The Rare Alpa

Jeffrey Knight

Louise

The wind blew right on my face, hitting every part of it. I had a long stroke on my cigarette before emitting the smoke into the air, it danced until it turned into the shape of an hourglass before dissipating along with the cool wind of December.

And I did it again and again and again, hoping that every exhalation of smoke included the stress I've been dealing with these past couple of weeks.

I'm distraught, I didn't know where I should start again after that incident happened a month ago.

It would be amazing if only I didn't witness my boyfriend kissing another woman in that dark road along the fox hills while I'm driving home to my duplex apartment two blocks from the place where I caught my boyfriend.

I was really excited to go home to tell him that I finally signed a contract with the book publishing company that I've always dreamt of working for. It was perfect and an amazing night to celebrate it with a bottle of Louis Roederer- Cristal Brut champagne that I bought along the way.

But everything didn't go as I planned when I saw Dylan that night.

I don't know if I'm going to consider myself lucky that night, because when the stoplight turned red, my car stopped exactly on the couple eating each other's out and didn't give a f**k about their surroundings.

I even laughed in disgust thinking how crazy they are to kiss aggressively on the road, but when I recognized the guy. My heart stopped and my world fell apart instantly. I felt like I fell into an abyss of nonstop darkness and when I hit the ground, I felt numb.

I drove home, but I didn't cry, nor show any emotion. I parked my car and put the champagne on the cupboard then went to bed and slept.

The next day, Dylan arrived home. I couldn't feel anything, no anger, no pain, nothing, just numb.

I never told him what I saw, I never confronted him about it. I don't know why, but I couldn't find myself crying in front of him or tell him how stupid he was to do that even though he knew that I basically adopted him and give him shelter when he was in the middle of the rain exactly a year ago and I have the rights to kick him out whenever I want without any remorse.

The days became weeks and I still didn't confront him. I just did my usual routine but there's something that changed in me and I know he could notice but decided not to confront me about it.

Until this day, he still didn't know that I'm well aware of him cheating on me and just using his work to sleep with that woman. I mean, I'm not stupid to believe him but I'm stupid to let him be while he still thinks that I'm naive.

"Hey, do you have plans to get a cold?"

"Not when I have such strong immunity unlike you." I chuckled as I killed my cigarette after the last heave and threw the butt outside.

"At least I'm not a boring writer who loves confining herself inside her house." My best friend scoffed but still wrapped a blanket around my shoulders. "Let's eat while the food is still hot."

I smiled before turning my heels to face Chelsea. "Thank you so much for staying with me tonight."

"No worries, I missed you anyway so let's consider it a girl's night." She returned the smile and pulled me inside, ushering me towards the kitchen. "I cooked your favourite!"

"I love you." I blurted out and her smile widened.

"I love you too, now let's celebrate your success in achieving one of your dreams." She walked to the cupboard to find something to drink to complete the set of our dinner. "Whoa, why are you hiding this precious champagne?!" She exclaimed as she spun around, holding the bottle I bought that night before the tragedy.

My smile disappeared and I stared at the bottle with downcast eyes. "I was planning to celebrate with Dylan three weeks ago."

"Let me guess? He said he has overtime at work?"

"Yes."

"Oh you poor thing. You should've call—."

"But turns out he wasn't at work but kissing another woman on the road two blocks away from my house." I continued and my best friend stopped on her tracks and she froze.

"W-what?" She blinked her eyes rapidly.

"You heard me." I smiled bitterly and looked away to hide the tears that's threatening to fall from my eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me, Louise?" She stomped her way back to the table carrying the bottle and put it down a bit harshly. "Where is that guy right now?!" She asked raggedly as she pulled out her phone from her purse.

"Don't call him."

"Why?!" She sneered at me.

"I don't want to argue with him about it." I shrugged my shoulders like it wasn't really a big deal to me.

"How long have you known about this?"

"Three weeks ago." I replied. I reached for the bottle and stood up from my seat to get a cork.

"Three weeks? And he's still living here?! What the hell on earth are you thinking?" She exclaimed exasperatedly, throwing her arms in the air. "Why are you torturing yourself like that? You should've kicked him out the day you found out!"

