Eric sat at the bar, pensieve. It was quite empty, only a couple of regulars and Joe, the bartender. It was a Friday, traditional happy hour time for the college kids in the university nearby, but it was, as noted before, still early.
``You gonna keep staring at that Yuenling or are you going to drink it?'' A bellicose Roger asked, his speech slurring ever so slightly. Roger was a regular at Joe's bar---he was always there within the hour of completing dinner and would always begin with the Three Wise Men before chasing it with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse followed by copious amounts of beer. Joe could never understand why roger did that since the two mixers were very similar to begin with, and would cost a pretty penny each. But Roger never got drunk. He was probably the most sober of all who drank at Joe's bar. Joe didn't drink, of course. It would be stupid to be nothing short of being stone-cold sober when one was the barkeep.
Eric stared at the untouched glass of beer in front of him, seemingly oblivious to Roger's exclamation. The latter waited a bit to give time for Eric to process what he said and seeing that no response was coming, got annoyed and repeated himself.
``You gonna keep staring at that Yuenling or are you going to drink it?'' Roger waited. Joe, on the other side of the bar, watched the encounter from the corner of his eyes. Roger and Eric were generally harmless, but it never did bode well when Roger's questions were unanswered.
A low whine started to come from Eric.
``All gone... all gone...''
``No,'' Roger started, excited at finally eliciting a response but still annoyed at its inanity. ``Your damn Yuenlin's still there.''
``It's not the Yuenling.'' Eric replied slowly before pausing. Roger was suddenly aware that Eric was about to unload something heavy. It was always the same with the depressed drinkers---they come in, order something to drink, maybe drink it (or not), but they always kept very quiet, until someone came up to them and started showing some attention. Joe's ears perked up from the other side of the bar, and inched his way closer. As barkeep, it was normal for him to hear grouses, especially from the regulars, but since Roger started it this time, it was wiser to just observe.
``Oh? If not the Yuenling, then what? Women?''
Eric stayed silent for a while more before taking a sip from the glass.
``Yes.''
``Oh lord...'' muttered Roger under his breath, not unkindly.
(Story continues here.)
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