by Kelly Favor
“How so?”
“Let’s just leave it at that,” he replied mysteriously.
By that time, they’d arrived at The Drunken Monkey, a neighborhood dive bar that Raven had often seen the older crowd go to after returning home from college.
But her memories of its clientele were from years past, she had no idea what the place was like now.
When they walked inside, the bar was relatively empty, with a few older men playing darts, a woman drinking a beer as she looked through the jukebox, and a couple of barflies sitting at the bar heckling the bartender drunkenly.
The bartender was a woman that looked vaguely familiar, but at first Raven thought it was just her imagination. Except, when the bartender saw Raven, her eyes immediately widened in recognition.
“Raven Hartley?” she said, sporting a strong Boston accent.
“Yeah,” Raven said. “Hey.” And then she remembered the bartender. Her name was Lola Price and she’d been in the popular crowd a grade below Raven in high school.
“You don’t remember me, do you?”
“Lola, of course I do. How are you?”
Lola’s eyes flickered to Jake and her cheeks went red. “Please tell me that’s not who I think it is.”
“Jake,” he said easily. “Pleased to meet you Lola.” He approached the bar and Raven uncomfortably followed suit, as everyone in the place seemed to turn and stare at them.
At least Lola hadn’t been one of the truly mean girls. She’d hung out with that crowd, but had never personally insulted Raven during the bad time at school.
“What are you guys doing here?” Lola said. She still looked pretty good, although she’d gained some weight and her eyes looked tired somehow.
“Came home to see the fam,” Jake said, winking at Raven.
“Oh, I get it.” Lola laughed, giggled actually. “Can I get you two something to drink?”
Raven ordered a beer and Jake ordered a Jack and Coke. He seemed oddly at home, not at all concerned with the people looking at him, or the general grunginess of the bar. He slung one muscular arm over Raven’s shoulder, rubbing her upper arm very lightly with his fingertips, watching as Lola made their drinks.
It was a very intimate gesture, and it made it hard for her to think.
Lola brought their drinks and Jake dropped a fifty dollar bill on the bar, thanking her.
She picked it up and examined it like it was an alien artifact. “You want change?”
“No, keep it,” he said, raising his beer. “Actually, how about a round for the house, on me.”
The few people in the bar clapped, hooting and hollering, and then Lola was kept busy getting their drinks for them. “Come on,” Jake said, pulling Raven off the stool and bringing her across the floor and over to a more private booth.
She slid in and Jake slid in beside her, but they were both facing the door.
Raven took a sip of beer and looked appraisingly at him as he took a deep swig from his glass, grimacing a little.
“I have to admit something right now,” she told him.
He glanced over at her. “Oh, yeah?”
She nodded. “I like having you here, Jake. I like being together.”
“I do too,” he said, and in that moment, his eyes softened. “The thing is…” he started to speak, but then the door opened and some people came in.
Jake must have instantly seen the look on Raven’s face, because he stopped talking.
She couldn’t believe her eyes, couldn’t believe what she was witnessing. It was like something out of her nightmares.
Four guys walked in as a group, and she knew them all. Worse yet, one of them was Caleb, her ex-boyfriend, and the other was Caleb’s best friend Andre. They looked a little different from four years ago, but other than being slightly filled out and more muscular, not a lot had changed.
Raven put a hand over her eyes and tilted her head down. “Fuck,” she whispered. “I think they saw me.”
“Who saw you?” Jake asked her.
She couldn’t answer. All she could hear was their loud, raucous voices, and it was bringing her back to the party—back to the time when she was seventeen and in love with Caleb and too stupid for words.
The four friends laughed in the bar and it was as though she heard them laughing back then instead, like some bizarrely twisted time warp.
Raven suddenly saw Caleb in her mind’s eye, holding her hand and bringing her into a dimly lit bedroom, kissing her deeply, touching her breasts, exciting her. “I love you, Raven,” he said, pulling her down onto the bed next to him.
