As Cecil strode into the bar closest to the radio station—he didn't remember its name, but he also didn't care—he looked about the room and noticed that it was considerably packed for a Monday night. Maybe everyone in town had had a bad day today.
He sighed as he took a seat at the bar, checking his phone for the time. Almost 10 p.m. He had stayed at the station all day long doing the broadcast and then well into the night preparing for the upcoming week of broadcasts that the interns did not already plan because of their untimely deaths. Of course, that made Cecil's day that much harder.
The bartender came over to him and asked what he was having, to which he replied, "Long Island Iced Tea, please."
As Cecil waited for his drink, he looked around the room at the other bar-goers. Most of them were in small groups of two or three and sitting at the tables and booths. There were a couple of singles sitting at the bar, like him, but not enough so that he wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb. He recognized a couple of people from making reports at the studio and just from generally around town, but he didn't have the energy to talk to them. Plus, they were here with their friends and didn't need him to drag the party down with his tiredness.
One particular man who Cecil did not recognize but was sitting with Maureen, who used to intern at the station, also seemed to be tired. His head was being propped up by his hand as he slowly sipped what looked to be plain scotch with his other hand. Maureen was saying something to him quickly and gesturing towards the restrooms near the rear of the room when suddenly the bathroom door swung open and Michelle, the owner of Dark Owl Records, walked out and over to Carlos and Maureen's table. She slung her arm over Maureen's shoulders and said something before Maureen giggled and waved goodbye to the man at the table. The two women left the bar together.
Cecil quickly turned away from watching the scene as the man at the table looked up at the bar, presumably because he was thinking about refilling his scotch that he had finished off while Maureen was talking. Cecil noticed that his drink had come while he was looking out amongst the crowd and took a long sip from the glass, relishing in the taste of alcohol on his tongue after such a long day.
"Well hello there," Cecil heard someone say from behind him. He turned and stared at a man who he had never seen before.
"May I sit here with you?" he asked as he sat down, not waiting for Cecil to answer.
"Um, sure, I guess," was his response anyways, not that it mattered since the guy had already claimed the seat.
"What're you having?"
Cecil looked sideways at his drink, still mostly full, and said, "Long Island."
The man raised his hand to signal the bartender and told him to bring another of "what he's having". Turning back to Cecil, the man smiled.
"Earl, by the way," he told him. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Oh, um, hi. Cecil," he answered awkwardly, smiling but looking anywhere but the man's face. He made sure that he turned his head back to his drink and kept his body language closed, as he did not really want to do this tonight. The man did not take the hint.
"Cecil," he repeated. "What a beautiful name and a beautiful voice to match. It sounds so familiar, too—your voice, I mean. But I know that we haven't met because I definitely would have remembered a gorgeous face like yours."
When he said this, Earl lifted his hand and stroked Cecil's cheek. Cecil's brows furrowed as he started at this total stranger who was touching him. It was not okay.
"Oh, um," Cecil said quickly as he leaned away from Earl. "I'm the host over at the radio station. You've probably listened to one of my broadcasts or something."
Earl clapped his hands together loudly. "Yes, that's right! I do listen to your broadcasts—every morning, in fact. I just knew that I had heard your voice before."
Cecil shot Earl a small and short smile, not wanting to be rude, but definitely not wanting to continue this conversation. He took a long drink. Earl stared right at him as he did so.
"Look, I'm just going to be frank," Earl deadpanned and Cecil turned to look at him to see that his face had become more serious. "I really like you a lot and think that you are extremely attractive. Would you maybe wanna come over to my place for the night?"
"Oh, actually I can't. I gotta get up really early tomorrow for work and—" Earl cut him off.
"It's only ten o'clock. You'll still have time to get to work. I can even drop you off."
Cecil stood up and took out his wallet as he told Earl, "No, I can't. I really should be getting back home. It's been a long day."
Earl jumped up quickly when he saw that Cecil was paying for his drink and trying to leave. He stroked Cecil's arm and said, "Come on. It'll be fun. I'll even massage your shoulders to relieve some of the tension" and then trailed off. His hand was running from Cecil's elbow to his shoulder and back.
Unsure of how he was going to get to the door, as Earl was standing in the way of Cecil's impending exit, he looked over his shoulder at the corner of the bar where the restrooms were to find that there was no exit there. At least none that he could see and rely on.
"Here," Earl said quickly as he took Cecil's cash off of the bar and handed it back to him. "Let me just pay for a couple of drinks and we can talk for a while."
Earl's grip on his arm was increasing with strength. Not knowing what he should do, Cecil sat back down as Earl ordered him another iced tea. Cecil looked sideways around the bar to see if there was someone, anyone, who he could get to come over and talk to him in order to get him out of this situation.
