Shot in the Dark

Sunlight seeped in through my shades on the window above my head when I woke up. I looked up at it upside down and noticed there were no clouds in the November sky. The birds chirped outside, flying and fluttering around.

My body rolled out of bed and I shuffled into the bathroom to take a shower. The music from my computer playing on my bed had me humming while washing my hair and body. It was another busy night at work last night, sometimes getting alcohol on my skin if I poured it in too fast.

Mindy’s replacement for the rest of her pregnancy, and after, was Dani, a 22-year-old with eyebrow-raising red hair who just got started in the business. She was going to school for performing arts, wanting to be a dancer when she grew older. Not a provocative dancer, more of a– if I remember correctly: a ballet dancer. Some nights Dani even brought her shoes in and waited on people while on her toes. It was pretty impressive from the faces Moby and I gave her. She blushed every time she caught us watching her feet.

I pulled my shirt over my head, mumbling the words to the current song, and tugging my jeans on. Moby texted me back from last night, telling me again that it was fine to take the night off. He knew I worked hard and earned every last penny. He wanted me to take more time off because he thought I was stressing myself out with watching fistfights every night. They didn’t happen every night– he just exaggerated more than most. I still loved him the same. He literally was my walking teddy bear.

The first few hours of my day were spent reading on the couch. I was digesting my breakfast while lying there, book propped up on my stomach.

The doorbell rang and I got up excitedly to find Leah standing outside. I welcomed her in and grinned at the lunch she brought for me. She really didn’t have to, but I was hungry after eating hours ago. We sat down at the kitchen counter, facing each other and hearing about how our week had gone so far. She was a little upset about Eric leaving tomorrow morning.

“He’s so fun to have around,” she frowned.

I nodded, agreeing, and swallowing my food. “We’re going out to celebrate his last night. You should come.”

“Can’t. Connor wants me to stay in tonight.”

“Why?”

She shrugged, wondering the same thing. “I have no idea. He’s been weird lately.”

“Ooh.” I smirked. “Maybe he has a dinner planned or something.”

“If he does, you just ruined the surprise.”

“Hey!” I laughed, hitting her arm lightly. “What else am I supposed to say?”

She laughed, sipping her soda in the bottle. “I’ll let you know what happens.”

I shook my head at her with a smile and we cleaned up our mess after we finished eating. She joined me on the couch for a marathon of her favorite movies: Harry Potter. Leah had all the books and she was a crazy fan for the series. I guess she cried a lot when the last movie came out.

“Yeah, you were there with me and I was bawling like a baby. It was terrible.” I laughed while she told the story, the beginning credits playing with the background music.

We watched the movies intently, both of us glued to the couch. I’d watched them before one weekend and liked them a lot too, but not as much as Leah did. She practically knew all of the lines. I could hear her muttering them under her breath.

In no way did I want to be rude during the movie, so I left my phone alone when it lit up with messages. We didn’t get to finish all of the movies since Connor called Leah and she laughed when he told her to come back home. I walked to the door with her as she assured him that she was leaving.

“I’ll talk to you later,” she shook her head with a promising smile and I waved as she walked outside.

The rest of my night ended with watching the last of the movie and reading until it was time for me to get ready. John texted me earlier, letting me know that everyone would be at the bar around nine. He offered to pick me up, but I said I could drive. My tongue craved the taste of nicotine since not having tasted it in so long.

John influenced me to quit after he got back in the summer and it was pretty hard to at first, but he threw away both packs I had in my dresser. I was stubborn about quitting, so I hid them under my underwear in the top drawer. Sadly, he found them. He literally stuck his hands inside my underwear drawer and pulled the fresh and unopened packs out. It was embarrassing.

But it was also lovely to know that he was worried about my health.

I pulled on my dress and managed to get the button fastened. It was struggling. Leah and I went shopping at the mall one day last week and I still hadn’t opened the box that held my new wedges, so I decided to wear them tonight. I might get blisters, but they were too cute not to wear. Plus, I think they made my legs look longer.

The shark tooth necklace was a nice touch and I ruffled my dry hair in the bathroom, making sure my outfit was nice enough. My shoulders shrugged and I turned the light off, finding the small clutch in my closet and putting my phone inside.

Give Eric my best! Mindy sent just as I got into my car. I pulled out after texting her back and sped down the street toward the bar.

I parked across from Max & Ted’s 480 and jogged across the street without falling in my wedges. That’d be really bad if I fell in the middle of the road. It wouldn’t be pretty either. My fingers kept a grip on my purse and I leaned against the wall, waiting for the line to quicken its pace so I could get in. There were a lot of younger people with fake IDs, standing off to the side by the bodyguards. It moved faster and I thanked the man as he handed me the small card back.

The guys and girls that were familiar to me were sitting in the far back right corner. Some were in the chairs and others pressing their backs against the cushioned booth. I waved when Becca cheered for me and Eric stood up with a smirk toward John, then he looked over at me and smiled, “Andrea.”

“Hi, Eric.” I touched the back of his neck in a hug.

“Looking like a babe as always.” He commented, kissing my cheek. I laughed awkwardly and let him take me toward the bar to get a drink. A light blush stayed on my face as he asked for a beer and I thanked him before we walked back.

