I turned left into the liquor store parking lot. Rhonda also said that if I ever wanted to go to this bar, I needed to park in the lot across the street since it was well lit. We sat in the car for a few minutes staring out at the bar, then glanced at each other.
“You think we’ll get in?” he asked.
I noticed a group of younger people across the street walking down the sidewalk and pointed it out to him. “If we hurry, we can probably catch up and walk in with them. We’d probably get right in.”
He laughed as we hurriedly exited the car and darted across the street trying to catch up to the group. As they entered the bar, I held the door open for everyone and tried my hardest to make it look like we were with them. And it worked. The door attendant must have recognized them and let the entire group through, including the two of us.
“This is so cool, Étienne,” Thad whispered into my ear, stealthily wiggling his pinky through the fingers of my right hand, sending shivers up my spine.
Directly across from the entrance was the bar. It stretched along a mirrored wall, making the bar area feel much larger than it was. Long light fixtures, which barely illuminated the room with an eerie red glow, dangled from the unusually high ceiling. People stood and conversed at a few high-top tables at the room’s center.
Thad and I decided to wander around and study the layout. The back wall of the bar was bordered with small booths; to the right of that was a dark opening to a black hallway covered with thousands of stickers that had all been half scratched off. This opening led to the large room, where bands would perform.
“Wow,” said Thad. It was only a Thursday night, yet the bar was filling up quickly.
A cover band performed the best hits of the ’80s. It was hard to hear with the band in the background, so I led Thad to the dark hallway connecting the two rooms and told him I’d try to order drinks for us both. He nodded and said he’d have a beer. I didn’t really know what I wanted, but when I slid through the sea of people and finally reached the bar, the only beer I could recognize was Miller High Life, a beer my dad used to drink. I ordered two.
“It worked,” I mouthed to Thad, the music now almost too loud for us to hear each other. It had worked. The bartender didn’t even give me a second glance. She took my money and handed me the two bottles.
Thad clinked his bottle against mine then took a sip and as I brought my bottle up to take a drink, he pulled me in and said, “This is the best birthday I’ve ever had.”
There’ll be more. I hope.
Thad downed his beer as we were dancing, then grabbed my half-empty bottle to finish it. I didn’t mind since I was the one driving and didn’t want to chance getting pulled over in the middle of the night.
Coming home soon. Won’t be too late, I texted my mom after remembering that she had asked me to let her know if I would be late. It was the least I could do after the stress my sister and I had been putting her through.
The room began to fill with more people as the band started playing “Dancing with Myself”by Generation X.I felt myself being pushed further into the room and closer to the stage. I reached out behind me to try to grab Thad, but he wasn’t there.What?I looked around trying to point out his face in the mass of people who had just entered. He was nowhere to be seen.
Are you alright?I texted him, but there was no response.
I wanted to stay and enjoy the song, but I was afraid something might have happened. He was drunk. And we were both well under the age restriction. My mind started running wild thinking of all the bad things that could happen.
I tried inching my way toward the hall that connected to the bar but found myself in a maze having to walk around and find openings between people. Eventually, I gave up trying to be polite and pushed through yelling, “Sorry. Excuse me. Watch out.”
The bar area was nearly vacant since everyone rushed to see the band. I found him leaning back in the corner booth with one leg rested on the banquette, sipping on a new bottle of beer. He saw me, pulled the beer down from his mouth, and motioned to come sit with him. He was happy to see me, though his eyes were droopy.I think you’ve probably had enough.
“You all right? I think we should leave soon.” I leaned in.
“Leave, why? Just got another bottle,” he slurred.
“I’ll go get you a water.”
“Wait. I’m fine. Come hang out with me. I want you with me.” He grabbed my arm as I started to stand.
I got up anyway and went to the bar and asked for some water; he really needed it if we were going to survive the ride home. Sadly, I was forced to buy a bottle since they didn’t provide glasses of water.Three dollars?I rolled my eyes after reluctantly handing her the cash. I looked up at all the bottles of liquor hanging in front of the mirrored wall while she went to the furthest cooler to grab the water.How can you remember what is what? There’s so much.She handed me the bottle and as I turned from the bar, my throat tightened in reaction to the sound of a fist colliding with a table.
“I’m not a fucking fag,” Thad’s voice erupted from behind me.
My eyes focused on him as he jumped up from his seat, staring down a man who was turned away laughing a few feet from the booth. Even in this dim red lighting, I could see his face was crimson with rage. He looked like he was about to collide with the older man. “Thad!” I dropped the bottle and ran toward him.
Clang.My head hit the tile floor after I intercepted Thad’s attempt to tackle the person who apparently insulted him. It wasn’t that hard of a thud, enough to allow a headache to cloud my mind as I coughed. My vision blurred as I blinked to refocus my contact lenses.
“Hey! Get back over…” Thad yelled before I felt his hands under my back.
The guy ran into the crowd at the other end of the hall as Thad helped me off the floor. I don’t think the man expected Thad to charge after him like that. And I don’t think Thad expected me to try to stop him. When my vision cleared, I saw that the bartender had picked up the bottle I dropped and was heading over to us.
Oh no. We’re in trouble.