Chapter 3: Basketball And Birthdays.
This part of the story has always been just a little bit hazy to me. I still remember most of it, but I was drunk off my ass that night just as Danny and John promised, so the details are a bit fuzzy. I’ve tried to piece it all together but most everyone in that bar was equally drunk so everyone seems to have a slightly different story. Anyway, the part I do know for sure is that the fucking Kentucky-Duke game was one of the craziest games I’ve ever seen!
This game was close. You know, like when you’re watching one of those “sports” movies. Doesn’t matter which one, they’re all the same. Not shittin’ you, they went into triple overtime. Only time I’ve ever seen it happen. The bar was a fucking mad house. Normally, after the kind of day I’d had, I would be dead tired before the end of the night but not this night. My adrenaline was as pumped as everyone on the court.
You ever seen that movie “Cocktail”, with Tom Cruise? Well that’s what it was like at Hal’s that night. I was right, everyone in town did show up. Well, every man anyway. Weren’t too many ladies come into the bar, but that’s the way I liked it. It was crazy busy and I could barely keep up with all the drinks but I still laughed all night.
Despite the possibility of Duke winning the game everyone was having a great time, Brian especially. It was fun to watch this new stranger. He was so charming that he seemed to be best friends with everyone in town by the end of the night. There was something so different about him but I couldn’t figure it out. Part of him was this totally refined city guy, well versed in the ways of the world, yet he fit in so well in our tiny little hick town.
Brian was right about not being able to hold his liquor though. He eventually got brave and ordered a beer. He told me that he rarely ever drank and I had to laugh because by the time we went into the first overtime he was half way through his second and the man was well beyond tipsy. He giggled a lot and had this weird habit of bursting into song. He actually didn’t sound too bad but every time he started, half the drunk fools in the bar would join in. Remind me to never start a karaoke night.
Things got real crazy when the game went into its second overtime. Everyone was on the edge of their seats. I had long since stopped serving drinks because I was too wrapped up in the game. It didn’t matter though; because no one was asking for any drinks either. But then it happened, triple overtime. That sent everyone in the bar into a fucking frenzy. There was a short time out between the overtimes and everyone suddenly realized their drinks were empty, even me. I made a mad dash to the back for another case of booze hoping I would be able to refill everyone before the game started again.
When I returned, the bar was quiet. And by quiet I mean fucking silent. Other than the noise of the television in the background no one was making a sound. “We didn’t just lose did we?” I asked in a panic. But then I realized what everyone was staring at.
I growled when I saw three very familiar faces staring back at me. God those men looked ridiculous! I don’t know what the hell they were wearing but its no wonder the place went silent. I smiled seeing that the tall one looked about as pretty as I did now. I’m sure I didn’t actually break his nose but you couldn’t tell buy the bruise around his eye. The hot one didn’t look too bad but what the hell was up with the tight-ass leather pants? And the short one was wearing a fucking purple shirt! If I weren’t so pissed at the blonde I would have burst into laughter. Instead I yelled. “Hal, I want those fuckers out of my bar!”
“You’re forgetting this is my bar again little lady.” Hal laughed.
We actually had that conversation a lot. Normally I would have some kind of smart-ass comment but I was not in the mood to play. No way were a couple of rich pricks going to ruin the most intense game I’ve ever watched. “Alright, I want those fuckers out of YOUR bar!”
No one in the bar other than Danny and John knew what happened earlier but I’m sure they had all pieced together that I was the one responsible for the lovely shiner on the pretty boy’s face. There are certain things people in my town just don’t question. Everyone in town knew my home situation and they were all extremely protective of me. If I wanted someone out, there were no hesitations. Hal was about to have them thrown out and Chuck was already out of his chair when Brian returned from the bathroom. “Nick!” He gasped, “What the hell happened to your face?”
Now all eyes were on Brian. The three strangers still didn’t say a word. I think they thought they were about to get their asses handed to them. Probably not such a far fetched assumption either. Finally the silence was broken. I didn’t see who said it, but someone shouted, “That shiner has Cindy’s name written all over it.”
The bar became wild with laughter and then the game came back on. Everyone forgot about the city boys and went back to shouting profanities at the television. Brian resumed his place at the bar. “Friends of yours?” I asked refilling his beer.
