Authors: Cheryl Richards
We all strained our eyes looking through the crowd. Donna's
radar went off first.
“Over there. End of bar. See them. Smokers.”
“Good God. Can't you do better than that?” I asked horrified.
“I kind of like the one in the middle,” said Donna.
One was of average height with a protruding beer gut hanging
over the biggest belt buckle this side of Texas. His buddy stood a half a foot
taller and weighed in at one-twenty soaking wet with a receding hairline and
Buddy Holly glasses. Next to him, the one Donna liked, was around her height
and weight, with a baldhead, goatee and soul patch. He had a hypodermic needle
tattooed to his forearm. The last one, the cowboy, wore a hat, ascot,
pearl-buttoned shirt, and to complete the ensemble, snakeskin boots.
Autumn and I gasped. There was no accounting for taste. “Oh
okay,” I gave in. “Here comes Brandi. Don’t tell her about Sam. She’ll ruin
everything.”
“Hey, Brandi,” I said when she sat down; “Donna was trolling
and found some guys. See, over there. What do you think?”
“Gee, I like the cowboy. Can I have him?”
“Take whichever one you want.”
“Not the guy with the soul patch,” Donna demanded.
I
looked at Autumn. “Who do you want? Beer gut or Slim Jim?”
“I
want to leave,” she laughed.
“I think we need a shot first,” I suggested. “Jager bombs?”
“If you think it will help,” Autumn yelled back. “I’ll go to
the bar with you.”
We usually bought drinks by round, so I offered to hand over
the cash for the first one. Autumn and I got up and walked over to the bar.
“I don’t think one shot will be enough,” Autumn laughed as we
got a closer look. “I’m not much of an actress. Now that we’re closer, I’ll
take Slim Jim. You can have the blimp.”
“Think we could have found better. Shit, I don’t want Sam to
see me with any one of them. Certainly not with blimp-boy. God he looks like he
smells foul. He’s smoking a stogie.”
“Well, let’s find some normal guys for ourselves. Let Brandi
have her cowboy and Donna the heroin addict. There are a couple of cute guys
over there on the other side of the bar.”
“What
about the shots?”
“We’ll
bring them back. Do a toast. Then when we head towards the smelly creeps, we
can scramble.”
“Think
Donna will be mad?”
“It’s
worth it, isn’t it? Besides, she thinks that guy’s cute. No harm done.”
“No,
guess not.”
We
ordered the shots, making Donna and Brandi’s a double. I’d rather have them
drunk then mad at me. When we came back, Brandi was sitting in the cowboy’s lap
and Donna was talking to the soul patch dude. Autumn distributed the shots and
gave me a shoulder shrug.
“One
for all,” Brandi giggled and downed the shot. The rest of us laughed and threw
back the alcohol.
My
eye caught Autumn’s. “Ready?”
“Yeah.”
We
left the table and found the two cute guys chatting about college basketball.
“Hey,
you guys interested in dancing? I asked flirtatiously.
“Ah
yeah, with each other,” the cuter of the two men answered back. His partner
squeezed his arm.
“Shit,”
I whispered to Autumn. “You’re out of practice. Nice choice.”
“Listen, it’s a good song,” I said to the guy. “Dance with
your friend, and I’ll dance will mine and no one will be the wiser.” I winked
at him. “Get it?”
The men smiled and shrugged. “Okay.”
They followed us out onto the dance floor and Autumn and I
danced next to them. If they didn’t start kissing or grinding, we were in the
clear.
“We’ll have to kind of dance around the floor,” I shouted to
Autumn. “Let me know if you see him.”
Two songs later, Autumn hit me in the hand. “I see him.
Look.” She turned me around and pointed me in their direction.
Sam was sitting next to a pretty girl, with short blonde,
sassy hair, big blue eyes, and a dazzling smile. He had his hand over hers and
they were laughing. I felt a twinge of jealousy that turned to anger when he
leaned over and kissed her.
“Come on, Autumn, let’s go back to the table,” I said pulling
her along. “I’ve seen more than I cared to.”
“Slow down, Sunny, I can’t keep up,” she complained.
