Damn Good Reasons **DISCONTINUED - SEE NEW VER!**

Chapter 21 - Bitter Reunion

Eyeball went to the bar, pushed his way through a wall of people to yell his order to Joe and then leaned down for a word with his blonde-haired buddy. I wanted to make a beeline for the door, but my legs refused to take me. I stood stiff as a board, feeling ultimately exposed as I braced myself for impact.

Ace looked my way, and his gaze caught mine but only held for a moment before he went back to watching his game.

"Get over to the booth and hide it." Eyeball was shoving a new bottle of some unfamiliar brand of whiskey into my hands and looking over his shoulder towards the bar.

"What did you do...?"

"Just get over there," he cackled and gave me gentle shove.

"I'm going home."

Eyeball ignored all protests and forced me into the booth. He shuffled me along the seat until I was squashed up next to Jack. He kept looking over at the bar and laughing a mischievous laugh, but nobody from over that way seemed to be paying him any attention. It looked like he got away with it.

"Pour us some shots!" Eyeball put a few shot glasses down on the table, and I looked over at Ace who was still paying more attention to his baseball game than me.

Eyeball snatched the bottle from my hands and cracked it open. "Come on, I'm sobering up here!" As he poured into the little glasses, two pairs of keds went walking across the table, almost kicking them over, much to Eyeball's disgust.

Jack and Fuzzy had been making arrangements with Billy and Charlie to be up next for a game, but now they were blocked in and decided that going over the table was the easiest route out. As they both jumped off the end, Charlie slid onto the end of the bench seat followed by Billy, and I was pushed along to being squashed up against the wall... and right opposite Vince.

"Hey O'Connor," he grinned, kicking my shoe under the table.

I grabbed one of the shots and downed it. And gagged on it. "Yuck, what is that stuff!"

"It's alcohol!" Eyeball said. "And it's free."

"No wonder. I bet Joe let you steal it."

Eyeball mouthed off to defend his disgusting bottle of booze, but his voice became a blur of words when Ace took the end seat on the opposite side of the booth. He briefly looked at me and then carried on as if I wasn't there. "We need a round," he said. "Billy, you're up."

"Man... I always buy the drinks," Billy grumbled.

"Well, you're on the end! If any of these other douchebags were on the end, they'd be buying, wouldn't they?"

"Since when was that a rule?"

"Since now. Hurry up, Billy. Move it."

Billy grudgingly went over to the bar and brought back a round of beers. He slid them down the table and one arrived right in front of me. Of course, I don't usually drink beer, but the whiskey Eyeball stole tasted like it had been filtered through one of Vince's socks, and I needed something to take the edge off.

Ace guzzled his drink down without stopping for breath and then swiped the can from Billy's hand before it had even touched his lips and downed that too. "I'm out," he said, crushing the last can in his hand and looking to Billy for more.

Round two came and went and then three and four - all courtesy of Billy despite him grudging about it every time. Just as he began to protest about being made to buy round five, we all noticed Charlie straining in discomfort.

"What's the matter, Charlie?" Eyeball snickered.

"Nothin'..." he winced.

When Billy realized what was happening, his face lit up. "Ha! Drinks are on you next, asshole!"