After a couple seconds of surveying the bar, Cecil's prayers were answered, but not quite how he had expected.
"There you are, Cecil!" It was the man from before—the man at the table with Maureen and then with Michelle. He took the seat on the other side of Cecil and leaned forward to kiss him. This left Cecil momentarily stunned and continued staring at the man.
"Sorry I'm late. Got caught up with work." He looked over to Earl. "Who's this, sweetie?"
Cecil caught onto the man's plan pretty quickly, as he had been thinking of a similar one a few seconds ago, and said, "Oh this is Earl."
The man smiled a put his hand out for Earl to shake. "Hi. I'm Carlos, Cecil's boyfriend."
Cecil smiled at Carlos and then smiled at Earl. "I know that you just got here, honey, but it's so late. I think that we should just go home. I've got an early start tomorrow."
Carlos looked pointedly at Earl as he said in a firm tone, "Of course. If you want to go home because you have an early morning, then you absolutely can. I won't make you stay out with me when you don't want to."
Earl was dumbfounded and Cecil wanted to laugh—at his face, at Carlos's attempt to straighten this jerk out, at the very fact that Carlos had come to his rescue from a potentially dangerous situation. And Carlos's plan seemed to be working, as Earl stood up and dropped some cash onto the counter; Cecil noticed that it was just enough to cover Earl's drink only.
So much for the chivalry rouse, Cecil thought to himself.
"Yeah, I should be going, too," Earl said unabashedly. "I didn't really want to bang you, anyways. And you're not really that good-looking," he completed as he strode out the door.
"Hey," Carlos said quickly but quietly. "Are you okay?"
Cecil just nodded, still watching the door to make sure that Earl didn't come back inside.
"Good. I saw him grab you and make you sit back down so I went to the front door and acted like I just came in. I'm sorry about the kiss; I had to make it believable."
Finally looking towards Carlos, Cecil noticed that his face didn't portray any happiness or relief. He only looked worried—genuinely concerned for Cecil's well-being. He smiled at Carlos, who smiled back.
"It's alright," Cecil told him. "I'm glad you did or he might have never left. Thank you, by the way."
Carlos smiled again, his eyes scrunching and crinkling at the corners, close to the small touches of dignified, if premature, graying hair at his temples. Cecil grinned at the observation.
"Do you have to go home or was that an excuse to get away from him," Carlos asked, not meeting Cecil's eye.
"No, I don't have to go home," he responded. "Would you like to stay for a bit? I saw that your friend left earlier."
Carlos nodded. "Yeah, I was with my friend, Maureen, but she told me that she was, and I quote, 'Going home with that girl I met, if you know what I mean.' I knew what she meant," Carlos deadpanned, making Cecil snort.
They looked at each other for a second before Cecil stirred the rest of his iced tea and took a long sip. Carlos asked the bartender for a gin and tonic, as the two settled into a quiet and laid-back conversation, mostly consisting of talking about each other's jobs. After a few minutes of just chatting and sipping their drinks, Cecil began to get a headache. He closed his eyes tightly and opened them again.
"Are you alright?" Carlos asked as Cecil put a hand to his eye to try to relieve some of the pressure in his head.
"I just got the most intense headache."
Carlos put his hand onto Cecil's shoulder and quickly stood up. "Cecil," he said in a very serious tone. "I need you to try to stand up, okay?"
With his eyes still closed, he hesitated and asked, "Why?"
"Because I think that Earl may have put something into your drink."
"What, like a roofie?" He was starting to feel lightheaded as he turned on his stool to face the direction of Carlos's voice.
"Yeah, like a roofie. Please try to stand. I've got you."
Cecil opened his eyes to see Carlos standing beside him, ready to catch him were he to fall. He complied with Carlos's request, but very quickly felt his head begin to pound and saw the room begin to spin. Carlos appeared to be Carloses, plural, and his voice sounded like it was underwater when he cried out Cecil's name as Cecil's vision became tunneled and then completely black.
Coming back to consciousness felt almost exactly like falling into unconsciousness, except in reverse. The tunnel vision was back as soon as Cecil opened his eyes and began to clear up. There were a lot of voices swimming around, yet they all still sounded distorted and far away. His head was still extremely painful and was pounding viciously. He turned his head to the side and realized that he was lying on the floor, presumably of the bar.
"He's awake!" someone cried from above him, causing Cecil to shut his eyes again from the sensitivity that he felt from the loud noise. Somebody said something else and then the person that was right next to him called his name.
Cecil opened his eyes again and allowed them to adjust to seeing the bright lights on the ceiling straight on. Then he turned his head a bit to the side and saw Carlos leaning over him.
