Playing dangerous

Chapter 12 *Max*

As promised, I show up at the bar to have what Jasan calls a 'homie night', honestly I think I'll just drink my problems away and try not to get too drunk to pass out on the floor like a dumbass.

Jasan, unlike me, is extroverted, friendly and easy to talk to, while I'm the unapproachable asshole, but Jasan makes sure I'm not left out in the group of at least half people I don't know, though truthfully I wouldn't mind getting left out. After an hour of chatting and drinking, I decided to take some air and excuse myself.

-"Hey where you going? You okay?" Jasan asks me and takes my wrist as I'm about to leave.

-"Yeah don't worry I'm fine, just need some air, you know me, don't like crowds too much."

-"Sure, just don't run away." He teases.

-"I won't, I'll be back in a minute, don't get yourself too drunk." I warn him.

-"No worries man, I'm good." He smiles and lets me go.

I walk away to the bar's exit and take my pack of cigarettes to smoke a round or two, I lay on the wall and light up my cigarette. I look at people passing by and hear heavy laughter next to me, I look over the wall of the alley I was laying my back on and see a random group of young adults cheering up for something, I peek a little bit more and see two people kissing, one of them pinned on the wall, I adjust my vision to see more clearly who that is and realize...it's Daphne? kissing someone, kissing....a girl? She quickly shoves away the girl who pinned her on the wall and wipes her mouth harshly, she tries to walk away straight but can't, she looks drunk, very very drunk. Suddenly I'm concerned about her safety and what the hell she is doing with these people. I throw my cigarette away and interrupt them.

-"Hey!" I shout, not too harshly, and see Daphne getting closer and closer to my direction, almost tripping on her steps, she falls in my arms and I hold her without hesitation.

-"Hey Daphne! Is that your boyfriend? You said you didn't have any." A blond guy says in a loud drunk voice. "Hey man! Your girl just cheated on you with another girl!" He laughs with his other goon friends, the girl who was kissing Daphne also laughs and licks her lip while looking at me. As much as I want to punch every single person present here except Daphne, she is my priority. So I look at her and tap her cheek gently, guiding her away from here.

-"Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?" I try to talk to her softly, which I never do, she looks up at me.

-"I wanna go home..." she hick-ups, and I feel a tear falling on my arms while I hold her. Is she crying? "Please I don't want to stay here..." She pleads.

-"Okay I'll take you home, can you walk or do you want me to pick you up?" I see another tear running down the long of her red cheek. She just nods her head, not giving me a proper answer. I pick her up, carrying her bridal way, I take my phone and text Jasan that I need to go home due to an unexpected urgency without further details.

-"Shh don't worry you'll be okay." I calmly tell her as she wraps her arms around my neck. This usually flirty girl who speaks her mind and doesn't take anything seriously is crying in my arms, for God knows why, looking vulnerable, and her vulnerability made me vulnerable too. I swear if those motherfuckers are the reason for making her cry I'm framing them for murder and sending them right to jail to let them rot there for fucking ever.

Fortunately, I remember where she lived, making this whole situation easier for me, I carried her all the way down to her house, she seemed to have stopped crying and fell asleep in my arms, people are looking but I don't give a damn, I just needed her to be okay and get home safely.

Once we arrived at her house, I put her down and tried to look for her keys, though she seemed to have woken up and reached out for them in her inner jacket's pocket, I took them from her and opened her door.

We enter and see her dog barking at our arrival, first thing I do is go wet my hands in the sink of her kitchen at the right of the entrance door and wipe her face with water, she immediately comes back to her consciousness and takes a deep breath.

-"Gosh..." She gulps. "I thought I was dying."

-"Are you feeling better now?" I take her by her shoulder to look at her. She nods.

-"Yes...thanks, I'm still feeling like I'm about to lose my balance at any moment." I see her legs shaking slightly.

-"Where's your bedroom?"

She takes my hand and guides me to her bedroom. She had painting tools and canvas everywhere, it looked like an art studio with a bed and a little shelf. She lays on the bed and I take a chair to sit by her side.

-"Looks like someone had too many drinks." I initiate the conversation.

-"Yeah...with the wrong group of friends."

-"Friends? You call those friends? They're more like assholes I'd kick in the face." I say and she laughs.

-"Right, I should hang out with them less." She looks at her feet. "Man, this is embarrassing, I...I'm not gay or anything."

-"I don't care, I just want you to be okay. Now that you're feeling a bit more lucid, care to tell me what happened today and how the hell you ended up in that situation?"

-"Easy, some of my art school friends wanted to go for a drink to celebrate the start of our last year of college, and I guess with all the problems in my life I just forgot myself and drank too much...way too much. Somehow I ended up getting kissed by my friend, which now that I think about it isn't really my friend..."

-"I advise you to never talk to these people again, and drinking your problems away isn't a healthy solution, it can be very dangerous." Says who was drinking his work problems away in the same exact bar. "Who knows if I wasn't there? You could've been raped or murdered, don't ever do that again, especially in the company of the wrong people."

-"I would've called Becky, my best friend, to come to my rescue, but I got lucky to be saved yet again by the same cop who arrested me." She says in her typical flirty tone, I'm almost glad she's back to her senses.

-"But thanks," She continues. "Really, for being here, I don't know how this night could've ended if you weren't there...so thank you...Max, I mean it."

Her eyes sparkled and so did my heart.