We went to his place, dumped my stuff, I unpacked my toiletries in the bathroom, changed out of my torn blouse and cleaned up.
Then he took me to Lincoln’s Road House, a no-frills biker bar that was located on a slip road off I-25. They had great food, great atmosphere and, usually, great music. It was Saturday night and a band was playing when we got there. Luke glared a couple of guys who were hanging out but not eating away from a table. He planted my ass on a stool and got menus.
I could tell he was still pissed. I could also tell he was still controlling it.
He got me a Fat Tire beer and I was reading the menu (Luke was not, he likely knew it by heart) when Jules and Vance joined us.
I could have done a cartwheel of joy. Saved from Luke’s bad attitude by my ex-vigilante current-social worker new friend and her bounty hunter boyfriend.
We all ordered food and we ate.
I was trying very hard not to think about what Luke said in my bedroom. I was scared to death about that night. No, I was scared to death about everything, everything about Luke and everything about my life. I couldn’t deal, not openly, so I buried it and as I buried each and every word he said and all that had happened the last two days, I got more and more stressed out.
Therefore, when Hank and Roxie joined us and Daisy and Shirleen hit our party and then Tex ambled in, I decided, fuck it.
Time to party.
So I got drunk.
*
“How’s it goin’, Sugar?” Daisy asked me, blue eyes soft with concern, when all the girls were shoulder-to-shoulder in the tiny bathroom, breaking the seal and reapplying lipstick.
I knew she was likely asking if I was okay about Kidnapping Part Two but I ignored that and got to the important stuff.
“I moved in with Luke this afternoon,” I told her and she sucked in breath, her eyes slid to Shirleen and they both smiled at each other.
I was in my Good Drunk Zone, feeling fine, feeling loose, feeling talkative (which was, along with losing my inhibitions, another bad habit I had when I was tipsy).
“This is not good. You would not believe what he said to me,” I announced.
Roxie and Jules got close and, even though I barely knew any of them, I told them about the latest incident and I did so in great detail. There was more sucking in of breath then more smiles.
“Shit. I thought some of the stuff that Vance said to you was Sexy Hot Boy Hot but Luke’s got him beat by a mile,” Daisy told Jules.
“I’d pay a man to talk to me that way,” Shirleen put in.
“He’s a jerk,” I said happily, sounding as if this was a good thing and applying shiny lip-gloss to my lips in the mirror. “I hate him.” Again, this was said with drunken good cheer and all the girls looked at each other, lips tipped up at the ends. “I’m moving to Wyoming the first chance I get. I’m moving in with Sissy’s mother even if Sissy isn’t there anymore. Mrs. Whitchurch likes me and she owns a shotgun on account of the bears that are always going through her trash.”
Daisy gave a tinkly-bell laugh.
Jules came up behind me in the mirror. “During my thing, I convinced myself I was moving to Nicaragua,” she shared.
“Nicaragua sounds good but it’s filled with those Latin-lover types. I’m trying to get away from macho men.”
She pressed her lips together like she was trying not to laugh and glanced at Roxie. I ignored them and turned, screwing on the cap to my lip-gloss. I heard the band strike up again after a break and I instantly got the best idea I decided at that moment that I’d ever had in my life.
So of course I had to share and I shouted, “Let’s dance!”
I shoved my lip-gloss in my pocket and charged out the door through the bar right by the table where all the Bad Boys were sitting and straight to the dance floor. The Girl Gang followed me.
I loved music and I loved to dance. There were times in my life when Sissy and I went out and I didn’t drink a drop, just danced like a lunatic. Even when I was Fatty, Fatty Four-Eyes I was the kind of person who got lost in the music and didn’t care who was watching. Now, especially as I was heading towards three sheets to the wind, I let it all hang out.
Of course I’d never been to a club where Luke could see me but I was feeling fine, feeling loose and as the girls and I moved in our Girlie Dance Circle I was having the time of my life.
After a few songs I shouted the latest, greatest idea I ever had in my life, “Shots!” Then I peeled off and went to the bar.
The place was packed and the bar was three deep. Two guys saw me and shifted to the side to let me through. I smiled at them huge and bellied up to the bar.
“Hey, thanks,” I said, still throwing a smile over my shoulder.
“Don’t mention it, darlin’,” one of them replied.
It took a few minutes but a bartender made it to me.