Sooner Than Later, I'll Need a Saviour

I was in the middle of doing nothing, my favorite pastime, when my phone began to ring. I sighed and paused my DVD of Nightmare Before Christmas to look at the LCD screen of my phone to see who was calling me. Matt’s name flashed across it. I frowned at this. Matt was one to rarely call me. And after last night I was surprised he would contact me at all. I flipped it open and muttered a ‘hello’.

A giggle was heard, followed by a, “Hey, I do know him!”

“Matt?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at the familiar yet unfamiliar voice. It was five in the evening and I had a girl calling me from Matt’s phone that claims to know me. Wouldn’t you be confused? The sound of the phone being passed around and a ‘shush’ was heard.

“Hey Zack, do you know a girl named Alice? She said she knew a green eyed Zacky and she recognized Johnny from last night. Or, at least, that’s what she told me.”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well we found her at the beach and played football. She hung out with us for the past four hours and she kind of got drunk. I don’t know where to take her, I thought maybe you could take care of her? I have to get to work.” Matt was a trainer at a twenty-four hour fitness place. He was quite successful as his giant muscles could prove.

“What about Jimmy and Johnny?” I groaned. As much as I cared for Candy and told her I’d be nice to her friend whether I liked her or not, this was my time. I’d rather not share it. After a few moments of silence I sighed. “Right, they can’t take care of fish much rather a living person.”

“So I’ll be at your apartment in five minutes. Thanks again dude.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I murmured, hanging up and tossing my phone onto the opposite end of the couch. I pressed ‘play’ and continued to watch Jack Skellington and the rest of the town singing about Christmas. Well if I was going to lose my personal time in five minutes I was going to watch this as much as I could. About ten minutes later a knock came from my front door. I crossed the room and pulled it open.

“Sorry it took so long. She didn’t want to get out of the car,” Matt explained as he walked in. One of Alice’s arms were draped over his shoulders. One of his hands held hers so the arm would stay in place and his other arm was wrapped around her waist.

“Heeeey. You’re that one…dude,” she finished lamely with a frown. I rolled my eyes and shut my front door. Matt dropped Alice on the couch who giggled uncontrollably at the television screen. “Jackie!”

“How much did she drink exactly?” I questioned with a raised eyebrow as she began her crappy remission of “This Is Halloween” though it wasn’t on.

“Well her and Jimmy, since he isn’t working for another hour, got into a shot war. Of course Jimmy, being sly like he is, just passed her most of his shots instead of taking them,” Matt informed with a small smirk.

“That doesn’t answer my question; how much did she drink?” Matt chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. I had known Matt since freshman year in high school and I learned to know when he was trying to hide something. He would rub his neck and look to his left, which he was doing now.

“Three fourths of a bottle of Jack.” I groaned and ran a hand through my hair.

“Don’t you idiots know she could get alcohol poisoning from that?” I growled. I was taken aback along with Matt. I had never spoken to Matt like that, not even when Brian had allowed Jimmy to drink that much in high school. I was worried for him, being such a close friend and all. He had a few drugs before hand and I thought I was going to have to help bury one of my best friends. This girl was doing something to me and I couldn’t tell if I liked it or not.

“Sorry dude, okay? Look, I have to go to work. Let me know if anything happens,” Matt said, backing towards my door. I nodded and waved towards it my hand. With that he left my apartment and it was just me, my movie, and a small, drunken inconvenience.

I sat down next to her, but she was too entranced with the movie to pay attention to me. She had changed a little from the last time I saw her. She looked clean and her hair was up. Instead of the ratty looking skinny jeans she wore before she was now clad in just some dark blue short shorts. Her bag was still on her back but she didn’t seem to notice it.

“Do you have anything to eat?” I was snapped out of my thoughts as she turned to me with a lopsided grin. “Like Takis or something?”

“Are you high?” I asked bluntly. I did not need a munchies girl in my house. I’d have no food by the end of the day. She snorted at me.

“I wish. I had a joint, but I lost it at the beach.” She leaned in and whispered to me, “But I think that talking garden gnome stole it. He ran from Matt’s only after ten minutes, pretty fast too.”

