#tomlincum

I counted down the minutes until the end of  my shift at a local coffee shop. It was nearly seven o’clock at night; nobody wants donuts in the middle of the evening for God's sake.  There hadn’t been a customer in over an hour. I couldn’t wait to get out of this shithole and go out with my friends.

“Alright, Lily, you can just head out now. Business isn’t about to pick up, so go enjoy your night,” my boss, Brian, called from the back room.

“Thanks, Brian! Have a good night.” I left him to lock up and ran out to my car. I had an hour to get ready before my best friend, Lacey, would pick me up. I decided on simple black heels and a new dress I’d been dying to wear.

She pulled into my apartment building’s driveway, the bass on her soundset pumping through the walls of the lobby. I ran out to the car and jumped in the backseat. Jailyn bobbed her head to the music from the seat next to me, and Isla danced around at shotgun.

It had been a rough spring semester, and exams had literally just finished a few days before. To reward ourselves for surviving our first year of college we decided to go out on the town for a bit to unwind, just us girls, seeing as we hadn’t been able to for ages. We arrived at the Black Cherry, a club we’d walked or driven past a thousand times since the start of the school year, but had never actually ventured into.

When we pushed through the heavy doors, music exploded around us. So much life was filling up the room that it threatened to break the building’s foundation. Colors of every kind flew across the walls, the ceiling, and the shimmering bodies of the people around us.

It was exhilarating to finally be back in the underworld. Hades had claimed our souls once again, and we were back among the shades of the Once Children, once daughters and sons and bright kids with futures that we threw away to the bottom of a bottle or the  ashes of a rollup. We were ragged and scruffy and never quite good enough, but we were where we belonged.

I followed the girls over to a table in the back corner where we flopped down and relaxed. Lacey and I were in pretty serious relationships, but I knew Jailyn and Isla would be on the prowl tonight. They decided to wait and find some guy to buy them drinks while Lacey and I walked to the bar to pay for our own.

“Alright ladies, what’ll it be?” a tall, attractive bartender sidled over and leaned towards us.

“Um, a screwdriver, I guess,” I said distractedly. There was so much going on around me, and I suppose my brain was still fried from the exhausting exam schedule. It was hard to focus on any one thing at a time.

This lack of awareness of my surroundings was what lead to the series of events that preceded our arrival. Lacey started to take whatever it is that she ordered back to our table, but I lost her in the crush of people. The room was backed and the roar of the music and all the people crashed down on my eardrums. I was out of focus and out of mind, and I was trying to get my bearings when I felt a large, hot hand on the back of my thigh. The corresponding crotch rubbed up against my butt. I flinched instinctively, which made me spill my drink on the hem of my dress. His other hand snaked around to my waist. I slapped it away.

“Goddamnit!!” I snapped, turning around to face my offender. “What’s your problem, asshole?!” My eyes widened as I took in the huge figure towering about me. His hulking frame blocked any escape route I could’ve searched for.

He looked confused and put on a sarcastically offended expression. “I don’t have one..?”

I felt my face flushing; he made it seem like my fault and it was embarrassing me. “Well, fine then. Leave me alone.”

I turned to go, but he stepped closer and pulled me by the waist, cupping my arse in his hands. “No,” he said frankly. “I want you to dance with me, babe. Come here.”

“God, no! Let me go!” I shouted above the music, trying to wrench out of his grip. He just jerked me closer to him. My drink slipped from my hand and splashed all over our shoes and calves. Broken glass crunched underfoot. “Look what you made me do!”

He just chuckled. In the dim polychromatic waves swimming across his admittedly hot features, I saw two deep dimples pop out. “It’s fine, baby, I’ll buy you another one. Come on, dance.” I ripped out of his arms, but he clamped his huge hands around my wrists.

“No. I have a boyfriend. And he’s gonna beat your ass if you don’t get away from me,” I threatened.  I tried to draw myself up to look intimidating, but he was over a head taller than me. This only resulted in another laugh. He shook his thick curls out of his face and ran a hand through them. “I don’t give a damn about him. He’s not even here with you.”

“Yes he is,” I lied. “And he’s going to show up any minute now and you’ll regret this.” I again struggled in his grasp, but his hands clenched hard all the way around my forearms.

“Bullshit. I’m calling your bluff. If he was here, he’d never leave your side. Too many drunk guys around here for him to risk it.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why am I even talking to you? Why am I even wasting my--”

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” a familiar raspy voice hurdled itself over the music. “Get off of my girlfriend, you prick!”

I turned towards the voice. Logan, my boyfriend of eight months. Thank God he was there. He was shorter and smaller than the other guy, but I knew he would protect me with his life. He stepped between us and held a protective arm out behind him. I hid behind his back like it was a storm shelter and the other man was a raging hurricane.

