Bea and I were halfway through dinner when Ace and Jeanette walked over, arm in arm. Ace's cheeks were flushed, nose red, and he was swaying slightly, holding tightly onto Jeanette's arm.
"You enjoy the wine curly?" he asked, giving me a wide smile, and Bea hid her giggling in another sip of her drink.
"I have never drank in my life, as you know, but my date seems to enjoy it," I said. "Thanks for sending it over."
"Oh y-you're Gene-o's girl?" he asked, turning to Bea, and she smiled at me before turning to him.
"Beatrice Ellis, it's nice to meet you," she said, holding out a hand, and Ace picked it up and kissed it while Jeanette just rolled her eyes, no doubt more than used to his antics.
"'S nice to meet you too!" he said, before turning to me. "And I'll see you t'morrow curly, don't forget!"
"Right, the meeting," I said with a sigh. "Yeah, I'll be there."
"Sorry for interrupting, I'm going to take him home," Jeanette said apologetically. "It was nice to meet you Beatrice, enjoy the rest of your night!"
"It was nice meeting the two of you as well!" Bea said, giving them a parting wave, and I called a goodbye after them as Jeanette helped Ace stumble from the restaurant.
"I see he had a few bottles of his own wine," Bea said, and I laughed, taking a bite of my meal.
"No doubt. Are you free tomorrow afternoon? I've got a meeting with our manager in the morning, but if you want to meet up afterwards I'm more than happy to do so," I said.
She exhaled softly, resting her chin on her hand. "I've got work tomorrow, unfortunately. But I'll call you some time this week and we'll figure something out!"
We had a perfect rest of our night before at last I reluctantly took her home, standing on her doorstep and giving her a long kiss.
"The earrings really suit you," I said after a pause. "I'm glad you like them."
"I love them," she said, cradling my face in her hands. "And I love them even more because they're from you. Now get out of here, you big lug. You've got a meeting in the morning."
"Call me when you've got plans for us!" I said, stealing one final kiss from her and heading to the taxi cab waiting for me.
Bright and early the next morning I found myself sitting in Bill's office, waiting for Ace and Paul to show up. Peter let out a wince, cracking his shoulders.
"Shit my arms are killing me. 5 months is going to be murder on them," he muttered, and I let out a sympathetic hum, mind miles away.
The door burst open and Ace stumbled in, gleeful smile splitting his face as he saw me. "Holy shit curly, the hell are you doing dating a chick like Beatrice?" he cried.
"What do you mean?" I asked, brow furrowing.
He took a sip from the can of beer in his hand, stifling a belch before walking over and flopping onto the couch, pointing at me. "You're a rock star, Gene-o. That means you can date attractive women, and you don't have to settle for some street bitch."
"Excuse me?!" I cried, snapping my head up to glare at him. "The hell are you talking about?!"
"You've been going on and on about your girl for ages now, you made her sound like a goddess, y'know? She's got more muscles than you and doesn't have any figure, I mean her hips are straighter than her front teeth are!" he said, bursting into his wild cackling laughter, and Peter snickered.
"She got a nice rack at least?" he asked, and Ace shook his head with a scoff of derision.
"If by nice you mean practically non-existent, then yeah. Her chest is nearly as flat as Paulie's, and her ass is too. The sex must be real nice if you're sticking around with her," he said, giving me a look, and I felt my eye twitch, anger burning through me as I slowly rose to my feet.
"Shut your damn mouth," I hissed. "She's a perfect woman, she's beautiful, and she's-she's better than anyone you'll ever get."
"Ease up, Gene," Peter said, stretching again, more of his joints cracking and popping as if he was a bowl of Rice Krispies. "He's drunk and was probably drunk last night when he saw your girlfriend. Ace, stop being a prick. You've been married for three months, I don't know how much I trust your judgement on relationships. Both of you sit down and act your age. Where the hell is Paul? I want to get this shit over with."
Still so furious I was shaking, I kept staring at Ace. He stared right back, eyes sliding over every inch of my face, half-hidden beneath his lids. I slowly exhaled, unclenching my fists. He was drunk, he was trying to stir me up, there was no sense in letting him win.
The door opened and Paul skidded into the room, struggling to catch his breath. "Sorry, overslept," he said, sitting down before looking around. "Where's Bill? Why are you so pissed? We get bad news already?" he asked, giving me a worried look.
"Gene and Ace are squabbling like teenage girls," Peter said with a sigh. "This band is giving me a headache, and I need a drink."
Paul gave me a flat look. "From him yeah, but really?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Sorry, I just...don't appreciate people talking shit about my girlfriend and saying she's ugly," I spat, and Paul's eyebrow arched.
"Look, if you're happy with her, then why would you care what Ace says? It's too early and too hot outside for arguing, we've got five months on the road coming up and I'm not dealing with you two being at each other's throats every day of those five months," Paul said in a clipped voice, sitting down and crossing his arms.
"You're wrong about her," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "She's beautiful."
"She seems perfect for you," Ace said simply, and I opened my mouth to reply when Paul reached over, grabbing my arm and squeezing it.
"Gene, just...just let it go, alright? You can smell the alcohol on him from here," he said gently, and I sighed.
"Fine. But he's wrong about her," I muttered.
"I know."
