Be Good (15 page)

I filled my mister and gave Marvin a few sprits.

“How was the wedding?” Winter asked but the question sounded rote and hollow.

“Great
.”

She raised an eyebrow.
“Great, huh?”

I nodded.

“And what made it great?” That question held more curiosity than I had ever heard from her. “A guy?”

I nodded.

“Like a guy and not just a hook-up?”

“Something
like that.”

“I never thought I’d
hear you say that,” she stated as she entered the kitchen area and grabbed the kettle.

“I didn’t either,” I admitted.

“Want some tea?” That was the first time Winter ever offered me some of her tea even though she made it every day.

“Yeah, thanks.”

As she fixed the tea, we continued talking. It felt weird actually having a female to talk to. While I wouldn’t exactly call us friends, we were definitely becoming more than the two ships that passed in the night we had been for months.

“So, tell me about your guy.”

I wasn’t sure what I should tell her or how much I wanted to. “His name is Brett. We went to college together but we weren’t really friends. He’s different than any other guy I’ve been with. He’s considerate. He’s caring. He’s passionate. He’s a rocket scientist and he loves gardens.”

“Well, at least that explains Marvin.”

“He’s really into plants.”

“So, what’s the fatal flaw?” she asked as she poured tea for both of us.
She handed me a cup.

“What do you mean?”

“His fatal flaw. The big thing you’ll have to overcome if you want to be together. Yours, obviously, is drinking. What’s his?”

I gulped. Was my drinking an obvious issue to everyone but me? I thought about Brett. He wasn’t flawed like me. Now that his clown hair was under control,
he was perfect. The only thing I could think of that might ever come between us was Sweater Vest. “He does have an ex fiancé,” I said.

“Just how ex is she?”

“Not ex enough,” I lamented and Winter nodded like she completely understood. I continued, “They dated all through college and she was his first. They just broke up a few months ago and I’m the only other person he’s been with since.”

“Do you think there’s a possibility she’ll want to get back t
ogether with him?”

“Yes,” I admitted. It was my greatest fear. “I don’t think she wants to see him with anyone else.”

“Shared history isn’t easy to overcome. You need to make it your goal to create as much history with him as you can.”

“How did you get so wise?”

Winter laughed. “I work at a New Age bookstore. I read self- help books all day long.”

***

The week crawled by at the pace of drying paint. Brett was busy with a big project, so he didn’t have much time to talk with me in the evenings. After my talk with Winter, I was hyper-alert towards any communications I saw between Sweater Vest and Brett on Facebook. I noticed she was posting more on his wall and the posts seemed more flirtatious than I liked. I noticed Brett had time to make cute responses to her posts, which both hurt and pissed me off.

By Friday night, I was getting extremely restless. I didn’t want to spend another weekend home alone. Winter told me she was getting together with her witch friends to celebrate some kind of pagan something that I didn’t really pay attention to. The only thing I really heard was that she was going to be gone all wee
kend.

Old habits die hard and come back to
haunt you when your guard is down. Before my rationale mind had a chance to talk me out of it, I found myself walking into The Twisted Keg, a post college hang out not too far from campus. The place catered to a mid-to-late 20s crowd. It was a little bit more upscale than the college bars and a little bit pricier. I purposefully dressed down because I wasn’t looking to pick anyone up. I was really just tired of being alone in my apartment. I wore a pair of skinny jeans, a hot pink tee shirt and flats. I even threw my hair into a ponytail to complete the dressed down look.

The first people I ran into were
Paige and Molly. Not surprising. They had a bit of a reputation for being barflies.

“We haven’t seen you out in a while,”
Paige said as the two walked up to me. They were each nursing draft beers.

“I’ve been busy
.” I didn’t want to go into a lot of detail about my personal life with the girls because they were known to have loose lips.

“With clown hair?”
Molly asked snidely.

I just shrugged.

“Did you see Joey Vincetti,” Paige asked. She pointed over towards the dance floor. “You know that guy is crazy about you.”

“I’m not really lo
oking for any action tonight,” I said.

Both girls raised their eyebrows in unison. “That’s a first,”
Molly snickered.

I gave her the stink eye.

“Well, it’s true,” Molly said defensively. “Anna not looking for action is like a dog not looking for food. It just doesn’t happen.”

“It’s happening right now,” I
countered.

“Just wait till she’s had a few drinks,”
Paige said to Molly loud enough that I could hear. “She’ll change her tune.”

“I know, right
,” Molly agreed.

“You said the magic word,
girls. I’m headed over to the bar right now.”

And with that, I turned on my heels in search of a drink. The bar was already packed with people trying to purchase beverages. I rarely had to buy my own drinks but I wasn’t exactly dressed to kill, so I thought this night might be an exception. I was wrong.

“Can I buy you a drink,” a male voice said behind me. When I turned around it was Joey. I wondered how he was able to hone in on me so quickly in a place so packed. Had he seen me walk in?

“I never say no to a free drink,” I said sweetly.

Joey smiled then elbowed his way toward the bar in search of bevies. A few minutes later, he handed me a bottle of Bud Light.

“Cheers,” he said as we both took sips. The beer went down too well. It was like running into an old friend and feeling like you’d never been apart. I was reacquainted with my old friend alcohol in no time.

The place was noisy, so Joey moved close to my ear. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” he said.

“I’ve been busy,” I replied. It was fast becoming my standard line.

“What happened to that guy you were with at the wedding?”

“Nothing happened to him. He lives in California.”

