“Fuck, she stayed the night. She was at least good for some tension release.”
I took another mouthful of beer, emptying the glass. “Can I get another one, and a couple pounds of wings while you’re at it?”
“Sure thing. You going to be here for a bit tonight?”
“Probably, the guys are coming, why?”
“Just want you to check out the new waitress I hired. She is hot as fuck and sweet too. I think she might be good for you. She’s a cute little blonde with gorgeous blue eyes. Suddenly I’m upset at myself for instilling the ‘I don’t date my waitresses’ rule,” he chuckled.
“Sweet, but you know I don’t tend to mix with any of your girls. Too close to home.”
Mike let out a laugh. “You really don’t want any attachment, eh?”
I shook my head and took a drink, not with a blonde-haired blue-eyed girl I didn’t. “Nope. The broad I had last night, I probably shouldn’t have taken home. She was persistent this morning. I had to lower the bomb.”
Mike let out a laugh. “All right, man, you guys going to grab a table?”
“Probably, just put us in a good section.”
“No problem. Why don’t you just take your usual spot?” I nodded. I knew the guys would be here soon, so I walked over to our usual table and took a seat.
I glanced at my watch;it was almost midnight. I stood in the bathroom, my head against the wall, more to hold me up than anything, while I emptied my bladder. I heard the door open and the bathroom fill with loud music, getting quieter as the door shut, and then I heard my brother’s voice behind me. “Carter?”
“What is it, bro?”
“How many drinks have you had tonight?”
“The usual. Why?”
“No reason.”
“If there is no reason then why ask? It’s not like I am driving home.”
“I was just wondering because I fear we may have a slight problem on our hands.”
I zipped up my pants. I’d had way too much to drink, but I wasn’t letting him know that. I dragged my sorry ass over to the sink and washed my hands before turning to face my brother. “Don’t tell me that chick I picked up last night is here?” That was the first thought that entered my mind, and I laughed it off.
“No, no, but you may wish she were here. I think this may be a little worse.”
“Worse? What, let me guess, she is here with her big burly boyfriend and he’s waiting to kick my ass because of the mind-blowing orgasms I gave her,” I chuckled.
“I wish that were the problem,” he mumbled. He continued saying something under his breath that I couldn’t quite make out.
“What did you just say?”
“I said you’d wish it was that, but it’s not.”
“Just spill it, Hunter. What’s the problem?”
“Hope is here.”
I felt the blood drain from my face, and suddenly the effects from all the alcohol I had consumed had left me. Hope, a name I had wished I could have forgotten in the three years we’d been apart. The girl who almost cost me my passion to become a lawyer when she broke my heart three days before I left for law school. We lived down the road from one another all our lives, and if truth be told, I’d always had a crush on her, and it had taken me years to finally grow the balls to go after her. Her parents had always disliked me, never thought I would amount to anything because we didn’t come from money. My father had worked hard, building his law practice one client at a time. We certainly weren’t poor, but nothing was given to us kids except our education.
I had planned to take Hope with me when I moved away for school, but while I was away looking at apartments for us, her parents had introduced her to Trent King, the only son of one of the richest families in town, and my best friend. He had been gone that summer, the summer I had finally gotten up the nerve to ask her out. I had to leave for three weeks to get organized and find us an apartment. As soon as I had found us a place, I called and left her a message, and put down first and last months’ rent. Even though I could barely afford the rent, I figured with three jobs and the little money I had set aside, we would be just fine. When I returned from the city, I went over to surprise her with the news, and that was when I saw her with him in the park. At first, they were just walking, and I didn’t think anything of it, but then he leaned in and kissed her. I watched her pull away at first and look down to the ground, shaking her head, but then he whispered something in her ear and she threw her arms around his neck, throwing her body against him and kissing him, the same way she kissed me.
I was devastated as I drove home. For days I lay in my room, debating writing my resignation letter to the university, but I didn’t want to stay at home near her either. So, I packed my bags and headed off to school early to throw myself into my studies, and aside from birthdays and Christmas, I hadn’t been home since.
“What do you mean Hope is here?”