“Oh.” I was at lost for words. I’d have to ask my brother if Johnny did, in fact, get high today.

“So do you?”

“Huh?”

Alice let out an exaggerated and said slowly, “Do you have any Takis?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I murmured. I stood and walked over to my cabinet. I pulled out the half eaten purple bag and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. I gave her the bag which caused her to squeal happily and began to attack the Mexican chips. I placed down the water and walked towards the bedroom area. “You can finish the bag if you want.”

“You’re my new best friend, Zacky my dear,” Alice announced with her slurring voice. I rolled my eyes and sat down in front of my computer. I had some photos to upload and some people to set appointments with. I had been meaning to since yesterday, but I had been procrastinating. Now that Alice was here I felt like I needed to do something. As I was going through pictures and reducing their sizes, I felt a presence behind me.

“Can I help you?” I turned slightly to see Alice next to me. She still had the bag in her left hand and the index and thumb fingers on her right hand were tinted red. She popped another chip into her mouth, continuing to stare at the current picture. It was a random shot of someone that I took. All you could see was a guy with shaggy, black hair with a bright red beanie, a cigarette in one hand, and smoke coming out of his mouth.

“That’s cool,” she said simply, pointing with the pinky on her stained fingers’ hand.

“Thanks?” She still stood there, studying the picture as if she was going to draw every single detail in her mind. I sighed and leaned back in my seat. “What?”

She looked at me and frowned, taking a step back. “Well sorry. Didn’t know it was illegal to stare and compliment people’s work. Geeze.”

“It is when you’re drunk and just creeping over my shoulder like that,” I murmured, turning back to the screen and saving the picture before opening another to resize.

“Excuuuuse me. But I am only tipsy now,” Alice proclaimed. She then tossed the now empty bag into the trash by my ‘kitchen’ and licked her fingers clean. “Where’s your bathroom?”

“Through there.” I pointed at the red door. She nodded and walked through, shutting it behind herself. I pulled out my cell phone, scrolled to my brother’s name, and patiently held my phone to my ear.

“Hello?” I instantly recognized it as Matt’s girlfriend Jill’s voice. Matt, Jill, and Johnny were probably the only people I knew that didn’t have cell phones, which was very inconvenient.

“Hey Jill. It’s Zacky.” A loud, girly squeal was heard which caused me to hold the phone away from my ear. I smiled and brought the phone back as she began to talk.

“It’s been such a long time Zack! How are you?”

“Pretty good Jill. And you?”

“Your brother is gone at work and I’m bored. Johnny is in the living room playing Call of Duty or some shit like that.”

“Well is Johnny acting…funny?”

She snorted. “You mean more than usual? Yeah, why?”

“He’s probably high.” Jill sighed and muttered something that I couldn't make out under her breath. I probably have just let the beast in Jill out. Oh well, Johnny brought it upon himself.

“I have to go kick his ass and put him in bed. I don’t want to deal with a strung out guy. I don’t care if I’m younger than him. Thanks Zack.”

“No problem. Make sure not to kill him.”

“No promises.” Once we said our goodbyes I disconnected and placed my phone on my desk. I peered at the time to see I had talked to Jill for ten minutes. I looked over to my bathroom to see the door shut still. I stood to my feet and crossed the room to the door. I knocked on it and waited a moment.

“Alice?” I knocked again and waited. There was still no reply. I tested the doorknob and found out it was unlocked. I peeked my head in and sighed. She had flushed her business away (as I heard sometime on the phone), pulled up her pants, and started to wash her hands. She was now in a heap on the floor, hands still covered in lathered soap. I sighed and knelt next to her.

“You are such a pain.”

I brushed her bangs from her forehead and sucked in a sharp breath. Even when she was passed out drunk she is still one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen. I shook my head. Stop thinking like that Zacky. She hates your guts when she’s sober. I cleaned off her hands before picking her up bride style. I carried her back out into the main room and laid her on my bed after removing her bag. I walked over to my TV and started the movie back over, lying the bag next to the couch.

“When she gets up, she’s gone.”