A Hope and a Chance(11)
Author: Jennifer Foor

She seemed to be considering my idea, but when the horn honked she knew Mark was growing impatient. “Fine. Don’t do anything stupid tonight, Chance. We want to make friends, not lose them.”

“Okay, I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do.” She turned around and gave me a smile before heading to the car. There had been a time where there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t have done. The new and improved Buffy had morals, and an image to live up to.

Thankfully she’d forgotten about my hair. I put on my helmet and followed them out of the large driveway on my bike. I’d already decided that shortly after dinner I was going to head home. I’d never been to a bar where something good came out of it, and knew this was going to have the same result. I wasn’t going to meet the woman of my dreams in that type of establishment; not after everything that happened to me.

6

Rylee waited until we were a few miles away from my house to apply makeup. As the foundation filled my pores I started to feel uncomfortable. It was hot outside and the last thing I wanted was something else to make me sweat. The two dresses were bad enough as it was, during the ten minute ride.

I hated having someone else put makeup on me, especially mascara. I couldn’t help blinking, which made it even harder for Rylee. After at least fifteen minutes being on the side of the road, she told me I could look in the mirror.

I didn’t even recognize myself at first. Between the hair and now makeup I looked so much older.

“Wow! I look different.”

“Do you like it?”

“It’s a big change,” was all I could stammer out.

Rylee rolled her eyes. “Whatever! You look totally hot. I would do you if I were a guy or a lesbian. Shit, if you get enough drinks in me I may do you tonight.”

“Oh my God! Shut up. I am not doing anybody tonight or anytime soon.” She was crazy. Not only was I in no way interested in women, but I had zero desire to sleep with a stranger.

“You never know what could happen. You might want to be the next re-born Virgin Mary, but I want something new, something strange to start off my summer.”

I interrupted her. “Don’t talk like that, Rylee. You sound like a whore.” I didn’t mean it rudely and she knew I didn’t. She’d only been with two people that I knew of, and the last relationship ended this past month. Since then, all she could talk about was being single this summer to “experience new things”.

We drove in silence for a few more minutes before pulling over to a local bar that was in the middle of nowhere. If you didn’t live in the area, you’d never find it.

The Cedar Shack Bar sat off the road. It was a popular local hangout. During the day it was a restaurant, but at night it converted to a bar. I grabbed Rylee by the arm, before she could climb out of her car. “Wait! We can’t get in there. It’s after eight.”

“Do you really think I wouldn’t come prepared?” She asked, as she handed a small card that resembled a drivers license. I looked down and noticed the picture sort of looked like me. We definitely had similar features. “Where did you get this?”

“Duh, Hope, sometimes I wonder where your head is. My sister’s home from college for the summer, and I gave her money on spring break to buy one of her friends I.D.’s. It’s yours. Consider it a graduation present.”

I looked down at the Maryland driver’s license again. “It says my name is Julie Stanton.”

“Well you better be taking that dress off, Jules, so we can get our groove on.” She giggled at her apparent sarcasm. “Oh, if anyone asks, my name is Kara.”

Kara was her older sister, only by three years, but she was twenty-one.

While slipping out of the top dress, I immediately felt my cheeks becoming red. I had no clue how I was going to make it in this place. Rylee handed me the heels and I watched as she double-checked her lip-gloss in the mirror.

I stood up and gripped my small clutch purse. “So, how do I look?”

“I already told you, totally do-able.”

I rolled my eyes and followed behind her as we headed toward the door. I’d never walked in heels, and found it very difficult on a gravel-filled parking lot. By the time we’d made it to the front door I was surprised I hadn’t broken an ankle. I straightened out my dress and handed the bouncer my fake I.D.

He looked at it for only a second before turning all of his attention to my dress. He started at my face, but made a beeline for my tits and finally my legs. “Where have you been all my life, gorgeous?”

“Maryland!” I blurted out, just as Rylee pulled me inside.

“Holy shit, Hope, he was totally hitting on you.”

I looked around the bar. It was filled with people both young and old. The D.J. was already playing some kind of hip hop music, but nobody was dancing yet. It was still light outside, and I’d heard that bars didn’t get busy until later on.

“Come on, let’s get drinks.” Rylee pulled me toward the bar. We found a corner where nobody was sitting, and she waved down a bartender.

“Hey, ladies, what can I get ya?” He asked. The guy was nice looking, and probably in his early twenties. I could tell right away that he liked what he was seeing. He gave Rylee a big grin when she leaned in to give him her order. “We’ll take four shots of Jaeger.”

I smacked her on the side. “I wanted a soda.”

“Lighten up, princess. If you want to puss out, I’ll drink them all myself.”

She stuck a twenty on the bar while she watched him making them. Another man gave him an order while he was still filling ours. When he slid the shots in our direction he pushed the twenty back to Rylee. “These are taken care of already,” he announced while nudging his head toward the man who’d spoken to him just seconds ago.

I watched Rylee looking the guy over. She stared right into his eyes while downing the first shot. “He’s kind of cute, don’t you think?”

“I guess. How old do you think he is?”

She grabbed the second shot and licked her lips before she swallowed it. “He can’t be older than twenty five. Are you going to drink those?” She pointed to the last two shots.

I rolled my eyes and snatched one. When that awful taste hit my mouth I wanted to gag. Knowing we were in a bar full of adults, I managed to regain composure quickly. Rylee had a big smile on her face. “Now do the other one, and follow me.”

I hated the first one, but the second wasn’t as horrible. Possibly the shock of the taste was over with. As I gulped the last shot, I watched as she made her way over to the guy that had paid for our drinks. The dude seemed normal enough. He was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of khakis. He smiled as we approached and pulled out a chair for her to sit. I looked around and spotted the ladies room, finally hoping for a quiet moment to reassess what the hell I was doing here in the first place.