Heroes...And The Rest Of Us.

"I got in a fight with Alex and I want to go out" Daisy tells me over the phone.

It's been over a week since my fight with Adam. He stopped calling two days ago, probably tired of me not answering. I don't know what my problem is, I want to work things out with him. I feel like I'm going through the worst thing in my life without the person who feels the exact same way.

When I answered Daisy's call, I was sleeping on the couch with Charlie. Mike went to band rehearsal or something.

"Well, I'm in bed" I tell her.

"I'm on my way over, get ready"

"I wasn't really in the mood to go out"

"Get in the mood, I'll see you when I get there" And she hangs up.

"Ugh" I say, gently pushing Charlie off of my stomach where he fell asleep. I walk into my bedroom and lay face down on my bed and fall asleep again. I'm woken up a little while later by Daisy screaming at me.

"Are you going out in your sweatpants? I don't think so! Get up!" She starts going through my closet, tearing some clothes off the hangers. I sit on the edge of the bed and watch her.

"What did you guys fight about? You just got together" I ask. Maybe I can counsel her and she'll change her mind about going out.

"It was stupid" She says, turning from her search. "Wear this" She tosses some clothes at me. I look at the stuff, a denim min skirt and a black long sleeved shirt.

"Really? A mini skirt?" I say, "You've got to be kidding"

"No, get dressed" Big sigh.

"Fine"

I quickly get dressed and curl my short hair into ringlets, adding some gel so that they last all night. When I'm done, I go out to the living room with two pairs of shoes in my hands. Daisy is sitting on the arm of the couch, waiting for me.

"Which ones do you like best?" I say , holding the shoes out for her to see.

"Those" She points at a pair and I put them on.

"Let's go" I say, leaving a note for Mike.

When we get on the road I ask where were going.

"The Rainbow" I nod.

When we get there, we pay the cover charge and go to the bar to order drinks.

"Vodka, double on the rocks, please" I say to the bartender. Daisy orders a shot of Jager and a beer. I have no plans to get wasted tonight, but Daisy is another story. I still haven't gotten her to tell me what the fight with her new boyfriend was about. I hear someone yelling our names from across the bar. I turn and see Cody and Blower, sitting in a booth, waving us over. I carefully guide Daisy's wasted ass over to the booth.

"What is up, ladies?" Cody asks.

"I don't really want to be babysitting tonight" I say, he laughs.

We all chat for a while until I excuse myself to get some fresh air. I stand in the alley behind the bar and dig through my purse, looking for my cigarettes.

"What the hell did I do with those?" I say to myself and then it dawns on me. "Shit!" I say.

"Sophie?" I look up from my purse and see Adam.

"Hey"

"How are you?"

"Well, I'd be better if I hadn't given my cigarettes to Mike" He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out his cigarettes, he hands me one and I put it in my mouth. He lights it for me.

"Thanks" I say, exhaling smoke.

"What are you doing here, Sophie?" He asks.

"Babysitting Daisy. Thanks for the cigarette" I say , walking away from him. He doesn't say anything. I put the cigarette out and go back inside. I order another drink and go back to the booth where Daisy is still sitting with Cody and Blower. We hang out for a while, I see Adam at the bar by himself.

"I'll be right back" I tell Daisy.

"OK!" She chirps.

I go to the bar and stand next to Adam's bar stool.

"How're you doing?" I ask him.

"Do me a favor" He says.

"What?"

"Don't go down this road, don't do what I'm doing, don't try to kill your pain with booze"

"Like you are" I say.

"Pretty much" He takes a sip of his drink, then purposely tips the glass over on the bar, spilling it everywhere. I raise my eyebrows at him. The bartender flips out.

"What the fuck, man?"

"It's watered down" Adam says.

"The hell it is, you've been in here everynight for a week, you don't know what you're talking about" The bartender yells.

"Make me a new drink, I want to watch you make it"

The guy makes the new drink and slams the glass down in front of Adam.

"Thank you" Adam says with an evil smile on his face.

"Are you done?" I ask him.

"Done with what, sweetheart?"

"Done being an ass, I need my best friend back"

"If you remember correctly, I didn't start this fight" He says.

"Don't blame me"

"Never"

I hear a voice from behind us speak up.

"Who's this, Adam? The latest cunt you fed your sob story to?" We both turn and see a hellish looking woman.

"Watch you mouth, Chris" Adam says. I recognize the name as his ex-girlfriend.

"Excuse me, a little touchy aren't you?"

"I'm not in the mood, Chris. Just go away" He turns back to the bar.

"I want to talk to you" She says.

"About what?"

"About life, how are you?"

