"I'm so tired of your bullshit."

"I know," Ihsaan yawned, his breath reeked of vodka, causing Mikaeel's nose to curl.

"You know jack." Mikaeel muttered, switching on the air purifier to rid his car of the stench. The  action wasn't lost on Ihsaan as he tried flipping the switch, earning him a cuff to the ear. "Stop it."

They drove in relative silence, punctuated only by Dahlia's soft snored from the back seat. Joburg Town looked almost clean from the highway. Its bright lights and massive billboards captured Ihsaan's attention fully, leaving Mikaeel to drive in peace over a freshly tarred road. 

"What now?" Mikaeel asked as Ihsaan sat up straight in his seat, tapping his fingers on the dashboard.

"I need to take a piss. You need to pull over." Ihsaan said, shifting in his seat.

"It's 3 in the morning, I'm not pulling over." Mikaeel said, switching to 5th gear, hitting the accelerator instead.

"Pull over or I'll piss all over your seats." Ihsaan threatened.

"Fucking..." Mikaeel bit his tongue as he coasted to a stop, switching on his hazards. Ihsaan barely waited for him to stop before he bounded out the car, making his way to the cement barrier on the side of the highway. 

Mikaeel hardly recognised this version of his friend. It wasn't the first time he had picked Ihsaan up after a bender but it was the first time he took a double take just to make sure it was him. Ihsaan was dripping sweat, his clothes clinging to his body as he struggled to keep his arm around Dahlia. His voice was high pitched as he sang his own rendition of whatever shit was playing inside the bar  and he was stinking so badly that Mikaeel had a hard time dragging him into the front seat.

Now this. Mikaeel looked over at him, shaking his head as Ihsaan tried to paint spirals onto the barrier with his piss.

Ihsaan turned around, zipping up his jeans as he did so. The bastard didn't even realise that he had a wet patch on his crotch. "Don't touch anything." Mikaeel said as he reached over to open Ihsaan's door.

"Ah, man." Ihsaan made to touch his arm.

"Don't fucking touch me with your piss hands." Mikaeel said it slowly and deliberately, trying very hard not to completely lose it with him.

"Sorry." Ihsaan tucked both his hands under his armpits before he turned around to look at his wife. "Dahlia, you awake?" He crooned, poking her sides as if to wake her up.

"What did she take?"

"Huh?" Ihsaan looked back at Mikaeel but was distracted by the buttons on the radio. "I like these..."

"Don't touch." Mikaeel slapped his wrist as if he was a small child. "What did Dahlia take? She's not just drunk."

"I don't know." He scrunched up his face like an ugly ferret as he tried to concentrate. "She took..." He rubbed his nose. "I don't know."

"This needs to stop" Mikaeel bit out. He was so tired of this shit. "I have to be at work in 4 hours."

"I'm sorry." He made to pat Mikaeel's cheek.

"I will break your hand." Mikaeel caught Ihsaan's wrist in his, wrenching it away from him.

"Sorry. Are we there yet?"

"Ya, we're almost there." Mikaeel turned the corner and almost cried when he saw Ihsaan's townhouse complex. "Don't touch anything." He warned again.

"Not touching." Ihsaan grumbled, tucking his hands under his armpits once more.

Mikaeel slammed his door closed before he walked around the car to Dahlia's side, cringing at the outfit she was wearing. She was never like this either. Her legs were splayed across the seat, allowing him an unwanted view of her panties as she snored happily on the hard seats. He pulled the hem of her dress down, trying to cover up her thighs as he moved her legs to one side. This wasn't right. He shouldn't be used to carrying his friend's wife out of the back seat of his car. "Come on Dahlia." He said softly, gently, as he leaned in to the car, bracing his knee on the seat as he lifted her into his arms.

He closed the door with his foot before he shifted her, trying to keep her upright as he managed to slip his hand under Ihsaan's door handle to open it. "Get out." He snapped at him as he nudged the door open with his knee.

"I don't feel too good..." Ihsaan fell out of the car before he stumbled onto the pavement.

"It's your own fault." He sighed as he kicked the door closed. He just wanted to go back home. It was too early in the morning for such bullshit. "Now give me your keys and hold onto the back of my shirt. I'm not coming back for you."

"So moody. You sound like my daddy." He gripped the back of Mikaeel's shirt weakly as he scratched the side of his nose. "I miss my parents." He sighed, sounding so utterly pathetic that Mikaeel almost wished he had left his phone on silent before going to sleep. "Why won't they let me back home?" He whined. "It was just one mistake."

"Keep quiet, Ihsaan." Mikaeel had reached his limit and he wasn't about to entertain his friends sob stories. He finally managed to fit the key into the keyhole, jostling Dahlia in the process. He could feel her begin to stir as he walked into the house, Ihsaan still on his trail.

"Where must I put her?" He waited for an answer before he turned around, shaking his head as he saw Ihsaan passed out on the floor. He walked towards the lounge in order to dump her on the sofa but stopped at the doorway, biting his tongue when he saw that all the couches had disappeared. He had forgotten that they had sent all their shit for reupholstering.

Dahlia woke up, blinking at her new surroundings before she sidled up to Mikaeel.

"Hi handsome." She breathed in his ear.

"Stop it." He shifted his head away from her as she began to pepper his neck with small kisses. She gripped the hair at the back of his head, holding on as tight as she could before she ran her tongue along the shell of his ear. "I said stop!" His loud voice shocked her into slight coherence.

