Hold On to Me

He shrugged as if it was nothing. “I know I don’t, I want to.”

Ben helped with the rest of the tables and stayed until she was finished. She worked a double today, and even though she was exhausted, she was too wired to go to sleep just yet.

“Want to talk about it?” Ben asked dropping the rag in the bucket.

She shook her head. “Not really.”

“Have any plans after work?”

A sad laugh rolled off her lips. “No.”

“How about I pick up a bottle and we head back to my place? You look like you could use a drink.”

She chewed her lip as she took in his dark eyes. “Sounds like a plan.”

Ben smirked with a glimmer in his eyes. “What’s your poison?”

“I’ll take anything at this point.”

“That bad?”

She looked away. For her it was. “I have to grab my tips and I want to get cleaned up before I come over. I smell like a fast food joint.”

Ben’s smile only grew and he laughed. “Want to get washed up at my place? I’ll give you some clothes.”

“Yeah, that would be great actually.” She really wasn’t in the mood to go home just yet, even if it was to change. She wanted to have a drink, shower, and relax. In that order.

“Sweet. I gotta checkout too. Meet me out front and you can follow me?” he asked, and she nodded.

Pulling into the rundown neighborhood, it was dark with hardly any lighting. Ben only lived about ten minutes from her house, but they made a detour to a liquor store that was still opened. They decided on Tequila, well, Ben did. She wasn’t crazy about liquor, but at this point she didn’t care. She just wanted to get drunk and forget about Johnny for the night.

Parking her mom’s car, she got out and followed him to the front door. Unlocking it, Ben pushed the door open to his rented apartment and escorted her in. He flicked the lights on and she looked around. The apartment was small and bare, but rather clean. No pictures were mounted on the walls and there was only a couch, coffee table and a flat screen television.

“Is your dad home?”

He chuckled. “I don’t live with my dad.”

“Oh. I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, we don’t see eye to eye on a lot of things, so I was out once I turned eighteen.”

Curious, she asked, “But how do you afford to live on your own?”

Ben dropped his keys and black plastic bag that held the Tequila onto the small glass table. “Well, a one bedroom isn’t all that expensive on this side of town actually and everything is included in my rent.” He shrugged. “If I’m not in school, I work. Plus, I have student loans that help.”

Ben uncapped the bottle and pulled out two tall and slender shot glasses from a cabinet in the kitchen. “A shot before you get cleaned up?”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” He handed her the glass and she could smell the potency of the seemingly innocent looking clear liquid. A shiver flitted across her arms. Ben saw it and laughed.

“Not a big Tequila fan?”

“Not really. I mean, I’m more of a Bud girl. Hard liquor isn’t my thing, but sometimes beer isn’t enough, you know?”

He nodded with a smirk. “I suggest taking the whole shot in one then. Tequila is more of an acquired taste.”

She held up the glass and looked at it.

“It’s a double,” he said. “Ready?”