contest
Hey guys. This is being posted for a contest I'm doing in a community, so feel free to ignore if you don't care :)
The word count is a tad longer than requested (3400 words) but it's a fast read I promise.
The topic is UNITY, and this story has strong ties to the concept of unity between friends and how far that can take you.
Enjoy and please feel free to comment.
The walk to the station was always longer than the return trip. It was most often done alone, while the walk back to the car was with friends. I was supposed to be at home right now, not going up to the station. I already knew what they would say and do. The boys would take what I would give them as no big deal. They wouldn't act surprised or happy, but simply too cool for the opportunity. The strong wind shifted again and sent a chill up my back. Winter was coming later every year in Lubbock, and the chill the wind carried was a sign they were almost gone for good.
I’d spent the last three weeks playing e-mail tag with the editor-in-chief of Toy Fare Magazine, trying to get the Metropolis boys an interview. The only thing left was for the guys to do a mention, just a mention, of the editor’s blog on the show for the next month. I stopped at the front door of the radio station to finish my cigarette.
The boys of Metropolis do not like being anyone’s “promo bitch”, as John has delicately put it, but they would do it. As much as they act like this wasn’t going to be important, I knew they loved it. Who doesn’t want to have a featured interview? Someone sitting down to ask you about, well, you. Knowing that this complete stranger at least knows who and what you are about, and can ask competent questions. I flicked the cigarette away.
I pulled the heavy front door to the station open as I ran my fingers through my thick brown hair. I should be home, working. I had five pages left to ink. Charlie was not going to be happy if I took extra time considering I was still a new kid on the comic block. I had just started working for a small comic book press and was the primary colorist for their lead comic this fall. They were based out of my home town of Austin and had even offered to bring me back down from Lubbock to be closer to the offices. But I couldn’t go home quite yet.
Memories and family live in Austin, and who wants to be near that? As I climbed the stairs I could hear nasally voices coming from Wombat’s office and knew by instinct most of the Metropolis crew was already here. Wombat wasn’t behind his desk but on the floor playing with a fast food kids toy. His hair was finally starting to grow back from an incident involving beer, hair clippers, and a great idea that he would look more attractive with a Mohawk. He did not look more attractive with a Mohawk. He pointed his new found toy at me and fired its plastic rocket. It grazed my left breast and fell back to the floor. Wombat turned pink.
“Sorry,” he mumbled and I handed him the print outs I had brought with me. The small office was crowded with the now four people in it. The large brightly painted blue desk took up most of the space and housed an out dated computer that John was staring into.
“I need a favor,” I said. There was a group sigh. “It’ll get you an interview with Toy Fare.”
“Who wants to be interviewed by us there?” asked John not looking up from the soft glow of the screen.
“No, they want to interview you. The managing editor wants to do a spot about you guys for next month’s issue if you talk about her blog on the show tonight.”
“Is it a lame blog?” John asked peeking over the monitor at me.
“It’s Toy Fare, there’s a fifty-fifty chance,” said Daniel softly. He was flipping his beaten up metal lighter in a fluid motion over his knuckles. It was something he did when he was irritated.
“Please guys, she’s being really nice,” I pleaded and gave Daniel a sideways look, using silent communication to ask what was wrong. Daniel curtly shook his head and put away the lighter.
“I guess I’ll take a look at the blog to see if it’s worth mentioning,” John said and turned back to the computer.
“Thanks,” I replied, and Matt walked in.
“Hey, you look nice today.” His compliment was awkward, but sincere. I was still in my work clothes, which included a basic pair of slacks and a button down shirt. Very nice outfit considering I’m usually in jeans and old t-shirts.
“Thanks.” I started to walk out the door. I would listen to the show from my house, get some work done, and call if the promo slipped their minds for too long.
“Maddy,” Daniel called after me. That’s all it took: him saying my name in that tone.
“What’s up?”
“I need to talk to you.” It was still that same tone; a sign that trouble was coming.
“Cigarette?” I asked and pulled out my pack. I didn’t like talking to Danny when he was in one of his moods. Something must have gone wrong with Stephanie, and when it came to relationship advice I wasn’t the best person to talk to.
