Rachel pulled into the freshly paved parking lot behind Mark's Bar. Cassie took out her compact and gave her lips a fresh coat of gloss while Rachel fixed her hair. Judy stared out of the window at Tom as he got out of his car. She caught his eye for a second, but quickly turned her head.
Judy took a deep sigh. "I don't want to go in." Judy said stubbornly folding her arms. "I'm just not in the mood."
"Oh Jude, don't be like that." Rachel tried to persuade her. "Everyone is here; we've parked and everything."
"Yeah, just come on in for a little while." Cassie pleaded. "You can watch me make a fool out of myself in front of Mark."
Judy smirked. "Ok, just for a little while."
The girls got out of the car and met up with the guys.
"Are we ready ladies?" Harry teased. "Or do you want to change clothes too?"
"Ha Ha!" Rachel said giving Harry's arm a pinch. She laced her fingers with his as they led the way to the front door.
Tom and Doug trailed behind everyone so they could pass a few words.
"Talk to her." Doug said quietly pointing to Judy who walked a couple of steps in front of them.
"Not here." Tom replied. "This isn't the best place for privacy, you know."
"Well, did you talk to her in the bedroom?"
"Not really. I wasn't sure what to say and I was still kinda upset."
"Why didn't you just rip her clothes off? I know you wanted to." Doug joked.
"Can we talk about this later? I'm trying to get through this right now."
Doug made a motion of zipping up his lips.
The bar was so packed full of people that the group of friends barely made their way inside. As they approached the bar, a big group of people stepped away and left a huge opening. They slid into the spot and got the bartender's attention.
"What do you guys want?" Harry pulled his wallet out of his back pocket.
"A beer." Doug answered.
"Bourbon and coke." Tom answered.
"I know what you want Rachel. Jude? Cassie?"
"I'm fine thanks." Judy replied.
"I'll have dirty martini." Cassie answered.
Harry placed his order. "I need two beers, bourbon and coke, dirty martini and a screwdriver." The bartender scurried away to fix their drinks.
Cassie leaned over to Judy. "Aren't you glad you came in? Even the bartenders are cute."
Judy laughed. "Don't start shopping just yet. You still have to find Mark, so you can make a fool out of yourself."
"It's nice to have friends like you Judy." Cassie said sarcastically.
The bartender sat the drinks on the bar one by one.
"How much for the drinks?" Harry asked opening his wallet.
Before the bartender could say one word, Mark Staten walked up behind them and threw his arm around Cassie's shoulders. "They're on the house."
"Mark!" she exclaimed. "You scared the shit out of me."
"My favorite red-head!" Mark gave Cassie a huge hug. "I didn't think you would make it. My assistant said you didn't seem interested."
Cassie was taken aback by his extreme friendliness. "Oh, she just caught me at a bad time. Of course I was interested!"
"Well, I'm pleased to see you here." Mark smiled.
"This place is great! I'm very impressed." She smiled.
"Thanks." Mark leaned against the bar. "I didn't know what to do after college, so I decided to follow in the footsteps of my father and become an entrepreneur."
"Oh, where are my manners? These are my friends: Rachel, Harry, Doug, Tom and you know Judy."
"Oh yes, Judy," Mark kissed her hand. "How've you been gorgeous?"
"I've been pretty good, I guess." She gave Tom a look. Tom wasn't too happy, especially watching another man kiss her hand.
"You guess? That's because you need a drink." Mark signaled the bartender. "I need a vodka sour for the lady."
"Thanks Mark." Judy said sweetly.
"No problem." Mark checked his watch. "Well, I have to check on the patio crew, but I'll be back." He kissed Cassie's cheek and walked off.
Cassie watched him stroll away. "I can't believe that was Mark!"
"Well believe it because it was." Judy smiled. "I thought you guys were on bad terms."
"I guess it was all in my imagination. Besides, Mark is looking kinda cute these days."
"Oh my God! Are you crushing on Mark now?" Judy chuckled.
"I'm not crushing." Cassie stirred her drink.
"Sure you're not." Harry added.
"Leave me alone Harry." Cassie gave him a slight shove.
Judy sipped her vodka sour and laughed alongside her friends while Tom and Doug moved away from the bar. They found a tucked off room that was lit by candlelight and full of Mark Staten's rich, yet worthless friends. They took a seat at one of the empty tables.
"That guy was cool to buy our drinks." Doug said.
Tom took a sip of his bourbon and coke. "He didn't buy us anything." He took another sip. "He owns the place."
"Well, you know what I mean." Doug leaned back in his chair.
"Did you see the way he was holding her hand?" Tom gulped his drink this time.
"Check out Mr. Jealousy!" Doug shouted. "Do you wanna rumble with him?"
"Shut up Doug!"
"Relax Rambo, they're just friends. Actually, I think he's digging Cassie."
"Everyone digs Cassie. I think it's her loud mouth and the way she moves her hands around when she talks." Tom rolled the ice around in his glass.
"And her eyes." Doug added. "I'm not really into women's eyes, but her eyes are beautiful."
