Just One Drink (180 page)

“Karla, it’s your brother. We’ve come to rescue you from this madman.” Almost immediately after that she heard Rolki shout back.

“How am I the madman when you’re the one who shot at your sister?” Karla sat and listened intently for a response but it was only met with the snapping of twigs. “That’s what I thought. Your men didn’t know that did they?”

Karla was surprised to see that her brother still didn’t respond but when she heard another twig snap she grabbed another arrow and fired it in that direction. It was met by a yelp, but she knew that she hadn’t connected with anyone.

“I’m happy here and I’m not heading back with you, brother.” She heard a gasp from the distance, but her brother still did not answer. As she waited she felt Rolki’s hand on her shoulder. He had been able to creep up behind her without her even knowing. She looked back in the direction of her brother and shouted again. “Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Are you truly happy?” Karla felt the air leave her lungs. That wasn’t the voice of her brother, but rather that of her father. “I know that man is a good man and if you staying allows us to all walk out of here alive then I will consider it a marriage proposal.” Karla looked back at Rolki who shouted into the woods.

“If I am going to have your blessing Haygar I would want to see you say it, not merely hear it shouted at me from the trees.” As he said this a number of men stepped out from behind trees, Karla’s father being one of them. He walked towards them and Rolki met him first. They clasped hands and hugged for a moment before pulling away. “It has been too long, Haygar.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Rolki.” Her father knelt down and pet the wolf that was now sitting and wagging its tail. “And it’s been so long since I’ve seen you too, pup.” Karla was shocked to see this unfold, but stepped forward to greet her father. He stood and embraced her. “Oh, Karla. This isn’t how this was supposed to go.”

“I know, father. I’m sorry.” He laughed as they hugged and shook his head.

“No, don’t be sorry. This is the best scenario. There will be no need for bloodshed and I know that you are in capable hands.” He leaned in and whispered then, “and now you’ll be even closer to the forest.” He winked and she looked up at him confused.

Her father stepped back and looked hurt. “You think your mother and I didn’t know you would come to the woods?” He shrugged. “We figured we’d let you have your space and freedom. But we see where that got us.”

He clapped his hands on the shoulders of both Rolki and Karla and turned around to face the warriors. “Well, if my daughter is getting married then there shall be a celebration.” He took the hand of his daughter and Rolki and began to walk back towards the village. “To the mead hall,” he exclaimed to the rancorous uproar of everyone present. 

*****

THE END

Chapter One

I sat in my chair typing hastily on my keyboard. She wouldn’t answer my calls, my texts, or my letters. I know that I was getting a little desperate, but I decided to send her an email. I had to show her that she truly meant the world to me and that I was sorry for what I had done to her. Julia and I broke up last week and it was eating me up inside. We’ve been together for ten years, since we were in tenth grade.

It was my fault that we broke up and I was the one who had to fix it. In a drunken stupor one night, I cheated on her with my co-worker Elizabeth. Elizabeth was a beautiful woman, 5’5, long flowing auburn hair, with a body fit to be a model. I always found Elizabeth attractive, but it was never my intention to do anything sexual with her, but I could still remember the feel of her body.

“Faster!” Elizabeth screamed as I pounded into her at the cheap motel room around the corner from the bar we were at with a few of our co-workers. We were celebrating one of the older men retiring and I’d gotten drunk and Elizabeth was showing a little too much of her cleavage as she looked at me from across the bar.

“Like this?” I asked as I lifted her up and fucked her hard and fast in the air. She screamed and went wild in my arms.

“Yes!” she called out as she came covering my cock with her sweet juices. I exited her and took off the condom which had ripped. “Come for me.” She said as she knelt down on her knees and placed my length inside of her mouth. I gripped her hair and pressed her deeper onto me.

“Shit” I groaned as her head bobbed quickly on my cock. I was throbbing and I could feel the pressure starting to build up. I looked down at her beautiful face and her eyes were looking back at me. When I came, she sucked me dry and licked her lips as she looked seductively at me. I don’t know why, but once I had orgasmed, that’s when my consciousness kicked in telling me that I fucked up. I knew I would have to tell Julia when I sobered up the next day.

“Damn it!” I said slamming my fist on the desk as I erased the message that I just wrote. My words seemed too generic, too forced and I knew Julia wasn’t going to buy into all of the ‘I love you’ and ‘I’ve made a mistake, you’re the only woman for me’ shit. I was never good at begging, but she was worth every second of my groveling.

I sat back into my chair and leaned my head back. I wondered what she was doing at this very moment. Was she sleeping? Was she out with her friends forgetting all about me? Or was she thinking about me the way that I was thinking about her?