“I’ll stand with you.” He led the way outside. I’d forgotten he was trying to quit. Stephanie didn’t like the smell in his apartment, maybe they’d gotten into another fight about it. We pushed through the doors, and I lit my cigarette.
“So?” I asked as I exhaled. I didn’t normally smoke this much in one day, but Danny’s voice inclined he was serious.
“I’ve been having…,” He stopped and looked at his feet, “You’re gonna think I’m crazy.”
“We both already know you’re crazy, so spill it, Danny.” He glared at me, which I admittedly deserved for two reasons. First, it is well known that Danny-Boy here suffers from depression. He’s learned to ignore it for the most part, and honestly, who doesn’t have a mental defect of some sort now-a-days? Second, he hates to be called Danny. So far as I know I’m the only one who’s gotten away with calling him Danny his whole life. His almost bashfulness so far was concerning, Danny was normally very direct with me.
“I’ve, uh, been hearing voices. Well, a voice.” He still refused to look up at my face.
A new kind of crazy, then, I thought. The silence must have clued him in to what I was thinking.
“No, not a new kind of crazy. Well, at least I hope not.” Daniel replied.
“Well, then…what are these voices telling you?” I asked as calmly as I could.
“It’s just the one. And it’s your voice.” He said and finally looked up at me.
“You’re hearing my voice, in your head?” I took a step back and loosened my grip on my cigarette. It burned my fingers.
“Yes.” He replied as I cursed and switched smoking hands. I looked up at his face and saw he was scared. I’d only seen that level of fear on him when Steph got hit by a car on her bike one night when they were first dating. It was the look a man gets when he can’t do anything to fix what is going wrong, a look of helplessness.
“Am I narrating for you?” I was shooting for helpful, “I do that to myself sometimes. When I’ve watched a movie with too much voice-over, I narrate in my head with the main character’s voice.”
“No…you’re just talking. Or more like thinking.” He said and pulled out his own pack of cigarettes. The conversation was driving him to waste one of his rations.
“You can hear my thoughts? Or what you think are my thoughts?” I leaned against the sidewalk railing near the front doors. I didn’t want to agitate him more than he already was, best plan was to keep him calm till the show was over then take him to the hospital.
“You are not taking me to the hospital.” Daniel said flatly. All I could do was stare at him.
Ok, calm down. This could be any number of things.
Daniel’s gone mental. This is a practical joke done by the boys. This is a dream?
“Not a dream, I’m not crazy, and you’re the only person I’ve told about this so it can't be a practical joke.” He replied and took another long drag on his cigarette. I felt myself sliding down to the concrete.
“You’re serious about this." He nodded, smoke floating around him. "When did it start?” I asked and held my head in my hands. The smoke was wafting back at me and was stinging my eyes.
“About a week ago.”
“A week! You could hear me for a week!” I jumped back up to my feet, burning my hand again in the process.
“I thought I was crazy for a week! You think I really wanted to know…all of that.” He asked and blushed. The only witty response I could come up with was turning two shades of darker red than him, do you censor yourselves in your heads boys and girls?
“Well knock it off.” I finally spat out.
“Trust me, I tried. And I can’t hear you all the time, just when you’re nearby. At first I thought it was just non-verbal communication running amuck in my head, but then your facial expressions didn’t always match up with what I could hear.”
“That’s enough.” I said and flicked my cigarette away, it was being more annoying than helpful. “This is a side effect of your medication. It's caused psychosis or something. It is not physically possible for you to hear my thoughts. This isn’t a bad episode of Doctor Who, this is the real world. Things like this do not happen in the real world.”
“You have to believe me, Maddy. If you don’t, then I really am crazy. I want it to go away. I don’t feel right about being able to hear you constantly.”
“You always complain when I give you looks and don’t explain them,” I said quietly. I was trying my hardest to guard the thoughts running through my head, but how does someone stop thinking loudly?
“I know,” he said and opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by John coming outside.
“Hey kids, the show starts in five. You should come listen in Maddy. If you don’t remind me, I might not plug that blog.”
