Joel laid on the couch in the living room of his one bedroom apartment wearing a tattered white tee shirt and a pair of gray sweat pants; his brown hair was disheveled from laying down. He held a beer can in his left hand which was resting on his stomach as he held the remote with his right hand, aimlessly flipping through the channels on his television.
Moments after Joel settled on a rerun of Full House, he was startled by a pounding on his door. Nearly spilling his beer, he jolted up from his couch and set the can down on his coffee table.
"Who could that be?" wondered Joel, lethargically pacing toward the door. "Everyone is at work."
The pounding came again a few seconds later.
"I’m coming," shouted Joel, "don’t break down my door! Geez."
When Joel reached the wooden door, he unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door. When he saw who was standing there, he could not believe his eyes. A look of surprise came over his face as he gazed at his visitor.
"John?" asked Joel, a confused look shortly followed the look of surprise.
The blonde man standing at the door, who was as tall as Joel, smiled at the confusion of his friend. "Who did you expect? Stacy?" asked John, a sly smile crept across his face.
That’s John, my college roommate. Although I graduated and moved to Charlotte, we stayed close. He visits from time to time, but usually not unannounced.
"Funny," said Joel facetiously. "Come on in."
"It’s about time. I thought I’d be out there all day," said John, grabbing his bag and walking through the door. As he entered the apartment, he looked Joel up and down. "You look like hell."
"Thanks," responded Joel, following John past the kitchen and dining area of his apartment and into the living room. "Did you come all the way up here just to tell me that?"
"Actually, yeah, but more importantly to pull you out of your depression," responded John proudly. "When I heard how pathetic you sounded on the phone, I decided to come up here and get you back on your feet."
Joel chuckled as John finished talking. "Be careful, buddy," he said, "you almost sound like you care."
"My bad," replied John, unzipping his bag. "You know what helps me get over a girl?"
"What’s that?"
"A club filled with hot girls and this," replied John, reaching into his bag and pulling out a bottle of tequila. "Got any shot glasses?"
"Actually," said Joel, pausing briefly in thought, "that doesn’t sound bad at all. I like where your head’s at. I’ll get my shot glasses."
* * *
Three and a half hours later, the elevator bell rang as the five lit up above the button to the right of the steel doors. The two doors then slid apart allowing Jack and Dustin to exit the elevator. The two of them turned left, heading for Joel’s door. As the duo approached his door, they heard loud music. Both men looked at each other with a look of confusion on their faces."He must be feeling better," said Jack.
"Finally," said Dustin. "Being around him like that is worse than being around Brian and Lauren when they are all lovey-dovey. It makes me sick."
"Jealous much?" asked Jack.
"Of them? No!" replied Dustin, disgusted at the thought. "I just don’t want them to do it in front of me, or in my apartment."
"Aren’t the two of you roommates?" asked Jack.
"Yeah, so?" responded Dustin, obviously clueless at the point that Jack was trying to make. "What of it?"
"So, it’s his apartment too."
"Yeah, yeah," responded Dustin, rolling his eyes.
When the two men reached the do, Jack knocked, but there was no answer. All that could be heard was the loud music that was booming through the walls. Jack tried again, pounding on the door furiously. Still nothing. Finally, Dustin tried turning the doorknob. Sure enough, the apartment was unlocked.
When Jack and Dustin entered the apartment, they found Joel and John sitting on the living room couch playing video games. Sitting on the coffee table in front of them was an unopened bottle of tequila, two shot glasses, and an empty pizza box. Looking up from his television, Joel noticed his two friends and reached for a remote and turned the music down.
What? You expected us to be passed out drunk? We have more sense than that. We decided to wait for Jack and Dustin to get there before we started pregaming to go out. It would just be the four of us tonight seeing as how Brian, Lauren, Stacy, and Ron were going out on a double date. I am kind of glad they decided to have a date night. If I was going to get over Stacy, I didn’t need her around to get in the way of it.
"Hey guys," said Joel, placing the remote back on the coffee table and returning to his game. "There is beer in the fridge or if you want to join John and myself for some shots, there are shot glasses in the cabinets over the sink."
Both men went directly to the kitchen and opened the cabinet above the sink to retrieve two shot glasses. When they returned to the living room, John had opened the bottle of tequila and filled his and Joel’s glasses. He then filled Jack’s and Dustin’s glasses and the four of them toasted a took a shot.
And so, our night began. We stayed at my place until abut 10, then we gelled our hair and put on our button down, collared shirts. We left my apartment and ventured downtown via a cab. Once downtown, the taxi dropped us off on a street where two bars stood side-by-side directly across the street from a club we often frequented.
The four men piled out of the cab and entered one of the two bars, called The Dirty Sanchez. Upon entering, the bar stood directly across from the front door on the back wall. The wooden counter formed a giant square as the three bartenders worked from within the middle. The two men and the woman looked like fisherman trapped in a boat being swarmed by sharks as The Dirty Sanchez was already crowded when Joel and his friends arrived.
The four men searched out an unattended spot at the bar and waded their way through the sea of people, making their way toward it. They arrived and claimed the spot at the bar, just beating a group of three men to it. Jack flagged down the bartender and ordered four beers. Even after they had received their beers, the four men held their position at the bar.
Looking out over the people, John nudged Joel with his elbow. "How about those girls over there?" he asked, pointing toward two girls sitting at a table across the bar. Joel shrugged in disapproval and John continued his search as Jack and Dustin made their way over to two girls and struck up a conversation.
In mid-search, John stopped and looked at Joel with a wary look. "You aren’t doing that thing where you see Stacy everywhere are you?"
"Dude, no. Not at all," responded Joel.
"Ok, just making sure."
But I was doing it. I couldn’t look at another girl without seeing Stacy’s face. What is wrong with me? Why can’t I get past her? It’s really starting to make me mad.
"What about them?" asked John, pointing to two different girls. Joel shook his head at the proposal. John looked over at his friend with a grimace on his face. "You aren’t one of those...you know, are you?"
Joel rolled his eyes and looked at John sternly. "Very funny."
"Ok, well that girl across the bar is smiling at me so I am going to go talk to her," said John. "You gonna be ok over here by yourself?"
"Yeah, I’ll be fine."
Reluctantly, John left Joel and made his way around the bar to the girl he had mentioned. Joel watched him as he started to talk to her. John then looked over at Joel and winked, prompting Joel to chuckle and shake his head.
As I looked around the bar and watched all of my friends talk to girls like it was second nature, I found myself wondering why I could not do the same. It looks easy enough, but I just could not will myself into action. The longer I stood there, the more alone I felt. Now how could that be? How could a person be standing in the middle of a crowded bar and feel completely alone? I had no idea, but that’s how I felt...alone.
As Joel pined over his beer, a raven-haired beauty made her way to the bar behind him. Upon reaching Joel, she tapped him on the shoulder. Joel turned to gaze into her emerald-colored eyes.
"I noticed that your friends left you standing here alone. Need some company?" asked the woman, smiling warmly.
Joel hesitated for a second, almost getting lost in the woman’s eyes, but then quickly snapped out of it. "Yes," he said, smiling back at the girl.
"My name is Katie," said the woman, sticking her hand out.
"It’s nice to meet you, Katie," said Joel, shaking Katie’s hand. "I’m Joel."
And for the first time I thought, Stacy who?
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