When we got near the bar, she stopped and looked at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s pretty, isn’t she,” I said solemnly.
“Not as pretty as you,” she said, giving my arm a squeeze.
“Yeah she is. I should have ignored him. Let him have his
date. Damn, I need another drink.”
“C’mon, Sunny. I’ll get you one. It’s not like it’s the end
of the world. You didn’t want him anyway.”
“No,
you’re right. I want Lloyd. So why does it hurt Autumn?”
“It
hasn’t been a clean break yet. You need to call it quits with him and move on
with your life.”
“I
suppose you’re right.” Her face filled with concern. “I’ll be okay, sis.”
We
reached the bar and I saw Gus chatting to Donna. “Hey reefer-head, you made
it,” I said to him.
“Donna’s
been telling lies again. Ready to buy my drink?”
“The
Perplexed Pimp? Or have you changed your mind?”
“No.
The pimp will do.” He motioned for the bartender and he ordered four cocktails.
Amazingly, he paid for them.
“Down
the hatch,” he said with gusto.
The
liquor went down smoothly. I licked my lips. “Not bad. What’s in it?”
“Ah,
Hennessy, raspberry Schnapps, hard lemonade and vodka.”
“Expensive,
but yummy. Thanks Gus.”
“You’re
welcome. Say where’s that Brandi chick?”
“You’ll
have to fight a cowboy for her. She at the end of the bar.”
He
looked down the bar. “Not bad. But I’ll take Donna here.”
“The
hell you will,” she said. “Hey, where did you guys disappear to?”
“Oh,
just dancing,” Autumn said quickly. “With some gay guys.”
“Fun.
Find Sam?” she asked.
“Decided
not to try,” Autumn replied, giving me a small smile.
You
could always depend on a sister. I smiled back.
A
slow dance started. “Hey, sunshine, dance with me. Payment for the drinks.”
“Fine.
But no grabbing.”
He
led me out to the dance floor as Autumn and Donna returned to the table.
“Been
here long,” I asked him as we started to dance.
“About
ten minutes. Crowded. We’ll probably hang around for an hour and then catch a
comedy show. There’s a free one tonight at the Up & Under. You should join
us. I think it’s a one drink minimum.”
“Yeah,
that might be fun. I’ll have to see what everyone else wants to do.”
We
were goofing around and he spun me in a circle. On the outside of the loop, my
eyes connected with Sam’s. He happened to be dancing directly behind us. What
were the chances?
The
song ended and I thanked Gus. We walked right past Sam and off the dance floor.
“Hey,
Gus, tell Autumn I stopped in the restroom,” I said and veered off towards the
ladies’ room.
When
I came back out, Sam was heading towards the men’s room. Maybe it was the
alcohol or the jealousy that prompted me but I approached him.
“So who is she?” I asked sweetly.
“A friend,” he sidestepped the
question.
“How good of a friend?” I inquired.
“I know what you’re getting at,” he
said annoyed.
“Oh really?” I said crossing my
arms.
“Yes. I wasn’t seeing her while we
were dating.”
“I thought we were dating now,” I
said narrowing my eyes.
“You know what I mean,” he said
sliding his hands in his rear pockets.
“You seem to prefer blondes. It’s a
wonder you ever dated me in the first place.”
“I dated you because I thought you were beautiful.
Inside and out. I still think that.”
“Then why are you with
her
instead of me?”
“You’re seeing someone else.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t the one
who…who said he loved me so much it hurt. I suppose that was just a big joke at
my expense.” The alcohol was really kicking in. Tears were not far behind. My
actions became more animated, and my voice notched up a few octaves.
He pulled me roughly into a darker
corner of the room, away from eyesight, at least away from eyesight of his ‘friend.’
“Sunny, you know damn well you
brought this on yourself. Don’t blame me if you get upset when I go out with
someone else. You think I like you dating Lloyd? If you want me, say it.
Otherwise, stop being so fucking selfish.”
Sam spoke the truth. I knew if I told him I wanted him back
right now, he would ditch his date and go home with me. And at that moment, I
did want him. Just not badly enough to give up Lloyd. I bit my lip. I pulled
away from him. My eyes became moist and I fought tears. The Perplexed Pimp was not
helping stabilize my emotions.
