“Hey man, where the fuck ya been?” Tobias shouted as he saw Becky hugging Martin and made his way over. Becky quickly let go of him and backed away as Tobias got close and did a half hug/half clap on the back. Martin returned the gesture and then Tobias turned to look at me, I raised a free hand and did an imitation of the finger wave from The Shining.
“Red Rum.” I added in a gravelly voice.
“I see ya brought the charity case.” Tobias said with a grimace as he put his arm around Martin’s back.
“Be cool man.” Martin said mildly annoyed. Tobias waved his hand at the suggestion as I rolled my eyes.
“It’s not charity you when you’re forced to accept it.” I quipped as I walked past the both of them and towards the front entrance. Martin made a face that I promptly ignored as I went to wait in line.
“So man, what you been up to?” One of Tobias’s group asks. I really need to put forth the effort of remembering Martin’s friend’s name. I looked at the average height guy with brown hair and a backwards baseball cap and the name ‘Sam’ popped into my head.
“Nothing much Sammy, just work.” Martin said with a shrug. Okay so I got one right. Ignoring the ‘work’ comment, I lean against the cool brick wall of the bar and take notice of the people in line. Casual and comfortable clothes, mostly jeans and t-shirts of either name brand or band logos painted on the fronts. A few wore yoga pants and slightly fitting t-shirts, but the majority seemed to be dressed in college student chic mixed with a few businessman/woman attire. No leather mini-skirts and lower than fuck neck lines here. At least a good majority of the people here are modest. And yes, that includes Becky when she wants to be.
“Hey Charity case.” Someone says as they slap me on the arm. I stifle a groan of frustration and turn to see a girl with neck length black hair and a natural tan. I tried to call up her name but I’m drawing a black. “You don’t remember my name, do you?” she asks as she rolls her eyes. I shrug with an attempted look of apology. “It’s Olivia.” She says morosely.
Oh yeah… oh yeah, how could I forget the girl that Martin studies with regularly at the apartment. “Uh… heh, sorry Olivia.”
She grunts and leans her way in between me and a girl in front of me. “Long day?” I gave her a look that she grinned at. “Heard the CDC showed up again over at MG, take it to be your doing eh?” My eye twitches at her and she smirks in response. “What for this time? Another gas leak? Virology lab explode?”
“We got rid of the virology lab after Jerry Turner decided he’d make weaponized living anthrax.” I replied and shuddered at the memory. Think of a cloud of powered sugar coming at you, now picture the bodies of your classmates and peers choking to death and you can just hear a little tiny cry of “DIE HUMANS! DIE”. Okay, not really, but you get the point. Jerry Turner, Chemical Agent as he is known nowadays, was a former student and genius in his own right. The ‘living part’ about the anthrax? No joke, it became sentient. Turner’s meddling though actually downgraded the lethality of the compound by about 80 percent somehow. So really all it did was just choke you slowly, like a tight turtle neck sweater. Except you inhaled the annoying ass shit. Thank god for fire alarms and sprinkler systems, apparently water killed the little bastards.
Olivia shrugged and her jacket seemed to open slightly. “Whatever, so what was it this time?”
“The amount of paperwork in my backpack tells me that I’m not supposed to answer without a neuralizer present.” I responded bleakly. She raised an eyebrow at that one.
“Hey yeah, I heard about that shit on the radio.” One of Martin’s friends said. “Heard that some of the guys from The Heroic Society showed up at MGU today.” Martin suddenly found the birds nest in the Flanagan’s sign incredibly interesting.
Olivia smirked and lowered her head to look at me. “Well, I think that just answered any questions I had.” I was about to make a retort when a tall muscular guy in a black shirt stepped in front of us and glared down at me.
“You got ID kid? Cause we don’t serve chocolate milk here.” The title of BOUNCER was spelled in white lettering across the right side of his shirt. I grimaced and pulled out my wallet and student ID to show him. He glared at the two pieces of plastic as if willing them to be fake. Being 5’5 can get annoying sometimes, especially since I shave regularly and don’t look like I work out. Clothes can really hide a person’s body. He finally grunted and handed my ID’s back. “Sorry for the trouble.” He grumbled.
