The One Who Got Away

It was nearing 2 in the morning; most of the clubs on the block were closing for the night. This one, however, stayed open until 3. Not many people were still out but the few that remained were going strong.

One stayed at the bar, the bartender filling her drink order without having to ask what she’ll have next or if she’d even like to have another. As a fresh drink was placed in front of her, a group of girls cleared away from the bar and a lonesome guy approached sheepishly. She studied him. He was obviously drunk, but she had a feeling he was with a group of people.

“You lost?” she asked, noticing how he sighed at his beer instead of chugging it.

“Me?” he asked, shocked at her presence.

“You’re the only one around,” she replied.

“My friends abandoned me,” he answered. “I haven’t been able to find them since we got here. I’ve been trying to find them because I don’t have money for a cab back to our hotel, you know?”

She nodded and sipped her drink. He was cute; brown eyes, brown hair, and a smile that could kill. He didn’t look dangerous; he looked scared, in fact. “I could help you.”

At her offer, he found himself looking at her in awe. He hadn’t honestly looked at her, just glanced a few times. Her lips were stained some shade of pink and her hair was pulled back, her bangs pinned out of her eyes. She had a thin layer of black eyeliner and a light brush of green eyeshadow to offset her blue eyes. She had on a pair of heels that were so tall that he had a hard time figuring out how she was still standing.

“You would? You don’t even know me,” he said quickly, realizing he had been staring.

She shrugged, finishing her drink and waving her hand to the bartender. “I’ve got to get home somehow. Let me just pay my tab and we can go.”

The bartender handed her a receipt. She quickly signed it, handed it back and looked at her new friend with another smile. “Ready to go?”

He nodded quickly, stepping away from the bar. She led the way outside and hailed a cab. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“The Hilton about 12 blocks away,” he said with a sigh. “This is why I was trying to find everyone else. It’s so far away.”

A cab pulled up to the curb and they both climbed in. “The Hilton on 17th, please,” she told the driver.

“You’re pretty,” he blurted.

She laughed softly, turning to look at him. “Thank you. How much have you had to drink?”

He shrugged and leaned forward, pressing his lips to hers. Shocked, she pulled away. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I couldn’t help it.”

“Are you going to be ok getting up to your room by yourself?” she asked, watching as he swayed back and forth.

“I think so,” he muttered.

“I’m not mad,” she said.

He looked up, getting lost in her eyes. He closed his eyes, leaning back against the seat. The least thing he heard was her giggle softly.

She shook him awake when they reached the hotel. She handed the driver some money with one hand, tugging with the other. She couldn’t believe he had passed out this hard already.

“You need help, lady?”

“I got it, just give me a second,” she grunted, pulling him to the door. She carefully stepped out and stood by the curb, tugging him toward her. “Hey, wakey wakey. We’re here.”

He opened an eye slightly, looking up at her. “Oh, god,” he groaned, crawling out of the taxi. He started tipping over as he clumsily made his way to the front door, so she shut the door and quickly followed in his footsteps.

“I’m going to help you up, ok?” she said, draping one of his arms over her shoulders. “Can you find your room key, please?”

He dug through his various pockets. He pulled out his phone and handed it to her, then found a pack of gum and handed that to her as well. Everything he found, he handed to her to hold.

“I’m on the fourth floor,” he said. “I know that much.”

They entered the elevator and she carefully leaned him against the wall, making sure he slumped into the corner. She pressed the number four and turned to watch him dig through his clothes.

“What if I said I wanted you to stay?” he asked, taking a moment to look at her. He had turned one of his pant pockets inside out and forgot to tuck it back in properly. She smiled.

“I’d say you’re drunker than I am,” she laughed.

He frowned slightly, handing her his keys. He finally pulled out the keycard from the inside pocket of his jacket. “Room 438,” he announced.

She took the key from him and handed him his belongings. He stuffed everything into one pocket and stumbled off the elevator before her. She quickly caught up to him.

