Almost Easy

Third Person POV

Her long bleached blond hair contrasted the bright red lipstick she was applying religiously throughout the night as drinks continued to wear it thin. A signature pair of strappy black heels adorned her feet, her long tanned legs leading up to where the hem of her skin tight black dress fell just below her butt. A loud laugh resonated through Liz’s lungs at a joke Jimmy made while trying to subtly disengage the bartender from flirting his way to a drunken Liz’s phone book.

“Hey, loser.”

Liz turned her attention to the voice beside her, her smile leaving immediately as she rolled her green eyes, “What do you want, Zack?”

“You should stop trying to lead the bartender on.” He finished Jimmy’s attempt, the bartender took the cue and walked to the other end of the long table top as Liz huffed under her breath, sipping her martini, “Also I wanted to let you know your husband is about to walk through that door.”

“Oh really? He finally decided to show up?” Liz snickered as Jimmy handed her a shot glass, “Not like it’s his birthday party I planned for him or anything.”

“I know you’re annoyed he’s late, but don’t be a bitch?” Jimmy asked, even Zack squinted at his wording as Liz narrowed her eyes to the door, “I’m guessing he’s walking in now?”

The look on Liz’s face gave the answer away. She turned back and signaled the bartender over, “I’ll take another round of Jaeger shots.” She smiled sweetly, leaning on to the wooden bar top ever so slightly exposing her cleavage.

“Slut.” Zack mumbled under his breath with a laugh as Matt walked over to them.

From his point of view the exchange was a little less devilish. His eyes were honed in on the shape of Liz’s ass in that dress, her long legs exposed up to just below her ass. Then his favorite piece of her attire: The bright gleaming ring on her left hand that signaled she was his. Even though the look on Jimmy’s face read the usual trouble, a drunk Liz ticked off at Matt for running late, again, flirting her way to him having to drive them home at the end of the night and nursing her hangover in the morning.

“Hey there birthday boy!” Jimmy stood as Matt finally reached them, giving him a big hug, “Been a while-“

“It’s been three days, Jim.” Matt laughed and watched Liz continued to ignore him while talking animatedly to the bartender. That’s when he noticed the ring on her hand wasn’t on her ring finger, it was on her middle finger and it wasn’t her wedding ring. Matt’s eyebrows furrowed together, “Excuse me I’m gonna order a drink.”

“We have bottle service up in the booth,” Zack grabbed Matt’s arm, a warning sign to stop exactly what he knew was going to happen, “Let’s go grab some shots.”

Matt nodded in agreement, Liz’s expression of annoyance rang loud and clear through the entire bar as Zack put his hand on Matt’s arm and pushed him towards the VIP table Liz had reserved for them a month ago. Jimmy stayed back as she downed another shot, “You know you could have said hi to him too.”

“Shut up.” Liz mumbled and pushed the rest of the shots his way, “I’m his wife, I planned this whole party, the least he could have done was say hello to me, or even thanks.” She hiccuped and took the stem of her martini glass, “But it is what it is. Three years of marriage has apparently been enough for him.”

“Wait… what?” Jimmy asked, eyeing her carefully, “Stop, Liz… Wanna sneak outside and have a cigarette with me? Talk about this in some fresh air before you blow up at him?”

“If you think fresh air and smoking go hand in hand, sure.” She waved her hand for Jimmy to lead the way and the two meandered their way through the dance floor to the back patio. Jimmy produced two cigarettes from his pocket and lit them up as Liz less than gracefully took a seat on the railing. She accepted the lit stick of cancer from him and took a drag, “So. Speak?”

“What do you mean enough for him?” Jimmy watched as she carefully exhaled smoke, definitely more drunk than he’d seen her in a long time. Not that they’d had a chance to hang out in a long time either.

Things had gotten hectic, to say the least, since the surprise wedding in Vegas. The boys began recording another album, signed on for multiple festivals around the country to coincide with a few month long tour, that ended just in time for them to take a promo break and head directly back out after only four short months at home. The time between then and now was full of the same along with the boys working on music for a few video game soundtracks, charity events, and suddenly a new found love of golf. Liz’s head spun just thinking about it.

The time she got to spend with Matt dwindled to weekends, then to nights, then to when she managed to stay up late enough to catch him before he passed out on the couch directly after coming home from whatever night event he had been out at, nearly every time he was hammered and that was only a small percentage of Liz’s worry. Seeing Zack was another rarity, Liddy was in preschool and Jacky spent more time at work than ever. She often had Liddy away during weekends and holidays at her family’s in Boston, Zack joining them when he could but when he couldn’t he spent his time at his and Liz’s parents home. Somewhere else she hadn’t been since before the wedding.

“Liz?” Jimmy snapped his fingers in front of her face, “What’s going on tonight? I know you get bitch mode at him for flaking on shit but this is a new one. You can talk to me about anything Lizard, you know that.”

A tear Liz had no knowledge of slipped down her perfectly made up cheek, Jimmy felt his heart twinge at the sight but she simply wiped it away and shrugged, “Let’s go get drunk and rage.” She stood quickly, stumbling momentarily before grabbing Jimmy by the arm and dragging him in to the club where the group of their girls had made their way to the dance floor. Jimmy left Liz with them, making sure Michelle knew she was particularly drunk and to keep a close eye on her being a flight risk. Then he made his way up to the booth where the guys were doing shots, keeping the corner of his eye on Liz his mouth stayed shut to Matt’s questioning and changed the topic to celebratory topics.