“Did you really do that to Nick’s face?” He laughed back, his eyes never wandering from the game as he sipped the beer.
“The fucker grabbed my ass.”
I was surprised at the look that Brian flashed his friend, but I was even more surprised that he then turned to me and apologized for him. The killer of it was, that he really meant it. The man was disappointed at his friend and genuinely felt bad for me. To this day I still don’t understand how the hell someone like Brian, who has so much respect for women, could be best friends with someone who obviously didn’t.
“Don’t worry about it.” I chuckled, “With the way his face looks, what I did to him was probably worse.”
“You have no idea!” Brian laughed. I didn’t know what that was supposed to mean but before I could ask Kentucky scored again. After that nobody paid attention to anything but the game until finally, Morris sunk a beautiful 3-pointer to end it in Kentucky’s favor and the bar went fucking crazy, myself included.
Everyone was really excited and completely shit-faced. I half expected a riot to break out but nobody got really out of hand. In fact, the award for the most entertaining drunk moment that night went to Brian. Apparently the three beers he’d had were more than enough to cloud his better judgment. When Kentucky won he grabbed a wallet from the tall kid’s pocket and held it in the air. He actually hopped up on the bar and yelled out, “In honor of this great victory the next round’s on Nick for grabbin’ Cindy’s ass earlier!”
I gotta hand it to him, he really knows how to win over a crowd. He was instantly the new town favorite and everyone hollered with excitement as Brian pulled all the cash from Nick’s wallet. My eyes went as wide as the poor city boy that was being robbed when I saw how much money was in Brian’s hand. There must have been over a thousand bucks. Damn! Even if you’re rich, what kind of dumb fuck carries around that kind of cash? If for no other reason than that, the poor bastard deserved it. “This should cover it.” Brian giggled with a wink as he handed me the money.
I glanced at blondie but he didn’t dare protest and I was surprised to see both of his other friends laughing their asses off. Whether they were laughing at Brian’s drunkenness or the blondie’s predicament didn’t really matter, but seeing them laugh made me soften up toward them just a little. After all, Brian was turning out to be quite a guy and technically those other two city boys hadn’t done anything to piss me off so maybe they really weren’t so bad after all. I wasn’t completely convinced yet but I didn’t kick them out either.
After I poured a round of drinks for everyone in the bar I glanced at the clock. The game had lasted so long that the night was nearly wasted and I wasn’t anywhere near drunk enough yet. Everyone in the bar looked satisfied so I figured then was as good a time as any to go from serving beer to drinking it. “Hal!” I yelled.
“What darling?”
“It’s only my birthday for another hour and John and Danny promised I’d be good and wasted by the end of it.”
“Then I recon you’d better grab a bottle of Jack, on the house, and find yourself a seat that you won’t fall out of!” Again, the entire bar erupted into laughter. Last year when the three of us decided to get a little loose I fell off my fucking bar stool and had to have my lip sown back together. My luck with birthdays ain’t the greatest either.
“Today’s your birthday?” Brian asked still giggling.
I shrugged at the man flashing him a wicked grin and then helped myself to the bottle of Jack Daniels Hal mentioned before he could change his mind. “Yeah,” I replied with my eyes focused dangerously on that tattoo-covered friend of his. “Ya’ll wanna help us celebrate?”
I was more than satisfied with the smile I received from the hottie and couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to run my hands up those tight leather pants. Those thoughts quickly lead to others that made my eyes wander places they shouldn’t. He knew what I was looking at as well as all of his friends but the only one that seemed to mind at all was the blond motherfucker. I gave him a cool smile then turned my attention back to Brian. “Danny, John and I have a long standing tradition of not remembering our birthdays if ya know what I mean. You and your friends are welcome to help me forget it if you want.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it a STANDING tradition!” said a rough voice from the crowd causing more obnoxious laughter from everyone in the bar.
I looked around but never did figure out which one of my regulars was giving me shit. “HAHA! You’re all fucking hilarious! Somebody better find Danny and John so I can get smashed before I figure out which one of you just said that and kick your ass.”
I looked around the bar realizing that Danny and John had disappeared. “Where the fuck are those fuckers anyway?”
“Fuck Cin! You need to fucking learn a new fucking word!”
I turned around to see Danny and John walk through the door with their hands behind their backs. “Where the fuck have you guys been?”
