Odes To Ella.

chapter 18: Night Out.

My pen made several clicking sounds as I pushed the bottom of it against the table as I watched the clock.
4:00.
One hour until I could leave work and get ready for Effey's graduation celebration. The phone on my desk rang.
"Hello?"
"Christopher is here for his appointment." Addison told me. I thanked her and cleared my throat.
I had been anticipating his appointment all week long. His last visit wasn't exactly an eye opener as to what had happened to him.
The door opened and Christopher walked nonchalantly into the room and sat on the chair.
He wore a yellow and white striped hoodie with jeans and a Nike hat. I leaned forward and set my hands on the desk.
"Hello, Christopher."
"Hey, Clair."
"How are you today?"
"Great, I saw my brother today." He smirked.
"I never knew you had a brother."
"I never told you I had one." He leaned forward and clasped his hands.
"Right."
"I suppose you're wanting me to pick up where I left off?"
"If that's what you'd like to speak about, yes." I opened my notepad and smiled.
He bit the inside of his cheek and sat back.
"Where did I leave off?...oh, yes..." He trailed off, and something crossed his face. The light from outside began dimming. As if the whole world wanted to say, don't let him continue!
He stared directly into my soul.
"You sprint as fast as you can. After what seemed like several blocks, you came to a grassy area and decide to cut across it to get home. Your heart is thumping hard against your chest, almost like it wanted to burst out. You turn the corner and see your house in the distance. Yes, I'm almost there! You say to yourself. But just as you reach the edge of the road, you feel a cold hand cover your mouth to muffle the screams." He paused for dramatic effect. It worked.
I kept my eyes on him, though I felt less than safe.
"Go on."
"No." He stated, sitting back. I frowned.
"Why not?"
"Because, Clair. I want to know more about you." He smiled and steepled his fingers.
"Christopher, in order to help you-"
"I don't want your help. The court ordered me here, that's my only reason for being here," he leaned forward, evil in his eyes.
"And if I have to be here, I want to know more about you." He then stood and walked up to my desk, sitting on the lip.
"Christopher-"
"Relax, Clair, relax." He stared down at me. I opened my mouth, closed it, then shrugged.
"Ask away, I suppose." The room sat still as we stared at each other.
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" He smiled.
Odd question.
"Yes. Two brothers."
"Younger or older?"
"Both." I responded. He nodded like it explained a lot.
"Do they have any odd habits?"
"Odd habits?"
"Weird things they do?" He shrugged. I bit my lip and thought.
"Not that I'm aware of."
"Ok." He hopped off the desk and headed for the door. I sat up.
"Where are you going?"
"To your nightmares." And he left the office. The clock ticked in the corner, tick, tick, tick.

(8:30....:)

