We Can See STARS

Chapter 15: One and Only

As soon as you land back in Phoenix you see D and run to her and instantly start to sob, your tears dampening the T-shirt she was wearing. She hugs you tight and strokes your hair. The comfort you felt from that hug was exactly what you needed after perhaps the longest most awful two and a half hour flight you ever had to endure. She takes you to your apartment and you ask her if she could stay for a while. You were extremely grateful she knew you so well, as she didn't press you to find out what had happened even though she could deduce it wasn't particularly good. She knew that when you were ready you'd fill her in. Exhausted from the trip and the emotional roller coaster you had been on, you passed out asleep on the couch as you both were watching TV. You wake up a bit groggy and see a sticky note that D left on your forehead.

" Be back later. Need to run an errand and go to my apartment to get a change of clothes and PJs.

P.S. don't do anything crazy while I'm gone."

You look for your phone to check the time. You had about six missed calls from Benn and multiple messages. You delete the notifications and the messages he had left making sure you'd leave no wiggle room in your heart to forgive him. However it was proving difficult to move on and stop thinking about him while being in your apartment. Memories the two of you had made there were flooding your mind. When he had left you the Stars victory green jersey, the first time you said 'I love you' and the little notes he would leave you on the fridge. You needed to get out of there. You take a shower and get yourself ready to go out and drink your blues away.

The bright neon lights from the sign outside of the honky tonk bar signified that this was a great place to drown your sorrows. You push through the old heavy wooden door. As you enter you are greeted by the smell of stale ale your eyes adjust to the dark barely lit room and see that the bar curves into the room. To the right are some tables with red and white checkered tablecloths and further down a big rectangular 70s style jukebox and high tables where people can stand, drink and mingle around. There were a few people there already, most look like they've been there for quite a while nursing on what's left of their drinks, some ready to head out leaving open space for the evening crews to start gathering in. You scour the room and see most of the tables are taken and decide to sit at the bar, plopping yourself down on the stool farther down, closer to the jukebox. Almost immediately the bartender comes up to you.

"What'll it be?

"Hmmm what's the strongest thing you got?"

"Tough night?"

"More like a tough week."

"I've got just the thing then." He turns around and starts preparing your drink grabbing all sorts of bottles from the liquor rack. After a minute or two he comes back with a drink and places it in front of you.

"Don't be fooled by the color it's actually quite potent so..." before he finishes his sentence you take the glass and down most of it. Man that thing had a kick to it. You thought you might just black out then and there. "don't drink it all at once." He lets out the last part of the sentence with a look of amazement at the fact that you didn't even choke on how strong it was.

However it was very tasty so you ask him for another, he's hesitant at first but the glare you gave him must have intimidated him and immediately he went to work on fixing you another. This time you did sip and enjoy it a bit more. Working on that second one, you were experiencing a very good buzz. The fact that the place wasn't packed allowed you to tell the bartender and the lone old geezer that took a seat next to you, exactly why you were here drinking. It was no secret that drunk/buzzed Ana was a chatterbox and didn't shy away on making new friends right away. Pretty soon you had a whole audience. Some of the ladies would chime in and put their input on the whole situation. 'Men are the worst'. ' oh no honey', 'he deserved to be dumped' were some of the statements made. You tell them all about how he didnt text and contact you even though you left work and flew all the way to Dallas. 'Gurl you deserve someone who will fight for you!' A voice proclaimed out loud.