“I love you too,” she told him, and it felt real. She thought that he was the most amazing thing that had ever happened to her.
She was drunk, giddy, impulsively getting off the bed and doing a silly little dance for him, trying to be sexy.
“Oh, I have to capture this,” Caleb laughed, pulling out his cell phone and holding it up toward her.
“Don’t record me! Caleb!”
“Come on, just for a second. I promise to erase it after. I just want to record you a little. You’re so fucking sexy, Raven.”
And he told her he loved her—she so wanted to please him, and it felt just dangerous enough, just bad enough to be hot. Already, she was worried because as a virgin she wasn’t giving Caleb sex like a lot of girls were giving their boyfriends at that time.
A little dancing and showing some skin was harmless, right?
“Hey, Raven. RAVEN.” Jake’s voice was concerned as he shook her shoulder gently.
“Sorry,” she said, snapping back to reality, still trying to hide her face from the group of guys that were now over at the bar talking to Lola.
“I know those guys,” Raven whispered, turning away from the bar as much as humanly possible.
Jake glanced over at the group and then back to her. “Okay. Were they jerks to you or something?”
“Yeah, you could say that. I need to leave. Now.”
And that’s when she heard Lola loudly exclaiming to the group. “Oh my God, you guys—you’ll never guess who just came in. Raven Hartley and she’s with Jake freaking Novak!”
“Really,” one of them said, in an almost too bored to care voice. That was Andre. Raven would have known his voice even if she hadn’t seen him in a million years.
“Raven’s here? Seriously?”
And that was Caleb.
“Oh my God,” Raven moaned.
“Take it easy,” Jake said. “You’re not alone, you’re with me now. Remember?”
“I know,” she said, “but I really don’t want to stay in here with them. I hate them. Those people tried to ruin my life.”
Jake’s eyes grew hard. “Which ones?”
“No Jake. Don’t say anything, don’t do anything. Let’s just go.”
“Hey, Raven, what a surprise—you’re slumming in Southbridge,” Andre said, walking toward the booth now. “And I see you brought the coolest man on the planet to keep you company.”
Jake glanced up at him. “Who are you?”
“I’m Andre,” he replied, and put out his hand.
Jake shook it for a little longer than what seemed normal. “Cool,” Jake said.
Andre pulled his hand away. “What’s that, the kung fu grip? Dude’s hand is like a freaking vice.” He turned to his friends and they all laughed uneasily.
Caleb was being quiet, but he seemed to be trying to catch Raven’s eye. She wanted no part of him or Andre or any of these people, and just kept focused on Jake. He was like a life preserver and she hung onto him for dear life.
“Nice to meet you and all,” Jake said, “but Raven and I were hoping to just sit quietly and talk if you don’t mind.”
“What’s that—celebrity code for get the fuck away from you?” Andre laughed.
The others laughed with him.
“Pretty much,” Jake said. His voice was changing, and Raven didn’t like it. He’d already decided not to like them because of what Raven h
ad told him, and she knew his patience was thin.
“Well, it’s a free country dude, and you’re not in fucking Hollywood now,” one of Andre’s friends said.
Great, Raven thought. Andre’s friends are just as stupid and shitty as he is.
“Ease off,” Caleb told them.
“Relax man, we’re just playing,” Andre said.
Raven was still watching Jake. His body language had changed completely. He was no longer loose and relaxed. “Wherever we are,” he said, “most decent people go away when someone asks nicely.”
“Nobody ever accused Andre of being decent,” someone yelled out.
“Yeah,” Andre said, “I’m not that decent. And maybe you should chill out before me and my friends kick the shit out of you and ruin your image.”
Jake nodded, seeming to smile a little at the threat. “I’m only going to say this one more time. Raven and I just want to sit and have a nice quiet night together. Alone.”
