Salt and Pepper

Chapter 4

"Alright. That's it. No more drinks for you" the bartender said, pulling away the half filled glass from Krist before he might face plant on his drink.

"Oh. Come on Danny. Give me one more. I am a big guy and I can handle my alcohol. Trust me I am perfectly fine" Krist slurred getting up from the bar stool only to fall back on it stumbling in his drunken stupor.

"Give me your phone. I am calling your friend Knott to come and pick you up. Clearly you cannot go back home on your own in this state" Danny said snatching the mobile  from Krist to dial Knott's number.

"Nooo. Don't call him. Just one more drink Danny. Am I not your best friend anymore?"  Krist whined falling on the bar counter and looking up at Danny with his glazed over eyes that clearly showed he was not at all sober.

"Don't you dare give me those puppy dog eyes. I am not falling for it again" Danny said in a firm tone pointing a finger Krist's way which only made him sigh sadly and close his eyes. Apparently he was too drunk to go into an argument.

"Atleast let me finish my drink" he said getting up from the bar stool practically getting on top of the counter, reaching for the glass that Danny had pulled away from him.

"Nope. No more drinks for you other than tap water" Danny said raising the glass out of Krist's reach which made him whine and pout like a kid denied of his favorite toffee. It made the bartender almost laugh and if he was anything like the young girls two tables away from the bar, he would have cooed at the tipsy detective's cute self too. He sighed once again when he heard subtle screams and more giggling from the girls on looking at Krist's drunk antics. One of them even made her way to the bar and draped a hand over Krist's shoulder in a suggestive way. Sadly, Krist was too drunk to even notice the girl let alone her flirtatious smile directed at him. He tried his best to lift his head and look at the human beside him only to lose interest in a second and turn towards Danny again pleading for his drink. Or maybe just Krist was too drunk to keep his drooping eyes  open to appreciate his admirer's beauty. Even if the readers refuse to believe that, the girl seemed to settle on the latter thought to protect her ego from getting bruised.

"Hey there handsome. You seem to be worn out. Do you want me to take you home?" the girl asked as she lowered her head close to Krist and whispered letting her lips almost brush against his ears suggestively.

Krist got nothing but annoyed and shoved her away from him like batting a fly. Or maybe he actually thought there was a fly buzzing around his ears. Only he knows.

"Yeah.  Don't worry about it. I have called his friend to come pick him up" Danny said as polite as he could urging the lady to back the fuck off. She narrowed her eyes at the bartender but Krist's head hitting the barstool with a thud made her to give up on pursuing him anymore. She rolled her eyes at the wasted detective thinking that he might be no fun in his current state and returned to her table of cackling girls.

"You really need someone to keep you in check when you drink man. You have no qualms beating the shit out of thugs in the street. But when you are drunk you couldn't even protect yourself. You are too dumb and cute for your own good" Danny said shaking his head at Krist who had become a close friend to him after visiting the bar regularly either with his gang of misfits or by himself. Sometimes he honestly gets worried when Krist gets himself sloshed like this. It's not often he comes drinking alone and everytime he does come he doesn't even talk or reveal what's bothering him to Danny even if he tries to coerce him to talk. Danny feels defeated trying to cheer up the guy so he settles for letting the detective get drunk off his ass before calling up his best friend to deal with it as usual.

"Any casualties?" Knott asked as he arrived just in time to catch Krist who was about to slip from the bar stool and hit the floor. He steadied his passed out best friend by draping one of Krist's arms over his shoulder and holding him in the middle.