Fragments

6.2

                6.2

            The club is dark and thick with smoke as Adam guides me in. With my height I can barely see over the crowd so I keep my side pressed into him, not wanting to get split up. It so happens that he might be only way of getting out of this part of town.

            “You won’t get carded here,” Adam says, his lips next to my ear so he can be heard over the loud music. What seems to be a club has now changed its pace from mainstream pop music to the live alternative band on a makeshift stage. “But if you want a drink you might have to show your boobs.”

            I laugh lightly, trying to put everything that’s happened today behind me. “Of course I do.”

            He leads me towards the bar and orders a rum and coke. The bartender, a bald man in his mid-thirties with a head tattoo, scowls at me.

            “A water, please.”

            As he starts filling our glasses I turn towards Adam who’s looking towards the band, his head nodding in time with the beat of the drums.

            “Are you a groupie?” I ask.

            Adam laughs and shakes his head. “I got stood up on a date so some old friends of mine took me out to cheer me up.” My heart stings, as if I’ve been punctured. A date? “Now you’re here, though. So I don’t need them.”

            He smiles and there’s warmth in it, but I don’t have the courage to return it honestly. Sure, Adam and I never initiated anything with each other, but the thought of him going on a date makes me frown. And I hate that it does.

            “Maybe it’s a sign,” I say, taking my drink from the bartender as he walks over. I put the straw to my lips and sip, only to cough it back out. It’s not water at all. It’s vodka.

            Adam doesn’t notice. “That you showed up? Maybe it is.” He grins and I roll my eyes.

            “I meant her standing you up.” I set the drink back down and catch the bartender looking at me. When I meet his eyes, he points to the opposite end of the bar where a dark haired guy sits. In the dim it’s hard to see, but when he gives me a sarcastic wave, my heart drops. “What band is playing tonight?”

            “I don’t know, some post-hard core, scream-y one, probably.”

           I purse my lips together and ignore the harsh taste of the alcohol. “Of course.”