"Not like Judy's eyes." Tom smiled. "Everything on Judy is beautiful and I mean everything."
"Why don't you tell her that you're sorry and that you love her so you can stop drowning your sorrows in alcohol?" Doug leaned forward and grabbed Tom's empty glass.
"I don't know." Tom sighed. "I was hoping she would admit she's wrong so I won't have to."
"Pride's a bitch, huh?"
"Oh yeah! And you know how Jude is, she definitely won't apologize first."
"You probably won't believe this, but Dorothy's the same way."
"Oh trust me, I can believe it." Tom laughed.
"I don't know about her Tom." Doug paused for a moment. "I think the likelihood of us working out is getting slimmer by the hour."
Tom leaned in closer to the table and threw his elbows on top. "Why don't you call her tomorrow? I'm sure she'll wanna talk."
"That's a good idea. Besides, it has been a couple of days." Doug took a sip of beer. "I'm sure she misses me!"
"Um, if you say so." Tom said trying not to bust into laughter.
While Doug and Tom were rapping to each other, two women walked up to their table. One was a curvy blonde wearing a short, tight black dress. The brunette was taller with a shorter haircut, but she looked like a model off the runway.
"Hi." the blonde interrupted them. "Do you have a light?" She showed her cigarette.
"Nah, actually we don't smoke." Tom answered.
"Well, how about the time?" the brunette tried.
"No watch." Tom answered again.
"Well, can we sit with you?" the blonde tried the straightforward approach.
"Sure!" Doug jumped in before Tom could shoot down that attempt too. He looked at Tom whose eyebrows were raised at the fact that he invited these women to join them. Doug whispered to Tom. "Please do this one favor for me and I'll never ask you for anything else."
"Some how I doubt that." Tom mumbled under his breathe.
"Ladies, please join us." Doug got up to pull out their chairs. "I'm Doug, by the way and that's my shorter sidekick Tom."
"Well, I'm Dana and this is my best friend Lauren." The blonde introduced.
"So, do you know Mark Staten too?" Tom asked.
"I use to date him." Dana admitted.
"And I used to sleep with him." Lauren giggled.
Doug's eyes got big listening to their confessions. Tom rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair. Oh great, another meaningful conversation. He thought to himself. I wonder what Judy's doing.
Judy was having an in-depth conversation with Harry while Cassie and Rachel found a bathroom. Suddenly, she noticed that Tom and Doug disappeared. Her eyes glanced around the open area of the bar hoping to spot them. "Where are Tom and Doug?"
Harry began glancing around with her. "I didn't even see them leave."
"Do you think they left?" Judy asked nervously thinking Tom went home without her.
"Nah. I think they would have said something." Harry looked back at the exit doors. "Maybe they stepped outside. I'll check."
"Well, I'll look around here for them."
"I'll meet you back here, ok." Harry headed for the exit.
Judy glanced around the crowded bar trying to decide where to start. She noticed a side room tucked away up ahead, but her biggest task was to weave through the people to get to it.
"No Doug, I'm afraid he's a horrible quarterback." Lauren raised her voice.
"You need to get your eyes checked." Doug snapped back.
Tom and Dana listened as Doug and Lauren went back and forth with football stats. Dana wasn't into the conversation, so she decided to start one of her own with Tom. "So what do you do for a living?"
"Oh, I'm a cop." Tom answered.
"A cop?" Dana giggled.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Tom couldn't believe she was going there with the "you're too young to be a cop" conversation.
"Well, most cops that I know are fat, ugly and married." She pulled a book of matches out of her purse. "You're too hot to be a cop."
Tom slightly blushed from the compliment. "Thanks." He watched her struggle to strike the match correctly. "Here let me get that for you."
"You're such a gentleman." Dana smiled.
"No problem, but I thought you didn't have a light."
She blew out a puff of smoke. "I didn't feel like looking in my purse." She smiled.
Tom shook his head and smiled with her bluntness.
As Tom innocently flirted with Dana, Judy stumbled into the room. She glanced around until she saw Tom and Doug sitting with two women. She watched as Tom smiled and laughed with the pretty blonde. Her jealousy didn't even stand a chance against her aching heart. Unnoticed to Tom, she stood in the crowded doorway with her vodka sour in one hand and the other covering her stomach as the adrenalin made it do flips. Shaking her head with disappointed, she backed away from the doorway and headed back to the bar. She glanced back to see if there was a chance Tom saw her and decided to come after her, but nothing. Not watching where she was going, she crashed into someone and spilled her drink down her blouse.
"Oh shit!" Judy screamed as the cold beverage made its way down her skin. Not knowing what kind of damage she did to the victim of her clumsiness, since his back was to her, she blurted out a series of apologies. "I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I'm sorry about that."
"Judy, stop apologizing." The familiar voice stated.
Judy eyes got big after the man said her name. To her surprise, the man happened to be Jack Ramsey.
Sorry it took so long for me to post something. I kept getting interrupted with weird things going on in my life. Also, I think I revised the chapter so many times that the words stopped making sense to me. I hope you like it!