He stared across the bar as he took one long sip from a lukewarm glass of whiskey. The liquor in his system produced a wicked combination of agitation and unease and he felt the urge to light a cigarette and strike up a conversation with the drunk girl sitting next to him.

His friends were somewhere else in the packed room, and he enjoyed the brief, albeit loud, solitude. A thick layer of smoke hung overhead and he motioned to the bartender for another drink. As he attempted to light his cigarette, the drunk girl bumped into him and he dropped it onto the floor. He felt indifferent as it was ground into the moist floorboards. He looked over at the drunk girl and a wave of disgust washed over him as her head bobbed back and forth as she whispered “Sorry.” Her friend caught her as she almost fell off the back of the barstool.

He rubbed his eyes until they burned and tried to remember what day it was. Wednesday? Friday? The days were running together lately and he had almost forgotten what it was like to notice.

His friends were wrapped up in the night and drinking like conquering heroes completely unaware of who they were. The senseless emptiness of it all hit him hard as he walked back into the crowd with a fresh glass of whiskey.