“I’m not doing anything, pal. Calm down. She’s the one who just ran up and jumped all over me. Crazy bitch,” the guy spat.

I opened my mouth to protest, but I didn’t get a chance. “No she didn’t. I know Lily, and that’s not her. So stay away from my girl.”

A small hand appeared on my shoulder. Isla, with the other girls behind her. “Where did you go?! Lacey said you just disappeared. Who’s that guy? He’s hot, whoever he is,” she smiled at him coyly.

“He’s not a friend,” I said evenly, looking her in the eyes.

My friends and I huddled uncertainly a few feet from Logan’s side. We looked on, not really knowing if we should say anything. They were arguing, obviously, but the fight was strictly verbal until the man suddenly lunged forward and shoved Logan hard in the chest. He stumbled back. In the dim light I saw his green eyes flash open in surprise and panic. He nearly fell against some guy behind him, who turned around to stare, but he recovered himself and flew forward to shove the man even harder.

The tall stranger’s face seemed to ignite. In a swiftly swelling rage, he pulled back his right arm for a punch, but Logan slapped his arm out of the way and went for a straight punch to his gut. The stranger doubled over in pain, but quickly recovered.

My heart tried to escape through my throat by climbing up my esophagus. I was clutching one of my friend’s wrists; I didn’t know whose. A crowd was forming. People shouted insults and encouragement alike.

They went at it for a surprisingly long amount of time before security stepped in. They both endured several serious blows to the head and face before an enormous bouncer grabbed them both by the collars as if they were newborn puppies. He yelled some expletives and threatened to phone the police, then quite literally threw them out. The crowd parted like the red sea when the bouncer marched through with his load of angry teenagers.

We ran out the door after them. The other guy had fallen, and right as he was standing up, Logan kicked out his knee and slammed him up against the brick building.

“What’s your name?” He growled huskily. Blood flowed steadily from his nose.

“Styles,” the boy mumbled weakly. He coughed raspily; few drops of blood spilled down his chin. “Harry Styles.”

“Okay, Harry,” Logan ground Harry’s back deeper into the brick wall. “If you set foot within 100 feet of Lily again I’ll beat your ass so hard you’ll puke up shit. Understood?”

Harry nodded in submission. Logan shoved him away and let him slump to the ground. We left him there to reevaluate his life and possibly bleed out. Defeated, we decided to walk back to Lacey’s car.

“Let’s just go to your house and order pizza,” Jailyn suggested wearily. “I hate socializing.

“SAME.” Lacey said, aggressively whipping open the driver’s side door. “Get in, sloots. And Logan.”  

We squeezed into her small black car and enjoyed a blissfully silent ride back to Lacey’s flat. She lived on the second floor of a little old Victorian home with some druggie who was never home and never paid her rent. We all crashed on her living room floor and flipped on the TV.

“Logan, come to the bathroom,” I said. “We have to get the blood off your face.”

I had him sit down on the countertop as I carefully wiped the blood from his nose, lips, chin, and a nasty cut on his forehead. “He was wearing a ring,” was Logan’s explanation. To his great chagrin, I put a Disney Princesses band aid over the gash on his forehead. I had him take off his bloody shirt and soak it in the sink so it wouldn’t be ruined.

“I’m sorry you had to get involved in something that was completely my fault..” I sighed, leaning forward between his knees. He pulled me in and buried me in a hug.

“No, don’t apologize,” he insisted quietly. His lips were so close that his words tickled my ear. “I needed to protect you.” he lightly kissed me on the shoulder before pulling back and running his hands down my upper arms.

“How did you even know we were there?” I asked, curious. It was an unbelievable coincidence that Logan had been at the Black Cherry to fend off that perv.

“I was actually going to talk to the manager about a job application. I was thinking I could DJ a night or two a week, or at least bartend or bus tables.”

“Ah. Of course,” I said, smiling at him matter-of-factly. “You and your music.”

Logan’s passion was to mix music. He’d find songs and edit them together to make them sound even better than the originals. He was so gifted that he could even make me enjoy Nicki Minaj.

“Yeah,” he laughed self-consciously. It was adorable. “Yeah, I guess it was pretty good timing. I was just leaving when I saw you guys. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I said, giving him a quick peck. “Let’s go eat.”

We found an overlarge sweatshirt of Lacey’s father’s for him to wear before we returned to the living room. Kicking off my heels, I leaned against Logan. He was snuggly and warm, and I honestly just wanted to sleep. It had been a long night, although it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet.

“I vote we just be losers at home for awhile,” I said sleepily.

“I vote we just go clubbing without Lily,” Isla teased.