by Lacey Legend
Eric noticed the girl next door immediately. He’d been sitting in his car for the past half-hour, thinking about the fact that he was about to walk into his new house. In a new neighborhood. And start his new life. She’d come out to check her mailbox and had seemed delighted at one particular piece of mail. He wasn’t used to seeing people his age getting excited about mail. Usually their mailboxes were just jammed with unpleasant bills or flyers that went straight into the bin. He wondered who had sent her mail and why it had made her so happy. A lover perhaps? Maybe she had a long distance boyfriend. But would they really communicate by snail mail when they could Skype or email one another? He wanted to go up and ask her. But, of course he didn’t. He didn’t know her. And he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to get to know his neighbors just yet. He still had a lot that he wanted to check out before getting too comfortable in his surroundings. He’d learned the hard way that getting too comfortable too quickly was a bad idea. Always be on the lookout, and always look at everyone as a potential threat.
But the neighbor didn’t look like a threat. Quite the opposite. As he watched her open her letter, she looked like the most harmless person in the world. He was pleased to notice how beautiful she was and wondered if she lived alone. Not that it would matter, of course. It wasn’t as if he was going to make a move. And anyway, she definitely wasn’t his usual type. But that was probably because she looked so wholesome and clean cut. Although she was his type in the fact that she was absolutely gorgeous – in that sense she was probably every man’s type. She was African American, and her dark skin practically glimmered against the crisp white t-shirt she was wearing. The shirt was plain and was worn over loose jeans, yet despite this very casual attire, she still managed to look striking. She hadn’t stood outside long enough for him to take in any more, but the little he had seen, he had definitely liked.
But enough of that distraction. It was time to go inside. He’d stalled long enough. Eric parked the car in the driveway and walked up to the front door. He pulled out the key that he had collected from the agent and tentatively walked inside. He’d moved around a lot in the past few years, and he was hoping that he’d be able to finally call this one home. But he couldn’t be too sure, and he didn’t want to get too excited for nothing. Anything could happen – that was also something he’d learned the hard way. He walked in and looked around. It was a nice home, bigger than what he’d previously gone for. But he’d gotten it at such a good price that it was hard to turn down. The house had been left standing for a while because the owners had been away on a long overseas trip and hadn’t had time to see to it. Now that they were back, they had asked their agent to start finding someone to take over the lease as soon as possible. By some stroke of luck, Eric had contacted that same agent on the very day that the house was going to go on the market. He’d said yes before he’d even seen it. He was happy with the area and the price, and he really didn’t want to go through the process of searching for months on end. He was desperate for a new home, and this one had practically been handed to him. While he wasn’t the sort of guy who believed in fate, he couldn’t help but think that perhaps he was meant to live there. Perhaps finally he had found his lucky break in life. It was surely time for some sort of luck to come into his life – he was sick and tired of being the unlucky one.
He walked from room to room, opening a few of the windows to let it in some fresh air. The agent had warned him that the place had been sitting closed up for a while and probably smelled damp. She’d offered to come the day before to open up, but he had told her not to worry – he was more than happy to do it himself. He had expected the place to be a lot shoddier from what the agent had said. But it wasn’t so bad. He’d been in worse. He shuddered at the thought of some of his previous apartments. This seemed like a mansion in comparison. It was a nice house. It could do with a bit of a touch up, but it was nice. And nice was exactly what he needed in his life for a change. He could picture himself staying for many years and hoped that this dream would finally become a reality. But first, he had matters to attend to. He retrieved all of the boxes from the car and took them all in one by one. He didn’t have much. The house, thankfully, came semi-furnished, but he was still going to have to make a plan to buy some extra furniture. It looked a bit bare, and he knew that even when he had unpacked everything out of his boxes, it would still look bare. He’d always considered the nomadic lifestyle a favorable one – but now he wasn’t so sure. It was just as nice, if not more, to have a home. And while things didn’t make people happy, they certainly went a long way in making them feel comfortable. He had a sudden vision of a full home, filled with objects and photos and people. It was a vision he tried not to have, just in case it never came through. But it floated through his mind as he looked around, and he couldn’t help but smile.
Once all of his boxes were in, he looked at the time and decided to make his way back to his old area. He had promised Charlie that he’d meet her at the pub. She had no idea that he would be coming all the way from this area. He hadn’t told anyone. As far as they knew, he was still living down the road from the pub. It was quite a drive, and if he left right now, he would probably arrive at around four that afternoon. He planned to stay an hour or two at most and then leave. He wasn’t looking forward to the evening ahead, but he knew that it was something he had to do. He took a quick shower before going, but because he had forgotten to turn on the hot water heater, it meant that his shower was cold. He winced as the cold water hit his body, but he felt better for it afterwards. Then he got ready and climbed into his car.
