That Sexy Librarian and Me

49th

49 drinks

to drown your sorrows

“Let’s drink to the fact that the love of my life hasn’t called me in over a week!” Remy exclaimed before downing one shot, then the next.

“You didn’t say what the next drink was for.”

“Let’s drink one for every day she hasn’t called.”

“I’ll pass,” Simon said gruffly. “Got work in the morning.”

Maddie sighed. “Remy, you’re supposed to be happy. You found a job you like.”

“A job that pays nothing.”

No one argued with that. “At least you’re working.”

“And my mother puts Gus up to stringing me into this meteor shower watching thing with my father.”

“That sounds... fun.” Simon offered up between sips.

“It’s a nut case idea, it is. You don’t know my dad.”

Simon snorted. “You should’ve met mine. Hard ass biker who thought nothing of the world.”

“Sounds like someone else I know,” Remy slurred between hiccups. God, he was so pathetic, Simon didn’t find it in him to even glare.

“Rem...”

“No pity, Mad. No pity. She hates me.” His eyes were absolutely broken. “I have to get to the shelter at four tomorrow to make sure no one’s been ransacked of their little belongings, and here I am worrying about Athenia and her... her...”

“Just her, then?”

Remy closed his eyes and slouched against the bar stool. “Just her. Always her.”

Maddie held Simon’s hand and squeezed. Her eyes were this close to tearing up. Thank God Remy was too drunk to notice.

“You know what’s so pathetic?” he asked animatedly, his eyes suddenly wide open and alert. “That I thought she’d come back, that I thought she wasn’t just leading me on.”

“Maybe she wasn’t.” Simon said quietly. Maddie threw a look at him then.

“Yeah? What kind of woman, who isn’t leading someone on, doesn’t take calls for a whole week and a half?”

“The kind that absolutely has no integrity.”

At that, Remy sat up straight. “You.” He pointed at Maddie. “Not one word out of you.”

“What? Why the fuck not?”

“You’re no angel yourself.”

“At least I didn’t go lying about my blue blooded heritage.”

His eyes softened at that. “Who knew blue bloods like to paint and make pots, huh?”

“She likes to go to the park and sketch, too.” Maddie added in.

“She does?”

“She loves sweet things, and volunteers at the animal shelter back in Brussels all the time.”

Remy looked like he believed her, but she wondered if it mattered what Athenia did or didn’t do. “You’re a lot alike, the both of you.”

“I’m a lawyer,” Remy reminded her.

“You’re an idiot looking for a happily-ever-after.”

“That’s too girly. I... just wanted her to miss me.”

Maddie’s eyes softened as she leaned forward and held his hand. “She did miss you. I know she did.”

For sometime after that, Remy looked deep in thought.

“Did you know she never dated?” Maddie told him, despite her anger and hatred for her best friend.

“Ever?”

“Nope.”

“Well, you both were pen-pals. Maybe she thought you were a guy.”

“You don’t know anything, do you?” Maddie told him, suddenly hyper aware of the dim lights on her face as she adjusted her jacket.

“What don’t I know? I know it all.”

“Athenia graduated school at fourteen, college by seventeen,” she felt herself roll her eyes. “She’s a fucking know-it-all. She had to go and get a PhD too. By the time she came here, she fucking had a degree in English literature and art.”

As the bartender told them this was their last drink, Remy quirked one eyebrow up. “So what?”

“She got some nerd friend of hers to find her a friend.”

“What?”

“This bodyguard of hers,” Maddie corrected herself. “Got fired for finding her a pen-pal.”

“Wait a second,” Remy leaned forward then. “She knew who you were?”

Maddie nodded. “All the while I thought we’d found each other accidentally, but we hadn’t. Athenia hadn’t ever taken a chance in her life, not even on friends.”

Remy felt himself stiffen, then relax. It was the saddest thing he’d ever heard. “Are you her only friend?”

“The only one who held her hair as she threw up after drinking one too many martinis.”

Remy’s eyes sparkled then. “You spiked those.”

Maddie laughed as she took her last drink. “What kind of friend wouldn’t?”

Talking about her should have eased the pain, but it didn’t. Now, he missed her all the more, and it made him want to jump off a cliff and die, just to come back up and do it all over again.

The happy couple drove him to the end of his street and dropped him off there, howls and protests.

“You’re supposed to tuck me into bed, you big bad biker!”

Simon laughed. “Walk it off, drunkard.”

Athenia knew it was stupid to take the first flight out. She should’ve thought this through. She should’ve known better than to rush out so quickly. She got a flight via London, and if she hadn’t been on a longer flight before, she had now. It was the worst kind of torture to put anybody through. It was the worst kind of anticipation.

Her phone lost coverage after she landed in Washington and she knew she had to work her way through the last few Euros in her account before starting on her credit balance. She wasn’t a fool; she knew she’d have nothing left by the time she made it back. She only hoped that Remy would be willing to sell his organs to get her by this time.

Eighteen excruciating hours later she stood by the phone booth at the airport and tried the landline over and over. After calling him six times, she noticed it was something close to two in the night. Even an idiot like Remy would be fast asleep by then. Maybe he was angry with her. Maybe he didn’t want to hear from her. God, the possibilities were endless.

Just as she turned into his road she swore she saw Remy walking down the street, wobbly and weak kneed. She couldn’t believe this was the first time she was seeing the man, wearing the dress she’d worn to a party more than two days ago. The waiting was unbearable. She’d waited too long. She only hoped he’d be willing to hug her before laying down the law.