“Yeah, we’ll be there in a second,” I said and turned back to Daniel. The door clicked quietly behind John as he went back through. “We’ll talk about this later,” I told him and turned before he could speak. I thought about going home, but I knew if I was in public I couldn’t have the mental breakdown I knew was coming. As the door slowly closed behind me, I heard him softly curse as his own cigarette burned his fingers.
~~~~~~~
Courtney had been talking about getting into a bar fight for weeks now. Like everyone else, I’d taken this with a grain of salt. There’s no doubt in my mind Courtney could hold her own in a fight, or at least be able to run away if things got over her head, but I also knew that she’d never gotten into a fight before.
She was a rare-breed in our circle of friends, someone who actually enjoyed exercise. It came as a side effect of growing up in a small town, being immersed in sports, and a general love of endorphins. This is not to say I don’t enjoy playing flag football like the rest of the general population of Lubbock University, but you wouldn’t see me casually running everyday of the week like Courtney.
As John and I walked into Bash’s from my car, we were stopped by angry, raised voices. Raised voices are not something new at Bash’s, but angry ones this early was unusual. We’d come to the bar every Thursday night for the buck-fifty Texas beer after the show, and it was still relatively empty. Courtney, affectionately called Two-Pints, had started early tonight and was yelling at the thin girl wearing a tri-delta t-shirt and an orange fake tan. Daniel looked over at me from his table with an expression of shear panic and disbelief. We’d both come out to try and drink away our conversation earlier, not to witness Courtney beat the crap out of a soro-whore.
“You did it on purpose!” I could hear Two-Pints yell from the bar. The young, large-chested bartender was just as dumb-founded as we were and not making any move to get the bouncer in the back bar. I felt cold wind brace my back again and as I turned to see who had come in, hopefully the bouncer, I saw John’s head disappear around the corner. He knew when it was best for him to get the hell out of doge. Coward.
“I didn’t do anything to you, bitch!” The spray tanned girl replied. Behind them I could see a large twenty-something guy starting to approach from the bathroom. He wore a Tech Rugby t-shirt and tight fitting jeans. Cue the boyfriend, I thought to myself and looked over at Danny again. He was starting to get out of his seat and make his way to me.
Grab your beer bottle, I thought and Danny glared at me. It was still full.
“You dumped your beer on my new jeans!” Courtney half yelled, half slurred back. She gets her nickname from two sources. First if you shorten her name to just Court, two-pints make up a quart. Also it only takes two pints of beer for Courtney to get smashed. I could feel Daniel on my right hand side and Courtney violently turned to face us both, “She did! She heard me talking shit about her fake tan and fake boobs, and got all pissy, and poured her beer on me!”
“That’s a lot of 'ands', Court,” I said quietly.
“I do not have a fake tan!” The girl screeched. Her boyfriend in the Rugby shirt was now behind her with a hand on her shoulder. On the left sleeve I could make out the name Drew with Captain stitched under it.
“Everything OK, baby?” He asked in a half growl that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“No, it’s not,” Courtney replied for her and directed all her anger back towards the couple.
“What-” Daniel started to ask me but was cut off by the glare Drew gave him.
“You say something?” He asked Daniel. Daniel couldn’t think of a reply to give besides shaking his head. Daniel knew when he was out matched, and while he had the brains to outwit this behemoth, he did not have the brawn.
“Court, come on. I’m sure she didn’t mean it.” I supplied.
“Oh you bet I did, now,” the girl replied before Courtney could. Daniel and I looked at each other. I didn’t need to read his thoughts to know the look meant, namely, oh shit I’m going to get the crap beat out of me tonight.
I would’ve given anything for any one of our other friends to coming walking through the door at this moment. At least then we would’ve had a chance of throwing something shiny at the feet of the Greeks and running away. But as it stood now, Daniel, Courtney, and I were right at the edge of getting our asses handed to us, and neither Daniel nor I knew what to do. And then something happened that probably saved me from trying to defend Courtney or Daniel from a beating. As clear as the Jukebox music playing in the background of the bar I heard in my head,
What the hell are we going to do?