While he drove, he watched as the areas began to change, and he breathed in the smell of familiarity when he arrived at the pub. But he had no remorse for moving. Familiarity wasn’t always a good thing. And he only felt slightly bad that he was going to have to break up with Charlie. It was never meant to be anything serious anyway, and he hoped that she knew that. Nevertheless, it had to be done. He parked his car and made his way inside. The pub was already busy – but then again, it was the sort of place that was busy at any time of the day. Eric had stumbled across the pub the first day he had moved to the area, and he had been going a few times a week ever since. He had left his life behind again and hadn’t wanted to make new friends, so the pub offered him exactly what he wanted. A place that was swarming with people who all pretended to be friends with one another. It was the pub of pretend – as he liked to call it.
“Eric! You made it!” Tom shouted from across the pub, and Eric plastered on a big smile.
He hadn’t wanted to see everyone that evening, but he wasn’t surprised that they were all there. He had hoped that he’d come early enough to miss them all. It was going to be hard to sneak off with them all there. But Tom was sitting next to a few of the other guys, and they all waved him over. He couldn’t run away when he had just gotten there, so he made his way over to say hello – making sure not to rouse any sort of suspicion. Although they all looked like they were already drunk, so he doubted they would end up remembering much of the night ahead. He’d never met guys that could drink as often as they did. Eric loved a drink himself, but not every day. He’d often looked at these men and considered stopping drinking altogether – they certainly weren’t a good advertisement for it.
“Hey, guys,” he said and pulled up a bar stool. Then he looked at the barman. “A beer, please.”
“A beer? Which one? We have many.”
It was a game they always played, and for the first time, it seemed old and contrived. Nevertheless, Eric did his best to pretend as if he loved it. He grinned.
“Really, you do? Isn’t beer just beer?”
The same line again and again.
“Depends on how much you know your beer,” the barman said, right on target.
“Well, I know that I like it. So give me whichever one you want.”
“Are you sure? You think you can handle my choice?”
“Oh, I know I can handle it!”
And with that, B
arman Bear, a name given to him by some drunken guy one day that had stuck, handed him one of their regular beers, and everyone laughed. Eric had no idea when this little ritual had started or why it was supposed to be so funny. But every time since he had ordered his first drink at the bar, he went through the same conversation. He wondered if he’d miss these guys. In a way, he could consider them his friends. He certainly saw them most days. But they only ever met up at the bar for drinks. They never called each other up or met for anything non-alcoholic. He barely knew anything about their lives. No, they weren’t friends, and he wasn’t going to miss them. He’d gone down this route before – said goodbye to ‘friends’ that he’d known for a year or two, and he’d forgotten about them within days. Eric knew that he didn’t actually have any friends. He wasn’t even sure what having friends felt like, and he decided that now was certainly not the time to start feeling remorse about his life choices. Instead, he took a big gulp of his beer and grinned at the guys.
“So, what’s up, guys? Anything exciting going on?”
Of course, he knew what the answer would be. They revolved around the same conversations each time they saw each other. Everybody complained about their lives, and not one of them tried to do anything about it. They were all terrible for each other but couldn’t seem to let go.
“Ah, you know, the usual. Nothing much going on. My old lady is driving me crazy. Just this morning, she got into an argument with me. Apparently, I come here too much, and I don’t do enough around the house. Really? Is that what life has boiled down to? Doesn’t she realize that if I didn’t come here, I’d be a much more terrible person to be around? But we’re here now, and that’s all that matters. You’re going to have to catch up to us, though. We’re already on our third beer. And Barry’s already talking about getting out the whiskey.”
Barry always spoke about getting out the whiskey once he’d gotten a few beers down his throat.
“Third? What time did you guys get here?” he asked but then wasn’t sure why he was so surprised. It sometimes felt as if some of them slept here.
They all laughed. “Who knows? It sure beats being at home.”
Eric felt sad for these men – not that his life was any better, of course. But he’d met some of their wives and their kids, and they weren’t all that bad. These men just didn’t have a grip on their addictions and didn’t want to admit that they were failures. They weren’t bad guys – but they could be so much better if they tried. But it wasn’t his place to say anything. He wasn’t here to make best friends. He never had been.
“Yeah, I’d way rather come here. Anyone up for a game of snooker?” Barry asked and stood up unsteadily on his feet.
“I’ll have a game with you,” Eric said. He didn’t feel like sitting around making small talk. Charlie wasn’t there yet, and he had no idea when she was going to arrive. “Anyway, I’m surely going to beat you. You’re far too drunk to play well.”
Barry scoffed. “Actually, I’ll have you know that I actually play better when I’m drunk. So be prepared to have your ass kicked.”
“Ha! We’ll see about that. Come on then, let’s play while there’s still a table free.”
As it turned out, Barry hadn’t been lying. The moment he started playing, he became laser focused.
“Told you so!” he said and laughed. “So, another game? Actually, let’s go get another drink first. This game just made me thirsty. One more beer and then I’m delving into something a little different,” Barry said, practically licking his lips at the thought of the whiskey.
