Tornado (18+)

7- Tez

"If this chick, what's her name? Paisley is as hot as you say she is, I'm already hard," Fitz says with a hiccup. "And I mean that in the nicest possible way since you're my bro and all."

I close my eyes and sink the tequila. It's my fourth night in a row drinking in The Lazy Lion, just chugging them back and feeling sorry for myself. I've already downed five shots of Tequila and on my third bottle of Budweiser and it's only eight in the evening.

I didn't plan to come here, I never do. But when Jace dropped me home and I was all alone with taunting thoughts of Paisley and this fucking Seth she was so clearly happy to hear from, I found myself calling Fitz to hang out.

"She's fire, man. Pure fucking fire. But if she's going to be at the gym twenty-four-seven when her old man buys the place, I'm in trouble. There's no way I'll be able to control myself around her."

Fitz taps the bar top and the bartender pours another round of Tequila. "Aah, but are they planning on keeping it as a gym or turning it into something else?"

I freeze, the rim of the glass within a hairsbreadth of my mouth. I hadn't thought to ask Paisley earlier what their plans are for the place. If they don't keep it as a gym I'm fucked. If they do keep it, I'm still fucked. I take the drink and slam down the glass with a gasp and a belch.

"Who knows what they've got planned. All I know is seeing her again has knocked me for six."

Jace takes a sup of beer and chuckles. "Jesus, this is more serious than I first thought."

It is serious. I don't know what I'm supposed to do or how I'm meant to act. I'm all over the place. I keep doing and saying the wrong things where Paisley is concerned.

"She thinks I'm a twat and a disappointment," I say sullenly.

"I'll drink to that," Fitz says tapping his bottle against mine with a laugh. "But no, seriously you're definitely not a twat. You're one of the nicest guys I've ever had the pleasure to know and I'm proud to call you my homie."

Now it's my turn to tap my bottle against his, and I do it with a smirk. "I'll drink to that."

My boosted ego pops like a balloon with his next sentence. "But I do agree with the disappointment thing though, mate."

I swivel around on my stool and stare out at the crowd, mainly students from the university down the road with a few builders and nursing staff thrown in for good measure. Laughter overpowers the unique tones of Post Malone's Circles playing and conversations swirl in the sharp stench of stale beer, and warm liquor. If I could dissappear into this bar I'd like to be the vibe so I could move around as easily as the music.

"You do? How do you mean?" I finally ask.

Fitz swivels on his stool too. "You've fallen into a bit of a depression pit, Tez. You're not sleeping enough; you're barely eating and all you seem interested in is getting wasted. It's disappointing given how hard you've worked. Now you're just throwing it all away."

I refrain from pinning him to the bar and unleashing the anger that's boiling away inside. "Billy was like a dad to me," I snap. "I don't know where my career is going, or if I'll even still have one. I have no direction, no purpose. I'm left in limbo until Macy sells Stallone's. Until then, I'll do what I like and without a fucking lecture."

I spot the chick over in the left corner of the room. She's shaking her hips to the music, making eyes at me. She's just another nameless face in the crowd, It's not like she can take this pain away. Nobody can.

"It isn't just Billy though is it, it's this woman who's turned up too."

I wish I hadn't confided in him about Paisley. Fitz will psychoanalyze me and regurgitate articles he's read online about bereavement and unrequited love.