At this point I’m sure I jumped six feet into the air, which in turned scared the crap out of Drew and his girl. Everyone took two steps back from shock at my sudden movement, and then Drew started to move towards Daniel. All of the moisture had escaped my mouth and I couldn’t get a single word out. Instead, I thought it as hard as I could, clearly yelling in my head, RUN!
Daniel grabbed my jacket and threw it into Drew’s face.
It was just enough of a lead for me to grab Two-Pint’s arm and drag her out of the bar behind me. As we got through the door, I looked over my shoulder to see Daniel following us with the Greeks right behind him.
“I was going to-” Courtney began as we hurled towards the parking lot.
“Get us killed,” I yelled back, out of breath. I looked over my shoulder to see Daniel tearing off his own jacket and throwing it into the face of Drew. The guy let out a roar of anger and stopped short of the parking lot to untangle himself.
“Car!” Daniel yelled to us as he sprinted forward and begun to unlock his car doors.
I yanked open the rear door and shoved Courtney in the back seat.
“Hey!” she yelled as I slammed the door behind her and got into the front.
“Shut up, Courtney!” Daniel yelled at her as he got the car into gear and screeched off. I heard Daniel’s jacket hit the back window and turned around to see Drew making an obscene gesture towards us. We took the corner on two and headed north on Avenue X.
“Don’t yell at me, Daniel!” Courtney screeched, her response delayed, as she slumped in the back seat.
“What the hell were you thinking?” I yelled to her over my shoulder.
Tonight of all nights, I could hear Daniel’s voice clearly in my head again. Without pausing I replied, Tell me about it.
We were a good ten blocks away now, and Daniel stopped the car. We were both starting at each other and breathing heavily.
“What are y’all doing?” Courtney slurred.
“Stay in the car,” I mumbled to her and opened my door. Daniel followed suit.
“Why?!” Courtney yelled and I closed my door. We both walked to the front of the car and sat on the hood. We didn’t say anything for few long seconds.
“Do you have an explanation?” he finally asked me.
“Nope. I mean, there’s a difference between seeing this in bad sci-fi and actually having it happen to me.” I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and offered him one as I lit my own.
“No one is going to believe we can do this,” he mumbled as he took it.
“Of course not, they’ll just blame us hearing each other's thoughts on the beer and the panic.”
“It doesn’t even sound real when you say it out loud,” he said.
How about when I say it like this? I asked silently.
“Real cute.” We both saw Stephanie’s car pull up to us on the deserted street.
“What are you guys doing? I thought we were meeting at Bash’s for cheap beer night,” she asked.
Daniel and I could only look at each other.
“What?” she asked as Courtney figured out how to open her door again.
“Stephanie! Have I got a story for you!” She yelled and stumbled towards the other car.
“Wow, you started early.” Stephanie said as Courtney stumbled into her arms.
“I had a long day of clinicals.” Courtney slurred, “Can we go home now?”
“Just got here, and its cheap Texas beer night.” Stephanie said as Courtney left her arms and went to the car.
“We can’t drink at Bash’s tonight. Courtney started her bar fight.” Danny said as he walked up to Stephanie.
“Oh crap.” Stephanie mumbled as Danny leaned in and kissed her on her cheek.
Gross, I heard myself think.
Shut up, I haven’t seen her in three days. He replied.
“Well then should we go to Skooners? I really need a beer after the day I had.” Stephanie asked.
“You guys go ahead to Skooners, I’ll take Courtney to my house,” I offered, “My apartment is only four blocks up.”
You don’t have to leave, I know she wants to see you too. Danny offered.
You guys need time alone. Plus us talking this way is freaking me out. I replied and grabbed Courtney’s hand.
“You sure?” asked Stephanie, “We could all take her together, she looks like a handful.”
“Yeah its fine, I want to make sure she’ll be ok. You guys go ahead.” I said and pulled Courtney along the street. Over my shoulder I could hear Stephanie ask,
“Is she ok? She seemed kind of freaked out.”
“Yeah, she’s fine. We just got into a bar fight.” Danny replied and I heard the car doors shut behind them.