“Just doing your job.” I responded back absently. A black cherry whiskey sour sounds good by now.
“Since when do bouncers card check while people are in line?” Olivia asks annoyed. I furrow my brow at that statement. She was right, it didn’t make since at all. Something was-
“They almost got shut down cause some freshman at CU got caught by the cops during an ID check last week.” A girl from Becky’s group said over the twittering of her phone. She looked up and smiled meekly at me. “My cousin works here, told me that they’re starting to bump up the line security. One goes through the line to look for guys like you who look young, the doorman does ID checks for fakes.” She stuck out a hand to me. “I’m Amy by the way, you’re Martin’s roommate right?” A small buzzing sensation in the back of my head told me not to trust her, and the little devil and angel on my shoulders flat out agreed she seemed like a bitch. Huh, usually they aren’t this outright mean.
“Uh… yeah. So um, you new?” I ask as I shake her hand softly, her hands were roughly calloused and didn’t fit the look she was going for. Her grip was strong too, either she was a rodeo girl or-
“No silly, I’ve been here for years.” She said with a giggling smile. I didn’t buy it, and neither did my shoulder angel and demon. Obviously I’m joking, but you understand right? Olivia shot a quizzical look over ‘Amy’s’ shoulder at me.
Martin came up behind me and leaned on my shoulder. “Hey… uh… Amy right?” Amy gave him a sly look and giggled like some stupid little girl with a crush, and I suddenly felt a death glare pass over my shoulder. I turned around and found Becky glaring, she looked at me with a gaze that said I wasn’t her target and she continued to look at Amy.
Yep, bitch is definitely-
“The lines moving!” Amy sings out happily as she grabs ahold of Martin’s arm and pulls him after her. I stumbled forward as he lets out a noise of shock and goes along with her, giving everyone a look of apology. Amy stops in front of the bouncer and pulls her ID out of her pocket and the bouncer waves them both through.
“Who the hell was that?” Olivia asks aloud as we both move towards the front of the line.
“I have no idea.” Becky said from behind us as she pushes her way through the two of us. “But she’s worse than you.” She said, giving me a withering glance over her shoulder.
“Yo, baby where you goin?” Tobais says as he comes up from behind us and races to the front door. His friends and Becky’s little group trail after him as Olivia and I step aside and let them crowd the bouncer.
“Why does she hate me so much?” I ask absent mindedly as we reform a slowly moving forward line.
“Because she sees you as a threat towards her attractability.” Olivia responds in a deadpan voice.
I give her a glance as we both get carded by the bouncer. “What the hell you talkin about woman?” She rolls her eyes and pushes her way into the bar after we get our ID’s back. The inside of the bar wasn’t exactly crowded, but it was enough to be at a noise level that required a raised vocal level in some areas. I followed Olivia as she made her way towards the back of the bar to some empty booths towards the pool tables.
Flanagan’s isn’t really different from some of the other bars around here. A large open area with a small dance area in the middle of the joint, an aged stereo system playing a local radio station that plays just about everything. At the moment, Joan Jett was rocking out over the system and a few people were trying to dance to it like they were at a rave. It just looked… wrong. The bar was the first thing you saw when you walked in, small round wooden tables littered about a wide area in between the bar and dance floor. To the right of the dance floor was a even larger area consisting of wooden booths and pool tables, sprinkled among the place was old arcade game stations like Galaga and Pac-man. We opted to go around the dance area through the extra seating area and finally managed to get to the booths.
While I was sitting down I caught of glimpse of Martin and Amy doing some kind of midway slow dance/grind. Oddly enough, people started to shy away from me as I tried to death glare Amy to where she was nothing but ashes. Becky and Tobias stood a ways away from them, but the blond and buxom Becky was trying to show off her dance moves, and good lord Daisy Duke would have walked in the opposite direction asking for a track suit to cover up. “I thought Becky was more modest than this?” I asked Olivia as I turned in disgust and slid into the booth, propping my board in between the crack of the booth and wall. My backpack went in next and finally me. Olivia slid in on the other side and sighed.