"Dad, are you sure you're ok with watching the girls?" Asked as I finished applying my nude lipstick. The sparkles around my collar glimmered in the light of my bathroom.
"Of course I am! Why wouldn't I be?" He asked as he walked to the doorway. When he saw me in my blue dress, he frowned.
"What's with this?"
"With what?" I asked.
"The dress, the hair?" He gestured to me. I looked down and shrugged.
"Effey told me to dress up."
"It looks like you're going on a date." He smiled. I rolled my eyes. Leave it to dad to bring that up.
"You know better than that."
"Than what?"
"Than to think I'd focus on men right now." I kissed his cheek and walked out to where Ella and Frankie were playing in the living room. They sat on the carpet trying to make jewelry out of beads and such.
I knelt down and kissed her head.
"I'm going to leave now, you two be good for grandpa, ok?"
"Ok!" They boy said, smiling up at me. I kissed Frankie's head and went out to the car where Effey was waiting.
She sat in the front seat applying mascara to her eyelashes.
She wore a sparkly black dress with noodle straps and black heels that matched. Her newly kinked hair flowed over her shoulders and emphasized her features.
I sat in the passenger seat and buckled up.
"Where are we going again?"
"The new club."
"I know, I meant what's it called?" I asked, smiling. She applied red lipstick and looked at me.
"It's called After Dark."
"Really?" I questioned. She nodded.
After she finished gussying up, we started driving down the road. The sun had just set over the horizon and the roads shimmered in the night. Effey made a sharp corner and sent me flying to the window.
My head hit with a thud.
"Ow! Effey!"
"Sorry." She shrugged and pulled up to a road alongside the building. A huge line of people waited to enter the club. Two steroid filled bouncers stood next to a rope, nodding and waving people through. The sign above them red in red neon letters, After Dark.
Effey parked on the corner and we both hopped out, grabbing our purses. She came around the car and hooked an arm under mine.
"Ready to party?"
"I guess."
"You guess?" She asked, giggling. I shrugged.
"Sorry, works been a mess lately." I stated by way of explanation.
"How so?" She asked. I shrugged again.
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Patient doctor privilege and all."
"But your a psychologist!" She exclaimed. I rolled my eyes.
"They're a type of psycho-doctor, you know." I shivered a little as a cold gust of air came by.
We waited in line for what seemed like hours, gabbering about her graduation. I was happy she had gone through everything to become an anchorwoman for the local news. But the whole time we spoke, my mind kept wondering to what Christopher had been telling me. It probably wasn't any real threat to me, but I couldn't help but wonder when he would carry out with his dark intentions.
"This way, please," one of the bouncers ushered us through a red rope. We thanked him and walked in, arms still interlocked.
My first impression was this, lights!
There were all kinds of them. Regular in the dining area, strobe lights on the dance floor, colored ones by the enterances.
People were practically jumping in place on the dance floor near the DJ(mostly because there wasn't any room to dance). Effey smiled and pulled me in the direction of the bar.
Shit.
"C'mon, girl, I need some liquor!" She stopped us in front of the bar. A man in a black t shirt smiled and shouted over the music,
"What do you want?!"
"I'll have a margarita!" Effey yelled. He nodded and looked at me. I, being the uneducated person I am, said,
"I'll have, uh...the stuff that goes in that upside down triangle glass."
"You mean a Manhattan?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. Effey rolled her eyes.
"Uh, yeah." I nodded. He shook his head and went to make the drinks. Effey sat down at the bar and said,
"Think we'll get lucky tonight?"
"You might." I laughed. There was so much going on on the dance floor, I couldn't tell if there were any preferable looking men. They all looked like manicans bopping and grinding all over the place.
Effey raised one eyebrow and flipped some hair from her face.
The bartender dropped our drinks on the counter and moved on.
Effey lifted the drinks to her lips. She looked past me and gestured with her head.
"Speaking of..." I frowned and turned my head. A man with a box like head and tattoos sticking out on his right arm stared intensely in our direction. I wondered if he was checking her out or trying to burn a hole through her. Effey smiled in a flirty way and leaned against the bar.
"Twenty bucks says he'll come over."
"No, I'll lose." I shook my head and sipped my drink. It tasted bitter, like most alcohol. I shuddered.
Sure enough, not two minutes later the guy said something to his friends and started to gorilla walk in our direction. That isn't meant to be racist, but he was hanging his arms low and bending his back at a weird angle. I sighed and looked at her.
"Please be careful."
"Trust me." She said before smiling and crossing her legs slowly on her chair. The man appeared in between us with a smile planted on his face.
"Hey."
"Hi." Effey and I said together. He nodded his head at Effey.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Effey, and this is my friend Clair."
"How you doin'?" He asked me. I smiled and nodded.
"Good."
"What's your name?" Effey asked seductively. I held back a groan. He smirked.
"I'm Tyrone. I was just thinking maybe you'd wanna dance?" He gestured with his head again. No one was using their hands, only their heads. I put my drink down and shifted in my chair.
Effey smiled and stood off the chair. Tyrone stepped aside to let her through. She turned to me before leaving,
"You'll be ok?"
"Yeah, have fun, but not too much, k?"
"I'm a big girl, I can handle myself." She then sauntered off with Tyrone right behind her and they disappeared into the sea of people.
Some TV's were playing in front of me in the corner, so I watched for a few minutes.
There's nothing more tedious than sitting at a bar alone. A few men asked me to dance and offered drinks, but I politely declined.
As I watched yet another car commercial roll by, I saw it come on.
The Gillette commercial started out like any other, a man's shirtless top half was exposed. His back faced the camera, but I knew instantaneously who it was.
As it showed him rubbing the shaving cream on his face, flashes flew before me.
Benny was smiling at himself in the mirror of the commercial, using a four blade razor to shave. It glided against his flawless, ageless skin in swift streaks. The same smile he had when we first met. The same one he had when he knew he was winning an argument. The same one he got when his favorite songs played on he radio.
Nothing much had changed on him. His muscles were more toned. He looked older. But for the most part he was the same, untouched even. I hated that.
I tore my eyes away from the screen and reached for my drink. Right as I was about to put it to my lips, a strong hand jutted out of the flashing lights and tipped the cup away.
"Sorry, I think someone roofied your drink-"
Wait a minute, I know this voice...
I turned just enough to catch his piercing blue eyes in mine.
He seemed just as surprised to see me as I was to see him.
"Clair?"
"Derek, hi." I smiled and turned fully toward him. He was, as always, stunning. His hair was done up, he wore a dark blue dress shirt with black pants and nice shoes.
He looked a little weird in the lighting, but I hardly noticed.
He smiled and leaned against the bar.
"What bring you here?"
"My friend just graduated, I'm celebrating with her."
"Ah."
"What about you?"
"Kind of the same. My old college friend is visiting from Chicago. I wanted to go camping or something, but he really wanted to get some drinks, so here I am." He smiled. I smiled back and questioned,
"Where did you go to college?"
"Michigan state. I was born and raised in Chicago. What about you?"
"I've been here my whole life." I replied. He frowned and pulled a stool up.
"Youve never wanted to go anywhere else?"
"It's not that, it's just that I've never had the time or money."
"Well, If you could go anywhere, where would you like to go?" He waited. I knitted my eyebrows in thought.
"I've always wanted to see Antarctica."
"Antarctica?" He sounded surprised. I shrugged.
"It'd be cool seeing the snow that was sculpted by the wind. What about you?"
"I've always wanted to see the redwoods in yellow stone."
"Why don't you?" I bit my lip. He shrugged.
"Life got busy. You know how it is."
"Yeah-" But I was cut off by a loud drunken voice that appeared over his shoulder.
"Hey, Derek!" Derek turned back to face his friend. When he stepped aside, I could see a man in a black leather jacket and jeans standing with a buxom blonde on his shoulder.
"Tawny and I are gonna head out!" Then, they started exiting the club. I frowned in confusion.
Derek sighed and turned back to me.
"There goes my ride."
"You want a ride home?" I asked. He frowned, though there was nothing behind it.
"Doesn't your friend need a ride?"
"I think she has one..." I look to the side where she was dancing with Tyrone.
Derek followed my eyes, smiled, then stood up off his chair with his coat over his shoulder.
"I suppose if you don't mind."
"Of course not." I stood up and led him towards the exit

_______________________________________

Hope you liked it, enjoy the next one, bye! C: