19.
Miss tall, recently separated, gorgeous blonde was in the bar asking for Mike. Actually I knew that she was trying for reconciliation with her husband, and apparently she was also trying for something with Mike.
It was the perfect cap to a perfectly horrible day. I had just ended my shift, and was looking forward to going home and taking a bath so long and so hot that it would wash away the day. My brother Hal had come by, he had stitches above his eye. He had gotten in a fight with our father. That fight had not gotten physical, but then Hal went out and picked a fight with some strangers, and that fight had ended up with Hal in the ER. Every injury in my family somehow seemed to circle back to our father. My stomach hurt just thinking about it.
So, like any well-adjusted grown woman, I took a shot of my favorite white tequila. I watched her sitting at the bar, talking with her equally tall, skinny blonde friend, laughing, and flirting with the men around them. She had a husband, she at one point had Mike, she had the two guys talking with her eating out of the palm of her hand. So, I took another shot.
"You shouldn't drink alone." Kevin smiled, he had just come off shift as well. So, he took a shot of his favorite bourbon.
"To tall skinny blondes." He said, revealing he knew, at least in part, what was eating me.
"To apartments we can't afford." I smiled, revealing I knew he was struggling with trying to find a bigger place so he and his girlfriend could move in together.
"To family." He said, looking at me, reminding me that he knew a little bit about my family.
"To family." I said, and took my fourth shot.
20.
An hour later, I was still drinking with Kevin, who was way more drunk than me. At least I thought so, until I went to stand up. And then it all hit me, and I remembered why I rarely drank. I fell down squarely onto my butt, and Kevin stood over me and laughed. He reached out and pulled me up to my feet.
"Maybe you would make a great Logan after all." Mike's voice took me completely by surprise.
"I should go." Kevin said, managing a somewhat sober façade. I smiled and gave him a small wave, and stumbled a bit sideways.
"Whoa." Mike said, reaching out to catch me.
"Yeah, whoa." I said, not making too much sense. "Did you find your tall skinny blonde?" I asked.
"My what?" He said, still holding me, raising an eyebrow.
"Tall, skinny, blonde." I looked around the bar and realized she was gone. I again tripped over my own feet.
"I think I have what I want right here." He said to me, looking at me. I looked up at him, trying to focus on him, but my eyes were all watery with tears.