by Kira Blakely
Ashton, so drunk his head reeled, blurted out, “What if you could skip the bar?”
Jackson managed to give him a slightly unfocused stare. “You can. Go buy a few bottles and a six pack and get drunk at home.”
Ashton rolled his eyes. “That’s not what I mean at all.”
“No? Then what do you mean?”
Ashton stared at the mess in the apartment. They’d picked up a couple of women the night before, and there was a lacy bra draped across his battered coffee table, someone’s socks on the floor, a bunch of bottles, and a cup one of the women had used as an ashtray now filled with cigarette butts. An idea was forming behind the thundercloud of his headache, but he couldn’t quite focus in on it.
Jackson said, “Hey, you really want a different job? There’s a sales position opening in the company and you’d be great at it, but you’re going to need some basic tech know-how.”
“So, teach me.” Ashton’s mind stayed on that forming idea even as he spoke. There was something there, right behind the front part of his brain and on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
“No way, dude. You actually have to have credentials. You can take the classes for free if you get a grant, so go down to the community college and apply.”
“I hate school.”
“It’s not like high school. It’s way cooler. Besides, the job pays three times what you’re making now.”
***
He put the idea out of his head for the moment. On Monday afternoon, he went down to the community college and signed up for a course. He hadn’t expected to like it. He hadn’t expected to do well, and he was pleasantly surprised when he did both.
He was even happier when he got the sales job. No more selling old cars dressed up to look nice, no more selling cellphones in kiosks, and no more crummy jobs that came with no salary and no benefits.
The company was a large one, and he had to keep adding to his education to stay ahead of the game and make sure he could answer questions posed to him by prospective or even current clients. He had to spend his own money to attend those classes, but he didn’t resent either the cost or the time. In fact, he liked it a great deal.
After he landed a large account and the large bonus that came with it, Ashton and Jackson went out partying again. But that time, the idea that Ashton had first thought of several years before was wholly formed, and rather than stay at the bar and pick up women, he and Jackson went to Ashton’s place and created an app.
It was intended as a joke – a little drunken prank. But they launched it that same night, and the next day, they were looking at revenue in the thousands of dollars.
Jackson, pale from excitement and too much alcohol, asked, “Dude, what do we do?”
“We need help. If we ask for help at the company, they might scream it’s theirs because we work there.” Ashton ran his hands through his hair, mussing it further.
“Dawson,” Jackson said, snapping his fingers.
“Exactly. I’ll call him.”
Six months later, Ashton was the boss of a successful company he co-owned with Jackson. The app was one of the most popular in the world. Ashton woke up in the mornings no longer feeling empty and cold. He woke up with a grin, eager to start the day. His nights weren’t filled with an endless succession of drinks lined on a bar and women whose names he couldn’t remember, either. They were filled with plans and ideas. He bought a huge apartment in the hip section of the city and a fast sports car. For the first time, he didn’t have to worry about money, and he liked it.
Then, Jackson got an offer to sell. They fought over that offer, but Jackson was adamant. He wanted to use his share of the money to finally create the video games he loved so much – video games he was sure would make him not just the millionaire the app and its sale would make him, but a billionaire.
Ashton eventually gave in. Jackson’s dream was so big, and the amount on the check so shockingly large that Ashton couldn’t see a way to say no.
He thought he’d be happy, but as it turned out, he wasn’t.
His whole reason for happiness had been that success, and now he was barely treading water. He was thirty-one years old, and he felt washed up and useless.
LAURA
“That blouse is not your color, Laura.”
Laura sighed inwardly, but she just said, “Ok, mom.”
Her mother added, “Why you insist on trying to look so unattractive is beyond me.”
Laura brushed that comment off, or tried to. As always, she felt the tiny sting made by her mother’s unkind words. Over the years, that sting had lessened, but it had never completely gone away. “Me, too.”
Her mother twisted her hands. “You should do something nice with your hair, too.”
“I like it the way it is.”
Laura’s mother didn’t say anything, but her silence spoke volumes. Laura headed out the door, ready for another day of boring office work and small town life.
God, I have to get out of here. I really want Lexie to go with me, but if she just can’t I’m going to make a break for it on my own, she thought to herself. Laura got into her car and started the engine, her spirits deflating. There was a whole life and a big city just waiting in the wings. She wanted to go and she needed to go.
She would go, just as soon as she could find a job that would pay her bills make her dream a reality.
At twenty-seven, Laura was ready for a change. She’d been a rebellious teen, and she’d gotten in plenty of trouble. Her parents had not approved of course, but when had they ever approved of anything she did?
Never.
“See you later mom, I have to get to work.”
“You make sure to do a good job now,” her mother said, like Laura was still sixteen and rushing out of the house, fast food uniform on and a visor clutched in her hands.
“I always do.”
Laura walked outside, squinting up and down the street at the rows of houses that all looked alike – small and neat brick ranchers on postage-sized yards. The same sedate little sedans sat in every driveway. The same short fences surrounded the same flowers in every neatly mulched bed.