The word count is a tad longer than requested (3400 words) but it's a fast read I promise.
The topic is UNITY, and this story has strong ties to the concept of unity between friends and how far that can take you.
Enjoy and please feel free to comment.
The walk to the station was always longer than the return trip. It was most often done alone, while the walk back to the car was with friends. I was supposed to be at home right now, not going up to the station. I already knew what they would say and do. The boys would take what I would give them as no big deal. They wouldn't act surprised or happy, but simply too cool for the opportunity. The strong wind shifted again and sent a chill up my back. Winter was coming later every year in Lubbock, and the chill the wind carried was a sign they were almost gone for good.
I’d spent the last three weeks playing e-mail tag with the editor-in-chief of Toy Fare Magazine, trying to get the Metropolis boys an interview. The only thing left was for the guys to do a mention, just a mention, of the editor’s blog on the show for the next month. I stopped at the front door of the radio station to finish my cigarette.
The boys of Metropolis do not like being anyone’s “promo bitch”, as John has delicately put it, but they would do it. As much as they act like this wasn’t going to be important, I knew they loved it. Who doesn’t want to have a featured interview? Someone sitting down to ask you about, well, you. Knowing that this complete stranger at least knows who and what you are about, and can ask competent questions. I flicked the cigarette away.
I pulled the heavy front door to the station open as I ran my fingers through my thick brown hair. I should be home, working. I had five pages left to ink. Charlie was not going to be happy if I took extra time considering I was still a new kid on the comic block. I had just started working for a small comic book press and was the primary colorist for their lead comic this fall. They were based out of my home town of Austin and had even offered to bring me back down from Lubbock to be closer to the offices. But I couldn’t go home quite yet.
Memories and family live in Austin, and who wants to be near that? As I climbed the stairs I could hear nasally voices coming from Wombat’s office and knew by instinct most of the Metropolis crew was already here. Wombat wasn’t behind his desk but on the floor playing with a fast food kids toy. His hair was finally starting to grow back from an incident involving beer, hair clippers, and a great idea that he would look more attractive with a Mohawk. He did not look more attractive with a Mohawk. He pointed his new found toy at me and fired its plastic rocket. It grazed my left breast and fell back to the floor. Wombat turned pink.
“Sorry,” he mumbled and I handed him the print outs I had brought with me. The small office was crowded with the now four people in it. The large brightly painted blue desk took up most of the space and housed an out dated computer that John was staring into.
“I need a favor,” I said. There was a group sigh. “It’ll get you an interview with Toy Fare.”
“Who wants to be interviewed by us there?” asked John not looking up from the soft glow of the screen.
“No, they want to interview you. The managing editor wants to do a spot about you guys for next month’s issue if you talk about her blog on the show tonight.”
“Is it a lame blog?” John asked peeking over the monitor at me.
“It’s Toy Fare, there’s a fifty-fifty chance,” said Daniel softly. He was flipping his beaten up metal lighter in a fluid motion over his knuckles. It was something he did when he was irritated.
“Please guys, she’s being really nice,” I pleaded and gave Daniel a sideways look, using silent communication to ask what was wrong. Daniel curtly shook his head and put away the lighter.
“I guess I’ll take a look at the blog to see if it’s worth mentioning,” John said and turned back to the computer.
“Thanks,” I replied, and Matt walked in.
“Hey, you look nice today.” His compliment was awkward, but sincere. I was still in my work clothes, which included a basic pair of slacks and a button down shirt. Very nice outfit considering I’m usually in jeans and old t-shirts.
“Thanks.” I started to walk out the door. I would listen to the show from my house, get some work done, and call if the promo slipped their minds for too long.
“Maddy,” Daniel called after me. That’s all it took: him saying my name in that tone.
“What’s up?”
“I need to talk to you.” It was still that same tone; a sign that trouble was coming.
“Cigarette?” I asked and pulled out my pack. I didn’t like talking to Danny when he was in one of his moods. Something must have gone wrong with Stephanie, and when it came to relationship advice I wasn’t the best person to talk to.
