Painting Flowers

There was nothing left to do after that except head back to The Thunderbird. Clothed, of course.

Cain flashed me a smile when the door pinged open, “Hey there, Audi.” The nickname was a slam at the lack of car knowledge I had. My father was an orthodontist, not a mechanic. That meant I ended up with straight teeth, not the owner’s manual to all Fords memorized.

“Have you been this dead all day?” I asked, walking towards the bar owner. I swiftly tied my small waitress apron on around my waist and edged my way between a wooden box of Budweiser. “Shit, you’re gonna have to close the place down.”

He snorted while in the middle of inventory counts, “If I made it through the worst of the recession I think I can manage a slow day. I do appreciate your never ending optimism though.”

I rolled my eyes, “Whatever you say, boss. I hope you don’t need me to do any heavy lifting.” I eyed the stack of alcoholic beverages that sat unorganized in the backroom. Tuesdays were truck days and I usually tried to avoid being on the schedule when our inventory came in.

“Again, love the enthusiasm.” Cain said sarcastically. Scraping a bar stool against the floorboards, I hopped up and leaned against the countertop. He looked at me from the top of his clipboard, “You know I don’t like that, Audrey.”

“Good thing no one is here to see.” I waved a hand at the empty bar. There was only a lone man sitting in the corner reading The National Inquirer while Bruce Springsteen’s raspy voice trudged through ‘Born in the USA’ from the outdated radio.

He sighed, “Okay, so what’s going on? You’re being more bitchy than usual.”

“Are you even allowed to say bitchy at work?” I questioned with narrow eyes.

“I do own the place so I should be entitled to some liberties,” he pointed out. “But is it some lady troubles or something?”

I exhaled sharply, “No, Cain. I am not PMS-ing. If you ask me again I’ll have to hit you even if you are my boss.”

Cain shrugged and set his papers down, “That’s fair enough.” He took a step forward and pitched his voice lower, “Maybe I can help cheer you up.” His hand grazed the small of my back rousing goose bumps on my skin.

After the frustration Jack had caused me earlier in the afternoon, I was in no mood for more sex. At least not in the same day. I turned my body from Cain, “No, not now.”

“But yesterday in the stockroom…”

“There’s a customer.” I jumped from the barstool and gained balance in my high heels. “We’ll talk about this later, okay?”
The customer, however, seemed to be seeking me out. I recognized the approaching man as Jack’s friend from the other night and he seemed to place my face as well. His stormy expression momentarily cleared, “Hey.”

“What can I help you with?” I asked, expectantly. This customer was here for something other than drinks. He seemed troubled with a thought that even Jaeger wouldn’t douse.

“You seemed to know Jack pretty well when we were here the other night. Have you seen him lately?” The man wondered then backtracked to the basics, “Oh, yeah. I’m Alex by the way.”

I shook his hand quickly, “Audrey. And I’m not going to answer your question until you tell me who the hell leaves their drunk friend at a bar alone. That’s something I’d like to know.”

Alex seemed taken aback by my honestly. “Damn, girl. Are you always this approachable?”

I shrugged off his sarcasm, “Jack was shit faced. Like, he could barely even function last night. I had to load him up on a bus and take him back to my place to make sure he didn’t kill himself doing something stupid. So why are you even concerned with him now?”

“Wait a second, I’m Jack’s best friend. It’s been that way since forever.” Alex started to get worked up and protective over his friend, “I’ve saved his ass plenty of times. Sometimes he just needs to realize how much of an idiot he’s making himself out to be. But he always comes back.”

As Alex paused, I filled in the rest of his thought, “Except for this time?”

“Exactly.” He sighed, “I came back here thinking maybe he passed out on the sidewalk or something. His house was empty too.”

I walked a foot away and ran a cleared some crumbs from a table, “Well, I haven’t seen him since he left my apartment this morning. He’s out there somewhere without his shoes because he ran away without them.”

“Damn, I should have checked that shoe store down on Fifth.”

Alex was about to leave but I grabbed his arm. “I answered your question, now answer mine. Why’d you leave him here?”

“Like I said, he was being an idiot.” He spoke calmly, but I could see the anger of the experience in his eyes.

“That’s not everything.” I pushed harder, wanting a straight answer.

“Shit, you are way too feisty for your own good.” Alex told me, shaking his head back and forth. He seemed to crack under the intense interrogating skills I was using. Or maybe it was because my manicured nails were digging into his skin, but he finally answered, “Basically he declared his undying love for my girlfriend.”

“That’s… awkward.”

“Yeah, pretty much. I think it was the booze you kept giving him.” He accused with an eye roll.

“Bullshit.” I exclaimed, loudly. The old man looked startled at my outburst and nearly fumbled his newspaper. “I was not the only waitress here. Plus, Tracy kept hitting on him and giving him free shots. Nearly the whole bottle by the end of the night. Cain was pissed.”

“Well, that probably pushed him over the edge.”

After a moment, I placed my hands on my hips, “Okay. So what’s the whole situation with Jack and your girlfriend?”

Alex sighed and took a seat at the table I had just cleaned, “It’s sort of a long story.”

“I don’t mind the abridged version,” I told him, sitting in the stool next to Alex. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the table, “So they had a thing?”

“Not exactly. Melanie, my girlfriend, ended up being on tour with us and we started talking. She was dating this real asshole at the time and their relationship was pretty much in the shitter. But things with my ex-girlfriend got complicated. She ended up pregnant,” he added quickly, “Not my kid, of course.”

I nodded encouragingly, hoping Alex would get to the point of the story faster.

He took a breath, “And when I was figuring out that drama, Jack started hanging out with her more. But in the end, Melanie wanted to be with me.” Alex shrugged, “Jack and I talked one night; he said he had moved on.”

After Jack leaving me after we had sex, I was pretty sure he was stuck on Melanie. I didn’t voice my opinions to his friend and only asked, “But now you know otherwise.”

“Yeah.” Alex nodded, looking a little glum. “Melanie got really upset by what he was saying. I told Jack he should just shut up, but he didn’t listen. We got into a little and he was trying to get me to punch him and causing a big scene.”

I realized this must have happened when I was kissing Cain in the stockroom the night before.

“Then I decided to take Melanie home and come back for Jack. By the time I made it back here he was gone. I figured he’d hitched a taxi or gone home with some girl.” Alex laughed a little, “I guess my theory wasn’t totally off; he went home with you. It’s good you didn’t sleep with him.”

My posture stiffened and I laughed a little, “Oh, why’s that?”

Meeting my gaze, Alex said with complete seriousness, “In the end, he’d only end up hurting you.”