☆☆☆ Chapter 6 ☆☆☆

His Point of View

*Daniel's Point of View (POV)*

I was wrong── incredulously wrong, to have given Ane anything. I really should have known better. There are limits to my curiosity and eagerness to get to know her wired within me, but I just couldn't feel them anywhere until the line was crossed and miles away from where I now stood. Seeing that it was far too late to fix things, I sat on a chair, keeping my head in one piece with the palms of my hands, wondering how I could explain things to Ane when she wakes up tomorrow with the most painful hangover she'll ever have.

I hate the fact that there was a moment spoon-fed to me by Opportunity itself to stop Ane from embarrassing herself, solely because I overlooked it just like an overworked editor would to the last manuscript at hand for the day: in between Ane's third and fourth drink, I noticed her glare, yes, glare at Rachel. It was intense. Ane's eyes were wild, bitter and... empty, despite the rest. It was strange, and frankly it shook me to the core because I had little to no idea of what she had in mind, but I knew that if I had just talked to her the same way I usually do, I could have easily filled the emptiness she felt with her crystal clear emotional confusion over me.

Of course, as already known, not even a peep I made as I observed Ane's inner turmoil, like the creep I am, slowly drive her into guzzling down the entire jug of Roger's homemade blend of ice, fruits, vodka, tequila, my family's wine, and basically anything stored in his mini-bar, that he had made for us all to share. I'm almost certain she did it to either drink away her thoughts or drown in them, and once she stuffed herself with that one-gallon rubber jug she was done for. Nobody was able to save her.

In fact, it only bred conflict. It did not take long for a fight to break out between her and Rachel, if it could even be called a fight! Bo, Roger and I had to save Rachel from Ane! She was attacked for no reason!

Ane, completely slammed, launched herself onto Rachel and tried to start a fight, yanking off Rachel's wig, tugging at her arms and scratching them, screaming to the world that it wasn't fair. After repeating herself many times, I was able to piece together Ane's hazy thoughts, with it being: "I pity you, but I'm also jealous. You get to do whatever your cute little mind wants without even a small drop of fear to make you hesitate."

It goes without saying that it concerned me to hear those words come out of Ane.

When we got Ane off Rachel, it didn't stop her from lashing out at us with her nails, demanding us to get her something else to drink. I did as she ordered, but I knew I should not have done it. She was overly hysterical and had to be calmed down, but we all didn't know how to approach her without making her scream at the top of her lungs, which brought us all to this very moment:

"And. She. Said. It's not faaaaaiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrr... you gots to be his perfffffffffonal maid and you'll, like, toTALly be befffide him all of da time and I wuz like, no, I AM NOT LIKIIIINGGG THIS SITT...SITUATION. I DON'T LIKE THAT CUUUTE LiTtLe BLONDiE── " Ane cooed.

I didn't have to look up at her to know she was holding a bottle of wine as if her life depended on it.

"Thanks for saying that, I'm flattered," I sighed, completely defeated.

"NO pROblemM HOOT... HOoT STUff── wait A fLippin' SECOND. I JUST SSSssaAiAAAAAID HOT sTUff! THATsS AWKWARD! WHY THE HELL WOULD I SAY THAT FO...FOr?! I DON'T... I DON't LikE yOU!"

When I finally decided to look up at her, it felt as if I was watching a flexible seesaw; Ane's entire body staggered from left to right and right to left. Her legs looked as sturdy as overcooked noodles.

Nobody knew what to say. It was just so sad to see, it was just so horribly cringe-worthy, and it was all my fault── why did I want to play Battleship with her the way I do with Roger? That's a Roger-and-Daniel-only tradition!

My underhanded intention to find out what she feels for me doesn't excuse what I did either. Pushing someone to drink is never good. I should have known better. This was just so low of me, I can't even describe how I feel.

Ha, wow, look at me; Daniel Ricardo Campbell Escobar, firstborn of a respected, well-established family built from the vines of grapes and grapes themselves for the sake of an exquisite sip of wine and... stooping this low to get the attention of the girl of his dreams. How spoiled am I truly, how spoiled can I possibly be, and how could I not have accurately noticed my spoiled stench, to hire her and hope for her to look in my direction? When money is involved, nothing can be born out of it!

I should have formally introduced myself to her as regular townie Daniel to have her see me for who I am rather than my family name or completely fake── okay, not completely, just partially fake── reputation I have around town, but if that's the case then I should have done such an introduction years ago, when I first realized my interest in her.