“I’ll stand with you.” He led the way outside. I’d forgotten he was trying to quit. Stephanie didn’t like the smell in his apartment, maybe they’d gotten into another fight about it. We pushed through the doors, and I lit my cigarette.
“So?” I asked as I exhaled. I didn’t normally smoke this much in one day, but Danny’s voice inclined he was serious.
“I’ve been having…,” He stopped and looked at his feet, “You’re gonna think I’m crazy.”
“We both already know you’re crazy, so spill it, Danny.” He glared at me, which I admittedly deserved for two reasons. First, it is well known that Danny-Boy here suffers from depression. He’s learned to ignore it for the most part, and honestly, who doesn’t have a mental defect of some sort now-a-days? Second, he hates to be called Danny. So far as I know I’m the only one who’s gotten away with calling him Danny his whole life. His almost bashfulness so far was concerning, Danny was normally very direct with me.
“I’ve, uh, been hearing voices. Well, a voice.” He still refused to look up at my face.
A new kind of crazy, then, I thought. The silence must have clued him in to what I was thinking.
“No, not a new kind of crazy. Well, at least I hope not.” Daniel replied.
“Well, then…what are these voices telling you?” I asked as calmly as I could.
“It’s just the one. And it’s your voice.” He said and finally looked up at me.
“You’re hearing my voice, in your head?” I took a step back and loosened my grip on my cigarette. It burned my fingers.
“Yes.” He replied as I cursed and switched smoking hands. I looked up at his face and saw he was scared. I’d only seen that level of fear on him when Steph got hit by a car on her bike one night when they were first dating. It was the look a man gets when he can’t do anything to fix what is going wrong, a look of helplessness.
“Am I narrating for you?” I was shooting for helpful, “I do that to myself sometimes. When I’ve watched a movie with too much voice-over, I narrate in my head with the main character’s voice.”
“No…you’re just talking. Or more like thinking.” He said and pulled out his own pack of cigarettes. The conversation was driving him to waste one of his rations.
“You can hear my thoughts? Or what you think are my thoughts?” I leaned against the sidewalk railing near the front doors. I didn’t want to agitate him more than he already was, best plan was to keep him calm till the show was over then take him to the hospital.
“You are not taking me to the hospital.” Daniel said flatly. All I could do was stare at him.
Ok, calm down. This could be any number of things.
Daniel’s gone mental. This is a practical joke done by the boys. This is a dream?
“Not a dream, I’m not crazy, and you’re the only person I’ve told about this so it can't be a practical joke.” He replied and took another long drag on his cigarette. I felt myself sliding down to the concrete.
“You’re serious about this." He nodded, smoke floating around him. "When did it start?” I asked and held my head in my hands. The smoke was wafting back at me and was stinging my eyes.
“About a week ago.”
“A week! You could hear me for a week!” I jumped back up to my feet, burning my hand again in the process.
“I thought I was crazy for a week! You think I really wanted to know…all of that.” He asked and blushed. The only witty response I could come up with was turning two shades of darker red than him, do you censor yourselves in your heads boys and girls?
“Well knock it off.” I finally spat out.
“Trust me, I tried. And I can’t hear you all the time, just when you’re nearby. At first I thought it was just non-verbal communication running amuck in my head, but then your facial expressions didn’t always match up with what I could hear.”
“That’s enough.” I said and flicked my cigarette away, it was being more annoying than helpful. “This is a side effect of your medication. It's caused psychosis or something. It is not physically possible for you to hear my thoughts. This isn’t a bad episode of Doctor Who, this is the real world. Things like this do not happen in the real world.”
“You have to believe me, Maddy. If you don’t, then I really am crazy. I want it to go away. I don’t feel right about being able to hear you constantly.”
“You always complain when I give you looks and don’t explain them,” I said quietly. I was trying my hardest to guard the thoughts running through my head, but how does someone stop thinking loudly?
“I know,” he said and opened his mouth to speak again but was cut off by John coming outside.
“Hey kids, the show starts in five. You should come listen in Maddy. If you don’t remind me, I might not plug that blog.”