That seemed to appease him. He didn’t ask any more questions. I wished he hadn’t brought Brett up. I immediately felt guilty for being in the bar, even though I wasn’t doing anything but having a drink, and Brett and I hadn’t actually discussed whether we had a relationship and if it was exclusive. I really didn’t know what was going on between us. I did know that what I wanted to have with Brett didn’t include Joey. But as much as my brain told my body that, my body wasn’t listening. My body loved the excitement of being in a bar and the
comfortably numb
feeling of the alcohol as it worked its magic. And my body craved attention from the opposite sex and right now I was getting a lot of attention from Joey.

“Drink up,” he said as he gulped his beer. “I’ll get us a couple more.”

He was no dummy. The more alcohol he supplied now, the more he knew I would supply later.

I took a few more big swigs of the beer in anticipation of the fresh bottle. A few minutes later, when Joey handed me the new one, I handed him back an empty bottle. “That’s my girl,” he said as he tossed the empty in a trash bin behind him. “When you finish that one, we can hit the dance floor.”

We both downed the second bottles fairly quickly and my head was feeling light. I hadn’t eaten anything and I’d downed the drinks in less than 30 minutes, so I was feeling no pain.

Joey grabbed me by the waist and led me to the dance floor. The DJ was playing some pretty heavy techno-pop so Joey and I joined in. Between the heavy beat of the music, the flashing stage lights and the booze rattling my brain, I was quickly put into a hypnotic state. I could feel Joey pull me close and I could feel his body grinding into mine but I made no move to stop him. At that moment, the rest of the world seemed to disappear.

After a few songs, Joey and I were both out of breath, so we walked over to the bar and this time he ordered rum and Cokes.

“It’s a double,” he
murmured into my ear as he handed me the cold beverage. I was so thirsty from dancing the drink went down way too quickly. Joey gave me a sexy grin then downed his drink. He excused himself and a few minutes later, he was back with two more rum and Cokes.

I could feel myself moving quickly into wasted territory but I felt helpless to stop it. I tried to sip the new drink Joey handed me but it tasted too good and was too smooth going down my throat.

Joey leaned in and whispered in my ear. “Wanna dance again?”

I nodded. I held the slightest hope that maybe some physical activity would sober me up a bit.

“Finish your drink first,” he ordered.

I nodded and drank what remained in the cup. Joey grabbed the empty from me and tossed it with his into the trash.

I could feel him grab my ass but my reflexes were slow and I only half-heartedly made an effort to shoo his hand away. He laughed. Then he leaned down and kissed my neck. My body responded to his touch and I squirmed a little.

“I love
it when you wear your hair in a ponytail,” he sighed. “It shows off your sexy neck.”

Joey grabbed me and pulled me with him toward the dance floor. I was so drunk I actually felt boneless. Joey was now behind me. He placed his hands on my stomach and pulled me in close. I was so close there was no space between my back and his front. As we moved together to the music, I could feel his erection hard against m
e.

“God, Anna,” he whispered in my ear. “You’re so fucking hot.”

My head was swimming with all kinds of crazy and only semi-rationale thoughts. I only planned on having one or two beers and going home alone. Now it seemed like I was fated to go home with Joey. Did I even want to be with Joey? I remembered promising Brett I would say no if I didn’t want to have sex with someone. But now, drunk, with Joey’s erection pressed against me, it didn’t seem like an option.

And there was a small voice deep inside telling me that I only wanted to be with Brett
but he wasn’t there. He was hundreds of miles way. Or so I thought.

Until I felt a hand on my upper arm yank me from Joey’s
clutches.

“What the fuck, Man,” I heard Joey yell and before it even registered, I was standing behind Brett. He had placed himself between me and Joey.  

I could see Joey shake his head. “Dude, not again.”

Brett waved a finger in Joey’s face. “Stay away from Anna.”

Joey shook his head. “This is not cool. You’d better keep your girlfriend on a tighter leash or something, man.”

“She’s not a dog,” Brett spat.

Joey threw up his hands. “Whatever, man. This is nuts. I’m outta here.” And without even a glance back, Joey disappeared into the crowd.

When Brett turned his attention to me, his eyes were burning with fury. He glared at me for a few moments without saying a word. It definitely sobe
red me up. “I’m taking you home.” He grabbed my upper arm and pulled me away.

I was sobering up enough to be truly humiliated as a small crowd formed to watch as Brett pulled me through the bar and out the door. He didn’t stop until we were at his car.

“You didn’t drive, did you?” he snapped.

I shook my head. One thing I never did was drink and drive. I was at least smart enough to rent an apartment within walking distance of dozens of bars and clubs.

“Get in,” he demanded as he unlocked the doors. There was that alpha male again. It seemed to only come out when he was royally pissed at me for getting drunk and being stupid.

I did as I was told and got into the passenger’s seat. He got into driver’s side. He started the car and took off without saying anything. He didn’t utter a sound for what seemed like an eternity but probably wasn’t more than a few minutes considering the close proximity of the bar to my home.

When he parked the car, he made no motion to get out. That made me wonder if he was just going to drop me off in the parking lot and leave. I could feel tears starting to stream down my face uncontrollably. When I made a motion to open the door, he said, “Where do you think you’re going?” His tone was so harsh it scared me.

I sat back in my seat and could feel myself cowering a bit.

Brett was looking straight ahead. I wanted him to look at me but was afraid to ask.

He drew in an angry breath. “How much did you have to drink?”

I opened my mouth but no words came out. My throat was suddenly tense. “A lot,” I finally managed to squeak out.