A Beer Full of Awkward

jelly

I sit having a beer with some friends–well, friends. We were friends the way a banana might be friends with a meat-pie.

One of my friends brought one of his friends; a girl who just got in from Vladivostok with her husband. She is being quite flirty with me. I smile with a mouth-full of meat pie.

Her husband is watching me, somehow managing to chew me with his eyes. I make a joke, his wife laughs a good long while.

I can feel the room grow smaller and smaller until it is only me and her husband’s toothy eyes.

“Isn’t he funny?” she asks him. He says some things in Russian I don’t quite catch. It upsets her. We all sit in silence. Then, for some reason unbeknownst to me, my mouth decides to say, “awwwkward.”

At this, the girl from Vladivostok breaks her silence, bursting with laughter. Her head tilts back and then, suddenly, freezes. The laugh is cut short along with the rest of the world. I look around and realize the whole bar has stopped–the music, the footsteps, the dishware. All silent. Even the smells from the kitchen are no longer reaching my nose.

“What the shit?” I ask, looking back across the table. The husband watches me. I see his actual teeth now–a sick smile, and its growing.

He waves.

“What–”

He holds up his hand. He says some things in Russian; the only word a catch–an insult–meaning something along the lines of “male dog”. He picks up a knife off the table and, before I can move an inch I feel it find a home somewhere in my neck–somewhere warm.

The warmth spreads, goes cold. The cold brings the dark. Someone, somewhere, is laughing.

I sit having a beer with some friends–well, friends. We were friends the way a banana might be friends with a meat-pie.

One of my friends brought one of his friends; a girl who just got in from Vladivostok with her husband. She is being quite flirty with me. I smile with a mouth-full of meat pie.

Her husband is kind of weird; sitting there, whistling a tune.

**If you’d like to support our project further and get access to some extra content, please check out our page on PATREON

 

30 replies to “A Beer Full of Awkward”

    1. haha thank you. Yes, I am creatively exhausted just thinking about it…I try not to think about it, it scares me. We will finish the year in October. We are already discussing what to do next but honestly the first thing will be a good long break and a good long stint at the bar nearby that makes their own absinth

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  4. thank you Flash, it is always a pleasur to read your storys, even if it is always so hard to get all the details. It lookes again like a bad dream. Acting completely right, but having always the feeling to be wary of something. And a restart at the end, as a possibility to change the story. But the husband already starts different after restart. Or is the start the same and you did not mention the first time that he was whistling a tune?
    well..friends… banana and meat-pies not really match, or?…you never know, I wonder often what is cooked..for example I know somebody who prepares rabbit-stew with choclate sauce ( as I do not eat rabbit it was easy to say no thanks…hahaha)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. hahaha I like your analysis of food friendships. Yes, you never know. And the idea is that he was not whistling in the first go-round. He is happy because he was angry and jealous and stopped time to let out his annoyance then reversed time and felt better.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. ohh, bravo flash…I didn´t think, to watch the scene from the husband´s sight…we all should have a button to stop time sometimes…then you can think calmly.

        Liked by 1 person

  8. well and with this new start, when the husband is whistleling, everything has changed, this is cool…not like in the film “Groundhog Day”, there he need some more attempts…interesting storyboard…I like a lot!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. what changed? Ahh you mean my picture, name etc.?…Yes…I try to get a line in the whole thing, but I´m lost…do not understand, what is linked to what ( googleaccount, WP, ….)…the more I want to kid, the more chaos I produce…hahaha…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. ..the more I want to repair ( not kid!)…ahhh I see the special is lost…hahaha…ohh, what a pitty I felt good to be special for some days!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment

close-alt close collapse comment ellipsis expand gallery heart lock menu next pinned previous reply search share star