She dressed nervously, quickly, and then jogged the couple of blocks to the pub. Drunk Benny wasn't good, he rarely got too drunk for good reason. She paused at the black door and took a deep breath before pushing in. There were only a couple of people left, bent over their drinks at the bar. Buzz saw her come in and nodded her toward the back where the pool tables were.
Benny was sitting on the ground, leaned up against the wall with broken pool cues scattered around him, she walked toward him but stopped with a good bit of distance between the two of them. "Benny." She said.
He looked up, red cheeked and with bloodshot eyes, but she saw him in there, in those green pools. "I don't want to you see you!" He stumbled up and slipped on the broken pool cues.
"I know you don't, I just came to help you home."
"I don't need—I don't want your help." He yelled loudly and she jumped a little.
"Liv, come back up here, I'll call the cops." Buzz said from the bar, but she shook her head and held up a hand.
"Where's Ronan and Mark, or Kevin?" She asked.
"They all had job training up north till tomorrow night." All three worked at Dick's Sporting Goods, Kevin and Mark were managers, they'd all worked there since they were eighteen.
"Let me take you home okay?" She insisted gently.
He shook his head and swayed. "I don't have a home anymore, you were my home and the gym was my home and you ruined it all."
She took a few steps toward him and he staggered backwards, "No, go away."
She lost her patience and snapped at him, "You can let me take you to Ronan's or Buzz is going to call the cops and you can sit in the drunk tank all night, your choice."
He looked at her, then around, at Buzz and back to her. "Fine." he tried to grab his jacket but missed and knocked the whole rack over.
"GOD DAMMIT" He yelled and kicked it, snapping it in half. She rushed over and grabbed the jacket for him. She followed him toward the front and stopped in front of Buzz, "I'll come back tomorrow and pay for the damage." He nodded at her and then shook his head at Benny.
He fell over twice before she forced him to lean on her and put her arm around his waist.
"I saw you with him, by that fucking Mustang. I was walking to get dinner and you were there, with him, in our gym." She didn't respond, didn't say anything as their slow walk continued. She was relieved when they made it to Ronan's stoop.
"Four steps up okay?" Longest four steps of her life, who needed a workout when you could help a drunk person home? He fumbled for his keys, but he couldn't get them.
"I'm sorry for this." She stuck her hand down in his pocket and grabbed the key ring, barely getting him onto the couch.
"You just gonna flash your shiny new boyfriend all over the neighborhood now?" He kicked his shoes off, one flung up and knocked a bunch of movies down.
"I wasn't being flashy and he's not my boyfriend." She went into the little nook of a kitchen got a big glass of water.
"He was there with you all night, they told me." She ignored him and went into the bathroom to find some aspirin.
"Here." She handed them to him but he threw them onto the ground. She didn't want to fight, so she sat next to him and sighed.
"You love him?" He asked sadly.
YOU ARE READING
I choose me.
General Fiction"I choose me" follows the story of Olivia Granger , her life from an orphan, to an athlete and business owner, to a woman whose life turns in a direction she never ever thought it would go, a direction she never even knew could exist. It is a hear...
