“Welcome to Swanky Frank's,” he said. “What can I get you two ladies tonight?”
“I'll start off with a Bloody Mary,” said Angie. “And my friend will have...”
“A Screwdriver.”
“Alright, one Bloody Mary and one Screwdriver coming right up.”
The bartender went over and fixed us our drinks, and brought them over to us a few moments later. Angie paid, and then we both looked at the cocktails with grins on our faces.
“Selfie time!” said Angie as she pulled out her phone. “We've gotta put this on Facebook.”
“Uh, hold up, Angie,” I said, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “Could I ask you to please not take any photos of us tonight? Or even mention my name on Facebook. It's just that... You know, with Simon, I'm not sure if his friends might be mutual friends of yours, and you know, he and you and I, we were all at the same senior high, and someone might, you know...”
She nodded, smiling sympathetically.
“It's alright, I understand. Wow, he must have done some seriously crazy stuff to have messed you up like this. I mean, you know, to have screwed up your life to the point where you can't even put pictures or get tagged on Facebook because he might hunt you down.”
“I know, Angie, I know. It really is horrible. I had to pretty much erase everything about the person I was before just to make sure he wouldn't find me. And you know, if he does find me, I'm going to have to do it all again to get away from him again. It's not something I want to have to do again. It was hard enough the first time.”
“So, look, I don't wanna pry or anything, so tell me if I'm out of line for asking, but what exactly did he do to you?”
“I don't know if I want to go into the details of it all just yet, Angie,” I said. “But there's a court order, a restraining order against him. He's not allowed within 500 yards of me. He was also not allowed to contact me in any way, but let me tell you, he found out how to get around that. I have to give him one thing: he's smart. Real smart.”
“Yeah, I remember him being a straight-A student,” she said.
“And that's what's so scary about it,” I said. “He is really, really intelligent, and that's why it was so easy for him to find me, wherever I was. That's why I had to go to such extreme lengths – moving all the way out here, and having to legally change my name.”
“I understand,” she said. “God, he must have done some psycho stuff. But hey, I don't wanna get you down, not tonight, so I promise I'll leave it, okay? I won't ask about him again. Now let's get stuck into these drinks and have some fun!”
We clinked our glasses together and sipped on our cocktails through some fancy twirly straws.
“Wow, this place does make a tasty drink,” I remarked, happy to be off the topic of Simon.
“I told you! Swanky Frank's makes some of the best cocktails in Southern California.”
“I don't doubt that now, not after tasting this.”
We each drank the rest of our cocktails quickly, and it wasn't long before I started to feel a little buzzed.
“Wow, we knocked those back pretty quickly!” remarked Angie. “I guess we're both in the mood for a party tonight! You want another one?”
“Sure. Let's do this. You wanna switch cocktails this time?”
She shook her head, smiling mischievously.
“I was thinking it's time we each had a Long Island Iced Tea. How do you feel about one of those?”
“Wow, you really are eager to get the party started huh?” I remarked.
“You bet! If you thought your Screwdriver was good, wait until you try their Long Island Iced tea. It's legendary!”
“Alright, why not? We're out here to have fun, so let's have fun.”
Angie ordered us each a Long Island Iced Tea, and we drank these at a table, chatting and catching up on what we had each been doing over the past couple of years. After I had finished my cocktail, I had to admit that I was feeling pretty tipsy.
“Another one?” asked Angie.
“I dunno, that was pretty strong!”