“I have to got to get out of here, and now. I can’t do it anymore,” Laura said aloud to herself.
That was beyond true. Every single day brought a fresh sense of slow suffocation that grew more unbearable every passing moment. She’d never moved out of her folks’ house because rental property in a small and very rural town was hard to come by. She’d saved like a fiend, and she had enough money to do what she wanted to do, which was move on. Now, if she could just figure out how to light that fire.
Laura’s phone dinged as an email came in. She coasted the car to a stop at the stop sign and idly checked that mail, but the words in the subject line were enough to make her boredom and the growing despair shatter.
She’d gotten the job! The one she had applied for in the city she wanted to live in so badly!
Laura danced in her front seat, anticipation and excitement mingling to make her yell out a long, “Hell yeah!”
She called Lexie who answered on the third ring. Laura said, “Hey, you know how we always said as soon as one of us got as job in the city we’d get out of here?”
Lexie chuckled. “Yeah, why?”
“I got a job. I start next week!”
Dead silence. Trepidation set in. All the plans that Laura had made to get out of the colorless, small town had had Lexie in them.
Laura hated to admit that anything scared her, but the idea of being all alone in such a large place scared her shitless. Lexie going with her would mean that she would not be alone, and that she would still have her bestie by her side.
But had Lexie ever really wanted to leave? She said she did, but did she really? Lexie’s life was so much better than Laura’s. Maybe she was content there.
“Oh. Why, that’s great but…but I got turned down for all the jobs I applied for and…and well, I mean…”<
br />
That stupid boyfriend of hers, of course. Laura twisted the wheel hard as she started driving again. She said, “How about we go out and celebrate tonight? We’ll figure something out for a job for you, and we both have our savings. I mean, we have been saving for this since we were teenagers, so we should be okay.”
“I can’t tonight,” Lexie said slowly.
Laura gritted her teeth. Damn it! Lexie was probably dreaming of a big wedding, and that jerk she was dating was likely the groom of her fantasies.
“Tomorrow then?”
“Yeah, that would be great.”
“Cool. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Laura hung up, her spirits dropping slightly as she pulled into the parking lot of her job.
She leaned her head back against her seat, and said, “If she won’t go, I’ll go alone. I don’t want to, but I won’t stay here anymore. I can’t. I absolutely can’t. Not even for Lexie.”
***
As it turned out, she didn’t have to. Lexie’s Prince Charming pulled a move that made Lexie see him for what he really was – a selfish jerk – and so the two of them rented a place via the internet, packed their things, and headed off to the city in a haze of laughter and elation.
It was late evening when they crested the last big hill that led down a long stretch of highway to the city which dropped into a bowl-like valley. Lights flashed and gleamed. The vastness of those lights and the city that they outlined took Laura’s breath away. Pure joy filled her veins.
“Oh, my God!” Her tone carried her happiness. “Check it out, Lexie! We made it!”
“Yeah, I see.” Lexie’s tone held fear. Laura immediately sent Lexie a reassuring smile. They’d been friends – best friends – for a very long time. Lexie was the only person who knew just how badly Laura’s parents really treated her, and she’d always been grateful that Laura, who’d always been popular, had stopped the bullying Lexie had endured for so long, but she had never learned to stand up for herself, which often frustrated Laura.
Laura said, “It’s party time now!” and gunned the gas.
The city was a whirl of partying and work. Time flew by. A new neighbor moved in one day – a sharp and inquisitive young woman named Hope. Hope was a medical researcher, but most of her work in the early days of their friendship seemed to center on finding a cure for her and Laura’s massive hangovers.
As Lexie met and got into a relationship with Dawson – a billionaire internet tycoon – Laura and Hope started spending more and more time together.
They met one day for lunch, and Hope came flying up to the table, her stunning face alight with a smile. “Hey, Laura! Sorry I’m late!”
“Don’t worry about it.” Laura gestured to the menu she held in one hand. “I was torn between ordering a full-on feast and a salad anyway, and I’m still in doubt.”
Hope sat down. She said, “God, you’re so lucky. It wouldn’t matter what you ate; you’d stay thin.” Hope’s hand patted at her flat tummy. “I’m always in the gym, hoping to work off something.”
“You look great.” Laura meant it. “Hey, did you see that new bar opening downtown? That looks like a great place, and tonight’s their soft opening. Ladies get in free, and they have half-priced drink specials.”
Hope unfolded the menu. “I saw it. I have to work extra late tonight though, so I don’t think I can make it.”
“Damn.” Laura peered down at the menu, vaguely disappointed but also a little relieved. Lately, she’d felt a little ambivalent toward her lifestyle. Maybe it was Lexie falling so deeply in love with Dawson and having a real boyfriend. Maybe it was because all the guys she had dated here seemed to be the same guy.
Handsome, charming, and good to party with, but not at all interested in anything else. It seemed like every guy she met was too busy with a career or trying to get a career, or too busy holding out because there were just too many gorgeous women in the city who might be their next fast lay.
Hope asked, “Are you okay?”
Laura fiddled with the menu before setting it aside. “I don’t know. Mike broke up with me.”
