2A/N: I got this from a writing prompt (thanks to a member from SKoW. Sorry I forgot your name.) And it was done in about...half an hour so whatever mistakes I made, blame it on the fact that I'm SUCH an idiot when it comes to rushed writing. I thought it was pretty neat while I was writing it so... Read and review!
A soft rustle was what woke me up. A throbbing massive headache immediately consumed my being. The room started spinning as I got up from the cold hard floor. I noticed a small pool of vomit right beside where I had lain and I consciously wiped my mouth, kind of surprised that it was clean. I sat with my legs tucked underneath my chin before I remembered Gran's advice on a hangover; put your head between your knees. Gran knew a lot about hangovers. I did so and slowly, the throbbing stopped and the room stopped spinning.
I finally got to seeing where I was and imagine my surprise when I found myself in a jail cell, bars and all! I jumped up and scanned the tiny cell. Why was I here? What did I do?
One thing I knew not to do was scream for help, since I knew for a fact that whoever put me in here had a good solid reason and if I started to scream innocence, he'd just laugh his head off.
I bit my lower lip and smoothed down the front of my dress shirt which I found odd. Since when did I wear dress shirts? I shrugged before my hands hit something down in my pocket. I dug my hands in my pocket and found in my hand a piece of gum, a set of keys, a lighter, a piece of crumpled tissue and a piece of paper with a phone number with the name Mary on it.
The memory of last night hit me like a bullet train.
(Flashback)
"One night, Marcus. That's all you have."
"I'm not a cancer patient. I have my whole life to go partying." I skulked at my best friend, Jody. She always said that I was socially retarded and that I needed to get a life. With her, life equals to public shows of idiotic inebriation, flirting with anything that had legs and dancing til you couldn't feel your legs. Those were not on my list of things to do in my life, my after life, and the life I probably had before.
"Come with me!" Jody whined. "I don't want to go to the club alone. I mean...I just broke up with Keith and...please Marcus?" She pulled the puppy dog look on me which effectively works every single time. I'm a sucker for Jody's puppy dog looks so I adhered to her inane request.
Which was how I found myself in a loud room with a shot of tequila in front of me and a really attractive girl...woman, behind the bar.
"So let me get this straight. Your girl friend broke up with your boy friend and now you're here as a substitute?" she asked as she wiped a glass with a clean towel.
"Not much of a substitute." I nodded in the direction of a redhead gyrating with possibly the ugliest excuse of a man in the room.
She laughed openly before nodding her head at my untouched shot. I shrugged. "Not my drink."
"Why'd you order it then?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"My girl friend's fault. She thinks she knows me."
She looked at me for a moment before holding up a finger. "You need a Hellraiser."
"I need a what now?"
She laughed again and I found myself liking the openness to the laugh.
"Hold on."
Deftly, she grabbed a tall slim glass and proceeded to whip me up a drink she thought I needed. I had no idea what she put in but her movements were all so fluid and...graceful that I couldn't have cared less. The colour was pretty. It actually glowed in the pulsating lights.
When I took the glass, she tapped the inside of my wrist and said, "You gotta do something slightly crazy before drinking this."
"Crazy?" I asked, looking at her with my best impression of a Clint Eastwood stare down. She snorted. It must have made me look constipated.
"Like...get on this bar top and dance the heck away. Or maybe...I dunno...set fire to a piece of tissue. Not that I suggest you do that here. Fire alarms."
I chuckled. "Something slightly crazy, huh?" I grinned.
I know this might not have been the craziest thing I had done...ever but I gave it a shot. "Give me your name and your number, I'll call you at night and we'll set up a date for tomorrow."
"You call that crazy?"
"I'm not good at pick up lines." I shrugged. That was probably the lamest thing I ever said. "Come on...I need that Hellraiser, remember?"
She smiled and tore off a piece of paper from under the counter and wrote her name and number on it. She then took a piece of tissue and a lighter and gave the three items to me. I pocketed them with a smile before reaching for the drink. "One shot, man."
"Hellraiser..." I shook my head in amusement before downing it down in one shot. A rush of sensations flowed into me and the acidic taste to the drink almost burned my throat and stomach. "Holy shit!" I laughed out loud before spitting some on the counter. The bartender laughed and wiped the counter clean.
"That was supposed to have knocked you out cold, buddy." She grinned. "I guess the adrenaline rush didn't kick in."
"I feel like I've been knocked out." I coughed a bit before looking up at her through blurred eyes. She took another piece of tissue and dabbed it at my eyes. "You're such a baby."
"Hellraiser, huh."
"My creation."
I shook my head before polishing off the rest of the drink, ignoring the burn in my throat.
"Hey gorgeous, give me a virgin."
The bartender grinned at me before serving the man. I nodded at her before turning around to the dance floor to see a man's hand all over Jody's body. Fury flamed up my body and I rushed to her. She was struggling to get away, I could tell but she was also drunk out of her mind.
"What the hell do you think you're doing man?" I asked. The man ignored me and continued to molest my best friend. "Hey, buddy. I'm talking to you. What the hell are your hands doing all over my best friend's body?" The man's eyes lazily roamed to me and he gave me a drunken smile. "The hell's your problem. She doesn't have any problems with it."
"That's because she doesn't know what the hell...get off her, asshole!" I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him off Jody. He staggered a few steps back out of surprise before launching his fist into my face. I fell to the floor but somehow, I managed not to stay there as I pulled myself up and geared myself for a fight. Oh I got a fight alright.
"Marcus! Stop!" Jody kept on yelling. Somehow, I knew I had to stop but my body told me not to so I kept on coming at him and he kept on dodging me. He was surprisingly fast for a drunken guy.
Suddenly, someone was pulling me back and reading me my rights. I looked around the room and my eyes locked with the cute bartender who shrugged helplessly. And before I knew it, I was out cold.
(End of flashback)
The things in my hands were trembling but I could feel myself smiling. I returned the things back into my pocket and whirled around in time to see an officer walking down to my cell.
"You got bail, Henderson."
"Really? Who?"
"Some broad with short hair."
Not Jody.
The officer walked with me to the front and I found myself looking at the cute bartender from last night. "You bailed me out?"
"Couldn't help it. You were just too cute." She shrugged as she tightened her leather coat around her small body.
"How much? I gotta pay you back."
"You said you wanted to set up a date for today yesterday. It still stands right?" she asked under lidded eyes.
I grinned. "Definitely."
Remind me to thank Jody later.