Purgatory Blues (2013), page 6
“Have you learned how to cook by yourself yet?” Melissa asked, barely containing a smile.
“I’m really good friends with the take out guy”, Andy laughed, “we once built a fort out of the old pizza boxes, then some old lady looked through the window and insisted that I throw them all out”.
Melissa broke in to laughter, “sounds like something you’d do”. She said and playfully punched him on the arm.
They sat there in silence for another minute, neither of them knowing what to say next. There was a discomfort born of familiarity. Each of them, in their own way, wondered if they should call it a night and walk away. Andy was about to stand up when Melissa grabbed the tequila bottle.
“How about another one?” She asked with a smile and began pouring them both shots before Andy could answer.
“Sure”, he said and sat back down.
Melissa pushed a glass towards Andy and raised her own, “to better days”, she said.
Andy raised his glass, “better days”.
They both drank and slammed their glasses down at the same time. Andy sat there staring straight ahead, while Melissa tried to figure out what to say next.
“You’re gonna be okay”, she said. “You know that right?”
“M, to be perfectly honest, I don’t really know how much I’ve got left in me. I just…” Andy faltered, looking for the words. He took a deep breath, “I don’t…”
Andy felt Melissa shift beside him, he turned his head towards her and suddenly her lips were on his. He’d been so comfortable talking with her that it felt like the most natural thing in the world. It took him a moment to realize who she was before he jerked his head back slightly, but he didn’t move away.
“I’m sorry”, she whispered, “I shouldn’t have…”
He didn’t wait for her to finish, the feeling of her breath so close to his was more than he could bear, he leaned in to the kiss. It was slow and comforting at first, almost nurturing. It had been years. It was like they were remembering each other for a moment. Soon his arms were around her waist and hers around his neck. The intensity built and then it was all about sensation, he needed to feel something again, he needed her. Melissa slowly climbed off her bar stool and on to Andy, straddling him with his back against the bar counter.
“Bed?” She asked in between her heaving breaths.
“Mm hmm”, he replied before carrying her into the spare room and kicking the door shut.
Chapter 5
When Andy woke the next day he found a naked Melissa luxuriating upon him, her face buried in the crook of his neck, her leg over his and her arm draped across his chest. He tried to recall how he’d ended up there but nothing came to mind, instead…all he could do was react to the shock of finding himself in his current predicament. “Fuck”, he said under his breath.
Melissa heard him in her sleep and shifted slightly, pulling him closer. She let out an involuntary “mmmmm”, as she exhaled.
Andy wondered if he’d be able to sneak away and tried to move out from under Melissa without waking her up. He immediately felt pain all over his body. “OH FUCK!” Andy screamed loudly enough to raise the dead.
Melissa jerked awake, covering her naked body with the sheets as she did, “what’s wrong?” She asked after she’d quickly scanned the room.
“Jesus Christ this hurts! What the fuck happened? Why is there so much pain all over!?” Andy exclaimed, wide eyed in a mild panic.
Melissa began counting the incidents on her fingers, “you raced Jack, you wiped out, you played a surprise show…”
“Okay, okay, it’s coming back to me now”, Andy said as the fog cleared.
He let his body settle back in to the bed to stave off the pain. The memories began to knit themselves together ever so slowly but he couldn’t seem to find the chain of events that led to him and Melissa waking up in bed together. He decided that there wasn’t any other plausible reason for two people to wake cuddled up and naked, so they more than likely did have sex.
“You’re wondering what happened between us last night aren’t you?” She asked, amused at the fact that she knew him so well.
“No”, Andy replied with a furrowed brow, wondering how she’d read his mind.
Melissa raised her head to look at him with a sly smile playing on her lips, “why ruin our long history of not talking about things right?” She asked before resting her head on his chest.
“The bike?” Andy asked after another brief silence.
“I didn’t see it but Jack told me that it’s a pile of Legos at the bottom of the hairpin cliff”
“Fuck”, was the only suitable response that came to Andy’s mind.
Melissa settled back in and made tiny circles with the hair on Andy’s chest while he tried to make peace with the fact that he’d trashed a Ninja without any insurance. It was a lot of money to throw away given that fact that he had no income aside from an advance from his publisher for a book he hadn’t even begun yet.
“Hey, you think you could give me a ride?” Andy asked after a minute had passed, “I left my car at Charlie’s”.
“Okay”, Melissa replied dreamily, “five more minutes?”
“Mm hmm”, Andy agreed.
He lay there feeling a strange mixture of guilt and contentment, unable to separate the two inextricably linked components. “This is why I should never stop drinking” he thought to himself. Thinking about what he did the night before was always too stressful. “This why I should stop drinking”, he mused as an afterthought, considering that there’d be nothing to feel bad about if he’d exercised better judgment in the first place.
When they finally managed to get out of bed, Melissa helped Andy out of his bandages and into his clothes. Allowing the scrapes to breathe would encourage them to heal faster. When they were both ready, they walked outside to find Melissa’s lone bike in the parking lot. She mounted her Harley and shifted back to allow Andy the rider’s position.
“You ride”, he said, “my back’s still a little sensitive”.
