Up The River

2. The Life of The Party

I looked up and two enlightened eyes stared back at me.  They jumped with amusement and I don't know how long I  was stuck staring at those eyes, but I was shaken from my stupor by him laughing aloud.

He ran his hands through his hair and asked if I was alright, I replied with a stunned, "Huh, yeah." 

He gave me a nod and a smile that left my stomach doing flips, and stepped past me to get to the bar, but I wasn't ready to let him go without asking a name.

"Hey, wait. What's your name?" I asked reaching for his arm.

He stopped ordering and turned towards me with that same smile and look in his eyes and said, "It's Anthony. Anthony Rivers," and held out his hand for a shake.

I put my hand in his, and said, "Rachel, Rachel Simmons. But people call me Simon."

He raised a brow and loosened his grip on my hand and reclined back against the bar counter top," Why Simon? I'm pretty sure you're a female."

Inside I panicked, I wanted to keep this guy's attention, "I am, it's just a name that was given to me by my friends. It started out as a joke and it just kind of stuck." 

He smiled," That's a better nickname than my buddy's over there," he pointed and yelled," Ain't that right Dick?"

I  held in a laugh as best I could when his so called friend Dick yelled, "Screw you River." 

River yelled back, "I didn't know you swung that way Dick," and I couldn't hold my laughter in at the middle finger that was thrown back in retaliation. 

Dick walked away and River looked back to me and said, "How about that? I knew he loved me deep down."

I laughed, "Is that why you guys are friends?" He returned the laughter and smiled a similar smile that I'd seen before, "He's been there for me as long as I can remember. Now I want to know. Who are you Rachel? Rachel Simmons."

I sat down on the bar stool next to him, swiping some hair behind my ear in a reflex, and replied," Well, I'm 20, going to be 21 in a month-," he cut me off. 

"I don't want to know about your age Rachel, I want to know who you are. I want to know what scares you the most. I want to know what keeps you up at night. Who are you?" He said with an emphasis on the word 'you'.

Safe to say I was stunned, as no one had ever really wanted to know the  real me. Most never even got past the surface of me.  He had a puzzled look on his face when I didn't answer for a moment, his face lit up when I replied with, "In order to tell you I'd have to kill you. Do you have a cigarette? This is gonna be a long night for you." 

He threw his head back and laughed, "I like you Simon. C'mon, I want you to meet the rest of the gang," he said and got off the stool with me following and with the both of us missing the  confused bartender came back only to see two empty stools.

AUTHOR'S NOTE
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-Brooklynn & Tommy