Additionally, it's not like I'm aiming to take over the family business, no matter how much Father wants me to; I have my own goals in life. I can easily become a true, regular townie over time if I follow what I want to do, it's essentially why I'm stalling my education. Without a Bachelor's or any other form of preparation for what he has in mind, I cannot be forced to follow his footsteps anytime soon, which gives me ample time to contemplate on how to safely approach him about my future. To be capable of doing such, I have to grow out of my spoiled self, prepare said self for both the confrontation and the problems bound to come one day, and── 

"Hey, you, yea yOu Dirty Dan DaNiEL. Why're ya crying? ArE yOU O... okaY?! I CAN SEE YOUR FACE, YOU... Y'KNoW. GET berttter!" Ane gave me a hard pat to the back, with her tongue exploring the inside of the now empty bottle of Campbell wine. "THERE'S NO MORE! Irt RAN oUt! SOMEONE bETTer GET ME moOrE! I LIKE THe FUCKIN' TASTE OF THiS. I THiiinnnNNnnK IT'S CHERRRRYY FLAVA."

My heart felt as if it was going to drown in its own blood, it just hurt so much.

A hand gently placed itself on my back. "Daniel," I heard Roger say, and I looked up. "Let's go get freshened up in the bathroom, and then you're gonna get Ane out of here, okay?" I nodded without a single drop of resistance, feeling a battalion of painfully hot tears rush out of my eyes and into the open world. Some were bitter, some were just heavy, and others were salty. Many tasted of nothing but sorrow. Everyone watched us go. It made the tears go mad.

When Roger and I made it to the bathroom, he brought me into his arms and held me tight.

"It's okay, I'm fine. I swear."

"I know," he whispered solemnly. "I know you're not fine."

I tried to prevent myself from sniffling, but it didn't work out well. Squeezing him back, I made sure to grab all of him as my face hid itself into his chest. His scent consoled me, made me feel warm. His heartbeat raced, skipped, and fluttered, as would mine in another time. His breathing was even, though every now and then I felt a struggle of sorts. His cheek rested against the top of my head, sometimes brushing against it, too. It was pleasant. Everything about him was pleasant. So very pleasant he was indeed, but it made it harder to hold back the heartache.

No way in hell did I want to let go, though. He was all I had keeping my broken pieces together, and I was more than satisfied with that, but so much could go wrong if I let myself stay in his arms. Him holding me together, gluing and taping all that was me, was far too much to bear.

He was not the one I was crying for originally, but all of my feelings leaked out, mixing together and hurting all the more as they left, even if their leaving stopped me from bursting into nothing.

And so, the heartache continued its torment, far more bitterly than before.

"I messed up royally, didn't I?" I cried out miserably.

One of his hands smoothly slid down my back. His rubbing soothed me, whispered kind words, helped me open up more, helped me let everything out.

"I'm not here to criticize you right now Dan, you know that. You had good intentions, you wanted to bond with her. Things just didn't go as planned."

"No, no, that's not it, I meant I messed up from the start. I have no chance, I never did, because we're... "

I couldn't even finish that.

Roger sighed and rubbed my back some more. More tears threatened to come out, more heartache. I begged the gods above to not ever have me leave his arms. It was a futile prayer, however. I knew I would have to, sooner or later, no matter what. I had to do it for him, for Ane, for all of us.

Roger knew, too, and so, he reluctantly let me go.

He couldn't hold me forever.

"I don't think that's necessarily true," he said, swallowing hard. "But... but good luck with Ane tomorrow."

Ane, of course it's Ane. It's always Ane. Who else but Ane?

☆☆☆

I eventually left the bathroom after Roger gave me some alone time, and found Ane passed out on the living room floor. Everyone else had left Roger's home by then. I managed to call a maid to pick us up, and when she arrived Roger helped me pick up Ane from the floor to load her into the car. I almost lost it again and had to force down the tears when the maid asked if we had partied too hard.

Throughout the ride my mind felt empty as I pushed myself to let go of everything I had felt for the girl that had brought me so much joy without her even knowing it, and did not even remember the moments she did share with me as a child. Perhaps those moments were trivial enough for her to forget with time, but it matters not anymore; whatever her thoughts are of me and whatever I feel for her, all of it has to stop. Everything.

It's funny to think that within these last two months I managed to actually be around her after so many years of admiring from afar, risking everything we never had for something, but ruined it all regardless. She knows of what I do, she has no significant interest in me, and I messed up from the beginning.

Yes, I did choose to gamble in the name of love this one time, and I lost; I lost her. Why did I think I would win?