By midnight I was slinging drinks at Deuces. The bar & grill was my favorite place to work. I got to meet new people and have fun all at the same time. I was a bartender part time and a waitress the other half.
At the moment I was stopping the alcohol flow for one particular gentleman. He was a regular and I had made an odd relationship with him. His wife had recently left him and he spent many of his nights drowning his sorrows in whiskey. We had a five drink limit for any drink so he made sure he switched it up. At the moment he was on his third of vodka. In about ten minutes I'd have to cut him off.
"Minni, can you clear table four, please?" Marco asked me. He was the owner of the bar and ran it fairly. He also worked as one of the bar tenders but tonight he was working as a waiter because one of our waitresses was out for knee surgery. She had been in a wreck and it messed her knee up pretty badly.
"Sure. Let me make sure James here is done." I replied.
"I'm done." James slurred. He had heard my conversation with Marco and was deciding to call it quits for tonight.
I smiled. "Sammi, make sure James gets a cab home, please." I asked.
"You got it, Minni."
I grabbed the black tub I kept behind the bar just in case I had to clean and made my way to table four. It wasn't as much of a disaster as table seven was. There were only four glasses on this table and one bowl of pretzels and one bowel of popcorn. Table seven was loaded with baskets and glasses. There obviously had been a party there and they decided to trash the table. I groaned in response.
"Petey, bring me a broom!" I called over the music. A few seconds later he brought me what I asked for. "Thanks." He nodded and continued his own work.
I began to clean up and realized I hated it. At home, if I cooked, Buzz cleaned up. He would do that tonight while the guys were there and then they'd go out. It was normal. But here at work, all I had to do was make sure everything was done before I went home. No one cleaned up after me. I had to do it myself.
I was realizing I had been taking Buzz for granted. Maybe that's why he wanted a new apartment. That way he didn't have to worry about cleaning up after me.
I was lost in my own thoughts I didn't notice someone had come up behind me till it was too late.
"Hey, sweetheart. Wanna dance?" I turned around and instantly smelled rum on his breath. He obviously had been bar hopping. He brushed up against me.
"No, thanks. I'm actually working." I replied nicely.
"I can tell. I can help."
"No thanks." I went to walk by him and he grabbed my arm. "Let go." I wasn't one for confrontation but I would defend myself if I had to.
"Come on, baby. It's one little dance."
"I said no." I shoved against him but he was stronger.
He slugged me across the face. Okay. He was a violent drug. My cheek was throbbing as I looked at him. He was raring back for another swing and was tackled. OC and Mac were literally pummeling the guy as Buzz made a beeline for me. He looked at my jaw.
"Are you okay?" he asked. I nodded. He turned around and helped beat the guy up.
I looked up as Silky stopped beside me. He handed me an ice pack as Marco and Petey helped throw the guy out the door. Sammi came over and relieve me of my black box. I sank into a chair and caught my breath.
Buzz came back with a pitcher of beer and seven glasses. Bah sat beside me as Buzz sat on the other side. They were going to flank me for now. Mac and OC sat across from us as Silky and Rizzo filled in the spaces. My head fell towards Buzz's shoulder. He just stayed there and let me get my pain out. They were fuming mad already. I thought spaghetti made everything okay.
"Minni, you okay?" Petey asked as he and Marco came back over. I nodded because my jaw hurt too much to talk at the moment. "Marco's banned the guy."
"Good." Bah said. His hand was rubbing gentle circles in my back.
"Do you want to press charges?" Marco asked.
"Yes." Buzz answered for me.
"No." I replied even though my jaw hurt.
"Minni." Mac said hotly. "You have to press charges. He hit you."
"And I've been hit by guys before. It's nothing new."
"But we don't hit you because you refuse to do something. We fight as friends. There's a difference. We never get drunk and hit you." Buzz literally growled at me.
"Well, I called the cops. You need to stay here until they arrive and get your statement." Marco said.