They walked back over to the bar, and Eric noticed that Charlie had walked in. Charlie. Would he miss her? It was a question he was starting to ask with everyone that he came across these days. Charlie was sexy – a word that everyone used when describing her. She wasn’t beautiful or even pretty, but she was sexy, and she liked nothing more than showing off her body. She’d walked in wearing a short black leather skirt, a leather bodice that was tied in the front with laces, and knee-high boots. Her white skin looked even whiter against the black leather, and she wore no makeup except for smudged charcoal eyeliner. It was her trademark. The moment she walked in, the entire bar looked her way. But he was used to that sort of reaction. She was impossible to ignore.
“You are one lucky son of a bitch to have a girlfriend like that.” Tom whistled, and all the other men murmured in agreement.
He wanted to tell them that she’d be single soon enough for them to make their move, but he didn’t say a thing. He needed to do everything just right. She wasn’t his girlfriend – she never had been. She just seemed that way to the guys at the bar because the two of them were always together when they saw them. But Eric hadn’t had a girlfriend in a very long time. He’d had flings, he’d had short romances, but he hadn’t had a girlfriend in many years. That was one thing that he tried to avoid at all costs. Never get too close to anyone. Always keep them at a distance so that you can walk away at any time. That was his motto, and so far he had stuck to it. Charlie was probably the girl that he’d been with the most and for the longest period of time. But still, they were not a couple, and they both knew it. She spotted him and waved, and he went right over to greet her.
“Hey, gorgeous,” he said and immediately went in to kiss her. She tasted like cigarettes and chocolate.
“Hey back. Good to see you here so early.”
“I told you I’d be here,” he replied.
“Yeah, but what you say and what you do is not always the same thing,” she said.
He wasn’t quite sure what she meant by that, but he decided to let it slide. He wasn’t in the mood to start arguments, and more than likely, she was right.
“Well, I’m here now, and it really is good to see you. How about I get you a drink?” he asked.
“Thanks, Eric. That would be great.”
“Two drinks of your choice,” he said to Barmen Bear, who handed them each a beer and a shot of tequila. He was grateful for the tequila – it was going to make the process a lot easier. He considered asking for another one, but he remembered that he had a long drive back – and also, he still wanted to have his faculties together. This whole thing would blow up in his face if he got too drunk. And getting drunk would just be the cowardly way out – and he was sick of being a coward. They clinked their shot glasses together and knocked them back. As always, Eric was amazed at how well Charlie took her drink. She never grimaced or made a sound. She just chugged it back and grinned at him. Not like him. He couldn’t help but reach for his beer the moment he finished the tequila. It burned his throat immediately. The first time he’d seen her do that, he’d thought she was just showing off, but she wasn’t. Charlie didn’t need to show off.
“You’re hardcore; you know that? Although I’m sure I’ve told you that before,” he told her.
“Because I can drink tequila without needing a chaser?” she asked.
“Yeah. That’s one reason.”
“And the other?”
“Oh, there are many others. How much time do we have tonight? You look good tonight, Charlie.”
He wasn’t sure why he had said that last bit. His voice had gone all soft, too, and he cringed at how sentimental he sounded. They weren’t the type of couple that had long talks by the fire.
“Are you drunk or something?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
He supposed he didn’t normally speak that way to her. He quickly straightened himself up.
“No, I’m just in a very strange mood.”
“Ah, now strange is something that I can deal with. I like strange.”
“How did you get here?” he asked her suddenly, and he could see her eyes light up at the question.
“My car. Why?” She batted her eyelashes at him innocently.
“Oh, you know why.”
They always had sex in her car. His car was far too small and far too uncomfortable. They’d tried before. But she had a big pickup truck that her father had given her, a
nd it was perfect for sex. Because they never really saw each other outside of the bar, they’d never had sex in a bed the way normal people do.
“Want to know something even better? You’re not actually going to believe this part,” she leaned in and whispered to him – her voice a low growl.
“Go on,” he said, immediately aroused by her.
“I have a mattress in the back of the truck. A friend gave me her spare one, and I haven’t put it in the house yet. So…”
“So… I think we should finish these drinks quickly, don’t you?” he replied quickly.
They both laughed and started drinking quickly. He hadn’t planned to have sex with her that night. But suddenly, it was the only thing he wanted. He was never going to see this woman again – so he might as well end things properly. The fact that they would be having sex on a mattress in her truck made things even sweeter. They both finished their drinks and made their way outside. Eric took one look back at the bar, thinking that it might be the last time he saw the place, and silently said goodbye.
“Where are you two going?” Tom called out. His voice was heavy with drink and dripping with sarcasm.
Eric didn’t answer. Instead he turned and winked at Tom and took Charlie’s hand. Outside, the sky was still light but starting to darken. It was his favorite time of the day – the moment just before the evening began. He’d always liked that feeling – just before things started to get good. Sometimes it was better than the good times themselves. He knew that this evening would be different than all the others to come. He’d be in a new place, and he’d be all alone. He squeezed Charlie’s hand as they walked to the truck, and she laughed.
“You’re holding my hand,” she said and giggled.
He wasn’t sure if he’d heard her giggle before. It was strange on her.
“Yeah, so?” he replied.
“Well, we never hold hands. It’s just odd, that’s all.”
“Sorry,” he said and was just about to pull his hand away when she tightened her grip.