“No, no… you made the right call that night. I guarantee you that. I’m really very sorry that I put you in that position.” Trying to steer the conversation back towards her problems, I added. “This could be more than a quick lunchtime conversation. Do you have any plans tonight?”
“Nope. In fact I was really dreading going home after work.”
“Why don’t we grab a drink then, someplace quiet, where we can talk?” I added hastily, “I promise, I won’t try to kiss you.”
She laughed again and resumed our walk toward lunch. “That sounds great. Thank you.”
The rest of the workday drug on and on. However my shift did eventually end so I walked over to Kathy’s desk and asked “Are we still on for tonight?”
She started to answer, but a call came in right then. Holding up a finger to me she went through her standard greeting, then turned to me and gave an exaggerated series of nods to let me know the answer was still yes. As she turned back to her screen, I picked up one of her colorful sticky note pads and a pen, scrawling ‘I’ll be in the breakroom.’ on the top page and setting the pad back down next to her mouse pad. She glanced at the pad and gave me a quick thumbs up while talking to her client.
About an hour later, Kathy poked her head into the breakroom and called out to me, “You ready?”
I lifted my head from my phone to tell her yes, and stopped short as I saw her. Her eyes, while still a little red, were much clearer and the brightness of the blue had started to shine again. She had a real smile on her face, this time reaching her eyes.
“Well?” She questioned again after a few seconds of my stunned staring.
“Oh, uh… yeah, yeah. Let’s go!” As we walked together toward the parking garage I added, “So, I’ve been thinking, we’re probably going to want to have a few, yeah?”
“I’d very much like to get shitfaced, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“And… you’re still not a hundred percent sure that you want to go home tonight?” I had rehearsed how I wanted to present this in my head, but it wasn’t coming out the way I wanted. I was struggling to make sure everything I offered was as a friend only, not an attempt to get her into bed.
The smile faded a bit, “That’s true too… ugh, I don’t want to have to pay for a hotel just because HE is an asshole.”
“That’s fair.” I decided to just lay out my idea at that point. “So how about this; we drive our cars over to my place, catch a rideshare to wherever we want to go. When we’re done for the night, we catch a rideshare back, if you’re good to drive and want to go home, great. If not, you can crash at my place. Don’t worry, you can have the bed, I’ll take the couch.”
She made a shape with her mouth and nodded her head slightly in a way that told me she was thinking it over, but had no intention of accepting my proposal. “Or… we save all that travel time and cost, and just drink and talk at your place? Plus,” she waved at her outfit “I’m not really dressed to go out.”
That caught me by surprise. “Oh, yeah… okay, that works too.”
“Are you still at the house on Lockett?”
Again surprised, “Yeah, same place.” I know she’d been over to my place once when I’d held a game night with some of our coworkers, but I was still shocked that she’d remembered exactly where it was.
“I’m going to stop at the store and grab my favorite wine, you need anything specific?” She asked.
“No, I have plenty at home.” I was thankful that I was going to get there before her, I wanted a chance to pick up just a bit. I am a fairly tidy person, but I am also a single man living alone. A quick wipe-down of a few surfaces wouldn’t be out of the question.
“See you in a few!” She split off to head toward her Jeep, and I continued on to my car.
I spent the short drive home wondering what exactly was going to happen tonight. My offer to talk was genuine, I had no intention of trying anything with her. However, the knowledge that when drunk and high I had tried to kiss her weighed heavy. As much as I desired her physically, I considered her a friend, and did not want to ruin that for one night of fun. I resolved to watch my drinking, and make sure I didn’t allow myself to lose control. I was there to be her friend, nothing more.
Reaching my place, I parked in the far side of the driveway leaving room for her to take the spot closer to the door. Walking into the house and taking a glance around to see what needed to be tidied. I wondered if she’d take long enough at the store for me to take care of myself so I would have less pent up sexual frustration when she got there. Deciding that might actually make it worse, I chose instead to just use the time to clean anything she might see and put a clean set of sheets on my bed, just in case she did end up crashing. I had chosen to spend my time wisely, because just as I was finishing up, I felt the short vibration of a text notification. There was a message from Kathy which read ‘Leaving store omw 3min’. I messaged back a quick reply, ‘Door’s open, come on in.’
