Beers and Chocolates
CHAPTER-1
Loud laughs erupted as bubbly, golden-brown liquid made contact with the velvet carpet, high-pitched squeals followed by multiple verses of apologies pierced through her ears and just like that, Sarah was back inside the busy Street-Corner café.
“Oh my god, there’s spilt beer on my carpet”, she further shielded her goggle-protected eyes. A nervous chuckle escaped Maddie’s mouth as she caressed the back of her neck, “I was hoping you would forget that.”
“In my defense, I was really drunk and Mike kept push-" a veiny hand covered her mouth, aimed at shushing her but Maddie raised her voice,” How many times do I have to tell you to not touch my face Mike!”
Mike raised a frail finger to his lips, barely opening his eyes as he croaked, “Maddie, it’s already too loud in here and your incessant useless apologies are not helping my situation any further. So please, please, for the love of God – shut up”, he whispered the end, clasping her hand in his and resting his head on her shoulder.
The contrast between her tanned skin and his pristine white wasn’t amiss, rather attracted one’s attention. The fact that they both looked exceptionally good together often made people wonder if they were romantically involved, Sarah herself had been one of them. On her very first day at Newton High, she had kept herself occupied wondering about the possibilities of their dynamic when she spotted them in multiple of her classes. That, however, was in freshman year; four years later, as seniors on the cusp of graduating, she knew better than anyone, that having known each other since kindergarten, Madeliene Hart and Michael Stone were as tight as a pair of siblings – just as protective of each other and just as annoying with their constant squabbling.
Sarah removed her goggles and gulped down a glass of water as Maddie chided them, “Look at the two of you, eighteen-year old losers who can’t even hold their drinks right. Someone should warn the folks at USC to be wary of you both”, she stroked Mike’s hair a few times before jerking him right back to his place.
“Shouldn’t we be doing that at UCSF?”, Sarah placed her arm on the cold, wooden table-top, using the other to flip her dark brown hair as her orbs gazed right into Maddie’s’ green ones, “People will obviously need time to ‘Maddie-proof’ their dorms now, won’t they?”, she cocked her head to the side, batting her eyelashes, feigning innocence.
“They should prolly buy noise-cancelling headphones for the day-after too”, sneered Mike. Sarah high-fived him, without breaking eye-contact as Maddie rolled her eyes, “Hardy-har-har, oh-my-gosh, Sarah and Mike are so funny”, she dragged out the ‘o’, deliberately giggling like a child to convey her annoyance.
The exuberance that had taken over the trio fizzled out as soon as it had been ignited, the gloom of being separated from each other clouding over. Sarah and Mike had achieved their dream of enrolling into USC for journalism, and whilst Maddie had not gotten into her top choice, Boston University, she was excited about UCSF; but the fear of their bond weakening had crept upon them all, more so over Maddie.
There were nights when she woke up in a cold sweat, some where she didn’t go to sleep at all, afraid that she’d be left all alone. The trio had stuck to each other like glue ever since Sophomore year. Of course, they all knew that there would come a time when they would be separated, but the future had always seemed so far away; until it was knocking right on their door.
Promises of regular video-calls and frequent trips in between did little to assure her. Maddie was petrified that she would be left alone, and it was the last thing she had wanted, but she also knew that life wasn't always fair. And so, she tried her best to put on a brave face, for as much time she could at least.
The silence lasted for a beat too long and Sarah attempted to break it by dragging her chair away from the table dramatically, well… a little too dramatic. Miscalculating the friction between the floor and the legs of the chair, Sarah pushed hers too far back, bumping into the man walking past their table. Letting out a yelp, the man flailed his arms around, looking for support, which he finally did find, relieved. But the five-year old whose head had just been grabbed onto with the likes of that of a claw-machine wasn’t too delighted.
Naturally, Sarah found herself dragging the wailing kid to the counter to buy him a double scooped strawberry ice-cream. She let out a sigh of relief as he waddled back to his table, and the server asked her if she wanted something else.
“Ummmm,” she dragged, perusing the menu, when a voice spoke behind her, a voice she knew all too well.