"Not real well"

"Aren't you going to ask how I'm doing?"

"I wasn't planning on it" He says.

"I'm getting married"

"Good for you, you were never single for very long"

"Well, you know what they say"

"Whats that? Once a whore, always a whore?"

"Hey!" A guy comes ands stands next to Chris.

"Who the fuck are you?" Adam asks.

"This is my fiancee" Chris says.

"Another winner, I see"

"You want to watch how your speaking to the lady?" The fiancee says to Adam.

"Trust me, she's not a lady" Adam says, laughing to himself. He looks at me now.

"You wanna get out of here" He asks me.

"Yes" I walk to the booth to get my purse and to ask the guys if they'll take Daisy home. I can only handle one drunk person at a time. When I get back to the bar, Adam is standing and Chris' fiancee is in his face.

"Don't get in my face, it won't end well for you" Adam says to the fiancee.

"Your drunk!" Chris yells at Adam.

"Your high and so is he!" He says, pointing at her and her fiancee.

"Don't fall for his lies, honey! He's not clean, acts all high and mighty, but he's no different that any other addict!" Chris yells at me.

"Shut up, Chris!!" Adam yells.

"He'll cheat on you! just like he cheated on me!"

"I said, that's enough!" Adam screams.

"What?" She says, "You can't take it? You almost killed me that night, do you remember that? Before you cheated on me, you fucker!"

He doesn't say a word, just stares at her. I can see him tilt his drink at her, like he's going to dump it on her any second. I reach out and hit the glass so that it falls out of his hand onto the floor. He looks at me like I've grown another head.

"Let's go" I say through gritted teeth.

He follows me out the door to his car, he hands me the keys.

"You better drive" He says. I nod.

"God, that fucking bitch! She just couldn't wait to rub all that shit in my face, like she's so much better. She's fucking high right now, so is her redneck fiancee" He yells once were in the car.

I start laughing uncontrollably in my seat. I pound my fists against the steering wheel.

"What is so damn funny?" He asks me.

"Our life, Adam! How the hell does this shit keep happening to us? I mean, it never ends. Me cheating on John, that night at the bar, the drugs, John coming on to me, the baby, the miscarriage, this! It never fucking ends. Why can't we just be normal for once?"

"It's not perfect, that's for damn sure" He says. I grip the steering wheel hard. "But, theres nowhere I'd rather be" I nod.

"Me either" We sit in silence for about ten minutes. I see Chris and her fiancee walk across the parking lot the their car, they don't notice us. I look over at Adam, I can see his eyes on her. He looks at me and rolls his eyes.

"Do you want to talk about what happened in there with her tonight?" I ask.

"I'd be happy to never say her fucking name again"

"You loved her once" I say. More a statement than a question. He snorts.

"Yes, I did. That was a long fucking time ago"

"Did you cheat on her?"

"Yeah"

"Was she always on drugs or is this a new thing?"

"She was the one who taught me how to inject drugs"

"Wow"

"Chris was the closest thing I had to a steady girlfriend when I was on drugs, mostly because she was as fucked up as I was. She understood, I guess. Oh course, that shows how much I respected her, I never would have put anyone else through that"

I take a deep breath.

"She said that you hit her" He turns to face me.

"I never hit her, understand that, I don't care how mad I was, I never hit her"

"I believe you, why would she say that?"

"Because that night, I was in the bathroom, hiding from her, getting high because I knew that whatever smack I had, she would want half of it and I didn't want to share" I nod.

"Well, I was sitting on the floor and she came home and figured out what I was doing and she bashed in the door. And when she did that, it hit my shoulder, and all of my shit spilled, gone forever. I was a mess, I got totally pissed off and she says that I tried to choke her, and that I hit her, but that's all bullshit" He says.

"Did you hate her then?" I ask.

"I hated everyone, especially her. I treated women very poorly back then and I'm not proud of anything I did, because I would never think of doing that shit now"

"Like what kind of shit?"

"Using words that aren't acceptable, cheating, but I never hit a woman, ever, not to say that I didn't ever come close" He says.

"So you cheated on her"

"Yeah"

"How did she know?"

"I told her, like I said. I wasn't exactly a gentleman in those days. I would never cheat on you, I value the people in my life now more than I ever did back then" I sigh.

"Well Adam, the balls in your court now, what do you want to do about us?"

"It's become evident to me that without you, I'm nothing"

"It's your decision, Adam, I'm committed"

"Me too"

"This feels like a business transaction" He laughs.

"Well, in that case, will you stay at my place tonight? Not because you feel like you have to, because you want to"

"Yeah, I will, because I want to"