Melissa suppressed a laugh and slid forward.
“How about some breakfast?” Andy asked as he got on behind her.
“It’s two-thirty in the afternoon but sure…where?”
“Firk”, Andy replied, it was his regular hang out. He had four out of every five meals there and more often than not…could be found there drinking.
“Cool”, Melissa replied and dropped her visor.
The ride was more eventful than Andy would’ve liked and he ended up clinging to Melissa like his life depended on it. She weaved in between cars like she was playing chicken and Frogger all in one. They did, however, arrive at their destination in relative safety and in record time.
The Firk was a pub with a huge outdoor seating area filled with large wooden tables and benches. It was located on the roof of a gigantic mall, which gave you the illusion of sitting very high up and far away from everything below you. Andy loved the feeling of isolation that it provided. Inside was an elaborate, well-stocked bar and booths for people who preferred a more intimate environment.
Melissa dropped anchor in the bike zone and Andy led her to his regular table. They had only just sat down when Lily the waitress ran over and hugged Andy from behind. She was a very friendly, petite young girl and reminded Andy a lot of a Japanese cartoon kitten…tiny and cute.
“Hey, I thought that was you!” Lily said as she squeezed him.
“Easy, easy”, Andy said, putting his hands up with a grimace on his face.
“What truck ran you over?” Lily asked in surprise.
“Long story…beer and breakfast…the usual one”, Andy said.
“Coming up sweetie”, Lily replied and skipped away.
“Make that two”, Melissa called after her.
“Sure thing”, Lily said as she twirled to face Melissa.
As soon as Lily was far enough away from the table, Melissa began taking her gloves off in a manner that showed her annoyance. “And?” She asked, using her eyebrows to gesture towards Lily.
“Lily? She’s just a sweet kid, there’s nothing going on there”, Andy said dismissively. He was oddly aware that Melissa might be jealous…and surprised at the fact that he might care what she thought.
“Nothing that you can remember anyway”, Melissa said to him and looked away.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that”, Andy replied, not wanting to lend any credence to her remark.
He stood up and waved to Lily before enlisting a series of hand gestures. First, four fingers up, then a thumb and forefinger indicating something small, and then two fingers crossed for a “t”. Lily smiled and nodded.
“What’s that?” Melissa asked.
“I just ordered 4 tequilas”, Andy replied.
“Did you train her to sit and roll over too?”
“At least I didn’t have to try and train the bitchiness out of her”, he said with a smirk.
“Ah hahahaha, I see someone’s recovered from his injuries”, Melissa said sarcastically.
A moment later Lily returned, “here you go babes”, she said while putting down the four tequilas and two draughts.
“Thanks”, Andy said to Lily before she left.
“I’ll just have one, I’m on the bike”, Melissa volunteered.
“No one said they were for you”, Andy grumbled, pretending to be mean as he downed a shot.
He was sure that the best way to get over his guilt was to get drunk again as fast as he could. The first tequila went down a little hard, but then he had another and it went down a little better. He pushed one towards Melissa and held up the last one for a toast.
“Here’s to…well…here’s to…” The look on his face suddenly changed and he seemed to stare out in to nothingness, remembering something long forgotten. Melissa looked at him quizzically at first and then interrupted his reverie with a raised eyebrow, “to what?”
“Here’s to you Melissa, for being you”. Even he didn’t know if he was being sarcastic or saying the words in earnest.
“Okay”, she said with a tilt of her head.
They drank.
Andy immediately grabbed a hold of his beer and guzzled a third of it to wash down the tequila. “Breakfast of champions”, he said with his signature gruff voice. He lit up a cigarette and took a long drag, “what’re you up to today?” he asked, trying to fill the silence with social pleasantries.
Melissa took the cigarette from him, sucked down a lung full of smoke and blew it out at him as though it was a kiss. He absently swatted it away. “Allen is getting back today”, she said, “I guess I’ll be spending the day pretending nothing happened with us and hope he doesn’t pick up on anything”.
He didn’t know what to say. It felt like she’d baited the sentence, like she was trying to see what he thought about last night before she revealed herself. “Was it was a crime of opportunity?” Andy thought to himself. He’d assumed that Allen just hadn’t wanted to be there yesterday, but in reality he was occupied elsewhere and Melissa had taken advantage of that fact. He took the cigarette from her, turned away and stared out at the parking lot while he took another drag. “This is not my problem. Don’t say anything”, he counseled himself.
Suddenly the lack of food, the three tequilas and the beer coupled with the uncomfortable situation he found himself in, hit him all at once. His head began to swim. “It’s the damn nicotine”.
Melissa was still staring at him, “you’re not even going to say anything are you?”
He stood as carefully as he could, not willing to betray his unsteady limbs, handed the cigarette to Melissa without a word and walked inside. He guided himself purposefully between the patrons, alongside the bar and into the men’s room. Thankfully there was a free stall. Two lines would get him back on track.
In his condition it took a little longer than usual to get the job done. Between trying to hold down the contents of his stomach and pry open the bag from a knot that was too tricky for shaky hands…even he was surprised that he’d pulled it off and not decorated the room with his insides.