“Alone?” Andre laughed, scoffing. “That chick doesn’t do anything unless it’s a group situation, bro. Or didn’t she tell you about that yet?” He turned and got a high-five from one of his dirt bag buddies, while Caleb seemed to be trying to pull them away.
Raven froze. She couldn’t believe he’d actually said it—said the same horrible lie he’d told four years ago. She wanted to be sick.
“I need to go—“ she started to tell Jake.
But Jake had jumped up and was now staring at the group who’d been hovering over their table.
“Listen, I don’t give a shit what you think you know about her,” Jake said. “But I promise you that if one more person makes a joke or even so much as giggles in her direction, you’ll be picking your teeth up off the floor.”
The bar grew suddenly quiet.
“There’s four of us, dipshit,” one of the guys said, “and only one of you.”
Raven looked and saw that they were all pretty big guys, too. Caleb, however, didn’t seem interested in the fight. “Come on, Andre, let’s just go, man. This is stupid.”
“Fuck that,” Andre said, staring at Jake. “I say you sit your ass back in your seat, tough guy. Sit down and I won’t make you look like a bitch. Because then you’ll just be nothing but a bitch who bagged a ho.”
And that’s when Jake punched him. He punched him hard in the stomach, and Andre dropped like he’d been shot. Jake looked down at him. “Is that all you got?” He snorted. “Fucking pathetic.”
From out of nowhere, one of Andre’s friends threw a punch and hit Jake in the face, and then one of the others tried to grab Jake too.
“No!” Raven shouted, trying to get up to help Jake. But the scene quickly devolved into pandemonium, as Jake tossed one of the guys halfway across the room, where he upended a table and some glasses shattered.
And then there were more punches being thrown and Andre was getting up off the floor, slowly.
“Stop it!” Raven screamed.
“Get back,” Caleb said, pulling her out of the way just in time, as a chair flew backwards and nearly hit her in the face.
“Let go of me,” Raven said, pulling herself free from Caleb’s grip.
“I didn’t want to start this,” he said. “You have to know that.”
“I don’t have to know anything, Caleb, now leave me alone!”
Jake seemed to be doing well for himself, despite her fears. He had punched another one of Andre’s buddies so hard in the face that he staggered slowly past Raven and Caleb and out of the bar, holding his cheek and muttering.
“Fuck this. I don’t need this shit, man,” he could be heard saying, as he pushed through the door and into the night.
“You and your stupid friends,” Raven said to Caleb. “I should’ve known you’d instantly ruin everything when I came back home.”
“I’m sorry,” Caleb said. “I tried to stop them.”
“Somehow you always try and you always fail,” she sneered, turning away from him again. Her blood was boiling.
Now Andre and his one last friend were facing Jake and Jake had his fists up, ready to fight them both. He looked more than willing, his eyes were almost gleeful.
Andre’s friend turned to him. “I don’t think we can take him, bro. He’s a maniac.”
That was when Andre picked up a bottle and broke it purposely against the table, keeping hold of the shattered end as a weapon. “How about I stick this in your fucking throat?” Andre said to Jake, moving forward.
“You should reconsider,” Jake said, looking even more prepared to go to battle, “because if you try and use that on me I’m going to break your neck.”
Andre’s friend backed away. “Dude, that’s going too far.” He started to leave as well. As he passed, he looked at Caleb. “You better stop him before he does something crazy.”
Raven was cold. She couldn’t believe what was happening. Jake might get killed because of her, because she’d been dumb enough to bring him home. She should have stayed away. What was she thinking?
“Stop it, Andre!” she shouted, readying herself to jump on his back, anything to keep him from hurting Jake with that broken bottle.
And that’s when the door opened again and the police came inside.
Before Raven knew it, Andre had already dropped the broken bottle and kicked it under one of the booths. The police didn’t even see him holding it.
Four policemen came inside and immediately grabbed everyone involved in the scuffle and escorted them out of the bar.