I ran my hand through my dark oily hair; I needed to get something to eat before I died and thus losing the ability to come up with the right words to say to Julia.

I went into the kitchen and opened up the refrigerator in frustration. I was absolutely miserable! Pulling out the left over chicken from last night, I quickly placed it onto a plate and threw it in the microwave. The minute that I waited for the meat to heat up felt like hours to me. I really had to pull myself together; it wasn’t like me to be so worked up about something.

When the microwave signaled that it was done, I opened the microwave and slammed the plate down on the kitchen table causing it to crack a little on the side. “I need a drink.” I grabbed out a Heineken, popped it open and chugged it like it was the last drink that I’d ever have again.

Sitting down at the table, I dug into my food trying my hardest to eat away all of the pain that I was feeling. “Julia,” I whispered her name as I finished my lack of a meal. She was absolutely perfect. Her hair was cut into a pixie style and her high pitched voice sounded like angels singing from the heavens. She was small compared to my 6’4 stature and she was the only woman that I’ve ever loved.

I sighed while pushing myself up from my seat. I walked back into my suffocating bedroom and sat in front of my computer. I decided to let my fingers run their own course.

Julia,

I know that I’ve hurt you and I know that I am probably the last person that you’d want to speak with right now. Please just hear me out. I love you so much and that woman meant nothing to me! I admit that I find her attractive, but it was never my intention to sleep with her. She caught me at my weakest moment and I wish that I could go back in time to stop it from happening. Please don’t just skip through this email while you’re checking your mountain of emails. Please consider having dinner with me so that we could speak face to face. I don’t want us to end on such a terrible note. I’ll clear any time that you need in my schedule.

I love you,

Mike.

I hit send then and the only thing that I could do was wait. As the hours passed me by, I figured that Julia was not going to respond back to me, but I jumped up in glee once I saw her name on the screen.

Michael,

I have to give you some credit; at least you have the decency to feel shitty about what you’ve done to me. I really don’t want to see you right now because I’m still hurting. However, if you can follow simple instructions then I’d be willing to hear you out. I want to go to MY favorite restaurant. You know Shelley’s right, the restaurant that you hate? You will not touch me or call me anything but Julia. If you feel that you can restrain yourself and do what I’ve asked then I’ll go to dinner with you. Tomorrow night is the only night I have free.

Regards,

Julia.

I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. She was right though, I hated Shelley’s with a passion but for the chance of seeing her, I’ll swallow my pride. I sent her a quick email telling her that I can behave myself and follow all of her rules. I told her that I will pick her up from her mother’s house at 7 and I hit send. I couldn’t help but feel a bit giddy. I had to keep reminding myself that this didn’t mean that we were getting back together, but at least she was willing to communicate with me.

Deciding that showering right now would be the best thing to do. I haven’t showered in days and the smell was starting to take its toll on me. Walking cheerfully into the bathroom, I discarded my clothes and turned on the shower head. The hot shower relaxed my tense body and I began feeling at ease. I just had to make it through the rest of tonight and tomorrow until I saw her again.

I exited the shower feeling refreshed when I heard my cellphone ringing in the next room,

“Hello,” I said without looking at the caller ID.

“Hey man it’s me” Jacob my closest friend since college said.

“Open the door, I’m outside.” I quickly put on a t-shirt and shorts and opened the door for Jacob.

“It’s time to get off your ass man! There’s no point in sitting here feeling sorry for yourself.” Shoving a bag of beer into my hands, he pushed passed me and walked into my living room. I closed the door behind me and followed him.

“What the hell am I supposed to be doing then?” I asked falling onto the sofa. Putting his feet on the table like he was the man of the house, Jacob grabbed one of the beers out of the bag once I put it on the table.

“You shouldn’t be acting like a little girl crying about how you’ve fucked up.” Jacob really did know how to make someone feel more like shit. Sometimes I wished he wasn’t so blunt. “You and Julia been together for ten years and yeah you fucked up, but it’s not every day a man tells his woman about his fuck ups.

She’s gonna give you another chance, just give her some time.” I grabbed one of the beers out of the bag and popped it open. I wasn’t so sure about that, but I knew that Jacob was right that I needed to get off of my ass and stop walking around like my dog just died.

“You might be right,” I said as I chugged the rest of the can.

“Julia emailed me today and said that she’d be willing to talk if I follow some rules.” Jacob snorted, reached onto the table, grabbed the remote, and turned on the game.

