"Whiskey, neat." signs a girl to the bartender as she walks closer to the bar.  She looks disheveled, as if she carries the weight of several worlds on her shoulders. 

Slowly, she sinks into the stool, or as far as one could sink into a seat designed as such. From a few seats away, it'd look like just another person sitting down, but to the eyes of a bartender who has seen it a lot, here's another woman lost to a pain they don't talk about. 

The girl looks around as she waits for her drink, eyes never really stopping to see, just flitting over, scanning, as if looking for something they hope to find but know they won't. 

The bartender seems taken by the girl whose loss radiates like a wave. She pours the drink and quietly sets it in front of her. 

With a small nod of greeting, the woman sets to consume her drink. Sipping little by little, frequently. Far too frequently. 

The night progressed and so did her drinking. The bartender just finished topping her drink for the 5th time, a bit worried for the girl but still acquiescing her wordless request for more liquor. She could tell that the lady had a lot on her mind, but she knew that this was all she could do for the woman. No words were said between them, but the pain, it was visceral. 

Just as the bartender was beginning to move away, the girl suddenly spoke. 

"Did you know? I saw her again today." she shares.  

The bartender, unsure of what to do, looked around to see if the woman was talking to somebody else. 

"I'm talking to you. Yes. You." she added curtly. 

"Quite pathetic right? I'm nursing my heartbreak with no one to talk to aside from the bartender pouring me pity drinks." she then continued on sardonically. 

"Ah, but it doesn't matter. I've digressed enough." Another sip was taken from the quickly emptying glass. 

"Don't mind me. I'll just talk. You don't have to listen." 

The bartender mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key which caused the woman to smirk a little in amusement. 

"You see, alcohol lady, I met the love of my life today." she laughed. "I met her for the first time since I lost her all those years ago." 

"And you know what?" the girl added with a slight smile. "She still looked as beautiful as ever." 

The bartender didn't really know where the woman was going with this so she just nodded at her to continue while she was trying to wipe glasses on the counter. 

"It's been 10 years since I last saw her, you know? Funny thing is, all those years have passed and most of the time, all I remember was the sight of her back as she walked away from me, from us. And today, I saw her, and guess what? She talked to me." shaking her head in disbelief, the woman started fidgeting with her glass. 

"She talked to me like we were long-lost friends and I couldn't help that it has been a long time, and I have been lost, but I didn't know if I could treat her like a friend." 

"Well, sounds like you made an out of yourself, kid." both the bartender and the woman looked around, startled. They didn't know someone else was listening. 

They saw a pair of older women moving closer to them. 

"Hey barkeep, get the kid another top-up would you? The glass is looking close to empty now." one of them gestured to the bartender. 

Recovering from the slight shock, the girl shrugged in response, "I think it's a lot worse than that."

"Do tell, then, kid." "She's right, enlighten us, then." They both said as they settled in on the seats beside the girl's. 

"See, this woman, I met her when we were in school, undergraduate degree. She was the life of everything, you know? It's like life was alive because of her. Colors were brighter, noise far clearer, just, everything heightened because she was there." she started. "I was nobody, still am, but even more so years ago. And here was little miss sunshine dropping beside me in the cafeteria declaring that henceforth, I'll be her best friend and she'll be mine."

"So she claimed you?" 

"Pretty much. And I let her." she hummed as she tried to think about what to say next. "For 5 years, I let her." 

The two older women looked at each other, as if deciding who will respond to the girl. The woman on the left shrugged, and the woman on the right took it as a signal to go. 

"Then? What happened?" probed the woman. 

"i happened."

"Care to elaborate?" they tried to get her to talk about it. 

"Sure." she said as she once again took a big gulp of whiskey, as if needing the act and the liquid to ground her. 

"We were doing so well, we just finished school and we were beginning to plan our future together. I didn't really have much, but she didn't mind the simplicity of things. She never made me feel inadequate. And I think, that scared me." 

"How come? From the sound of it, you had a good girl and you blew it." the woman on the left remarked as she started scanning the rest of the bar. 

"Oh did I ever." the girl looks away lost in thought. "It was just one thing. She was looking at programs abroad. Now, this, this I knew about. We used to talk about it often." 

"And? Did you not want her to go?" they raised their eyebrows questioningly. 

"Oh, I did. But guess what I also found?" 

"Acceptance letters?" 

"So you broke it off so that she can pursue her dreams you thought you couldn't make come true for her?" 

The younger woman laughed. 

"Does this sound like it happens to a lot of people? You seem to know how it goes." 

The pair chuckled. "Oh kid, it happened to us too." 

Bewildered, the woman asked, "But you're both in front of me now? Together?" 

The woman to her left sighed, "It wasn't easy." 

"Indeed." says the woman to her right, nodding. "But we were stubborn."