As they all walked outside, they were met with flashbulbs as the paparazzi took pictures.
Raven looked over at Jake, who was somehow grinning still. He glanced at her and shrugged, and then went back to talking with one of the police officers.
Raven couldn’t even believe it.
Nothing could have gone worse, she thought.
This is as bad as it gets.
Only she was wrong. Because just when she thought it couldn’t get worse, her brother Danny showed up.
Raven and Jake were standing there, watching Danny talk to the cops. Well, there was one cop in particular he was talking to, and it was taking a long time.
Jake had his hands in his pockets. He looked at Raven. “I guess this was probably not the best way to start the trip.”
“Nope, probably not,” she said.
Already, the other culprits had been allowed to leave the scene. Andre had been let go, of course. The cops around these parts were nothing if not biased. The thing now was whether they were going to arrest Jake for assault and destruction of property, and so far it seemed likely they would.
They’d been within seconds of handcuffing him, but as Danny showed up and started talking, they’d backed off a little bit.
Now it was a waiting game.
Raven turned to Jake again. “I wish you hadn’t done it, but I’m also grateful you did it, if you get what I mean.”
Jake nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
She looked at him, wondering what it was that had made him defend her yet again. Why did he keep putting his neck on the line for her if he didn’t see her as anything but a pawn in his game?
If we’re really just a business arrangement, then he must be a terrible businessman, because so far I’ve been nothing but a headache.
The thought made her smile, and Jake noticed.
“What can you possibly be smiling about?” he asked her.
“It was nothing,” she said, dismissing the depth of her feelings rather than tell him how much she wanted to believe that he was starting to care for her despite himself.
“Oh, there’s something going on,” Jake smirked. “I can see those gears turning in your head.”
“Maybe so, Jake. Maybe so.”
He shook his head and sighed as if giving up on trying to figure her out.
Finally, Danny broke away from the cop, shaking hands and saying some last words, before coming over to where Jake and Raven were standing.
He looked at them a
nd bit his lip before speaking. “You two idiots really caused a scene.”
“Are they pressing charges?”
“Lucky for Mr. Novak here, I used to be on the wrestling team with Officer Giancola. They’re willing to forego the arrest.”
Jake stuck his hand out. “You’re amazing, Danny. Thank you so much.”
“They did say that it was conditional upon you picking up the tab for the repairs on all the damage you did tonight. The report will be filed, so if you don’t make good, they’ll come and arrest you.”
Jake chuckled. “Hey, I’m not averse to paying for my mistakes.”
“Yeah, and they’ll probably make sure to do some improvements at your expense, too,” Danny told him.
“Whatever it takes.”
“Glad to hear it,” Danny said. “Come on, I’ll drive you both home.”
They all walked to his car and got inside. People were still taking pictures and shouting questions, but they ignored it all.
Raven got in front and Jake sat in the back seat, while Danny drove quietly, his face illuminated by the dashboard light.
After they’d driven a little way, Raven glanced at him. “Danny, I’m sorry about everything.”
He shrugged. “Why apologize? You always end up doing something crazy and getting yourself in trouble again at some point.”
“I get that you’re angry with me,” she told him. “I know why you’re really mad, and it’s got nothing to do with what happened tonight.”
He glanced at her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I know you got stuck here, taking care of Mom and Dad when I left. I didn’t know that would happen to you. It never so much as entered my mind. I was just trying to get free, to escape.”
Danny didn’t speak for a long while. “Someone had to stay,” he told her softly.
When they pulled into the driveway, Danny finally spoke again. “Let’s not mention this to Mom or Dad,” he said. “They don’t need anymore stress in their lives right now. Mom’s cooking a big meal and she’s happy as a clam.”
“My lips are sealed,” Jake said, as they all got out of the car and headed toward the house.
Raven looked at Jake by the front steps, touching his face and examining it. “Hardly a scratch on you,” she said. “They won’t notice anything.”