“Women,” Jacob said with a disgusted expression on his face. I shook my head; he really didn’t want to follow anyone’s rules but his own. “Sorry man, I know you want to talk about your
feelings,
but I can’t miss this game.” I laughed. Jacob was the only person who could come over to someone’s house to attempt to make them feel better, but then leave them hanging for something interesting on TV. I cracked open another beer, placed my feet on top of the table, and enjoyed the game with Jacob.

Chapter Two

Jacob left after the game mumbling something about losing a bet. Before he left, he slapped me on the shoulder and told me to grow some balls. I couldn’t help but smile like an idiot and for some odd reason, I slept like a baby. Having someone here with me to take my mind off of the situation really helped. It’s been a week since I’ve last seen and spoken to Julia so tonight was extremely important to me.

“Hey Mike,” Nathan called out as I made my way into the office fifteen minutes early. I was starting to feel a little down again, but I managed a small smile and greeted him back.

“Hey Nate, how’s the wife and kids?” Nathan sighed and sat down in his seat.

“The baby is growing up fast, she’s starting to walk now and getting into everything and breaking all my shit.” I laughed at him. Kids seemed to be walking earlier and earlier these days. I’m pretty sure she’s seven months. “And Christina might be pregnant again!” Nathan slammed down his paperwork and I couldn’t help but to laugh a little harder.

“Hang in there,” I said as I made my way to my cubicle. I needed that laugh, even though it was wrong, I was happy that other people were having a hard time like I was. 

I spent the rest of my day handling projects that I neglected to do a week ago and I avoided Elizabeth as much as I could. We both worked as paralegals at a law firm so avoiding her for most of the day was a miracle considering we worked on the same floor. I couldn’t look at her because even though I was mad at myself, I was mad as hell at her also. She knew that I was engaged, but she came onto me and ultimately got me to sleep with her. I know that I could’ve easily kept my junk in my pants, but the woman was quite enticing. When I saw her as I was about to go on my lunchbreak, I froze.

“Hey,” Elizabeth said looking me dead in the eyes. I looked over her head at the clock, it was 12:36.
 

“Hello” I said as normal as I possibly could. I was flustered but I didn’t want her to know that. I tried to walk passed her but her slender hand reached out and grabbed my arm.

“Michael” she sighed “Let’s talk about what happened”. I released the breath that I didn’t know I was holding and looked back at her.

“There’s nothing to talk about. We fucked, I was drunk and it won’t happen again.” I said as quietly as possible. Her soft features contorted with pain and I almost felt bad for saying that to her. “Almost” being the key word. Her eyes began watering and I thought she was about to start crying, but the tears refused to fall.

“I deserved that” she said fixing her posture “But please, I want to speak with you and apologize appropriately.” She shuffled back and forth on her feet and this time I sighed.

“I told Julia what happened between us and she dumped me. People mess up every day and it sucks that I had to mess up with you. Like I said it won’t happen again. There’s nothing for us to talk about.” I saw something flash in her eyes when I mentioned that Julia had dumped me, but I was too stressed out to read too much into it. Without waiting for her reply, I turned on my heels and walked away.

Everywhere I went to grab some food was crowded and I mentally cursed myself. I hadn’t eaten an actual meal in a week and I was starving. The only thing that I ate was just random meat that I pulled out of the refrigerator which obviously wasn’t a proper meal. I felt like my stomach was eating itself. I needed to find someplace to eat fast! After walking for fifteen minutes, I finally came across a subway that was not as crowded as the other places. I didn’t really find subway filling, but it was better than nothing.

I ordered a foot long subway club with a turkey breast chopped salad. At least this time I’d be eating something a little better for my nutrition. I sat down in my seat at the back of the restaurant eating in silence as I watched young lovers walk in and out of the place.

“Subway never gives you enough food,” the teenage boy said as he held hands with what I assumed to be his girlfriend.

“But the food is good. I don’t want anything else. Come on please,” the boy sighed and said fine.

They were more than likely on lunch break from school. I watched them as they flirted with each other, unable to keep their hands off of each other. The boy appeared to really hate the place, but he put up with it because of his girlfriend. They reminded me so much of Julia and me at that age. I smiled as I realized we’d come a long way from that stage in our lives. The couple left as quickly as they came and I left soon after them.

I walked that long street back to the office with my hands in my pockets. I was trying to come up with conversational topics so that things wouldn’t get awkward after Julia and I spoke for a while at dinner. I shook my head in disbelief, I didn’t even know why I had to do that since Julia and I spent the last ten years together. I could hear Jacob saying, “I can’t believe you are going all out for a woman like this” I laughed to myself “I just want everything to be perfect” I was starting to feel too emotional, so I took my hands out of my pockets and hurried back to the office.