“She usually is, but at the moment she’s just trying to reassure herself that she’s attractive.” She leaned on her hand and watched the spectacle that was a mini dance floor. “That’s why she views you as a challenge. Since Martin is attracted to you instead of her, it challenged her usual sense of stability and sends her spiraling downward like at the moment.”
I started coughing at her statement and stared at her bug eyed. “How did…” I paused and sighed and rested my chin on the wooden table. “Never mind, we’re obvious and you’ve been to our apartment before.”
“Bingo.” She said with a passing glance directed at me. “Anyway, Martin’s Bi and used to be interested in Becky, Tobias as well but that’s an if.”
I shook my head. “No, it was never Tobias, or at least that’s his testimony. Though I do share his point of view on Emma Stone.” I said pondering aloud. Olivia face palmed at that one as I smirked. “What?”
“I thought you were gay all the way?” She challenged.
I shrugged as I saw a waitress come our way. “I am, and I never said I’d sleep with her. I just said I agree with him.” Her head hits the table at that one.
“Hey guys!” The waitress says in a welcoming tone. “What can I get ya?” I glance at the dance floor and see Martin giving me a sheepish look as Amy starts to twerk against him to Katy Perry. And there goes a singer I won’t be able to listen to for a few months.
“Black Cherry Whisky Sour, cheese fries and a baseball bat with nails in it wrapped with barbwire.” I growled darkly. The waitress turned to where I was looking and grimaced.
“Honey, you’ll need a crowbar and a flame thrower, not a bat.” She remarked as she wrote down my order. “I’ll throw the salt in for free.” She remarked and turned to Olivia. “Brain bleach for you? You look like you need it. A bucket as well.”
“Tom Collins,” She blanched and averted her eyes. “make that two.” The waitress and I turned to look and saw Becky and Amy doing a bump and grind.
“I’ll make that three and a little something extra for all of us.” She said as she scribbled down the order. “I’m Erica by the way, and I’ll be back with some kind of acid to wash out the memories.” She remarked with a starch expression in place.
“Anyway,” Olivia said as she shielded the side of her face with her hand. “Amy is more of a threat than you in Becky’s mind at the moment. Your something that always there and not overtly chasing after Martin. But Amy just came out of nowhere and is dragging him behind him, obviously pining for him. You’re more of an annoyance to her because she’s accepted subconsciously that Martin likes you more than her and is just acting like a bitch to continually reaffirm her attractiveness. Amy seems to present a major threat because she’s dragging away Becky’s attention.”
I stared at Olivia in amazement and she smirked. “Not a psych major for nothing.” She said smugly.
“You sounded like my therapist, back when I used to go to him.” I said in shock, then I shook it off and gave her a serious look. “So Becky isn’t after Martin?”
“God no! No matter what the hell people say, she doesn’t sleep around. She is completely faithful to Tobias, she’s just-”
“A form of attention whore?” She nods. I suddenly have a sense of guilt over judging Becky for every little thing I thought she was, and then I suddenly felt a deep passion to hit Amy repeatedly. “I forgot CU had such a good psychology program.”
“Yeah, well you can thank your colleagues for running that program out of MGU.” She retorted. I shrugged at that one. For some stupid reason the psychology department was looked down upon by a lot of the other people at MGU, so much so that they opted to no longer offer it and gave the six professors the boot. Martin decided at that point to slide in next to me.
“Dear lord, thank you for getting me out of there.” He said looking up at the ceiling in all seriousness.
“You better go into the bathroom to watch of your crotch.” I remarked darkly as I glared at him, even though he didn’t deserve. It’s not his fault he has a slight lack of backbone when he’s not in his superhero persona. “Herpes can be transmitted by skin contact in the genital area.”