“This is your room,” she said, grabbing his wrist to keep him from continuing down the hall.

“Please stay,” he pleaded when she had the door open for him. He leaned forward and slowly kissed her. This time, she kissed him back. She would have never guessed that she’d willingly kiss a stranger, but there she was, doing just that.

“You’re really pretty,” he said again.

She nodded, at a loss for words. She had no idea what else to say to him, she had said thank you already. He pulled her into his room and closed the door, cautiously kissing her again to make sure she was really going to stay. She pushed herself closer to him, inadvertently deepening the kiss. They shuffled into the room and broke apart so they could remove their jackets. Soon there was a pile of clothes lying on the floor.

He wasn’t there when she woke up in the morning. He wasn’t at the bar again that night. He didn’t try to find her and she didn’t try to find him. The biggest regret of the whole night wasn’t that – surprise – she ended up pregnant; it was that she never found out his first name. She supposed it was better that way; the anonymity of it all made her feel better about the future. There would be fewer questions to answer about where he was, what he did, and why he wasn’t around.

Five months pregnant, she had a little bit of a belly showing. She could still wear her normal clothes, even though they had become slightly snug, and she could still continue on with her day-to-day without needing much help from friends or family.

She walked out of a coffee shop with a muffin in hand. There was some sort of commotion going on up the street, in exactly the direction she needed to be going in. Sighing, she braced herself for some sort of protest. Instead, though, she stumbled upon a group of boys her age and a gaggle of young teenage girls surrounding them. She squeezed through one layer of girls and stopped when her eyes locked on his; it was the boy from the bar.

“Oh, my God,” he muttered, grabbing for the boy next to him. His eyes never left hers as he gripped the boy’s shirt for attention.

“What do you want, Jack?” he demanded, annoyance in his voice. His eyes slid from the girl in front of him to the girl Jack was staring at.

“Your name is Jack?” she asked softly, a hand instinctively resting on her stomach.

Another boy approached the group, this one looking a bit older and more in-charge. He said something into Jack’s ear and Jack nodded. The other guy approached her, introduced himself as Matt, and offered for her to join them on the bus a few yards away so they could talk in peace. She had no other option but to accept, wanting to know more about what she had just stumbled upon.

She sat on the bus with a group of other guys. They were all staring at her in awe, wondering who exactly she was and what she wanted.

“Um,” she stammered, breaking the silence. She stood up and cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I should be here.”

“Please stay,” Matt said softly. “I know this is extremely awkward and uncomfortable, but he’s talked about you a lot.”

“I bet he never imagined me like this, huh?” she offered half-heartedly. They all averted their gazes. “I know this sounds crazy, but are you all in a band?”

“We work for them,” one of them said. “The boys outside, they’re the band. All Time Low.”

Her heart sank. She slept with a band member. No one would ever believe her now. They would never believe she had no idea who they are or that she only just found out his name is Jack.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologized again. “I really can’t stay. I had no idea he was in a band. I didn’t want this to happen to me, and I don’t want to do this to him.”

“Stay.”

She turned her head and saw him standing in the entryway. He looked absolutely panicked, the fear evident in his eyes. The others that had been sitting around with her had all gotten up and moved to the back of the bus somewhere out of sight.

“Why?” she asked. “You don’t know me. I just found out your name is Jack and you’re in a band. This is not what you need, nor what you want.”

“Stay,” he repeated. “I may be in a band and I may be on tour all the time, but when I met you I could have easily said no to your offer for a ride. I could have made it inside by myself. I could have shut you out once you got me upstairs. But I accepted the offer, I let you help me inside, and I begged you to stay. Just like I’m doing right now.”

“You don’t know me, though,” she whispered.

He held his hand out to her. “Hi. I’m Jack Barakat. It’s nice to meet you.”

She swallowed hard as she slowly placed her hand in his. “I’m Rose Lagasse. It’s nice to meet you, too, Jack.”