Peculiarly, I was touched by this mysterious and handsome drunk. “How do you know where I live? My house could be ten miles away. Maybe I took a cab here?”
“Because I noticed that you left earlier and came back. I just figured you lived close by. You look familiar, like I’ve seen you in the neighborhood.”
I knew I had never seen him. No woman could forget a face like his. “I don’t know if I need an escort, but thank you. I might stay and have another drink.”
“Not a good idea, Evey. You hate hangovers.”
“Do I?” I arched my eyebrows. He was so drunk he was acting as though we knew each other. It was comical and a little creepy.
“Well, everyone hates hangovers.”
“True, and you are going to have quite the hangover tomorrow, buddy. I don’t think you need to worry too much about me.”
He squinted and smiled faintly, like he had found some kind of ironic humor in my comment. We were staring at each other silently, with this unusual sense of knowing and attraction that I didn’t understand.
Chewbacca walked by and said in a non-Wookiee voice, “He’s harmless. Even if he had bad intentions, do you really think he could pull it off? Look at him.”
“Okay, well, listen for my screams. I only live a couple of blocks away.”
When I looked back at Lucian, his eyes were closed and he was swaying again. I should have been more scared of him, but I wasn’t. I got up to leave, and like a puppy dog, Lucian followed me without a word. Out on the street, he took my hand as though he needed me to guide him while he shuffled along a step behind me.
“I think I’m doing more of the ‘walking someone home’ than you are.” I could still feel the comforting warmth and strange magnetism in his hand.
“You see me, I’m always here,” was all he said.
“At that bar? No, I’ve never seen you there before, and I’ve been there at least ten times.”
“Right,” he agreed, closing his eyes again.
“Don’t pass out on me.” When we reached my building, I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. “This is me. I gotta go. Do you know where you are?”
“Yeah, I’m at your building,” he slurred. He kept blinking, trying to focus. “I’m okay. You can go.” He nodded toward the door. “Go ahead.”
“Okay, bye… be safe,” I called back. While I unlocked the door from the street leading into our building, I turned and noticed he was still watching me.
“I’ll wait until you’re in,” he said.
At that point, it had already been the single most bizarre night of my life.
JUST GO IN, Evelyn. Quit looking back. Forget what I look like.
Zack is always talking about the rules. “They exist for a reason,” he likes to say, though none of us actually know what the reasons are. I was currently breaching too many of the rules to count. Plus I was drunk again and a hundred percent sure I was going to hear about it from Mona as soon as the night was over.
Just before Evelyn entered the building, she turned back to me and said, “Do you want to come up… sleep it off on the couch? My roommate is probably home so…”
She was saying her roommate was home so I wouldn’t think she wanted to sleep with me. So transparent, Evelyn, really!
I thought about what it would be like to sleep with Evey. I thought about touching every inch of her body and running my hands through her brown hair, getting lost in her brown eyes… being inside of her… her warmth.
I shook my head, trying to displace the thoughts of her naked body… in my arms. Such a beautiful woman Evelyn had become. “No, I can’t.”
“How far is your place?” she asked.
“Just up the way, a couple of blocks.” I was beginning to sober up.
“You don’t want to come up for coffee or something?” she asked again, her expression hopeful.
I waited for a moment, listening for something—Mona, my conscience, God, anything—but there was nothing. “Okay fine.”
I was well aware that I was making a huge mistake. I couldn’t disappoint her though. Not when the two us were seeing each other… finally.
Zack’s first rule and most commonly talked about was: never show them who you really are.
She motioned for me to go inside. Once I was in the entryway of the building, I stopped and waited for her to lead the way up the stairs.
“You okay?” she said, passing me in the stairwell.
I cleared my throat. “Yes.”
“You’re about to puke, huh?”
“No. I’m okay.”
Once inside the apartment, she stopped at the kitchen. “I’ll grab you a water. The living room is down there.” She pointed me in the right direction.
I walked to the living room and flipped on the light. The apartment was empty. The pigsty adjacent to the living room—otherwise known as Brooklyn’s room—was also eerily quiet.
“No one is here,” I called out.
Evey walked up holding a glass of water. “Sit down. My roommate should be home soon.”
I took the glass and sat on the couch. “Thank you.”
When I glanced out of the window, I saw Zack on the stoop across from Evey’s building. He was glaring at me, making a neck-slicing motion with his hand.
“Fuck,” I said, watching him.
“What are you looking at?” Evey asked as she sat on the couch as far away from me as she could.
I turned my entire body toward her. “Evelyn, I want to tell you something.”
“Okay.”
“I’m an angel.” I didn’t know what came over me, but being there, in plain view, made me feel like purging two thousand years of pent-up frustration.
She didn’t hesitate. “You seem sweet. I know you’ve had a lot to drink, but I’m not worried.”
“Well, you should be, dammit. Honestly, Evelyn, inviting a drunk stranger up to your apartment at two a.m.? I’m appalled.”
“What? You don’t seem drunk anymore.”
To my relief, she was finally showing some signs of fear and self-preservation by stiffening her body and moving farther away from me. At that point, she was hugging the arm of the chair like she was about to jump up and bolt.
“I’m an actual angel. I’m not saying I’m sweet, although I’d argue…” I waved my hand around, vaguely. “Never mind.”
Her mouth was turning up into a smile. She stood cautiously and started to back away from the couch. In a really sweet voice, wearing a kind smile, she said, “Have you been to see a doctor, or maybe spent time in treatment?”
“What are you talking about, like rehab?” I mean, I knew I had been drinking a lot but…
“Um, um, psychiatric,” she said, softly.
“You’re kidding. I finally tell someone, and they don’t even believe me.” I stood from the couch, a bit wobbly, and took a deep breath. Being free finally did feel amazing, but I wanted her to believe me. I wanted to tell her everything. I held my arms out and said, “I feel liberated. It feels so good. Really, Evey, I’ve been carrying that shit around for eons. I’m glad I told you.”
She laughed with the frightened kind of hysteria, so I smiled warmly at her. She took three deep breaths, and then her laugh turned into something more amused, like she was talking herself out of being scared.