Dan knew he had overreacted, but he couldn't stand the way this nerd behaved. He needed to walk away. Actually, he needed to go back to his car and grab a nip, but he was too worried these two would bolt the second he turned his head.
NO. He needed to talk to Leslie. He inhaled his cigarette deeply and attempted to calm down. Leslie and the dork didn't move. They both gaped at him with full eyes.
He wasn't trying to scare anyone; he was trying to keep it together. While he used to be so good at it, Dan found it extremely hard to stay cool these days. This was supposed to be the easy part. The last 25 years were the hard part. This was presumably Dan's chance to relax. Time to sit back, sip JD on the rocks, and watch everything unravel.
It wasn't working out anything like he had hoped, all because of this STUBBORN young lady. He decided he needed a drink; it was time to move.
"I need to chat with Leslie. If that means you tag along for now, James. I guess I'm gunna have to deal."
"I am in need of a shower and shave. Could we do this later in the day, perhaps?"
Dan didn't know how much of this dweeb he was going to be able to stand. He took a deep breath and kept his composure.
"I can't risk letting her out of my sight again, James. I don't think you two realize how serious I am. Life and death shit right here, man. Now, let's walk to this little bar I know."
He heard the geek mutter words like "Inappropriate" and "suspicious" but Leslie stood up on her own, so James just followed her like a dog.
They walked in silence, with Dan in the lead, to his hole-in-the-wall tavern. The bartender was the old man that 'Frank' knew well.
"Hey Stan my man! How's it hangin' this--," he looked at his watch, 10:12am, "--morning?!" He chuckled.
"Howdy, Frank! What'll it be today? What'll yer friends have? Never seen ya with company."
The three of them approached the bar.
"I will have a pale ale, thank you." James spoke first.
"Gimmie a Jack & Coke today, Stan." Dan looked at Leslie who looked strangely relieved.
"I'llhavethesame," she almost whispered.
"All righty! Comin' right up!"
They took their drinks and headed for a booth in the back. Leslie finished her glass before they reached the table and slipped back to have it refilled. She hurried over and sat down next to James. He looked really nervous, and kept fidgeting in the booth.
Dan sat across from them; his drink was almost gone too. He felt like he was back in control.
The color in Leslie's face was returning, and Dan could tell she wasn't stiff as a board anymore. She had downed her second drink, and they hadn't been in the bar for ten minutes. He smiled at her.
"Take it easy, girl. We got all day."
She still looked so small and lonely. In her eyes, Dan saw emptiness, isolation, depression. It was mistaken for fear in most people's minds, but Dan had studied these eyes. Dan knew her eyes better than his own, and maybe this was her time, too. He thought, a chance for a little happiness to show on her face.
YOU ARE READING
Anxious
Mystery / ThrillerLeslie was raised solely by her loving, but mysterious mother, Sheryl Locks. They seemed to be all each other had in the whole world, until Leslie was 18, and her mother was killed in a fiery car accident. The young woman felt absolutely alone--unti...