“God don’t I know that.” Erica said as she sat a tray of drink down on the table. “My mother’s a nurse and you can never unheard some of the crap that they tell you.” We chuckled awkwardly as she dispensed the drinks about, Olivia handing Martin the extra Tom Collins. “I’ll be back with some lye for you junk.” Erica said in a completely serious tone to Martin, who blushed. I pulled a fry out and savored the salt and cheese.
“So how long have you known Amy?” Olivia asks as she reaches for a fry herself.
“I swear I’ve only met her once in the library.” I choked slightly on my drink and looked at him. “That’s the chick who tried to get you to suck face in the stacks?”
“Yep.” He said, popping the ‘P’ and then taking a swig. “Needs more lemon.” He said morosely.
“I think it needs more booze.” Olivia responded and she downed the rest of hers and taking a clump of cheese fries.
“I think I need to start on my paperwork.” I said with a fake cheery smile, and then slamming my forehead on the wall.
-An hour and twenty minutes later-
I groaned as I finished grading the rest of the college algebra homework and glared longingly at my empty glass. The cheese fries are long gone, and Olivia and Martin were playing doubles with Sam and Tobias as Becky sat across from me and finished draining a draft beer. “So why do you have such a stick up your ass?” Becky asks when she puts down her empty glass, a light flush on her face.
I looked up at her and glowered. “Because Martin put it up there.” I said in deadpan seriousness. She glared at me, and then started to laugh. I sat there staring at her as she started to bang the table with her fist, and then the laughter pealed into a light sob. “Uh… are you in some kind of pain?”
“No.” She sobbed lightly as she tried wiping away the tears with her sleeve, I handed her a paper napkin and she blew into it. “God I’m such a bitch.” She said, the sobbing less noticeable in her voice, but it was there.
“I really have nothing to say to that.” I responded in a blank monotone. No seriously, I don’t, not even the devil on my shoulder has anything to say at this moment. And he’s an asshole! This seemed to only stoke that fire of emotion inside Becky, cause more tears started to well up in her eyes.
“I… I have been so… you must think I’m nothing but a slut don’t you?” she said as she rested her forehead on her glass.
“Well, based upon your actions and withering glares, yeah I did.” I told her keeping the emotionless monotone. “You can thank Olivia for enlightening that point of view though.”
She sprang up from that comment. “What do you mean Olivia ‘enlightened’ you?” she demanded.
“She’s a psychology major and is quite observant, and besides that she tries to be your friend. At points, that includes either informing others or making excuses about your friends odd behavior.” I replied morosely as I started stuffing the graded homework into my bag, guh I still have to finish those damn CDC forms. “So honestly, I don’t think you’re a slut per say, I say you’re a mildly messed up attention whore.” In a moment of shining charitableness, I used my grading pen to write down a number on a napkin and handed it to her. “Look, I don’t want to hear about your life story coupled with a anymore sobs. But if you need someone to talk to and can give you advice and honest help, call this woman and set up an appointment. She doesn’t bullshit people and she can help you through any number of problems.”
She sniffed and took the napkin in shaky hands and sobbed lightly. “I…I don’t know how I’m going to tell Tobias. He… he’s al-”
“If you really and truly loved him, I’d sit him down and tell him what exactly you’re little problem is. Try to… make it simplistic as possible, but make sure to stress that it’s a complicated matter.” She tried to say something but I cut her off. “Look, you’re not the only one going through this shit, so is he. You want him to apart of your life? Then tell him about it. Therapy works wonders, trust me. Start off with just you and her if you decide to go and then try couples therapy, cause he’ll have to learn to adjust to the knowledge of knowing.”
“Ho…how do you know about this?” She asks. I smiled and put my pen up in my back.
“Homophobic daddy sweetheart, that and group therapy.” I shuddered at the last one at the annoying memories. “Everyone’s going to be affected by a sudden emotional reveal. But if he values you as much as everyone thinks he does, he’ll help you deal with it as well as cope with it.” With that closing remarked I zipped up my lime green and black backpack and pulled my board out of its slot between the booth and wall. “Now if you excuse me, I’m off to go be a nerd.” I got up to go and she grabbed my arm.
