STRESSED: a status short

Stressed

            “Are you alright?”  Allie’s green eyes were full of worry.

            I took a deep breath and ran my hands over my face.  I shook my head and smiled at her.  “I’m probably just tired.”

            “Maybe you should take a break for a few days.”

            I gave her a hug.  “I can’t.  I have one week to get the final edits done if I’m going to get it out by Christmas.  It’s my own damned fault.  It seems like any time I sit down to do edits on ‘Destiny’, I end up getting a brainwave for ‘Tyler’s Story’.”

            “Where are you heading right now?”  Sammie looked like she was going to tell me I had a curfew.

            “Tee just phoned.  I’m gonna head over to Peter’s for a drink.  You guys wanna come?  He’s got imports on sale tonight.”

            Sammie shook her head.  “I have a date.”  She grinned at my whoop.

            “He finally asked you out?”

            She blushed.

            “I want details when you get home!”  I turned to Allie and tried to keep from frowning as the rhythmic BOOM BOOM filled my head.  “What about you?”

            She grinned.  “You know me and imports.”

            I laughed as she grabbed her wallet.  “Later, Sammie!  Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do!”

            She stuck her tongue out at us as we walked out the door.  I snuck a look up at Allie’s bedroom window as a new wave of resounding base filled my head.  I smirked and linked my arm with my friend’s.  I definitely could use a drink.

*****

            I parked the truck in a spot at the end of the parking lot.  Peter’s wasn’t known for its rowdy crowd, but there had been the odd fight in the parking lot and I didn’t need any of my windows smashed in.  I spotted Taneesha’s long curly black hair and headed toward the booth she was sitting in.

            “Hey, hun!”  I gave her a hug and sat beside her.  Her brown eyes, so dark they could have been black, lit up at the sight of us.

            “Hello, my loves!  Where’s Sammie?”

            Allie grinned.  “She had a date.”

            BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!  I looked to the people dancing and tried to ignore the fact that the music they were dancing to didn’t match the beat pounding in my head.

            “What can I get you, girls?”  Our waitress’ voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

            The beat in my head was starting to give me a headache.  “I’ll take a round of tequila, a shot of Jack, and a mug of Guinness.”

            Allie and Tee raised eyebrows at me.  I shrugged.

            “A mug of New Castle, please.”  Allie grinned.  “And you’d better add a round of apple pie shots.”

            The waitress left to fill our order.  I rubbed by temples and took a deep breath.  BOOM! BOOM!

            “Mi, are you ok?”  Tee frowned as she took a drink of her beer.