When I got home later that day, I ran quickly into my bedroom to pick some clothes out for tonight. I was starting to see why women spent so much time looking for something to wear when they went out. I thought a suit would be too formal, but jeans were out of the question. I decided to go with a simple black dress shirt with some khaki pants. I wanted to look good for Julia, but I didn’t want to seem like a complete stranger to her.

I showered and shaved. When I looked into the mirror, I noticed that I had a slight tan. My hazel eyes scanned all over my chiseled face and I looked more close to normal than I had been looking for the last several days. I toweled dried my hair and spiked it up a little. When I was completely dressed, it was 6’ o clock. It’ll take about thirty minutes to get to Julia’s mother’s house and around fifteen minutes to get to Shelley’s. I thought it’ll be best to maybe stop by a store and buy Julia flowers but I changed my mind, I didn’t want to appear too out of character.

I drove the freeway in utter silence and decided to turn on the radio. I just needed something to distract me from my thoughts and concerns. When my phone began ringing, I turned the radio off and answered it.

“What’s going on Jake? You know I’m about to go out with Julia” I said without saying hello.

“Yeah, yeah.” Jacob said, “I never asked, where you taking her?”

“Shelley’s.”

“Shelley’s? I thought you hated that place.”

“I do, but that’s where she’s wants to go so that’s where I’m taking her.” I heard Jacob sigh before he shouted into the phone.

“Whipped!” I really didn’t want Jacob to kill my mood.

“I’d rather be whipped instead of at home alone jerking off” Before Jacob had time to come up with a comeback, I hung up the phone. “That’ll teach him” I said laughing. 

When I finally arrived in front of the house, I took in a deep breath and exited my car. Whipped or not I had to make a good impression. When I knocked on the door and Julia opened it, I was at a loss for words.  

She was gorgeous wearing a lime green short dress with black high heel shoes. Her hair and her make-up was done expertly. Her brown eyes scanned over my body in the same manner that mine did hers. She poked out her lip in a way that made me think that she was pouting. “You look good” she muttered under her breath and a wide smile spread across my face.

“Thanks, you’re always gorgeous so it’s not surprising that you look good too.” She told her mother that she’d be back later and closed and locked the door. We walked awkwardly back to my car and I held the door open for her. She said nothing as her slim body slid into the seat and I shut her door once she was all the way inside of the car. I walked around to my side with a goofy grin on my face like I had just hit the lottery or something.

“We’re going to Shelley’s right?” she asked once I began driving.

“Yeah, that’s where you want to go right?” I asked glancing at her from the corner of my eye. She nodded and sat back into her seat looking oddly out of the window at the passing cars. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if I should start with small talk now or wait till when we were at the restaurant. The awkward silence was killing me and I wanted to make sure she was having a good time. I decided to break the silence, “So how have you been?”

“Fine” she said too quickly not even looking my way. Ouch! The coldness from her voice stung me a little bit, but I continued on.

“Well, I’m glad one of us is fine.” Julia turned and looked at the side of my face and sighed.

“You know that’s not what I meant,” she paused and took a deep breath. “I’ve been miserable as hell, but don’t think that it means anything. I’m still pissed off” her high pitch voice cracked when she said that. She almost sounded like she was going to cry. I felt good that she was affected as much as I was about our breakup.

“I’m miserable too, but at least we get to see each other now.” I looked at her and flashed Julia a quick smile just as I pulled into the parking lot of Shelley’s. When we entered the restaurant, we noticed that it was packed, I was glad that I made reservations that morning.

“Do you two have a reservation? We’re pretty crowded at the moment and will not be able to seat people for another two hours.”

I honestly didn’t know why this restaurant was so popular; I found the place to be quite nauseating.

“Yes, my name is Michael Christianson.” The host looked through his list of names and smiled at me.

“Please follow me.” He grabbed two menus and led us to the back of the restaurant which was a little more secluded.

“I’m impressed,” Julia said once we were seated and the host was out of ear shot. “I’m surprised that you made a reservation. You normally made me do things like that.” I looked through the menu, unimpressed but still attempting to find something remotely interesting to eat.

“Well, I did it for you. I’m sitting in a restaurant that I hate for you.” I said and Julia blushed as she looked away from me. The restaurant got a bit noisier as a group of women made their way towards our direction.

“Dorian just irritates me so much sometimes” one of the women said and I looked their way because the voice sounded familiar. The host was sitting four women, two I recognized as being women from work. One of them being Elizabeth! My face turned pale as a ghost when her eyes landed on mine.