Joel's Babe

Chapter 3: The Part When Eliza Gets a Phone Call (Part 2)

Flashback.

Joel quickly downed a quick shot of whiskey from the free bar. He leaned onto the bar ledge and talked to the bartender. The, considerably young, man behind the counter proceed to dry champagne glasses and fill Joel's receding glass. Joel loosened the black tie around his neck and guzzled down the whiskey. 

"I'm telling you..." He squinted at his neatly written name on his name tag, "Virgin?" He quirked his eyebrow and glanced back at the bartender. With his eyes still cast down and cleaning glasses with a dry rag, he answered.

"Virgil."

"Virgil?" He said as if he couldn't believe he's never meet a guy with a name like his--it was pretty bad-ass.

"Yeah, like the Roman writer." He shrugged. "My mom was a big fan of Greek and Roman mythology."

"Pretty bad-ass name." 

"I mean, it's cool until you can't find mugs with your name on it." Joel chuckled at his minor joke and asked for another fill of whiskey. As Virgil tipped the bottle to fill the glass, Joel felt thin finger-tips dance on his back. He saw the 'woman of the hour,' he noticed she changed from an elegant puffy dress that flailed near the waist. She wore an equally stunning night dress--obviously trying to rub in his face what he was missing. Her hair was no longer up, grazing the backs of her shoulders and her exposed collar-bones. Her shoulders were peppered with dark freckles from her early years. He briefly remembered kissing those freckles, she used to be so self-conscious of her 'banana-bruises' as he called them. Why was he feeling so nostalgic over a girl he dumped?

"Hey, Joel. I'm glad you made it." Her eyes twinkled from the venue lights. He politely smiled and wrapped his arms around her and gave a platonic hug. She held on a little longer than he did, which caught him off guard. She smiled a pearly smile and sat in the bar stool next to him.

"So, how's life J, I haven't seen you in a while." Joel wasn't an idiot, he knew she had ulterior motives, but, he wasn't too sure what it was. "Good, I guess." He sat down beside her. She nodded her head and asked Virgil for champagne. She calmly placed her elbow on top of the bar and held her head with her palm. 

"Are you still living with Rori?" She prayed he wasn't still living with the girl she absolutely despised. Aurora was sickeningly close to Joel, yet Joel didn't treat her like all the other girls he hung out with. Which made her think Rori was something special; that Rori had something a lot of girls yearned for: a place in his heart. She glanced about the room quickly and noticed everyone mingling and dancing to the song of the moment--some slow song from Ed Sheeran. She saw on the dance floor Rori dancing and talking with her husband, Will. 'That little bitch.' She thought and glared at how she danced with her husband.

Joel answered, "Yeah, I am." She snapped her gaze to Joel and cleared her throat. "I thought, you would have--ya'know, gotten your own place by now." She brushes a stray hair from her face. She looked really beautiful in Joel's opinion. "Yeah, well, she's like a wife minus the romance. That's really all I want right now. That and she pays the rent every other month." He smiled jokingly, he really did appreciate Rori in every aspect--he'd probably go as far as to say he loved her. Of all the girls in his life, Rori had his back no matter the consequences--thick or thin, hot or cold--she's right there to protect him. He loved her as one does a flower, she was delicate and sweet.

"Are you two together now, or something?" She nudged his shoulder playfully, she always wondered if he ever maybe thought about hooking up with Aurora. Considering, Rori was always around like a bad head-cold, she found it a bit suspect while they were dating. "No, Hell no. Rori is about as emotionally available as a rock." Joel took a sip of his whiskey and looked over at the crowd of people on the dance floor. He did see Rori being led off by the dance floor by the groom--which made Joel quirk his eyebrow, but ultimately minded his business.