This story was inspired by 'In Her Parasthegic Hands' by 4nim3BBfr34k. Check it out!
This was all too familiar. The image was fuzzy, but she knew the picture well. She sat at the bar and drank another shot of tequila as she remembered her own engagement party with Todd. Shortly after that she remembered the crash and burn of their relationship and drank until she could no longer remember that either.
It made her sick that Todd and Kate were getting married. Megan and Kate are practically the same person. Kate's a little nicer, but Todd and Megan have a kid together. What did Kate have that Megan didn't? She couldn't, for the life of her, figure it out.
She spun around on her barstool and watched them dance. She watched the way he looked at her and saw uncertainty. It wasn't something that Kate, or anybody else would be able to pick up on, but Megan knew him better than he knew himself and she saw it. Just as she was about to get up someone sat down next to her and started talking.
"Do I need to cut you off?" Peter asked, as he looked at all the empty shot glasses in front of her.
She spun around to her left while saying, "Well, you're not my father, or my significant other, or even my friend so I would say no." She ordered another shot and downed it before Peter could even respond.
"After all this time you don't consider me a friend? That's great Megan. The reason you have no friends is because you push everyone away especially when you feel they're getting too close." He got up and walked to the other side of the room where the rest of the crew from the medical examiner's office was occupying a table. He knew that she was drunk and she didn't mean to say what she said, but he also knew that there is always truth to the things people say when they're intoxicated. He figured he would just watch her from a distance and take her home once she was ready to leave.
"Peter?" Ethan saying his name had snapped him out of his trance. He was still watching Megan thirty minutes later.
"What?" He looked around at the table and saw that everyone was looking at him.
"You've been watching Megan for like a half hour." Bud told him while taking a swig of his beer and then putting it back onto the ring it had left on the tablecloth.
"She's very drunk and I'm watching her to make sure she doesn't try to leave or hurt herself." Peter defended himself. He couldn't let the others see his true feelings for Megan. He was, after all, in love with her. He couldn't tell her because he knew exactly what she would do; freak out. So he just decided to take care of her and try to be her friend even if it hurt like hell to not be more.
"We can all see it, man." Curtis informed him as Peter's heart began to beat faster and his palms became sweaty.
"The way you look at her, the way you take care of her. It doesn't take a cop to figure out that you're in love with her." Sam answered with a smirk as she propped her elbows on the table. Peter sighed as he realized he was caught. He thought he hid his feelings well, but apparently he hadn't. He wondered if Megan had figured things out just like the others had. She was after all one of the most intelligent women he had ever met.
He cleared his throat as he began to speak, "So what? I like her as more than a friend. It's not like anything is going to happen. She doesn't even consider me a friend." He told the rest of them. He looked back up at the bar and saw that Megan was no longer there. She couldn't have left, at least by driving, because he saw the bartender take her keys about ten minutes ago. He figured she went to get some air or something and would be back soon. The sound of Kate's voice woke him from his thoughts.
"Hey, I'm glad you all came. I hope you are all having a good time." She smiled and looked at each one of them.
Megan walked into the restroom and saw Todd washing his hands.
"What are you doing in the women restroom?" She asked him with drunken confusion written all over her face. Todd turned and saw Megan standing there. Right away he could tell she had had a few too many drinks. Megan wasn't the type of woman to use alcohol to numb the pain or forget her problems so this was new territory for him. He had only seen her drunk a few times when they were married. Those few times that he had seen her drunk she handled herself well. She slurred her speech, but it all made sense. Her walking was another story.
"Actually, this is the men's restroom." He pointed to the urinals showing her that she was in the wrong place. She tried to walk towards him, but all her drinks and four-inch heels were not a good combination. She was soon on the floor in a fit of laughter. Todd sighed and helped her up.
"Megan, why are you doing this to yourself?" He asked with concern in his voice.
"You're marrying Kate." Was all she said as he watched slide down the wall and sit on her butt. He could tell she was really out of it because the sober Megan would never sit on a restroom floor; especially a men's restroom floor.
"You can't be surprised. We've been divorced for almost six years. I've moved on." Todd told her. He had never seen her like this. So openly showing her emotions without him having to pry them out of her. He guessed getting her drunk was the key to her emotions.
"I never thought you would marry someone else. Being someone's wife is special. And if you have more than one then the first wife isn't as special as the second." She confessed. He was flabbergasted by the way she was able to conduct herself and talk so normally, besides the slurring, considering how drunk she was.
"We have a kid together and we were married for a long time. I'll always care about me and you'll always be special to me, but I've moved on. I love Kate." He told her. He didn't know why she was having such a hard time with this. He thought they had both moved past their marriage and got over each other, but obviously he was wrong.
She looked up at him, "Are you sure you love her? You've only known her for six months. It took you two years to propose to me." She tried to stand up, but couldn't so Todd pulled her up and she leaned back against the wall. They were so close they could feel each other's breath. Megan looked into his eyes and pulled him closer. The kiss was exactly the way it used to be; soft and filled with love. The kiss became deeper and filled with want. Todd ran his hand up Megan's thigh and wrapped it around himself.
Peter set his empty glass on the table and got up. He had drunk enough to build up the courage to confess his feelings to Megan, but first he needed to pee. As he approached the restroom he heard what he thought was moaning, but he shrugged it off as nothing. He walked in the restroom and saw Todd with his pants around his ankle and Megan with her legs wrapped around him. All he could think to do was leave, but he couldn't get his legs to work. They both snapped their heads in his direction and stopped what they were doing. Megan put her feet on the ground and fixed her dress as Todd turned around and pulled up his pants.
"Peter, please don't say anything." Megan pleaded. The sex had obviously helped her detox from the alcohol a little bit. Peter didn't know what to say. He just saw the woman he loves having sex with her ex husband in the men's restroom at his engagement party to her boss. He turned around and walked out with Megan following quickly on his heels. He walked outside and heard her say, "Would you please say something?" He turned around on the sidewalk and she stopped walking.
"What do you want me to say? That I just saw you having sex with your engaged ex-husband and I'm in love with you. Is that what you want to hear?" He yelled at her. She had never seen him like this before and she wasn't sure how to react.
"Peter, I don-I can-.." She wasn't sure what to say, but she didn't feel the same way. She cared for him as a friend, but nothing more.
"Don't worry, you don't have to say it, I already know." He turned and walked into the street. Due to his anger he didn't see the car that he walked in front of. He was struck and thrown up and over the car. He was airborne for a few seconds before he finally landed, hard, on the pavement. Megan was horrified. She ran up to him and tried to find a pulse, but she couldn't.
He was dead.