I gazed into his intoxicating blue eyes and my jealously
turned to anger. “Fine! Spend the whole bloody weekend with her! See if I care.
Don’t want to be selfish, Sam. Just be sure to drop off my Kia tomorrow morning
so I can have fun too.”
I
turned on my heel, started to walk away, when he grabbed my arm, and jerked me
back.
“I
know how to dampen that wicked temper of yours,” he said sensuously. He pulled
me into an embrace and kissed me demandingly.
“Leave
me alone,” I said pulling away from him.
“That’s
not what either of us wants. Is it?” The force of his lips was bruising but I
was in no position to argue. “I’m taking you home with me and we’re forgetting
about my rule.”
His
mouth was on mine again, and there was no denying he was a fantastic kisser. I
thought I should stop this nonsense before it went any further but the fight
had left my body.
“Stay
here,” he said softly, “I’ll be right back. Then we’ll leave.” He smiled and
walked through the crowd.
As
he disappeared from view, Autumn made an entrance.
“What
took so long? We were worried about you,” said Autumn.
“Ran
into Sam on the way out. Sorry, but I’m bailing on you guys.”
“You
can’t be serious!” She looked at my face. “Damn, you are serious. How did
this…oh never mind. We’re taking you out of here. Now. Before you do something
you’ll regret.”
“I
know what I’m doing.”
“The
hell you do. You’re an emotional wreck.”
“What
about Sam? He won’t know what happened to me.”
“Good.
Let him worry.”
She
pulled me along as though I were a child dragging her feet.
One thing was certain, if you drank too much, too often, eventually
you would regret doing something. Tonight I came awfully close.
“God, you’re right Autumn,” I said stopping.
“Shit, shit, shit! How could I be so damn stupid?”
“Emotionally unstable,” she said
dragging me toward our table.
We reached our table without seeing
Sam, which wasn’t surprising since it was so crowded it was difficult to move.
“Donna, Brandi, Gus,” she said, “let’s
go to that comedy show, now.”
“I want to stay here,” Brandi
whined. She hugged her cowboy friend. “Will you take me home?” she asked him.
He nodded.
“Okay. Bye, Brandi,” Autumn said
shuffling everyone out. “Okay to drive Donna?”
“I’m fine. Just getting started.”
We practically ran out the front
door, into the parking lot.
“Hurry,” Autumn shouted. “See you
there Gus!”
“Yo, later babes,” he yelled back.
“Why are you rushing us? I thought
we had plenty of time to make the show?” asked Donna.
“I’ll tell you after we leave.”
Donna shrugged and we all jumped
into her car and slammed the doors shut. She inserted her key, and within minutes,
we were a mile away.
“Okay, spill it.”
“Sam was trying to lure Sunny away from us. When he
went to ditch his date, I rescued Sunny.”
“Way to go, Autumn,” Donna said laughing.
My cell phone went off. I pulled it
out of my handbag and saw Sam’s number on the display.
“Crap, it’s him. What should I
say?” I asked in a panicky tone.
“Here, give it to me,” Autumn said
holding out her hand.
“Hey, don’t be mean. I already
screwed him over.”
“Yeah, whatever. The phone,” she
said.
I handed it off.
“Hey, Sam, Autumn.” She paused.
“She can’t talk. She’s puking.”
“Thanks a lot,” I said quietly
while Donna suppressed her laughter.
She put her finger up to her lips
and paused again. “Well, I found her outside the restrooms. I’m not positive,
but I think that guy she danced with … what?” She paused again. “Yeah the
skinny guy.” She paused. “Uh huh. Well, we think he spiked her drink. You know,
with that ecstasy drug.”
Donna started laughing and Autumn
hit her. I buried my head in my hands.
“Why? Ah, she kept saying she
wanted you to take her home. The things she said she wanted to do to you.
X-rated stuff.”
“Oh my God,” I said and pinched
her. She yelled out.
Donna could barely drive she was
laughing so hard.
I pinched her again to shut her up.