“No thanks, barkeep!” Julia yelled. She got loud when she was drinking. “I live in the hood. You remember me, right?”
“You look familiar,” he said politely.
She leaned across the bar and grabbed his shirt, bringing his face close to hers. “John! You wound me. I thought I was your favorite customer.”
“It’s Jim actually,” he said, disengaging himself with a smirk. “Lemme close out your tab so you can head out.”
“He wants us to leave!” Julia whisper shouted loud enough for the entire bar to hear. “I thought John liked me.”
“I think you’re drunk, Julia.”
She tried to shove my shoulder but missed, almost falling off her stool. “That’s ridiculous! How can I be drunk if you’re still sober?”
“I’m far from sober,” I assured her. “But I think I’m driving too much to drink. I mean, I think I drank too much to drive.”
“You can stay with me,” she said. “We’ll have a sleepover like last night, but without my mother catching us naked.”
The bartender looked slightly embarrassed as he handed me my credit card receipt. I stared at it, watching the numbers swim before passing it back to him.
“Give yourself a twenty percent tip, wouldja?” I asked. “My eyes are blurry.”
“Wait, John needs more!” Julia said, rooting through her bag and tossing a five dollar bill across the bar. “Take that too.”
I cracked up like it was the funniest thing I’d ever seen.
Jim rolled his eyes, taking the money and filling out my charge slip as I’d asked before giving me a copy.
“Have a good night. Be safe getting home.”
I stood up and immediately regretted it as the bar seemed to swim around me. Damn, I really was wasted. How did that happen? Oh yeah, Julia. I lost track of how many rounds of shots she’d ordered for us.
She grabbed my hand and we stumbled out of the bar, walking a bit unsteadily as we made our way back to her house. Thank God she lived close.
“I never drink like this,” Julia announced as we walked home.
“You know you’re a loud drunk?” I teased.
“No I’m not,” she yelled, her only volume level at this point in the evening.
“You are,” I said, throwing my arm around her. “But you’re cute so it makes up for it.”
“You said I was too pink earlier,” she reminded me.
“Yeah, that was a dick move,” I admitted. “I’m sorry. You look fucking hot in that dress with your prim little ballet slippers. It makes me want to do dirty things to you.”
It was true, I’d been thinking about it all night.
“No one’s stopping you!”
“We agreed to one night,” I reminded her.
“That was before we had sex,” she reminded me. “Now we know how good it is, maybe we need to add more nights. Like a friends with benefits thing.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” I said, keenly aware even in my drunken state that if I spent too much time with her I’d probably fall for her.
Julia made a pouting noise. “But I’m really horny right now.”
A woman walking by with her dog gave us a disapproving look.