His desperation to avoid puking his lungs out and passing out in a bathroom stall like the village idiot made him all but forget that he was in a public place. Nonetheless, he chopped the lines quietly and flushed before he snorted. It was a standard distraction that only those in the know would recognize.
After a while without having any of it in his system, he felt his bowels tighten from the sudden, massive hit. He knew it would probably be nothing but alcohol and blood that he’d evacuate but he had to get some of it out of him…and he was already in front of a toilet with some degree of privacy.
When he emerged from the frantic duel with his liver he thought that he was right as rain and steady as a rock. He had been able to stave off sobriety once again.
As Andy walked back to the table he couldn’t help but contemplate the meaning behind “right as rain”. “Why was rain right? What about rain makes it so fucking right all of a sudden? It’s just rain!”
He got back to their spot and found Melissa well into her meal of eggs, bacon, toast and grilled mushrooms, but after the cocaine…breakfast was no longer an option for him.
She smiled at him with a mouthful of food, “I couldn’t wait. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. Don’t you love it when you get back to your table and your food is waiting for you?” She added, nodding to his plate.
“Uh huh”, he said as he sat down.
“This is exactly what I needed, that was a hell of a workout last night”.
Still not knowing how to handle the situation, the best he could offer was a rather reserved, “sure was”, before taking a sip of his beer.
Thankfully, it being a Sunday afternoon, there was some live entertainment about to get underway. Nothing fancy…just a guy with a guitar and a catalogue of golden oldies, but it would provide a good enough distraction and he’d have an excuse not to talk to Melissa.
Andy signaled for Lily to come over to the table. “Get me another round sweetheart. Nothing for Melissa here, she’s riding. Beer and tequila for me and a beer for the minstrel there. Tell him to start with the song ‘Heavy fuel’ by ‘Dire Straits’”.
“Coming up”, Lily said in her most playful manner.
Melissa wore a look of concern on her face, “Andy, you can’t keep drinking like that without eating first”. She said as she pushed his food toward him and began unwrapping his cutlery.
He pushed his plate back. “I’m not hungry”, he said and lit another cigarette.
“Then why did we come for breakfast?” She asked in frustration.
“Beer’s got carbs in it, that’s fuel enough for now”, he said, knowing his argument was complete bullshit.
“Why do I even bother”, she said in an exasperated tone before dropping his knife and fork to the side. “By the way, Jack called me while you were gone, he found your phone at the clubhouse when they went to pack, he’s sending it over with Dennis”.
“I hate those damn things, I keep losing em. They’re just another way for people to keep harassing you. I gotta keep a better eye on this one”.
“Seems like you’d lose your head one of these days if it wasn’t the only way to put liquor into your body”.
“You’re going to start with me now?”
Before they reached the level of verbal sparring that only married couples can ascend to, Lily interrupted them. She’d returned with Andy’s drinks. As she put the tray down on the table she leaned in close and whispered, “please do me a favor”.
“Yeah?” Andy answered.
“Well, there’s these two guys sitting at table five behind you, they’ve been here for about four hours now and their tab is already at six hundred. I don’t know why but I have the feeling that they’re going to walk out on the bill. It’s just a feeling, but our new bouncer, you know Jeremy?” Andy nodded before Lily went on, “he hasn’t arrived just yet. Would you mind keeping an eye on them for me?”
“Sure, no problem”.
He turned to see that it was two well dressed black gentleman who seemed to be in very good spirits…in more ways than one. There was a bottle of very expensive whiskey on the table and from the sound of their conversation one might have assumed that they were in a heated debate. It was only because their foreign accents and mannerisms of speech weren’t something that most people at this particular bar were accustomed to.
“Thanks sweetie”. Lily laid out the drinks on the table and left with her tray.
“What was that about?” Melissa asked with just the slightest hint of disdain for Lily.
“See that table back there?” Andy asked, gesturing in the general direction. “Might be a couple of runners. Let me know if you see them get up”. He turned to give them another look. They were clad in some fancy labels, but something about their body language told Andy that they came from the rougher side of money. He could see that they weren’t businessmen in the conventional sense…rather, he chose to categorize them as entrepreneurs who were accustomed to aggressive negotiations.
Melissa replied with an uncomfortable “hmmph”. “I don’t know why that’s your problem but if she’s as zippy with her other customers as she is with you then I’m sure she’ll spot them leaving on her own”.
Andy watched as Lily walked up to the stage and gave the musician his beer. She pointed them out to him and he raised his glass to Andy and Melissa with a smile and a nod. They did the same.
The muso hit the opening riff and Andy’s foot started tapping in time, then he began singing along, coaxing Melissa with a smile, “last time I was sober, man I felt bad. It was the worst hangover that I ever had. Took me, six hamburgers and scotch all night, nicotine for breakfast just to put me right. Cause if you wanna run cool…”
“Your personal anthem I take it?” Melissa asked, looking thoroughly amused.
“You might say that”.
Something seemed to catch Melissa’s eye and she looked past Andy for a moment before looking back at him and pointing over his shoulder. Andy had his shot of tequila and turned around. The two guys at table five were leaving.