My shoulder collided with John’s when I sat in the booth beside him and he looked down at me. I grinned at the smile playing at his lips and turned my head to take a sip of my drink. It was a large three tables since just about everyone I knew that were John’s friends were here and Garrett was sat beside him with Olivia’s fingers tracing his palm. Chrissie was here also, looking like a perfect fit sitting beside Jared on the other side of the table. Kennedy couldn’t make it tonight, but I didn’t know the reason why.

For the next hour, Eric and John fought between their stares across the table and I talked to Olivia who migrated beside me. It was really starting to frustrate me because they’d been like this since Sunday. Every time I was around both of them, all they could do was test each other and see who would break first while they talked to me. Mostly, it was John telling Eric to shut his mouth. It was also when I was getting close to hearing what Eric had been trying to tell me.

Eric was now up and outside with Peter for a cigarette. I could’ve been out there, and asking Eric, if I was still smoking. I settled with the guy beside me.

“What’s up with you and Eric?” I asked slowly, looking up at him.

Tenseness covered his features, so I guess it was something serious. “N-Nothing. He’s just being a guy,” he shrugged and tipped the bottle back.

I gave a nod and turned my head away from him, a little disappointed that he wasn’t opening up to me. The place was filling up quickly with large groups and I saw some waitresses carrying trays with plates of food and drinks.

A warm hand covered my knee and I looked at it under the table as the warmth spread up my leg. “It’s nothing bad,” he mumbled to me. “He won’t get off my back about–“ He stopped and I really wish he didn’t because I was itching to know. “Just don’t worry about it.”

I gave him an “are you serious” look. “You are smart enough to know that when you tell a girl that, she’ll still worry about it.”

“And you’re smart enough to know that I don’t know that.” He countered through a smile, leaning down and kissing my cheek.

“John,” I whined, punching his arm weakly.

He laughed at me while Eric and Peter walked in, removing his hand from my knee to grab his bottle and take a sip. I rolled my eyes jokingly to myself and pretended to hit the bottom of his bottle so it’d miss his mouth. He stared at me in awe and wiped his damp hand on my arm. I laughed as we fooled around and frowned for the picture when I saw Eric sneaking his phone out. John flipped him off and Eric only took another, making me laugh.

“Going to miss you so much, dude.” Tim came over and hugged Eric around his shoulders, squeezing him. I smiled small, laughing again as John lifted his phone up and snapped a picture as payback.

“See you soon,” I hugged him tight around his shoulders as we all stood outside of the bar to say our goodbyes.

“Gonna miss you, Andrea.” He hugged me around my waist and let go, setting me back down on my feet. He always picked me up whenever we hugged. I kissed his cheek and said goodnight to everyone else.

Instead of hugging me, John stared into my eyes and kept his hands in his pockets. “I’ll see you guys later,” he glanced over my head and I creased my eyebrows but followed beside him when he started walking backwards.

“Don’t touch her!” Eric yelled behind us, making me blush. John flipped him off and shoved his hand back in his pocket.

I was beginning to think he didn’t have a specific place to go since we’d been walking for more than five minutes on the sidewalk and we were out of sight of our friends. I looked at him a couple times, but he was staring at his feet, so I didn’t know what to do. It was definitely cold tonight; my body shivered and I wrapped my arms around myself.

“Take this.” John said, coming to a halt on the concrete. I turned toward him as he shrugged off his jacket.

“It’s okay, I’m fine.” I shook my head, begging him not to give it to me. He persisted, draping it over my shoulders. A sigh left my lips and I held my clutch between my knees so I could put my arms in the sleeves. He made it warm for me. “Mind telling me where we’re going now?”

He shrugged, hands in his pockets, through his long-sleeve shirt. Did he do that when he was nervous? His hands were always in his pockets. “No where in particular. I just thought that we could walk the alcohol off.”

I grinned approvingly and began focusing on the sound of my shoes. We stopped at the end of the sidewalk and John decided to dart across the crosswalk without me, laughing from the other side. I stuck my bottom lip out as the cars were coming, blocking my chance of running. I flipped him off, seeing the phone in his hands already as he pointed it to me. My shoes slipped off and when the light turned red, I darted across and pushed his chest when I got to the other side. He was laughing at me while I put my shoes back on and I shook my head, but laughed along with him.

We walked back down the street in the direction we came from and I pushed him more times than I could count. He kept joking with me, saying that I ran funny. “Fuck you,” I muttered, grin threatening to blow my disguise. He chuckled, throwing his arm around my shoulders.

“Just messing with you, Andy.” He bent down and kissed my cheek, hugging me close to his side.

I was home about twenty minutes later, getting out of my car and realizing I still had John’s jacket. The darkness of the house greeted me and I fell flat on my bed when I walked into my room, feeling my feet ache. My muscles helped lift my body and I crawled off the bed to change and get ready for my future slumber.

My back ached too when I lay down and I glanced at my book, but left it untouched for tonight. My breath was minty from just having brushed my teeth and I shut my light off.

Curiosity got the best of me and I turned my light back on and opened my book to where I left off. Thirty minutes later, my phone vibrated on the table beside me and I laughed at John’s name. It was late and you would think that a 26-year-old who performs for a living would go to bed after the bar, but I guess not.

Leather jacket stealer :(