Prairie City Social Club

Top 3

They'd been operating together for almost 10 years now. Liv was now nearly as old as Frank was the day they met. She still looked better than he ever had, regardless of age. Their arrangement was, mostly, platonic but Liv's appearance never 'bothered' Frank and it proved a valuable influence at the office parties. Attractive young women on a guy's arm gave many the illusion of a successful man. There must be something about him, right?

"Top Three-Go," Frank blasted across the table and over Liv's non-alcoholic drink.

"Ooh, that's tough. You mean, Cheat Days, obviously?"

"Yes, of course," Frank replied.

"My cousin's wedding was definitely top 3 material," Liv began.

"Because?"

"It was the first and I couldn't have handled it otherwise," she said with a smirk and a twinkle in her eye. "My aunt still asks about you."

"What do you tell her?" asked Frank.

"I say you died."

They laughed until tears ran down their cheeks. "The wine was pretty good too. For the money they spent on that wedding, they deserved me," Liv said proudly.

Frank smiled appreciatively and gave a glance that equaled something like, 'that's my girl.' "We barely got you out in time on that one, Livvy."

"Yeah, damned if I don't miss that. The loss of control."

"Not me. Not that part," Frank replied. "That sense of dread when I realized I'd gone too far and was about to go black... I can still feel that. I see it on tv and I panic."

"As fucked up as it sounds⸺"

Frank intervened, "your mother's funeral."

"Yeah," Liv said without much pride. "Smoke break?"

"Sure, Liv."

They reported to the side of the building as usual. Frank continued to stand upwind as Liv smoked, only his hands were no longer hidden. He didn't wear the hoodies much anymore either.

Liv used smoking for punctuation all the time but this was especially the case when the conversation was, shall we say, emotionally charged. That was one of the things Frank missed about smoking. There's endless expression available in the way you light, inhale, hold and expel cigarette smoke. Then there was the fine art of flicking butts. Swirling fire, sparks shooting from your hand at the moment of your choosing. Of all the time Frank would spend in this place, he was only sort of cool for a period of a few weeks back in young adulthood. This brief ride halted abruptly the moment that he stopped flicking spent cigarettes in favor of carefully placing them into the appropriate receptacle.

"Freud would have a lot to say about enjoying my own mother's funeral," Liv said.

"He'd have plenty to say about those cigarettes too," Frank smirked.

"I am who I am?" Liv replied. "Can I be Frank?" Liv punctuated this one with a cheesy smile and a pointed, smoking hand.

"You're more Frank than I am." Frank shot Liv dead with finger pistols.

"Touche...I spent a lot of time trying not to worry about what my mom thought. As distant as we were, it was still always a consideration. She was still my mom. Mom don't think nothin' now," Liv said and wondered if that was too far. "There was a weird relief, a cash injection and a nice afternoon of drinking."

Frank nodded to show his support but couldn't think of a single word to supplement what Liv had just shared.

"That one at your place, with that beer you made," Liv finally concluded. Frank smiled proudly and remembered the occasion. It was, perhaps, the most uncomfortable for him being he had made and held this beer at his home which had otherwise been dry for many years. He'd always enjoyed brewing before and had missed it. Frank made a higher alcohol brew for this occasion and would enjoy the remainder of the batch on his next turn. Unlike Frank, the more alcohol present, the better his concoction would age. That was one reason for making what he would call a, "Big Beer." The other should be painfully obvious. Both Liv & Frank enjoyed it immensely. Together in spirit but separate in time. "I think that one made me realize, for the first time, that it was possible for me to enjoy drinking socially. Like, I got drunk but cared that you were there. I wanted you to be," Liv stated.