[ v a n i l l a . s k y ]
by kHo

He wasn´t sure if he woke up because of the headache pounding in his head or because of the phone ringing in the distance, but the last thing he wanted to do was answer the phone. He´d drunk way too much the night before, and passing out on the sidewalk wasn´t exactly the most comfortable way to spend a Friday evening, not to mention the look on Sophia´s face before she´d turned and sprinted away.

His hands came up to hold his head from swimming away from him as the answering machine clicked on and he cringed when he heard Brian´s voice coming through the speakers. “Hey man… David… hey listen man, I´m sorry about last night. It was… well, quite frankly man, it was atrocious, but…” David smiles slightly as Brian laughs and wonders just why it is Brian´s put up with his shit for the past few months. “But hey, we´ll get it back right? I mean, you know, we´ll work on… whatever man, I´d really rather do this in person. I was kind of rotten to you the other night, but that mask man? That mask has got to go. Got to. Gone. History. Sianora, okay bro? Arivederci… all that other shit. Vaminos el Maskos… Okay, I´m out of ways to say trash the motherfucker, alright?”

Reaching out to pick up the phone David lifts the receiver to his mouth, licking his lips. “You´re a dick,” he says quietly. “I have the world´s worst fucking hangover known to man, and you´re babbling about my fucking mask at 2 o´clock in the morning?”

“It´s 5pm man,” Brian yells, laughing. “Two days later!”

“Hey, hey,” David says, struggling to sit up. “Headache, asshole.”

“You alright,” Brian asks, his voice noticeably softer this time. “You run out of meds?”

“No,” he answered, his eyes resting on the Loratab on his nightstand. “They just don´t do shit.”

“I keep tellin´ ya, man,” Brian says, and David can hear the smile in his voice. “Smoke some pot.”

David groans, shuffling his feet from under the covers and standing up, wobbling slightly. “Come over,” he says, padding his way into the bathroom. “We´ll have supper… it´ll give you the chance to tell me what a shit I was.”

Brian laughed. “Hey, you weren´t a shit. You were just… well, you were off your rocker. It´s understandable.”

“Off my rocker,” David says, laughing. “Some friend you are.”

“What should I bring,” Brian asks. “Chips? Beer?”

“Ugh,” he groans. “No alcohol.”

“Pot then,” Brian asks, laughing. “It´s a wonderful thing, David, a wonderful thing.”

“Is it the sour or the sweet,” David asks, laughing to himself.

“Sometimes both, actually,” Brian answered, laughing.