24. Dead End

Ed's shocked when he looked at his phone, James reached out for him. It's been a while since James texted him first. He didn't know what happened to him, but Ed still couldn't believe what he just saw on his phone.

James moved out of the café, he had enough coffee to make his eyes fully opened. He hit the streets and came back to his empty apartment, not much he could do at his place. He took a shower, makes sure his head calms down after do some serious thinking.

He sat in the kitchen after wash his body, stared at the ceiling and half-opened curtain. Everything felt plain at his place, every corner of the room remind him of his Ex. His room was no longer happy and bright after they broke up. That made James didn't want to stay for so long at the apartment.

There was still an emptiness in his chest, he pretended that it's not a big deal. It was strange for James that his phone no longer sounded every morning. He missed that every morning there's someone besides him. He missed all of it, but he tried to deny it, he wanted to be strong with his own foot.

James changed his outfit and took his car keys, ready to meet Ed at the bar. It the same bar that he first met Daniela. He remembered about her on his way to the bar, it been a couple of days and she still gave him a single word. So strange, but James had a bad feeling about this.

James arrived at the bar and ordered scotch neat, he didn't want to sober at that place. He didn't know the story will be good or not. He had emailed the draft and waited for Ed to give the review. There's no good feeling about this, James needed help from alcohol to make him calm.

It said 9 p.m. and the place got crowded, there's still no news from Ed. James almost had a glass and a lot of cigars because of him. Just before James wanted to take another glass, there were some familiar voices.

"Yo! James sorry I'm late," Ed's voice sounded from the door.

"That's not sounded like you." James sipped his scotch into the last gulp, he knew Ed's never late and he knew something happened, "What happened?"

"Okay, let me get a drink first. There's good and bad news, what do you want to hear first?"

James didn't like the flow of the conversation, he knew that "good" news isn't good as it sounds. He could tell by looking at Ed's face, his eyes never lie.

"Whatever, probably I won't like them all,"

Ed ordered a tequila and took a shot before starts, "Ugh, okay, I'll starts from the beginning. I've read your story and it's a good story. You make a lot of changes, it was different from your other story. Honestly, I like it and you still give a little bit of action there—"

"Just quick Ed, there's something wrong right?" James interrupted.

"Alright, alright… Just let me finished the story." Ed took another shot, "Ugh, so I send it to the director and some other executive people, they didn't like your story. They said you're too force some plot and genre, and collage life with an action they don't like at all."

Ed sighed, he took a deep breath paused for a minute, "They also said something like… umm how do I say this… They replied—"

"What?? Just said it," James snapped.

"They said your book is one of… a piece of shit from this decade,"

James felt like his hard work is harassed. He put a lot of dedication and thought into the story and they couldn't appreciate it at all. He felt betrayed from the job that he loved, he just nodded along and trying to hold his rage.

"But James, I said to them that you want to make some change and improvement. So they'll keep publishing your book but you won't get any movie adaptation and your revenue will but cut. I don't know why they did this but I've tried everything that possible to help you."

Ed's wanted to get drunk as fast as he could just to make sure he's not felt any guilt for telling James that way. James was still furious about what he just heard. He lights up the cigar and lets his mind rested for a bit.

There's no talk between him and Ed after that, no word came from either of them. They just sitting at the bar counter enjoy their drink. They looked like strangers to each other because they don't talk for almost 30 minutes. James almost had a bottle and starts to talk.

'Fuck! This is suck," He screamed and thump his hand to the table.

"You okay man? I'm sorry,"

"Well don't be, you don't owe me an apology. It's fine, this's my problem and I've to deal with it," James sighed. "Thanks, Ed, you always kind to me. I'll find a way to fix this problem,"

Ed smile relieved, he knew that James will be alright. In Ed's point of view, James still had a lot of chances to back at his glory as a writer. He took another shot and says goodbye to James, he has a family and wife waiting at home and James couldn't argue with that.

James stayed at his empty seats with alcohol and cigarette as his friends. Considering his thought with liquor because he couldn't reach anyone, or the actual reason is he didn't want to. He always wanted to solve his problem by himself, and he knew it's not good for him.

The day is getting late and people started to get drunk, the bar got noisy throughout the night. James's the only person that still sober after a lot of glass that he drank. He sat and kept thinking about his story and what's the next step after that.

'What's the problem, why they didn't like it? I couldn't live with that amount of money, what should I do to fix this?' He kept asking that question, he became the thinker among the drunker. The longer he realized that life wasn't going as he planned. There's a lot of surprise from a life that makes everyone fell down from where they were.

James just wanna make sure he's okay for the next month, he had a lot of needs that should be fulfilled. After a lot of time trying to write again, he felt stressed again that he couldn't make it. He starts questioning himself, 'Is this the end of my career? I can't think about anything good anymore, what should I do?' He met the dead-end in his road, the road of his life.