"Am I really that bad that you have to drink to be in my presence?" I looked up at her, a smirk on my lips. She looked annoyed by me. It looked good on her.
"I don't think you want to know the answer to that, Undersee." I answered. I was a master at ambiguity and trust me with the way Madge hated me she definitely didn't want to know why I was drinking. Not that she would believe me anyway.
"Do you do this on all your dates?"
"Should I stick to water, Undersee? I guarantee you'll like me more if I've been drinking." It'd probably be a much better situation if we were both drinking. I told her this much.
She rolled her pretty blue eyes at me and it only made me grin. This was how I liked her. I liked that she was annoyed with me. It meant that she had certain expectations for our date and that meant that she actually cared what happened on this stupid practice date. She cared about me to some extent and I liked that.
She ordered herself a drink and winked at me with the wine glass in her hand.
I was definitely in trouble.
We stumbled into Madge's apartment. I had one arm wrapped around her waist and we were giggling. I think we were laughing about Thom's big head. Whatever it was, it was absolutely hilarious to us both.
"Where's your bathroom?" I asked after dropping her off on the couch.
"Overr there!" She said, gleefully pointing to a door in the corner of her apartment.
I walked over to the room, using the walls to support myself when standing upright got rough. I stumbled into the washroom and forced myself to lift the toilet seat and not miss. I would not piss on Madge Undersee's bathroom floor. That just wasn't going to happen. I wouldn't let it.
I finished pissing and washed my hands, glimpsing at my disheveled self in the mirror. My hair was sticking out in every direction. I noticed the bras hanging from the shower curtain behind me. I turned around.
So that's what Madge was sporting underneath her clothes. I reached up and fingered the thin lace. How was this supposed to cover anything? The material was sheer. You would be able to see everything if she was wearing this and I meant everything. I was suddenly filled with so much jealousy when I thought about the guys who had seen her in just the thin lace.
I exited the bathroom sort of filled with rage. I'd wanted her. I'd always wanted her, but things got in the way. But we had our chance and to think that I might have lost out on it to some other guy, some guy who probably didn't even care about her the way I did. But who was I kidding? Any guy who met Madge would immediately fall in love with her.
Things had always been difficult between us. Every thing I hated about her I loved too. I loved that she was such a hard ass with me, but I loved it too.
"Hey!" Madge yelled, her arms outstretched to me.
I sat on the other side of the couch, her outstretched legs on my lap now.
Her black dress was riding up, exposing more of her creamy white thighs.
"You're a lot nicer when you've been drinking," Madge said smiling at me. She tipped her head. "Or is it because I've been drinking?" She laughed.
I smiled at her. "You're a lot easier to deal with when you've been drinking."
She sat up on the couch, leaning into me. "We should get drunk when on that thing next week!"
"No! Thom would haate us!"
She put her hand on my shoulder. "We should hate him."
"Why?"
"Because he's making us do thisss!"
"It's not that bad right?"
Her face sobered. "No." I felt her hand move sloppily on my cheek. "You're handsome, you know that right?"
I shook my head. "Thom was wrong," I slurred.
"What?"
"You're not pretty. You're beautiful."
I didn't expect her to giggle at me, but it made me laugh too.
"You are!"
"You're being silly, Gale. You hate me. You don't think I'm beautiful."
She couldn't be more wrong.