“Yeah, we’ll be there in a second,” I said and turned back to Daniel. The door clicked quietly behind John as he went back through. “We’ll talk about this later,” I told him and turned before he could speak. I thought about going home, but I knew if I was in public I couldn’t have the mental breakdown I knew was coming. As the door slowly closed behind me, I heard him softly curse as his own cigarette burned his fingers.
~~~~~~~
Courtney had been talking about getting into a bar fight for weeks now. Like everyone else, I’d taken this with a grain of salt. There’s no doubt in my mind Courtney could hold her own in a fight, or at least be able to run away if things got over her head, but I also knew that she’d never gotten into a fight before.
She was a rare-breed in our circle of friends, someone who actually enjoyed exercise. It came as a side effect of growing up in a small town, being immersed in sports, and a general love of endorphins. This is not to say I don’t enjoy playing flag football like the rest of the general population of Lubbock University, but you wouldn’t see me casually running everyday of the week like Courtney.
As John and I walked into Bash’s from my car, we were stopped by angry, raised voices. Raised voices are not something new at Bash’s, but angry ones this early was unusual. We’d come to the bar every Thursday night for the buck-fifty Texas beer after the show, and it was still relatively empty. Courtney, affectionately called Two-Pints, had started early tonight and was yelling at the thin girl wearing a tri-delta t-shirt and an orange fake tan. Daniel looked over at me from his table with an expression of shear panic and disbelief. We’d both come out to try and drink away our conversation earlier, not to witness Courtney beat the crap out of a soro-whore.
“You did it on purpose!” I could hear Two-Pints yell from the bar. The young, large-chested bartender was just as dumb-founded as we were and not making any move to get the bouncer in the back bar. I felt cold wind brace my back again and as I turned to see who had come in, hopefully the bouncer, I saw John’s head disappear around the corner. He knew when it was best for him to get the hell out of doge. Coward.
“I didn’t do anything to you, bitch!” The spray tanned girl replied. Behind them I could see a large twenty-something guy starting to approach from the bathroom. He wore a Tech Rugby t-shirt and tight fitting jeans. Cue the boyfriend, I thought to myself and looked over at Danny again. He was starting to get out of his seat and make his way to me.
Grab your beer bottle, I thought and Danny glared at me. It was still full.
“You dumped your beer on my new jeans!” Courtney half yelled, half slurred back. She gets her nickname from two sources. First if you shorten her name to just Court, two-pints make up a quart. Also it only takes two pints of beer for Courtney to get smashed. I could feel Daniel on my right hand side and Courtney violently turned to face us both, “She did! She heard me talking shit about her fake tan and fake boobs, and got all pissy, and poured her beer on me!”
“That’s a lot of 'ands', Court,” I said quietly.
“I do not have a fake tan!” The girl screeched. Her boyfriend in the Rugby shirt was now behind her with a hand on her shoulder. On the left sleeve I could make out the name Drew with Captain stitched under it.
“Everything OK, baby?” He asked in a half growl that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
“No, it’s not,” Courtney replied for her and directed all her anger back towards the couple.
“What-” Daniel started to ask me but was cut off by the glare Drew gave him.
“You say something?” He asked Daniel. Daniel couldn’t think of a reply to give besides shaking his head. Daniel knew when he was out matched, and while he had the brains to outwit this behemoth, he did not have the brawn.
“Court, come on. I’m sure she didn’t mean it.” I supplied.
“Oh you bet I did, now,” the girl replied before Courtney could. Daniel and I looked at each other. I didn’t need to read his thoughts to know the look meant, namely, oh shit I’m going to get the crap beat out of me tonight.
I would’ve given anything for any one of our other friends to coming walking through the door at this moment. At least then we would’ve had a chance of throwing something shiny at the feet of the Greeks and running away. But as it stood now, Daniel, Courtney, and I were right at the edge of getting our asses handed to us, and neither Daniel nor I knew what to do. And then something happened that probably saved me from trying to defend Courtney or Daniel from a beating. As clear as the Jukebox music playing in the background of the bar I heard in my head,
What the hell are we going to do?