"Cecil," he said quietly albeit firmly. "You passed out for a couple seconds. We're calling an ambulance."
"What?" Cecil mumbled, confused as to what had happened.
"You passed out from the drug that I think Earl had put in your drink. We are gonna get you to a hospital to make sure you're okay."
Cecil just nodded. This was a little too much to process when he was lying on the floor with the worst headache he has ever had. His eyes closed again. Everything sounded underground.
Suddenly, another person kneeled down beside him. He opened his eyes to see the bartender staring down at him with dark yet warm brown eyes, filled to the brim with worry and concern.
"Don't worry, Cecil," she told him. "I've called the ambulance and it's on its way, but you have to stay awake okay?"
He nodded his acknowledgment. The barkeep spoke again.
"What's your last name?" she asked, followed by, "Are you allergic to any medicines?"
Cecil answered both questions and tried to sit up. The pain exploded with full force, causing him to groan.
"Don't try to move, Cecil," Carlos said, placing a hand onto Cecil's shoulder to gently keep him lying down.
Nodding, Cecil closed his eyes for a couple seconds before opening them, only to see distorted colours and shapes instead of people and surroundings. Almost no sound could be heard over the ringing in his ears. Soon enough, though, Cecil could tell that EMS had arrived and was now speaking with Carlos and the bartender about what happened and who he was. The paramedics strapped him to a gurney and he felt himself being pushed out the door of the bar.
Cecil could easily smell the night air and it instantly relaxed him. There were no more extreme lights above his head, so he tried to pry open his eyes and saw a flash of movement before he stopped trying to keep his eyes open. He felt himself begin to slip into unconsciousness as he barely noticed the wheels on the ambulance begin to move him closer to the hospital.
Upon opening his eyes from sleep, Cecil looked around the dark hospital room in confusion at first. He had expected to be in his own bed, ready to start the day at the station, but had instead was laying in a pretty uncomfortable hospital bed with disgustingly white sheets and a gown, as well as the protruding stench of antiseptic cleaner. The potency was almost enough to make Cecil's vision go black again, but it regulated itself after a minute or two of taking deeps breaths in through his nose and letting them out through his mouth. Doing this alerted him to a tube running from his nose off to a machine on the side of his bed. There were a couple of them, actually, one steadily yet quietly beeping.
Good, he thought to himself. I'm alive at least. Turning his head away from the machines, he noticed someone slumped over his bed from the chair that they were sitting in at his bedside.
"Carlos?" was the first thing that Cecil said since waking up to a dark hospital room just a few minutes.
Leaning forward in his chair, Carlos grabbed Cecil's hand. "Cecil, are you awake?" he whispered.
"Yeah." Came the response.
"How are you feeling?"
A grunt. "Better than before. What happened exactly?"
"The doctor said that it definitely was a drug that caused your headache and fainting, most likely Rohypnol. You have an I.V. for fluids as well as something to raise your blood pressure. You were on a ventilator earlier, though. You stopped breathing for a couple minutes in the ambulance. . . ." Carlos trailed off, worry and misery seeped through his voice and eyes, allowing Cecil to truly understand how dangerous his situation had been, even though he could barely remember anything that had happened.
"Am I better?" he asked, feeling somewhat stupid. Of course he was better—he was breathing, after all. He just needed to hear Carlos say it.
A small chuckle. "Yeah, Ceec. You're doing much better."
After a few moments of silence passed, Cecil whispered, "Thank you for staying with me."
Carlos smiled genuinely and told him, "Of course. I will stay with you as long as you want me to."
The feeling of Carlos gently carding his fingers through Cecil's short blonde hair made him want to tell the man that he never wanted him to leave, but instead Cecil just closed his eyes and hummed thoughtfully as Carlos continued the comforting gesture until Cecil was asleep again.
The morning brought with it the hustle and bustle of the hospital, including doctors and nurses making rounds throughout the hallways and coming in once or twice to check Cecil's vitals and chart for a couple minutes before leaving in search of another patient.
Cecil had woken up before Carlos had, when a nurse had entered his room and quietly and quickly read the information she needed before leaving just as silently. Carlos had only woken up after the second nurse had entered with a hearty, "Good morning, Mr Palmer!" and had officially woken both men for the day. Even though the nurse was extremely kind and polite, he was especially loud for only 7 o'clock in the morning, making Cecil suppress a couple of groans from the early morning headache.
A few minutes after the second nurse had left in search of Cecil's doctor, the patient's headache subsided and he opened his eyes once more, only to find that Carlos was looking at him thoughtfully.
"What's wrong?" Cecil inquired, only to be met with a quick shake of the head from Carlos.
"Nothing. I was just thinking."
"About. . . ?" Cecil pressed.
