Wake Up ||ONC 2021|| GxG

3. Happy Hour

By the time six o'clock rolled around, her back was stiff, and her butt was numb. The work was done though, and she was free. Esme stepped out of the main lobby and a cold breeze gusted over the bare skin it could reach on her back. The sheer fabric wasn't doing much to keep her warm, so she hurried to her car and cranked up the heat.

The trip home passed in the same blur it always did. It's funny what the mind will block out. There was that same van parked in front of the pool shop down the street, it'd been there all week. Some days she was sure she'd seen it behind her on the way to work. But that was just silly.

The relief that flooded her system when she saw her green front door was the same as well. Her tabby cat paced anxiously in front of the window, glaring at her the entire way up the driveway. With how moody he looked; it was a wonder her lacey purple curtains hadn't been torn to shreds yet. "Hello, Teebs. Have a good day?" Esme asked sweetly once she'd walked inside.

Teebs turned away, padding to his food ball and continuing his stare down.

Esme shuffled across the wood floor in her black stockings. She paused to straighten one of her framed prints on the wall. No doubt Teebs had been causing a ruckus again. It wasn't unusual for him to trash her things during his long hours of confinement, but recently he'd been practically climbing the walls. Just yesterday she'd come home to find some of her carefully stacked books strewn across the floor. Even more concerning was the ones that looked like they'd been rearranged on the shelves.

Either she was sleepwalking again or Teebs was learning to read.

She took special care in removing the blouse and hanging it up on the back of the door. A blush dusted her cheeks when she thought about how she could thank Nevaeh for helping her out.

Esme had to physically shake the thoughts off to snap herself out of standing half dressed with a dopey grin glued to her face.

"Alright Teebs, watch the house. No wild cat parties this time mister," Esme teased, pausing to pat the content cat curled up on the couch. He gave her a rare purr before moving his head further away. "Well, if I could trust you to throw tame parties, we wouldn't have this problem." She tapped his ear and darted away before he could swipe at her. She was still grinning as she slid into the car waiting out front for her.

By the time she reached the small bar, the excitement had bubbled over into a case of nerves. She bounced on her heels for a few minutes outside, focusing on the worn-down exterior. It felt like it had been years since she'd gone out with anyone besides her parents. It had at least been one year. She couldn't recall going out terribly much before last April though. "Was I that boring?" she muttered to herself. Esme clapped her hands, forcing herself to walk in behind the next person.

. It might not have been too much but between the swinging lantern lights spewing out a red glow and the enormous mirror behind the bar reflecting the light back across the room, it felt like being in a very noisy darkroom. The strong smell from the myriad of drinks was almost as noxious as developer fluid.

If she hadn't already been spotted by a few familiar faces, Esme would have strongly considered walking right back out. A warm hand settled onto her back and helped propel her forward. Her last chance to run faded with every inch Easton managed to move her.

"I can get there myself," Esme insisted.

"But can you Essie?" he retorted, letting his hand slip away. Easton laughed as she aimed a half-hearted slap at his arm. "Come on, I saved you a seat."

"You did?" The gesture surprised her, and she sat in the chair he'd pulled out without argument. It looked as though everyone had already started on a drink, some on their second. A full glass was set down in front of Esme.

Without her agreeing to it, Esme's hand rose up and gave an awkward wave, fingers wiggling a bit as she did. Nevaeh chuckled and Esme shot her hand down, rapping her knuckles against the wood table. She bit her lip to hold back a grimace.

"So, we're doing karaoke, right?" Esme recognized Every time that woman spoke, Esme wanted to either leave the room or throw Paula out of it. She especially felt a cringe when Paula and Easton interacted, though that may have been her feeling sympathy for Easton while he tried to find any excuse to distance himself from the persistent blonde.

"Esme is going to sing a duet with me," Easton cheered. He completely ignored the confused sputtering from the woman in question.

"But Easton," Paula whined. "I wanted to do a duet with you."

"Sorry Paula, I promised Esme earlier," Easton sighed, kicking Esme's foot under the table.

Esme let out a long sigh but nodded. "Yeah, he's gotta balance out my flat notes with his sharp notes." There were scattered laughs across the table. Everyone except Paula and Nevaeh looked amused. Esme shuffled her sneakers under her chair, dropping her eyes to the cold drink in front of her. Beads of condensation slid down the outside of the glass to soak into the square napkin beneath it.

By the time Easton was dragging her up to sing she'd finished the first drink, followed by two more. She'd never to her knowledge been one to hide behind liquid courage, but the warmth it had spread through her was nice. The fog in her brain that muddled her inner voice screaming to go home was practically a godsend. The heat from the stage lights wasn't quite so nice. At least it blocked out everyone's faces as Easton lead her through some sappy love song.

"I'm going to get a drink, need one?" Easton asked her on their way off the stage.

Esme shook her head and gripped the railing. "I think I need to tap out." Her eyes scanned the room until she spotted the sign for the restroom. "Save my seat," she shouted back at Easton as she left. A hand grabbed hers before she could slip inside the quiet tiled room.

"Hey, you ok?" Nevaeh asked. Even wearing overalls like she was now didn't make Nevaeh look any less than wonderful.

"Yeah, I just needed to wake myself up a bit," Esme reassured her. Their hands fell away from each other.

"I'm really glad you came along," Nevaeh said. Her wide smile was infectious.

"I couldn't exactly back out after you asked me to come," Esme teased. She'd expected a laugh, maybe a bashful giggle. What she got was a confused lip bite. Not that that wasn't just as delightful to see.

"I don't think I did," Nevaeh muttered, almost like a question to herself. They stared at each other, the confusion bouncing off each other back and forth, growing as it did. Someone called for Nevaeh and she started to back away. "You better not miss me singing."

"Huh? Yeah, yeah course not." Esme nodded at her retreating back and slipped into the bathroom. "She did text me though," she said to herself. It was in the text clear as day. Esme tugged her phone from her coat pocket and rolled her eyes at the fresh set of texts from the same unknown number. It was getting ridiculous.

Esme opened the text, intent on blocking the number so that she could move on to more important matters. She was sure Nevaeh had texted her, it was right there in the group chat.

Her eyes glazed as she read the message from the unknown number. It was the same message repeated dozens of times, no change in the phrasing or punctuation. Each message was just as confusing as the last. She would have deleted it, but her fingers refused to move even a centimeter.

Her lips formed the words silently as she read the repeated phrase, "Agent 23, you have been activated."