Desolation

twenty six

The bartender came around, pushed a tray with 4 beers on it towards me and then turned to Rose.

"You've been drinking mad fast, Noelle. I'll get another one," he grabbed her glass and was about to go back but I stopped him.

"No you won't, she's had enough for tonight," I looked at him sternly.

Before he could say anything, Rose started whining, "I want another drink, come on."

The bartender, who's name was Luke supposedly, turned to her and raised an eyebrow, "Do you know this guy?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.

As if she was gonna remember anything. She was absolutely drunk.

She turned back to look at me and then smiled widely, "Stephen! Hey what are you doing here?" she drawled. Even though I was kinda mad at her, the way she was behaving immensely amused me.

"She knows me, we work together," I ignored what Rose was mumbling and informed the Luke guy. "Listen I'm gonna go, give these drinks to my friends and come back but while I'm gone I want you to keep an eye on her, don't let her wander off," I instructed him and he nodded his head.

I turned back to Rose but she was looking off to the other side, "Hey," I tried to get her attention and she looked at me, "Don't go anywhere alright? Stay here, I'll be back in a minute," I said softly while brushing a strand of hair off of her face and tucking it behind her ear.

She didn't say anything and just smiled at me. She was so fucking different when she was drunk, it was funny.

I grabbed the tray from the glass table and went back to Aaron and the other guys. I heard all of them laughing about something as I got closer and I quickly put the drinks down on the table. I stood standing up and Aaron gave me a confused look.

"I have to go," I said in a hurry, trying to get back to Rose as soon as I could.

"What happened?" Aaron asked while the other guys looked between the two of us.

"There's something urgent I need to take care of and I need to leave. I'm sorry guys, it was nice to meet you," I said turning to Anthony and Kyle. They nodded their heads at me and smiled telling me it was good to see me too.

Aaron gave me a look and told me to call him before I left the table and walked back to where Rose was. My steps were hurried and I quickly reached back to the bar. Rose sat there on the same stool and Luke stood in front of her on the other side.

"Hey thanks man," I nodded my head at Luke and took a seat next to Rose.

"Look, you're back so fast," Rose seemed shocked with how quick I had gone and came back even though it wasn't that fast.

I smiled at her and turned to Luke, "Why is she so fucking drunk and how the fuck was she even gonna get back home?" I asked him.

"Don't get too mad," he raised his hands in surrender, "She does this every single year. She'll come here on 13th July every year and get super drunk. My duty is to not ask any questions and have her safely reach her home," he informed me.

"And how do you do that? How do you get her home?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I drive her back to her house once my shift ends," he said nonchalantly.

"God she's so reckless," I mumbled while looking at Rose who kept playing with the burnt ashes of the cigarettes. She smoked and drank way too much and I didn't even know why.

"Do you know why she does this? Every single year?" I asked Luke while still looking at Rose. She was heartbreakingly beautiful.

"Something terrible happened to her years ago. I don't know what it was or anything about it," he mentioned.