Week 6 – Friday Night After Work

9.30am.
Saturday
I wake up on a sofa.
I have a tartan blanket over me.
I have a sore back from the way that I have been sleeping.
My neck has a crick in it.

The room is hazy from lots of cigarettes being smoked.
I cough.
There are bottles and empty glasses on the floor, coffee table and sideboard.
I notice that someone is asleep on the armchair across from me.
There are also people lying asleep on the dark red carpet.

This is not my flat.
It is the flat of my best mate Charlotte's friend.

To be honest I do not actually know how well Charlotte and this girl know each other.
I had never met the girl before.
Charlotte and I have known each other for eight years.
She has mentioned the girl.
I think she used to work with her years ago when she had a part time job at Uni.
They've kept in touch.
They go on the occasional night out together.

The night before, Charlotte and I had met for drinks after work.
I have had an awful week as I have kept having flashbacks from the weekend before when I had stupidly slept with Jack, Charlotte's friend.
I haven't been out all week because of this.
The experience has left me feeling a bit hollow and empty.
Charlotte suggested a girl's night out to forget about it.

On Friday night our local bar does a great deal on cocktails from 5-8pm.
Sex on the beach.
Cosmopolitans.
Mojitos.
Two for £6.
We arrive at 5.30pm.
We get a seat near the bar.

Our first cocktail goes down like water in about ten minutes.
We order another.

7.45pm.
We have each had three cocktails.
We decide to order another two cocktails each as the two cocktails for £6 will finish in fifteen minutes.

We laugh.
We chat
I tell Charlotte about a possible promotion at work.
Due to my recent sickness record though I am afraid that will go against me getting the job.
Charlotte tells me that she and her boyfriend are going to move in together.
A trial she says.
To see if they really get on.
She wants to find out his bad habits before making any commitment.
She is a woman in control and knows what she wants.
She doesn't want to spend her life with someone who spends half his time in the pub, has no ambition and doesn't support the things that she does.

10pm
The bar is really busy.
Friend's of Charlotte appear.
They are people she used to work with years ago.
We buy a couple of bottles of wine.
These people chat about how much they don't like their work, the people they work with, the customers, their boss and the lack of a man in their lives.

I feel like an agony aunt tonight.
Listening to all their problems.
It makes me think that maybe my life is not that bad.
I have a good family.
Good friends.
A job that's not bad.
And even though I don't have a lot of money I'm not totally skint.
A wee pay rise wouldn't go a miss though!

I decide to buy a round of drinks for everyone to cheer them up.
Tequila all round.
Charlotte buys another drink for everyone to take the taste of the tequila away.
Beers, spirits, wine.

1am
The lights in the bar rise.
The barmen are shouting for us to leave
I had not even heard last orders.

Charlotte's friend suggests we all go back to hers.
She has plenty of booze.

We down the last of our drinks before the barman takes them away from us.
We leave the bar.

The air hits me and I instantly feel more drunk.
I can also smell the distinct aroma of fish and chips.
I realise that I have not eaten since lunchtime.
We head the take-away
I order chips and cheese.

2.15am After eventually managing to hail a taxi we arrive at Charlotte's friends flat.
The flat is beautiful, old fashioned with high ceilings.
She shares the flat with her younger sister.

We all sit about the coffee table.
There are six of us.
We drink wine.
We smoke cigarettes.

3.30am Charlotte's friend's younger sister comes in.
She has five people with her.
They have just been at a club.
They sit down and chat and drink.
I am tired.
I am feeling exhausted.
I am starting to see two of everything
I don't have the energy to call a taxi.

I rest my head against the cushion of the sofa.
I fall asleep in the smoky, chatting, music filled room.

Someone must have put a blanket over me and taken my shoes of while I slept.

My back is still sore.
My neck is twisted.
My head hurts.

Charlotte is not one of the people sleeping in the room.
I check my phone.
9.45am
There is a message from her.
TRIED TO WAKE YOU BUT COULDN'T. AT HOME. CALL ME LATER.

I am now in a room filled with people I do not know.
I put my shoes on.
I pick up my jacket and bag and leave.

When I get out on the street it is a bright, sunny Saturday morning.
I get my bearings.
I find my way to the high street.
I stand at the bus stop.
I feel people are staring at me.
I am convinced they know I am in the clothes from the night before.
I am conscious that I smell like a dirty ashtray.

The bus eventually arrives.
I pay my fare.
I sit down.
I am shattered.
At least it is Saturday.
I have the weekend to rest.
Anyway last night was a good night.
I just wish I had gone home in a taxi earlier.
I would have wakened up in my own bed.
My body would not be aching and I wouldn't feel like wanting to hibernate for the rest of the weekend.

Well Charlotte's plan for a girl's night only was a good idea.
At least I did not make another "Jack" mistake.