“Thanks Donovan… i… I’m sorry for being such a skank to you.” I nod and pat her hand as if she’s a child. “I guess you can thank that slut Amy for the epiphany.” She replied bitterly as she let go of my arm.
“Speaking of sluts, where’d she go?” I asked as I cracked my knuckles. “You I can deal with, that bitch I’ve got a few choice actions I’d like to do to her for those dance numbers.” Specifically a certain patter of punch, punch, smack, kick stab.
“Bitch left after she decided Tobias looked like a good territory to mark.” She replied bitterly and tried to drink some more from her empty beer class.
“Along the lines of marking ones territory,” I said as I leaned onto the table to give her a good look. “perhaps you can lay off on Martin a little bit before I show you the land of 1000 bruises.” She gulped and nodded. “Great, see you later Becky.” I grabbed a twenty out of my wallet and placed it on the table. “That’s for my drinks and food, the rest is tip for Erica, ok?” she nodded at that one as I went to the pool tables. “Hey Martin, just coming by to tell ya I’m heading back home.”
He gave me a look of disappoint until I held up my phone to show him the time. “Oh, alright then. See you in an hour or so, be careful on your way back.”
“Oh, I will. See ya later Olivia, Tobias, Sam.” I said nodding to the others.
“Uh, it’s Leland actually.” Sam said with a shrug. “Sam’s my middle name.” I gave him an accusing glare before he chuckled uneasily. “Alright I’m just joshing you.” Thought so.
“Aw come on charity, why don’t you play around of pool.” Tobias jeered as he hit the cue ball into the yellow one billiard.
“Because I play for money, and it’d just be a hustle if I played you.” I remarked as I turned and started for the door. “See you guys later.”
-Thirty minutes later-
My cell phone rang a few blocks away from my apartment. I pulled it out and answered as I pushed forward on my board. “Hello?”
“Hey Donovan!” Malan said happily through her phone. “Sorry to call so close to time, but Joey just texted me that he wasn’t going to be able to come tonight.” Great, just great. Joey is our DM and without him, we can’t play.
“So what are supposed to do?” I asked her as I swerved around a pedestrian.
“Well, everyone actually was going to be a little late. Tara is shopping for a date, Michael had to study for a test on Monday. Sarah got into a fight with a coffee maker in Wal-mart, don’t ask, so she’s trying to clean the stains out of her blouse and take a bath at the same time, or at least I think at the same time. Then of course Tori and Cat are just being lovey dovey and are always finding some excuse to make out every five extra minutes. So..”
“Fanfiction drinking game?” I suggested as I pushed off again. “I just came from Flanagan’s with Martin’s friends, and let’s just say I’m ready to get knockered.”
“I’ll text them all and see what they think.” Malan replied and hung up. I sighed and put my phone in my jacket pocket, that’s Malan, straight and to the point and then done with it.
I hopped off my board a few blocks away from my apartment and felt a little chill go up my spine and my stomach started to bounce a little. I smirked at the feeling and breathed in the excitement. ‘Something’s going to happen!’ I thought in a sing songy manner. Maybe today isn’t so bad after all.
The moment I stepped in front of the alleyway between my apartment and the deli next to it, someone or thing pulled me into it by my backpack and slammed me into the wall. I made a small noise of pain to play along and started to curse at them before the brute holding me smacked me against the wall again. That one made my eyes spin slightly, but it went away quick enough for me to be able to see my ‘captive’. It was slightly un-shockingly, the bouncer from Flanagan’s that carded me while I was in the line.
“Watch it Jericho,” I heard a gratingly familiar bubbly voice say. “don’t want our key to getting Dark Fire getting a concussion before the party starts now do we?” Amy says as she steps out from the underneath the overly clichéd darkened area beneath the fire escape. “Hey Donny baby.” She says with a pouty upper lip.