A short story

I went out to meet a couple of people one night at a karaoke bar. David was going to wingman for me that night, he knew that I was interested in a girl named Silver that we had met previously at that bar. I showed up early, so it would be awhile before my friends arrived. I ordered a bottle of Soju, sat down at a booth, put one shot glass in front of me, and the second across the table for when Silver arrived. I then proceeded to slowly work on the bottle while I waited. A few well dressed girls in their 20's came over and sat with me. 2 of them were attractive. I felt that it would have been wrong of me to have invited Silver out and then ditch her for these three girls, so I simply made polite conversation with them.

David and his 2 friends came and saw that all the seats in the booth were full, and so they left us. If you hadn't known my intentions it looked like things were going very well for me at that booth. Eventually the three girls left, and my friends then came and sat with me.

A little later Silver arrived and she awkwardly took a seat next to me. She seemed more excited to see David, who was "winging" for me the last time we were drinking and dancing at some sort of DJ competition. As the night went on, it became more and more clear to me that she was more interested in David than in me. David texted me "you got this right?" And I replied "I think I would have been better off sticking with the first few girls."

A couple of weeks ago, David told me that Silver still stays in touch with him and asked if I had any objections. I said I didn't and that was that.

To be honest, the better man won.

David is happier than I am. When we go out, he smiles, I fake smile. He laughs, I blow air through my nose. He gets excited to go out, I tag along like I'm going through the motions. Something is dead inside of me. There is a gaping hole where my enthusiasm used to live. It's been this way for a long time now and I want that to change. I have plans to resuscitate my life this summer, hopefully I'll find my smile before the end of 2013.