South America, so I kill two birds with one stone. Plus I've already met one of your friends, the bartender Kenny, and slept with him. So that works." I said as Izzy choked on his beer and spit some of it out.
He looked over at me panicked."Don't worry. It was just sleeping." I chuckled out the outburst, knowing that would have been too precious to pass up. "We both passed out drunk on my wedding night on his bed, after I came into the bar intending to get super drunk. I didn't have sex with him." I said as relief flew across his face.
For the rest of the day, we talked about the trip to South America. He already had an RV, driving there was the only rule of the trip. Driving only being the obvious choice due to seeing all of the sights. Slowly but surely I felt more and more excited and happy than I had in a long time.
1 Year later
Dear Mom and Dad,
First off here is another postcard from Peru! I hope you enjoy this one since it is a gorgeous picture of Machu Pichu. The landscape is absolutely beautiful. If you see in the area I circled in red, that is the exact area Izzy and I said our vows. We are so excited for you guys to come out and celebrate our momentous occasion next week. You'll absolutely adore the sights, and Izzy himself.
I know that with our brief conversations you're nervous about jumping into marriage so soon after the chaos that was last year. But there is something about Izzy, something that makes me feel like I can take on the world, knowing no matter what he has my back. Even in the short amount of time that we have known each other, I know I have made the right decision.
I love you both with all my heart. I cant wait to see you!
Love,
Kami.