“She’ll have the chocolate box, on me”, the voice was now beside her, eyeing her carefully and taking in every inch of her now facing down face, as if he hadn’t memorized every single detail long ago; or had it really been that long?
Oblivious to the tension unfolding right in front of her, the server typed onto her computer, the beeping noises the only sound emitting from the area. When she finally looked up, the blond whipped his head towards her, smiling widely. If he had intended for it to be a well-natured one, it certainly had an opposite effect, for it almost sent chills right down her spine. Handing his card back to him, she held the receipt in her hand, confused about who she was supposed to hand it to.
The blond spoke again, his messy bangs falling into his eyes,” She likes to see things break you know”, he said to her, but his eyes never left the girl, whose trembling hand reached out for the receipt.
Sarah only looked up once he had left and the server handed her the order, tears blurring her vision, she let out a choked ‘thank you’, reaching for the tray hesitantly. She took slow, measured steps to her table. Anyone on the outside would have assumed the reason behind to avoid cracking the delicately crafted box; but the truth was, that every single step threatened to break her heart. The thread of lies that tied her being to place, the ones she told to those around her and most of all, to herself, slowly began to unravel as soon as he re-entered the frame.
Mike raised an eyebrow as she slumped into her seat,” Chocolate? At 11 in the morning? Are you okay?”, he chortled quizzically. Maddie noticing her pale face, placed a hand on Sarah’s, “Hey, are you okay?”.
Retracting her hand as if it had been bitten by a snake, she let out a short ‘I’m fine’, her gaze, fixed on the chocolate box. Thoughts ran scattered inside her head and before she knew it, Sarah was hammering down on the box, almost as if she was avenging a lover’s death and the very next second, she was jolted back to reality when she saw
Maddie and Mike’s horrified faces. They had slowly started blurring and she ran to the washroom.
“Wha-“, Mike tapped Maddie on the shoulder, guiding her confused self to a figure outside the window, getting into his car. It didn’t take her long to put two and two together and she rushed to her friend’s aid.
By the time she was inside, Sarah had already cleaned herself up and was throwing a roll of tissue out. Sarah was good at that, getting her act together. She never let anyone know something was wrong, even if her world had just been eroded upside down, she rarely ever allowed herself to break.
Resting her head on the tiled wall, Maddie eyed Sarah, allowing her a chance to say something, anything, because no matter how hard she wished, she knew Sarah would never do what she wanted- let out a cry for help.
Sarah flashed her signature smile at her, only it was merely half as convincing and Maddie staring down at her didn’t help much. She shrugged, “I’m fine”, then whispering, “ I’m fine”.
Maddie didn’t say anything, standing up straight she walked over to Sarah, “I don’t trust you”, rubbing Sarah’s arms over her shirt,” I haven’t for the past three months”. Tears welled up in Sarah’s eyes as Maddie hugged her close,” But I do trust you enough to trust me when things go wrong. I trust you to let me be the shoulder you cry on”, pulling away from her, she tucked a strand of Sarah’s hair behind her ear, "and I trust you to let Mike be the shoulder, you wipe your nose on”.
A bubble of laughter escaped and soon they were back to being their fourteen-year old selves, and Sarah was truly grateful for the moment. Grabbing her hand she assured Maddie with a tight smile, "I’m fine", but a thought didn’t leave her mind soon enough, ’why wouldn’t I be? I’m the one who broke his heart’.
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A/N - Hello, dear reader. First of all, I would like to thank you for stepping into Sarah's world and secondly, I hope you enjoy your stay. I promise to try my hardest to make this journey worthwhile. See you in the next chapter :) { Cover - CTTO }
Edit ( 05/02/21) - Hello reader, I've noticed that the draft format and the published one vary immensely mainly due to the lack of Italics and Bolds showing up on the mobile version of the app. While it does interfere with the comprehension and enjoyment process of the reader, unfortunately it's something that cannot be helped. So here is a tiny guide that'll hopefully help improve your experience:
********** - I have been using asterisks for the purpose of separating scenes, which will continue as usual
(' ') - The single inverted commas are used to denote the thoughts of the character
( " ") - The double inverted commas are the dialogues spoken by the characters
Thanks! M :)