Holly’s brow creased. “Were you guys dating or just hanging out?”
“I don’t know that either. I think that’s what has me so confused though. I mean, we kept going out, not just to bars and not just for hookups. It felt like we were actually dating, you know? Then, he stopped calling or texting. He went like, ghost or something.”
Hope set her menu aside and sipped at the soda that Laura had ordered for her. “Have you talked to him at all?”
“Yeah. This morning, I finally got a hold of him, and he gave me the whole ‘it’s-not-you’ spiel.”
Hope sat back in the chair. “Wow.”
Laura grimaced. “I know, right?” Her mouth snapped closed over what else she had been about to say as the server approached and took their orders. Once the server left, Laura leaned forward and added, “I don’t get it. I mean, I don’t even know if what we were doing was dating, and then I don’t know if I just got broken up with by a boyfriend or if I just got disconnected from a hookup. It’s sort of…I don’t know…weird.”
Hope said, “Yeah, I get it. I often think that I really need a real relationship, you know? But I’m so busy, and I like my life. I don’t know if I even want to put in all the time and effort something like that would take, and even if I did the guys in the city are so –”
“Terrible,” Laura finished. “The ones who want more than a hookup usually end up being sort of creepy. The ones who don’t want anything more than a hookup are cocky assholes. I mean, how do you find a good guy – one worth spending all that time on anyway?”
Hope shrugged, “Beats me. If I could answer that question, neither of us would be single or discussing how you may or may not have been broken up with by a guy you may or may not have been dating.”
Laura chuckled and reached for her soda. She took a long pull on the straw. “So true. And I had boyfriends back home. The kind that wanted to marry me, get me pregnant, and come home to a full dinner on the table and all that. No, thanks. That’s not what I want at all. I don’t want that, but I don’t think I just want to keep hooking up either. There has to be some kind of happy medium.”
Hope said, “Let me know when you find it.”
They toasted each other with their drinks, and Holly added, “So are you going to that new place tonight?”
“Probably.” Why not? It beats sitting at home, watching the same old movies and shows on Netflix anyway. Lexie had a big date with Dawson, so it also beat sitting at home alone.
Their food came. Hope had ordered a salad while Laura had gone all out and ordered a bacon cheeseburger and fries. Hope said, “It’s a good thing I like you. If I didn’t, I would totally hate you right now.”
Laura surveyed their plates and grinned. “I have an idea. Let’s split it. You take half my food, and I will take half your salad.”
“Not going to argue,” Hope said.
She didn’t. They finished the meal and then headed in opposite directions. Laura knew Hope had just gotten a huge grant from some large research group and was going to have to work a lot in the next few months to fulfill the obligations that went along with that grant, and she worried that now she’d have nobody to hang out with.
Maybe I should stay home more, she thought as she got into her car.
“No way,” she muttered to herself as she cranked up her car and headed out of the parking lot. “I hung out around the house enough to last me a lifetime. I came to the city to live, and I’m damn well going to!”
***
After work that day, Laura went home. The apartment was empty. Lexie had gone on her date with Dawson straight from the office it seemed. The idea of going out was hardly appealing, but the idea of staying home was even less appealing.
“Oh, screw it. I’ll just go, have a drink or two, and come home.” Laura strode into her bedroom to find an outfit suitable for a new club’s openin
g night. “I mean, it’s probably going to be lame anyway, and there probably won’t be many people there, but if I go to my usual place I’m bound to run into Mike, and that’s the last thing that I want. Really, what’s the worst that could happen?”
As she pulled out a set of skinny jeans, tall boots, and a silk blouse in a shade that would perfectly compliment her dark hair from her closet, Laura had no idea that her entire life was about to change in a drastic way.
She decided against driving just because her job was at stake. Getting fired was entirely unacceptable; she had to have that job if she was going to stay in the city, and there was no way in hell she was ever going back!
The cab showed up and she got in. The ride was long and boring, and she found herself regretting that she had taken the cab just because the fare was so expensive. On the plus side, maybe she would not have to pay the fare back home.
There was a thick pulse of thwarted desire in her body. Lately, she had been ‘dating’ that jerk, and what a waste of time that had been! He had not even been that good in bed, for God’s sake!
The cab let her out in front of the club. To her dismay, it wasn’t very packed and the doorman gave her a bored look before yawning out a demand for five dollars. She handed it over reluctantly. Maybe she was just wasting money she could be putting to better use.
She paid and went past the doorman, standing in the doorway and letting her eyes adjust while she looked around the place.
It was set up well, but the opening had not drawn a big crowd. There were about a half-dozen guys gathered around the two pool tables and a couple of skanky looking women hanging out near them. The bar’s tables were about a third full, and most of the people sitting there were not even looking at the empty and deserted dance floor.
A man seated at the bar caught her eye. He was hot and she paused, her brow wrinkling. She knew him from somewhere, but she couldn’t figure out where until one of the skanky looking women hanging at the pool table suddenly walked up to him and said something, making him turn his head so that the neon bulb overhead lit up his features.