"About how I had told Maureen that I hadn't wanted to go out to the bar last night and how she had jokingly told me that I may find someone there and fall in love with them."
Cecil stopped and stared at Carlos's eyes, trying to decipher any emotions from the statement, but he came up short.
"And did you?" he asked nervously, unsure of his own feelings towards the man, but relenting that they were at least positive.
Carlos blinked. "I'm not sure yet."
A moment of silence passed between the two until someone knocked on the door and quickly swept into the room wearing a white lab jacket that hinted to Cecil that this was his doctor.
"Mr Palmer. I am Dr Teddy Williams. How are you feeling this morning?" he asked immediately.
"I'm pretty good."
"No headache?"
"Nope."
"Any weakness, numbness, or tingling in your arms or legs?"
"No, none."
"That's good!" he exclaimed as he took his stethoscope off of his neck and slid the diaphragm underneath the top of Cecil's hospital gown in order to take his pulse.
"Pulse is 82. Nice and strong," he said as he flipped open his chart and took out his pen. "Blood pressure is a beautiful 122 over 80. Much better than when you came in."
Dr Williams closed the clipboard and set it down on the other, currently unoccupied, bed in the room and looked expectantly at Cecil.
"Do you remember anything that happened last night? Anything at all?" he asked.
Cecil took a few moments to ponder the question, trying to think of the last thing that he could remember. He started from the beginning and worked his way through it aloud.
"I remember that I was alone at the bar and this guy came up and sat next to me. We started talking, and then he ordered me a drink. I told him that I had to go home, but he didn't let me. But then Carlos got him to leave and then stayed and we talked for a while. But I started to get a headache and I remember falling and waking up on the floor."
The doctor nodded. "But nothing after that?" he questioned, to which Cecil shook his head.
"Okay, that is expected since you had ingested Rohypnol, probably from the drink that that guy had bought you. It is very dangerous to mix Rohypnol with alcohol. The combination can produce extremely low blood pressure and difficulty breathing, which is what it did in your case. Whether or not your attacker knew this, I don't know, but the reason Rohypnol is used commonly as a date rape drug is that it can cause complete or partial 'anterograde' amnesia. This means that you may not be able to remember what was done to you while you were under the influence of the drug."
Cecil felt like he was going to be sick. Carlos sensed this and reached out to place his hand over Cecil's to offer his support without interrupting the doctor, who continued on.
"Now, in the ambulance, your blood pressure was about 70 over 40. This is extremely dangerous, as oxygen deprivation can cause organ damage fairly quickly. Fortunately, you were immediately given norepinephrine bitartrate, which acts like adrenaline to raise your blood pressure.
You also came in with difficulty breathing after you had stopped breathing for about 45 seconds in the ambulance. You were put on a BiPAP machine, which is a noninvasive ventilation system. This helped to improve your breathing back to normal without having to be given an endotracheal tube. The nasal cannula is still giving air to your body, but your lungs are completely functioning on their own.
Everything now appears to be normal and we can start the checking out process. Although, I am guaranteeing that you will not be signing the paperwork and leaving until mid- to late afternoon, as we are going to monitor you while you are conscious for at least a few hours before giving you the all clear. Do you have any questions?"
Cecil blinked and looked at Carlos. "Um. . . ." he said.
Carlos cocked his head to the side. Cecil did not know why this distracted him so much, but it did. He took another of second, blinked a couple of times to escape his reverie, and turned back to the doctor.
"I don't think so," he told him.
Dr Williams picked up Cecil's chart once more. "Alright. If you do come up with a question later on, you can ask one of the nurses to come find me. Other than that, I will check back on you in a few hours," he told him and then left the room, leaving the two once again in complete silence.
After a few moments of Cecil just letting Carlos card his fingers through his hair, Carlos said to him, "I may not know if I fell in love last night, but I intend to find out."
Cecil looked at him. Carlos's face held a smile almost from ear to ear and he could feel in his chest that Maureen's words, even though said only in a passing joke, may have resonated with himself as well.
Cecil hummed in response, bearing a smile on his own face quite similar to Carlos's. He rolled over onto his side to completely face Carlos as he held out his hand, which the other man took in his own. The feeling of Carlos's thumb rubbing over and over again on the same spot on his hand eventually lulled Cecil into a peaceful sleep.
Person A and Person B have not met yet, but they happen to be sitting next to each other at a bar when some jerk starts making unwanted advances to Person A. Person A then turns around and tries to pretend Person B is their girlfriend/boyfriend/other. Person B plays along, and when the guy finally leaves, they strike up a conversation. A few minutes later, one of them discovers that something had been slipped into Person A's drink and the two decide to hunt down that asshole.