The Arbiter Elegantiae

Here she was in my apartment, sitting on my couch, looking me directly in the eye after liquoring her night away at the various pubs in town, she was looking at me and I was gazing back in silence, her distressed stare showing an abyss of hostile desperation, a sense of unease that seemed incomprehensible even from her side.

I brought some vodka that she didn’t wait for me to mix; she downed her shot and banged the glass on the table without uttering a word, her eyes hitched on mine saying the unspoken.

“Nothing has been working for me lately, you know, nothing is getting me chilled enough and I can’t even focus anymore” she added while laughing, “I think my head has grown tougher, ha”, I made her the mix of pills she needed and poured her more vodka.

With the vodka shot in one hand and the pills in the other ,she gobbled up ,set her head back on the couch , fixed her hair , unclosed her eyes like she was just brought to life ,looked me in the eye and said ” Am I a junkie now ?” ,I could see tears in her eyes trying to find their way out as I was searching for mine when it seemed to be the perfect timing to run my hand through my hair.