I stood in front of the restaurant my step brother worked at, feeling a bit apprehensive. I didn't like being in such public places, especially crowded and noisy ones, and besides I probably shouldn't be bothering my brother Sean at work. But as usual he took my house key cause he can't find his, and seeing as mum and Dave are on a 'date night' I couldn't get in. I really didn't want to end up on the sidewalk or some similarly inappropriate place tonight.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the noisy and crowded interior, letting my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness for a moment, but the only thing on my mind was how to get in and out as quickly as possible, so I plunged ahead, automatically assuming the space in front of the door way was clear of anyone or anything.
I realised the flaw in my logic a split second too late when I crashed into something that didn't feel to steady to begin with, and stumbled into a table.
'Ouch! Fucking he-'
I heard explicit swearing and the sounds of struggling, and saw that I had absentmindedly pushed a guy into some tables stacked in a corner. I reached out to help him up but he was too busy fighting off chairs and tablecloths to notice, so I waited for him to get up on his own with considerable effort. The girl that stood by his side, who had way too much make-up and barely any clothes, seemed more than comfortable to let him struggle on his own.
Finally when he got vertical again, my heart sank into my shoes. It was Adrian Desmond, a sports jock and bully who went to my school. He was two years older which was probably the only reason I've managed to mostly avoid his personal brand of abuse. He hated, as he so eloquently puts it, geeks, freaks and fairies and took great pleasure in making their lives hell, and seeing as I fit at least a minimum of two of those categories, it was best to get out of here now.
I mumbled an apology to no one in particular and hurried past the girl, they had already resumed their argument, yelling profanities at one and other. It looked like she was breaking up with him, and within minutes she walked off and left him standing completely and utterly shell shocked and nearly close to tears in his slightly drunken state.
Well, whatever I know that sounds cold but I wanted nothing to do with Adrian, so I forgot about him and stalked off to where I could see Sean at the bar pouring drinks.
A few drinks later, I managed to get my keys back and hurried outside to my car, where I almost fell over a now completely drunken Adrian. He sat with his back against the front tire, a half empty beer bottle hanging from his fingers, staring off into space. He appeared to be lost in some kind of drunken sorrow. As much as I desperately wanted to avoid him, talking to him now had become inevitable.
'Erm, hi, Adrian can you get up please? I really need to go'
Either he didn't hear me or chose to ignore me. I walked up to him and waved my hands a couple of times in his face.
'Adrian, I'm sorry your life is shitty at the moment, but as for me, I need to get home. Feel free to go lean on someone else's car, there's plenty...'
'So fucking close...' he slurred and swung his beer around, making half the contents spill on his jeans,
'Erm oh-kay and that's my cue to leave' I said in a rush and turned around, but he grabbed my hand making me come to a halt, before I could completely get away.
'She left me because I'm broken, that's why everyone leaves' he said before a heart wrenching sob broke the quietness of night making me flinch. He didn't look like the narcissistic asshole he usually was, right now. He looked like a sad, heartbroken, lost boy who needed someone to save him and someone to lean on.
I shook my head hard trying to dislodge those thoughts, but they wouldn't go away. Sean called it "The Mother Teresa" complex that meant I couldn't help but feel like I should help lost causes, orphans and strays. Right now he needed someone to help him and I couldn't just leave him like this, even knowing that on Monday he would go straight back to being the self-absorbed jackass, I found myself leaning over to help him up.
