Two Truths And One Lie

“Nah, it’s not correct. The third is the lie. You must drink.” Ria poured a drink for her friend into the small glass and pushed it to her, her lips stretching into a smile at the annoyed expression that stood boldly on her friend’s face. “Don’t look at me that way. I did nothing.”

“What? Why can’t I get any correctly? Are you playing games with me?”

“Of course not. Drink.”

She burst into laughter as Iris pulled the small glass of drink to herself and gulped it down in one go, her eyes clamping shut in disgust as the alcohol washed over her taste buds. Both girls were on the rooftop of Iris’s apartment. They had a table and chairs on both sides of it where they both sat while playing the game of one lie and two truths.

For the past weeks, Ria had been living with her friend as she had nowhere else to go. Her marriage with Jimmy had crumbled for good as she’d sent him a divorce paper and she had no face to go back to her family. Iris was her safe haven. The only person who accepted her when no one else did. Iris had taken her in without complaint.

Today, they’d both been bored and Iris had suggested that they play a game of one lie and one truth, at least to buy time. And so, they made an arrangement on the rooftop and laid a table and chairs for the game.

“It’s my turn,” Iris spoke, pouring drink into Ria’s glass cup as if waiting for her to lose the game and drink her part. Iris had been the one drinking all the while since they started the game and it seemed like perhaps she didn’t know Ria as much as Ria knew her.

“Okay, go on.”

“First, I went to a public school, second, I once stole my mother’s savings for a professor and lastly, I’m allergic to peanut butter. It’s easy.”

“You’re easy,” Ria replied. “Two truths, you’re allergic to peanut butter and you once stole your mother’s savings for a professor. The lie, you went to a public school.”

“What? What makes you think I didn’t attend a public school?”

“I don’t know. You don’t look like one,” she shrugged.

“Ria, that’s part of your personality problems too? How can you look down on public schools?” She couldn’t help but burst into laughter. “Well? You’re wrong this time but I went to a public school.” She pushed the glass of beer to her friend and raised her brow.

Ria wasn’t having it. “You’re kidding, right? It’s not possible that you attended a public school.” She sprang up from the chair. “You speak so fluently and…and you’re brilliant too. I heard that public school kids have low IQs.” That was what members of that elite society believed. That public school kids don’t get the brains like normal elite kids. They don’t get the facilities that the rich people schools get and from the rumors, there were a lot in classes and so, learning was a bit uncomfortable.

“Sit and have the drink, girl. It’s the truth. I went to a public school and no, the rumors about them aren’t true.”

“Interesting.” She sat back down on the chair and gulped down the drink, the bitter taste washing over her mouth. “Goodness.”

“Now, it’s your turn.”

“Sure. Toe truths and one lie. I’ve been to South Korea, I hid my sister’s last inhaler once at a critical time and I added an overdose sleeping pill to my grandfather’s water.”

“The fuck. All of these are crazy. How do I choose?”

“You have to.”

She let out a sigh and began to go through Ria’s words again. Finally, she began. “Two truths, you’ve been to South Korea and you added an overdose of sleeping pills to your grandfather’s drink. The other is a lie.”
But Ria simply just shook her head and chuckled. Has she been to South Korea before? She couldn’t remember when.

“I guess you have to drink again, dear friend.”

“The fuck you mean? Is it that I know nothing about you while you know everything about me? I’ve been getting all wrong.”

“Your cue to learn more.”

“What’s the lie then?”

“I’ve never been to South Korea.”

Iris’ eyes almost popped out of their sockets. And no, she wasn’t surprised that Ria hadn’t been to South Korea, she was surprised that her friend did the other two horrible things. She knew that Ria was one hell of a weird human but it seemed that her weirdness ran wide and even more wilder.

“Does that mean that you slipped overdose into your grandfather’s water and stole your sister’s inhaler while she was having a crisis?”

“It’s been years. Your turn to drink.” She intended to pour a drink into Iris’s glass only to realize that the drink was finished and that they’d only turned out the last previously. She groaned out in frustration and slammed the empty can to the floor. “It’s finished,” she complained.

“Yeah, we should go get more and also more groceries. We’re out of stock.”

“I’ll go,” Ria volunteered. “I have a few bucks that I’ve been saving for a while now. I’ll go get some groceries with it.”

“Oh no, you can’t use your last savings. I’ll cover it.”

Ria stood up before her friend could and held her shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’ll cover it. Besides, you’ve been letting me stay here for free for the past weeks if not months. I’ve been living here for free, without paying a single dime and this is the least I can do so let me do it. Okay?”

“Fine. If you so please.”

Passing her friend a wide smile, Ria swooped out of the rooftop, climbing the stairs that led downstairs. She grabbed her black hood on her way out of the house and closed the door behind her.

Since the grocery shop was a few meters away from the house, she decided to walk there. Pulling her hood over her face and zipping it up, she walked through the walkway of the road and crossed to the street where the grocery shop was located.

Finally getting there, she stepped in and grabbed a shopping cart from the front before walking deeper into the grocery shop. She stepped to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out more than fifteen beer cans into her shopping cart. She’d been drinking a lot lately and she knew it but there was nothing she could do. She needed it to get things out of her head.

If she was still Jimmy’s wife of the Rock family's daughter, she would’ve been shopping for expensive wines and not local beer. Her life had changed for the worse.

Once she finished with the drink and snacks section, she made her way to the sanitary section and began to look through the brands of pads for the cheaper ones. Her period was coming soon and there wasn’t a single sanitary pad in their house. Catching sight of the cheapest pad in the roll, she pulled a few packs into her cart.

Before she could skim her eyes to the other sides, she heard a few murmuring behind her, and as she turned, only then did she realize that the hood of her hoodie had slipped off her head. She gasped.

“Wait, Ria?”

Her eyes fell on the three girls who had their mouths agape as they stepped up to her. They were the image of Ria’s past. They wore designer clothes, and bags that could cost a house and their heels clicked on the floor with every step that they took. They stood before her, their eyes scanning her over from her disheveled hair down to her trifled shoes. “It’s really you, Ria?”

She immediately pulled the hood over her head and looked away from the arrogant-looking girls who were once her friends. “I’m not,” she denied.

“No, you are, I’d know the Ria who used to lead our group. Even though you’re broke as fuck now, you still carry that arrogant scowl with you.” The leader, a blonde, stepped forward, wrapping her hands around her chest and pushing her breasts forward. “Tell us, Ria. How have you been? How is your new life?”

“My new life concerns no one.”

“Oops, we’re so sorry.” Afterward, they burst into laughter. “We’re so sorry that you’re broke and no one gives a fuck about your new life. I just wanted to know.”

“So you can talk about me with your friends?”

“What’s there to talk about? The almighty Ria’s downfall? Interesting.”

She shook her head and decided to continue her shopping but the girls weren’t letting her be. They took steps behind her wherever she went in the grocery shop and kept on taunting her.

“I heard that your sisters are doing way better. Instead of Elaine, you’re now the outcast of your unfortunate family.”

“Watch your mouth,” she snapped.