"Oh, It's you." She blinked her eyes, her pupils dilated as she tried focusing on his face. "You taste nice." She huddled closer to him, pressing her nose into his shoulder.

"Uh huh." He made his way to her bedroom trying his hardest to ignore the fact that she was sniffing his shoulder. Her hands found their way to the buttons of her dress, opening them clumsily to expose tattered, white panties and small breasts littered with bite marks.

"I like you."

"You're high. You'd like anything right now." He said, dropping her carelessly onto the bed,  turning around to walk away.

"Wait!" She grabbed at his hands before she scrabbled off the bed to plaster herself against his back. He could feel her bare nipples against his back and he hated it.

"You're fucked, Dahlia. Go to sleep." He rubbed his hand over his face.

"Join me." She began sucking on the back of his neck.

"Stop it." He turned around and grabbed both her wrists in his hands before he pushed her away from him.

"Why?" She asked again, yanking him towards her by the front of his shirt. "It's just a little fun." She gripped the back of his neck, her long fingernails digging deeply into his skin. She leaned forward, nipping lightly at his closed lips. Her hand slid down his chest to the front of his jeans, rubbing him till she felt him gasp into her mouth. 

She tasted of alcohol as her tongue curled around his own. Her tongue was bitter and sloppy and her skin was slick with sweat. He stood, frozen as her nipples hardened against his chest and her hand delved into the thin cotton of her panties.  

"Fucking stop!" He pushed her away, watching her bounce once on the bed before she raised herself on her elbows to look at him through glassy eyes. "You would fuck a dog right now." He said, nearing his limit.

This wasn't her.

This wasn't Dahlia. 

He turned around, walking out before she tried anything else with him. He needed to know what that bastard gave her because they getting into shit they didn't know how to deal with.

"Get up." Mikaeel kicked Ihsaan softly in the stomach.

"What?" He looked up, giving Mikaeel a dopey smile. "Hello." The asshole didn't even realise that he had been lying in a puddle of his own vomit.

Mikaeel knelt down, keeping his knee away from the brown slosh before he gripped Ihsaan's collar and hauled him up to look at him. "What did you give your wife?"

"What?" Ihsaan looked appalled at the insinuation. "I didn't give her shit, man. She went into the bathroom and took it all on her own."

"Are you lying to me?" He tugged tighter at his collar, causing Ihsaan to gag as his air supply was cut short.

"Nah, I'm not lying. She takes it all on her own." Mikaeel let him go, allowing Ihsaan to huddle back onto the ground, unmindful of the fact that his cheek was lying in the vomit.

"What are you doing to yourself?" Mikaeel look down at Ihsaan, his heart aching at how disgusting his friend looked.

"Nothing." Ihsaan mumbled.

"Nothing? You call this nothing?" He had never felt as angry he was in that moment. "You naai, you pissed your fucking pants. Do you know that?"

"I did?" Ihsaan looked down at his pants, his eyes widening at the darkened stain on his jeans. "Look at that..." He looked almost fascinated at the revelation.

"I can't deal with this." Mikaeel stood up, looking down at Ihsaan who seemed so content to sleep amongst his own filth. "One day I'm going to get a call from the hospital. What am I going to tell your mother then?"

"She doesn't care. She kicked me out." He muttered bitterly. "They both kicked me out."

"You never went back." Mikaeel said before he left him all alone and walked out the door.

...

"Your neck is bleeding." Hoori's soft voice jolted him out of his thoughts as he sat down heavily on his side of the bed.

He rubbed his hand over the slick skin, wincing at the sting of the tiny indents along the back of his neck. "So it is..." He stood up and walked to the bathroom to survey the damage.

He grabbed the towel next to the basin, wetting the edge before he pressed it over his skin, feeling only slightly relieved at its effects. He tossed his shirt into the bin before he walked back to the lounge ignoring Hoori's curious stare. He toed off his shoes and took off his socks before he collapsed onto the bed, throwing his arm over his eyes in order to block out the light from the lampshade. He didn't even care that his jeans were still on.

Her gaze seemed to prickle at him before he dropped his arm to look at her. "What?"

"What happened?"

"Nothing." He looked at her, simply looked as her lips tilted up to the side.

"Nothing?" She knew he would never answer, but asked anyway.

"Yes. I'm sorry I woke you up." He apologised before turning his head to face the ceiling.

"It's fine." 

Her gaze remained on him as she tried to figure him out. He had practically bolted out of bed when he heard his phone ring. He spoke in hushed tones before he snatched up his clothes from the previous day as well as his car keys and disappeared out the door. She didn't know where he had gone to and had fallen back asleep only to be awoken by his heavy steps as he walked towards the pedestal to switch on the lampshade. She tried to make out the time as he sat down on the bed, dropping his head to rest in his hands. She watched him, not quite sure if she wanted him to even know that she was awake until she saw two tiny trails of blood flowing down his neck into the back of his shirt. She could only assume what it was but she wasn't about to let her assumptions be known by him.

He puzzled her but she wasn't sure if he was a puzzle she ever wished to solve.

She stared at him, watching the deep rise and fall of his chest before she turned her whole body to face him. Her eyes began to feel heavy as she continued to watch the rise and fall of his chest, his slow breathing lulling her back into a peaceful sleep filled with dreams she would never remember in the morning.