"I just couldn't find myself arguing with him about it. I'm too tired for it." I shrugged my shoulders and walked back to the table after I found a cork. Chelsea didn't respond and just stared at me with sympathetic eyes. "Look, I know it's stupid not to confront him but you know? I'm not that kind of person who wants to argue with anyone. If he wants to cheat on me, I don't care. But once I get tired of him having me around, I'll kick him out so don't worry about it."

"You know what? I really don't know what I did to my past life and God gave me such a masochist best friend."

"You love me, shut up."

"And that's my problem." She sneered. "I love you so much that I would respect your decision." Chelsea pouted. She grabbed the chair and put it next to mine then she sat down and wrapped her arms on my waist. "I'm not going to force you to kick him out, but I hope that you will do it for yourself."

"I will, just give me more time." I patted her head before leaning it on her.

"What's going on here? Did I miss something?"

"And the devil has arrived." Chelsea scoffed and that made me giggle, slapping her leg playfully.

"Wait, how did you know?!" Dylan exclaimed while looking at the food on the table along with a good champagne.

"She saw—."

"Babe, thank you so much for this! I wouldn't get that promotion if you weren't a supportive girlfriend!"

Chelsea and I exchange ludicrous glances before looking back to Dylan with confusion in our faces.

"Wait, you didn't know that I got promoted?" He asked.

"Oh." I mumbled and stole a glance at my best friend who's looking at my boyfriend with a disgusted face. "Uh you did? Congrats."

"Thank you, so are we going to celebrate tonight—." Dylan stopped talking when his phone rang. He groaned before pulling it out from his pocket and I know that I'm not the only one who saw the shock registered in his face when he saw the caller. "Uh, I need to get this."

I just smiled and nodded my head at him.

"Yeah what's up?" He greeted as he answered the call. "Now?" He looked at me with worried eyes. "Okay, I'll be there."

"Here we go." Chelsea whispered softly next to me.

"Babe, I'm sorry but I need to go back to the office. Something came up and my boss asked me to go over—."

"It's okay." I cut him off because I don't want to hear more lies as I know that it wasn't his boss but his other woman.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah of course, you should go." I smiled at him.

"I'm really sorry, we should celebrate tomorrow, how's that sound?"

"You're not going home tonight?" Chelsea asked and that made Dylan freeze.

"I-I am, but I can't promise."

"It's okay, just go. You don't want to keep your boss waiting for you after you get promoted, right?" I said in a playful tone.

Dylan smiled at me before he leaned over to kiss my head. "I'll make up to you tomorrow."

"Hmm." I hummed as a response with a forced smile. He waved at us as he shut the door and my smile dropped instantly.

"You know what?" Chelsea exclaimed as soon as we heard Dylan's car drive away. "We should go to a bar and get wasted instead of sulking here."

"I'm not in the mood, Chelsea."

"Yes, you're in the mood." She persisted, pulling me up from my seat and she went behind me and pushed me towards the stairs. "Go get dressed, I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Fine, but we're not getting drunk, just enough to make us fall asleep quickly."

"Fine, fine. Just go and I'll wait here." She said dismissively, waving her hand at me.

I decided to wear a simple a black urban Tee coated with a beige double breasted blazer, paired with under high rise tight and sock boots. I scanned myself through my whole body mirror and felt satisfied with my outfit. I grabbed my bag and my keys before I leave my room.

"Let's go—."

"Oh no." Chelsea said as soon as she saw me. "No, no, no." She approached me while shaking her head. "You are not going to the bar wearing those.." She pointed at me from head to toe and she groaned. "Louise, you are not going for a meeting. It's a bar, where a lot of hot men will be at so no. Go get change."

"Ugh! This is totally fine. I'm going out with you to have drinks, not to have a new boyfriend." I groaned in protest.

Chelsea looked at me, she scanned me from head to toe then she sighs in defeat. "Fine, that'll work. Let's go." She said and grabbed my hand. She didn't let me take anything aside from my purse and she used her car.

Well, I have plans to get wasted anyway so there's no way I'm going to drive my own car.

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As we got to the bar, Chelsea cut off the line as she was dragging me with her. She only showed a card to the guard in front of the bar and they let us in. Chelsea thanked them with a sweet smile and we got inside.

"We should find a spot." She said while craning her neck to look for a vacant table and found one at the corner. She dragged me again and I'm not complaining because I want to get out from the crowd so we squeezed our way in to get to the table and both let out a sigh.

