Just a Minute Too Late

I slid my opaque, black tights up my legs, and smoothed my pink skirt over them. I adjusted them a few times, hating them already, but knowing I was too pale to not wear them, and finally had them in a comfortable position. Lea was going to be to the apartment soon to pick Trista and I up, and I was scrambling to finish getting ready. I drew a thin line of black around both of my eyes, topping it off with a nude eye shadow, and painted my lips with an almost clear color to make them shiny.

“Lea’s here, are you ready?” Trista asked, poking her head into my bedroom.

“Just need to put my boots on,” I said dashing to my closet, and finding my favorite ankle booties.

I shoved my feet in, and grabbed my freshly washed cardigan from a hook, sliding it on over the white tank-top I had tucked into my skirt. I smiled at Lea and Trista, the two of them talking about who knows what, and followed them out to Lea’s car where Dianna was waiting. We arrived at our normal bar in no time, and were glad to see that it wasn’t packed like it sometimes got on Fridays.

“Guys, this is Trista, my roommate,” I said happily as we arrived at our group of tables, “Trista, this is Darren, Cory, Naya, Mark, Jenna and Ashley.”

They all exchanged quick hellos and I offered to go get our first round of drinks as I slid my cardigan off. Some of them already had drinks, but those who didn’t rattled their orders off to me, and I hurried to the bar so I wouldn’t forget them. I gave the bartender our orders, and surveyed the other patrons of the bar. The bartender soon sat the tray in front of me, three beers and three mixed drinks sitting atop it, and I was thankful I had prior waitress experience as I walked back to the table.

“A beer for Mark, a martini for Dianna, a gin and tonic for Ashley, margarita on the rocks for Trista, a beer for Cory,” I said handing the drinks out carefully, “And a beer for me. Cheers to a good night!”

Everyone raised their glass with a nod, and took a drink, falling into conversations with the person nearest to them. I was listening to Dianna rant about how annoying keeping her hair pink was, and laughed as she described the dying process she went through every other week during shooting. We were both laughing, almost done with our first drinks, and I started telling her about the time I chopped all of my hair off and bleached it.

“It was horrible, seriously,” I said shaking my head, “I kept bleaching it for almost six months, and it was basically the texture of hay when I finally decided to stop. It took forever for me grow it out healthy again.”

“Oh man, I’m glad I only had to dye mine and not bleach it,” she said touching her hair quickly, “Plus, I think being brunette suits you better than blonde would’ve.”

“I looked like a ghost, I was so washed out,” I said shaking my head, “In fact-“

I didn’t get to finish my thought, because our attention was grabbed by Darren, as he exclaimed an overly loud greeting to someone joining the group. The two grabbed each other in a quick hug, and I nearly dropped my drink as the mystery person turned around.

“Everyone, this is…”

“Joey,” I finished for him, “We met at a coffee shop earlier this week.”

“Nice seeing you again as well, Caroline,” Joey said with his trademark smirk, “Nice to meet everyone else as well.”

They all greeted him quickly, and he sat down by Darren, instantly falling into a conversation. I tore my eyes away from him, looking back at Dianna and Trista, ignoring their prying eyes. I simply put the bottle to my lips, and rolled my eyes. I finished off the drink, glad that the girls started talking about cooking, and quickly excused myself so I could go get another drink. I stood at the bar, waiting to get the bartenders attention, and smiled at Darren as he slid up next to me.

I started to order my drink, when his voice overpowered mine, ordering us both a Jack and Coke, telling me it was the best drink. I could only nod in agreement, and tried to protest when he paid for the drink, handing me mine.

“So, you’re the girl Joey kept talking about this week I assume,” he said making me choke on my drink, “Oh, don’t look so surprised, I saw those eyes of yours light up when you saw him.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said taking a big gulp of the liquid, enjoying the burn, “I just felt embarrassed, considering I find some way to hurt him when I see him. I don’t want to hurt him, again.”

“Can’t help that you’re a klutz,” he said laughing as I stumbled a bit in my heels, “Don’t worry about it, he’s a klutz too. Just talk to him, there’s obviously some sort of chemistry.”

I just gently pushed his shoulder, and took the only open seat, which was between Ashley and Joey. I smiled at both of them, hoping Ashley would pull me into conversation, but gulped when she just turned to talk to Jenna. Darren blatantly ignored Joey, sending me a subtle wink, and I drank some of my liquid confidence, hoping I wouldn’t make a complete ass of myself. I decided to slip my cardigan off, and when I leaned forward to grab my drink off the table again, Joey finally piped up.

“Blink 182 tatto, huh?” he asked causing me to snap my head to him.

“Favorite band since middle school,” I said with a smile.

“Small world, mine too,” he said quirking one of his eyebrows and taking a drink of his beer, “Now, I have to ask, favorite album and single.”

“Easy. Dude Ranch and Dammit,” I said smiling, “What’s yours?”

“Enema of The State and What’s My Age Again?” he said with a nod.

“That’s my favorite karaoke song!” I said quickly, immediately feeling stupid.

He cocked his jaw to the side, smirking while raising his eyebrows, causing my eyes to widen immensely. Before I could protest, he had started dragging me to the recently set up karoke stage, and I was doing everything I could to stop him. I finally told him that I would only sing with him after a few more drinks, which promptly meant three tequila shots each, which I should’ve never agreed to.

By the time our names were called, my head was fully spinning, and I was lucky that I hadn’t twisted my ankle while walking around. We grabbed the two wireless mic’s from their stands, and I gave Joey a goofy smile, swaying as the intro of the song played. I started the song off, Joey joining in after a few lines, and the rest of the performance was a blur of smiles, laughter, and harmonizing.

“New karoke partner!” I said excitedly into the mic when the song ended, “Sorry Trista!”

She just laughed from her spot, and I bounced over the the bartender, handing off my microphone and making my way over to our friends. They just laughed, clapping as Joey and I fake bowed, and I plopped in my original spot next to Trista, and listen to her tell a story about a rude customer at her work earlier in the day. I laughed endlessly, now completely drunk, and started spewing out my own stories, that were mostly just conspiracy theories I made up in my head.

=====

“Tonight was fun, we have to do it again,” Lea said once we all made it out to the parking lot, “But I think our two drunkies need to be DD’s.”

“I’m not that drunk,” I said with a slur and hiccup, “Well, maybe I am, but it’s only because this strapping, young man bought me tequila shots.”

I went to sling my arm around Joey’s middle, but missed, sending me tumbling to the ground, scraping my hands and knees in the process. I let out an obscenity, and stood up, hoping I hadn’t shown everyone in the group my underwear through my skirt. I promised everyone I was fine, and we all started saying our goodbyes, mostly consisting of “see you on Monday”.

“Glad we got to see each other again, Caroline,” Joey said pulling me into a friendly hug, “How about we hang out again?”

“I’d like that,” I said smiling sweetly, “Here, take my number.”

I wrote it down on a spare receipt in my purse, and smiled as I gave it to him.

“Thanks, maybe the beach tomorrow?”

“Yes! I love swimming. Come by my place at like noon? Maybe we can grab some lunch on the way there,” I said shamelessly flirting with him, while batting my eyes.

“I’d love that,” he said flirting right back, “See you tomorrow.”

I just waved at him, walking over to the girls I had arrived with, and called shotgun loudly, insisiting that we listened to country radio so I could serenade them all. They groaned, knowing I was serious, but didn’t fight me on it, knowing I would get upset.