At this point I’m sure I jumped six feet into the air, which in turned scared the crap out of Drew and his girl. Everyone took two steps back from shock at my sudden movement, and then Drew started to move towards Daniel. All of the moisture had escaped my mouth and I couldn’t get a single word out. Instead, I thought it as hard as I could, clearly yelling in my head, RUN!
Daniel grabbed my jacket and threw it into Drew’s face.
It was just enough of a lead for me to grab Two-Pint’s arm and drag her out of the bar behind me. As we got through the door, I looked over my shoulder to see Daniel following us with the Greeks right behind him.
“I was going to-” Courtney began as we hurled towards the parking lot.
“Get us killed,” I yelled back, out of breath. I looked over my shoulder to see Daniel tearing off his own jacket and throwing it into the face of Drew. The guy let out a roar of anger and stopped short of the parking lot to untangle himself.
“Car!” Daniel yelled to us as he sprinted forward and begun to unlock his car doors.
I yanked open the rear door and shoved Courtney in the back seat.
“Hey!” she yelled as I slammed the door behind her and got into the front.
“Shut up, Courtney!” Daniel yelled at her as he got the car into gear and screeched off. I heard Daniel’s jacket hit the back window and turned around to see Drew making an obscene gesture towards us. We took the corner on two and headed north on Avenue X.
“Don’t yell at me, Daniel!” Courtney screeched, her response delayed, as she slumped in the back seat.
“What the hell were you thinking?” I yelled to her over my shoulder.
Tonight of all nights, I could hear Daniel’s voice clearly in my head again. Without pausing I replied, Tell me about it.
We were a good ten blocks away now, and Daniel stopped the car. We were both starting at each other and breathing heavily.
“What are y’all doing?” Courtney slurred.
“Stay in the car,” I mumbled to her and opened my door. Daniel followed suit.
“Why?!” Courtney yelled and I closed my door. We both walked to the front of the car and sat on the hood. We didn’t say anything for few long seconds.
“Do you have an explanation?” he finally asked me.
“Nope. I mean, there’s a difference between seeing this in bad sci-fi and actually having it happen to me.” I pulled out my pack of cigarettes and offered him one as I lit my own.
“No one is going to believe we can do this,” he mumbled as he took it.
“Of course not, they’ll just blame us hearing each other's thoughts on the beer and the panic.”
“It doesn’t even sound real when you say it out loud,” he said.
How about when I say it like this? I asked silently.
“Real cute.” We both saw Stephanie’s car pull up to us on the deserted street.
“What are you guys doing? I thought we were meeting at Bash’s for cheap beer night,” she asked.
Daniel and I could only look at each other.
“What?” she asked as Courtney figured out how to open her door again.
“Stephanie! Have I got a story for you!” She yelled and stumbled towards the other car.
“Wow, you started early.” Stephanie said as Courtney stumbled into her arms.
“I had a long day of clinicals.” Courtney slurred, “Can we go home now?”
“Just got here, and its cheap Texas beer night.” Stephanie said as Courtney left her arms and went to the car.
“We can’t drink at Bash’s tonight. Courtney started her bar fight.” Danny said as he walked up to Stephanie.
“Oh crap.” Stephanie mumbled as Danny leaned in and kissed her on her cheek.
Gross, I heard myself think.
Shut up, I haven’t seen her in three days. He replied.
“Well then should we go to Skooners? I really need a beer after the day I had.” Stephanie asked.
“You guys go ahead to Skooners, I’ll take Courtney to my house,” I offered, “My apartment is only four blocks up.”
You don’t have to leave, I know she wants to see you too. Danny offered.
You guys need time alone. Plus us talking this way is freaking me out. I replied and grabbed Courtney’s hand.
“You sure?” asked Stephanie, “We could all take her together, she looks like a handful.”
“Yeah its fine, I want to make sure she’ll be ok. You guys go ahead.” I said and pulled Courtney along the street. Over my shoulder I could hear Stephanie ask,
“Is she ok? She seemed kind of freaked out.”
“Yeah, she’s fine. We just got into a bar fight.” Danny replied and I heard the car doors shut behind them.