"Pew! This bar is so crowded tonight, I wonder why?" Chelsea said while we're watching the dancefloor filled with drunk and crazy people.

"Maybe because it's Friday?" I asked.

Chelsea suddenly snapped her fingers. "Friday! That means he's here!"

"Who?" I asked again.

"Jeffrey Knight!" She squeals like a teenager after mentioning the name of her ultimate crush.

I laughed while shaking my head. She's really into guys, I mean every guy that is cute, hot or smart. She doesn't care if they're poor or rich. She has low standards and who am I to judge her? If that's her happiness, then be it.

"He's the youngest CEO in our country and he's so good looking. You'll see him tonight and I swear, you will fall in love with him too!"

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes playfully and we both laughed because we knew that it's not gonna happen. I'm not that kind of woman who easily likes men in general.

She ordered ladies drinks first because she said that it's still early to get drunk, but she wasn't satisfied with our drink, so she asked the waiter for a bottle of tequila and that night became more wild.

Chelsea started dancing on the floor but not letting a guy dance with her, she was just enjoying herself. And whenever a guy will attempt to dance with her, she will hold her middle finger to them and she will turn around. I wonder how long it will take before she get into trouble with men.

When the music changed, Chelsea decided to take a rest and walked back to our table, panting and laughing.

"Ugh, I'm so exhausted!" She exclaimed, taking the bottle and pouring her glass.

"Calm down, tiger. You're drunk." I chuckled.

"It's a bar, Lexi. Of course, being drunk is in our plan." She scoffed.

"But one of us needs to stay sober and that will be me, I guess." I chugged another shot of tequila and quickly sipped the lemon and I grimaced. "You should take a rest first, I will just use the bathroom."

"Okay, but be quick. Jeffrey will be out in a minute."

"Yeah." I waved my hand and picked up my purse before I made my way to the bathroom. Fortunately, the way to the bathroom ain't that crowded but I need to go through with drunk people since it's the only place that's not crowded and people taking their time in the hallway to rest themselves.

I was walking so fast so I didn't have to deal with men in the hallway since they are trying to bother some women making their way to the bathroom as well.

When I got inside, I quickly entered the only cubicle and did my business. I was almost done when I heard voices entering the bathroom and my eyes widened.

What the hell are those guys doing inside the women's bathroom?!

I quickly finished it up and opened the door a bit hard to scare the men who illegally invade the women's bathroom, but to my shock, I saw a lot of men looking at me in surprise. Maybe because of how I opened the door.

"Just what the hell on earth—!"

"Please don't." A guy next to me cut me off and he dragged me out of the bathroom. I was about to yell at him but when we got out, he pointed at the sign on the top and said 'Men's Bathroom'. "Seriously, are you really that drunk that you didn't even notice that?"

"Gosh! I'm s-sorry. I didn't see the sign. I'm r-really sorry." I apologize while keeping my head low because I'm too embarrassed to meet his eyes.

I was about to run back to my best friend but he grabbed my hand to stop me from doing so.

"Wait. Let me usher you."

I don't know what's gotten into me, but I really couldn't find a word to refuse his offer, I'm just so shy and feel indebted for saving me from humiliation.

I don't know if it's only me or the crowd really became more loud this time. They were all screaming and creating loud sounds with their voices. The guy didn't let go of my hand until we reached our table and that's when I decided to look up to him since he's much taller than me.

"Thank you and I'm really sorry." I apologize again.

Amidst the darkness with dim lights in the bar, his smile seemed to lighten up the whole place and his eyes turned into a crescent moon.

"You're welcome, but I hope next time I won't bump into you inside a men's bathroom." He chuckled and my face heated up again but it's my mistake, so I have to suck it up. Then he offered his hand to me. "Nice to meet you....?"

"Louise." I smiled and reached for his hand.

"Hope to see you again, Louise." He winked at me and showed me his perfect teeth before squeezing his way into the crowd and that's when I noticed that everyone was looking at me, some of them even glaring like I just did a crime.

I turned to my side and saw Chelsea looking at me astoundingly. "What?" I asked nervously, thinking that everyone knew that I used the men's bathroom.

"Louise, you just met Jeffrey Knight!" Chelsea exclaimed exaggeratedly.

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