She arrived and came through the door carrying a canvas shopping bag heavy with five bottles of various red wines. As she pulled them out of the bag and set them on the bar style counter between my kitchen and dining room, I looked at with a raised eyebrow “You said shitfaced, not alcohol poisoned!”
She chuckled and looked at the row of bottles she’d neatly lined up. “I may have gone a little overboard, but they had a sale, and I figured I could always share.”
Taking a look at the selection, I asked “Would you like me to open one up so it can start to breathe?”
“Ooh, fancy.” She made a face and held up a hand as though she was holding a teacup with her pinky raised as far from the remaining fingers as she could.
“Oh shush, you.” I joked while getting the corkscrew from a drawer. “Which one?”
“It really doesn’t matter, after a few glasses, they’ll all taste the same anyway.”
I grabbed the neck of the bottle closest to me and proceeded to go through the process of opening it. Kathy came into the kitchen and pointed at the cabinets with a quizzical look. Figuring she was asking where to find glasses, I pointed with my chin at the correct one. She reached in and pulled out two of my large long stemmed wine glasses and brought them over. Taking the bottle from my hand as soon as I had the cork out and quickly dumped two very generous pours. When she set the bottle down, I could see that there was only about a third of the deep purple liquid remaining in the green glass.
Handing one glass to me, she gently clinked them together and said “This looks to be a good start.” Then took a long pull from her glass.
With wide eyes I followed suit, taking a longer than normal sip of the sweet Merlot, but not as big a gulp as hers had been. “Mmm… not bad at all.”
Kathy took another long pull and glanced around. Seeing the couch, she moved into the living room. I followed close behind, sitting on the far end from the end she had chosen.
Suddenly feeling the silence like a heavy blanket, I asked “Music?”
“Sure!” Raising her glass slightly.
I called out to my smart speaker device, telling it to play my Lo-Fi Beats playlist on shuffle, then as the music started far too loudly, I told it to reduce volume to three. To Kathy; “If there’s something specific you want to hear, just tell it.”
“This is fine.” She said and finished the last of the wine in her glass. Then stood, just a hint unsteadily already, and headed back for a refill.
I glanced at my own glass, still more than half full, and prided myself that I was resisting the urge to keep up. She returned with a glass so full I knew she had emptied the bottle into it and sat back down, twisting her body to face me. I took this to be as much of an invitation as I was going to get. “So… what happened.” I finally asked.
She exhaled sharply, cupping the wine glass in both hands, and spoke downwards practically into the wine. “Yesterday, after work, I went straight home. Usually on Thursdays I go to the Yoga studio, but I wasn’t feeling up for it.” She took another deep sip before continuing. “When I got home I noticed a car I didn’t recognize parked on the street in front. I was going to write it off as someone visiting a neighbor, but there was open space everywhere else, so I got suspicious. I parked on the street instead of pulling into the garage, and kind of snuck up to the house.” Another sip, and a very deep breath in through her nose and out her mouth allowing her cheeks to puff out a bit. “I went to a few windows and peeked in, I didn’t see anything until I got to my own bedroom window.” Her voice had started to shake, and she paused to take another drink.
I set my glass on the coffee table and moved closer to her on the couch. Not too close, but close enough to place my fingertips on the point of her knee in what I hoped was a comforting gesture. “It’s okay, take your time.”
Kathy looked at me with a sad smile, took one hand off her glass to place on mine, and said “Thank you.” raising the now more than half empty glass to her lips again.
I reached out with my other hand to retrieve my own glass, and took a long pull myself.
She continued with her recounting of events. “So there I am, sneaking around my own house, peeking in windows like a creeper, just starting to tell myself I was being absolutely ridiculous and I look in my own damn room… and I see them.” Her voice had changed from sad to angry. “Paul and some fuckin’ bleach blond, fake tittied, fat assed bitch.” She practically growled as she drained the last of the wine in her glass. “Just right there, fucking each other on MY goddamn bed!”
“Holy shit.” I said and took an extra long pull on my wine.
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