I nodded as he walked away. "Bah!" It came out as a whine, completely opposite from what I wanted. I turned in my seat. "I need a hug." He didn't waste any time. His arms came around me and he held me close. It was warm and comforting. He'd always been that way for me.
"You're pressing charges." Buzz said gently. "It won't be like last time."
"Last time?" Bah asked. I felt his voice rumble under my ear.
"Freshman year a guy attacked her while in the hallway of the dorm. Even though cameras caught him, she refused to press charges. Mac and I got him and he left her alone."
"Protective much, Mac?" Rizzo asked.
"I've known Minni for a good while now. You don't mess with her or Buzzy will be all over you. I just happened to help out at the time. When you go to school together, you see each other a lot." Mac said. He reached over the table and moved the ice pack. "That's bluing up really badly."
"Gee, thanks." I snuggled back into Bah's shoulder. Even though he had gone to school in Duluth, we were always close because of hockey camps.
The cops showed up close to one. By that time my jaw was throbbing royally and I was in no mood to talk with them. I figured that if I didn't talk to them, Buzzy would and that wouldn't be pretty. Buzz was a pretty laid back guy until you mess with his family.
We all gave our statements. Marco let me go for the night. Bah tried to get me to ride with him, but I didn't want to be in a car with Buzz and Pav. It was bad enough to have them force me to tell what had happened but I wasn't going to ride with them just to hear what a good thing I did. I opted to take the bus. Buzz wanted to go with me but I steadfastly refused. He was already mad. I wasn't having him go off again. Jack agreed to go with me.
When the bus pulled up to the bus stop just outside the dorm, Jack got off before me. When I started referring to him as Jack instead of OC I didn't know but it didn't really matter. We walked up to the third floor where Buzz and I lived. After I unlocked the door, I went in and flopped out on the couch, my feet going into Pav's lap. He and Johnson were still there and if I was right, Suter was still around as well.
"What happened to your face?" Johnson asked as I lay down with the bad side of my face up.
"She was slugged pretty hard." Jack answered. From the sound of his voice he was in the kitchen. He walked around and handed me the same bag of peas I had given Silky earlier. "Here."
I took it and placed it on my face, letting it rest there as I watched whatever the boys were watching.
I was nearly asleep when the door opened again. I didn't open my eyes because I knew exactly who had come in the house. My head was lifted and then placed on someone's leg. From the smell of the jeans, I could tell it was Silky. Bah used Arm & Hammer in everything he washed and Buzz and I used the same stuff. I didn't know what the others used so I figured it was one of them.
"How long do you think the bruise will last?" Pav asked. They had obviously been talking while I was attempting to figure out who I was laying on.
"I'm not sure. I think we got the swelling down quickly, though." Buzz replied. He was standing above me. I felt his hand brush through my hair. "It's a good thing we got there in time."
"Is she packed for Norway?" The voice came from above my head. It was Silky I was laying on.
"I don't know. We'll find out tomorrow when we get ready to leave."
Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. The team was playing the Norwegian national team tomorrow and I was going. I had to take a different flight which was about to get vetoed because of tonight. If I had to go alone, then that was going to raise some hell. I had a feeling that the very next morning, I'd be missing my three o'clock flight and taking the five o'clock one. Herb was not going to like that.
I must have fallen asleep because one minute I'm comfortable laying across Silky and Pav and the next I'm feeling weightless. Then I feel the softness of my bed. I opened my eyes and saw Jack removing my shoes. He looked up and saw me looking at him.
"Buzzy said to bring you in here. Silky's leg was going to sleep and you kinda curled up on him." He said. I inhaled like a sleepy person would and nodded. He smiled and patted my foot. "Get some sleep."
He left the room and I got up. I ventured into the joint bathroom and looked at my face. It was bruised badly. I was lucky my jaw wasn't broken. I brushed my teeth gently before throwing on comfy PJs. I went back in the bedroom and got back in my bed. Sleep came easily. Too easily.