Danny and John grinned and then John pulled a huge cake from behind his back. I rolled my eyes at the picture of Cinderella and the inscription, “Happy Fucking Birthday Princess!” on it.
The guys were walking on thin ice with that little stunt but then they’d never gotten me a fucking cake before so they were quickly forgiven. I smiled at my two best friends and said, “All I need is a damn tiara.”
“You mean like this?” John laughed and handed me a cheap plastic Barbie crown.
John put the cake down and crowned me an official princess while everyone in the bar sang happy birthday. I’m not exactly shy, but I’m not used to so much attention either. And I can’t be sure, but I bet I was blushing the whole time. I made my usual wish for Prince Charming as I blew out the candles. Those bastards actually put 28 individual candles on my cake.
Once the fire was out - they’re lucky they didn’t burn the whole damn bar down with all those candles. God I’m getting old!
Anyway, once the candles were blown out, Danny pushed a huge fucking box at me. It was so big I half expected a stripper to pop out of it. “What the fuck is this?” I asked.
“It’s a fucking birthday present Cin. Open it.”
Jesus, these guys were on a role. A cake and a present? That was the closest thing to a birthday party I’ve ever had. Damn guys almost made me want to cry. They could be really thoughtful when they wanted to be. I smiled with genuine excitement as I tore through newspaper they’d used to wrap it. “A fucking piņata?” I asked when I saw the brightly colored paper inside.
By the way Danny smiled at me I knew he was up to something. For a minute I was actually afraid of what I was about to pull out of that box. He carefully took a step back from me as if he thought he might need a head start. Everything became clear when I pulled a 3 and a half-foot Cinderella piņata from the box.
The city boys looked around confused when the whole place went silent waiting for my reaction. A cake I could tolerate, the crown was pushing it. But a fucking piņata? Now that was going too damn far! Best friends or not those boys were still about to get a major ass-whooping! Danny seemed to think it was hilarious that I was so angry and yet as I yelled, “Danny! You son of a bitch!” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.
He took off running and I took off after him. “You said you felt like beating the shit out of something.” He laughed as I chased him around the room. “Shit, I had to drive all around Lexington to find that.”
The chase didn’t last long. He was already quite drunk and I easily tackled him to the ground pulling his arm behind his back pinning his face to the floorboards. “You’re right. I would love to beat the shit out of something right now. So go ahead, say it! I dare you!” I said as I tightened my grip.
“Fuck Cindy!” He groaned; probably from the pain I was causing him. “Have I ever used your real name? Ever? I just thought that of all the things you could beat the shit out of, you would enjoy that the most.”
All the sudden I felt bad. I thought back on all the years I’d ever know Danny. Not once had he ever called me Cinderella. In fact, whenever the kids in elementary school did, he was the first one to let them know that wasn’t OK. And, as much as I wasn’t going to admit it, it was a sweet gesture. He really must have driven around the whole city to find that fucking piņata. Plus, I fucking hate my name! It would be kind of nice to beat the shit out of that perky little princess just once. I could pretend it was my mother. I let go of Danny’s arm and got to my feet. “You’re lucky the Cats won tonight.” I said then helped him up.
“I’m drunk Cin, not fucking stupid. I would have made John give it to you if they’d lost.”
Danny laughed but I wrapped my arms around him letting down my guard for a brief moment. That wasn’t like me at all but I couldn’t help it. I hugged him as tight as I could. After everything with my father the night before, I really needed the extra attention. I may have been raised by a pack of wild dogs but deep down there was a girl inside me somewhere.
I think Danny was a little surprised by my reaction because he pulled me off of him and looked at me as if I were crazy. He shot John the same look but he was too busy staring at me to notice. John’s such a fucking worrywart. He gave me a hug and whispered a sweet happy birthday. I must have really been going crazy that night because I kissed his cheek as I said thank you.
I don’t know why I did it. I’m just not the kissin’ and huggin’ type but I’d just been feeling really strange all day. From the moment I woke up. I mean shit, I almost cried this morning in the office. Then Brian came into the bar treating me like I was some kind of lady and now the guys were treating my like a fucking princess surprising me with a birthday party. I don’t know what the hell was going on but I was feeling all kinds of strange things. “Don’t go getting all girly on us now.” He teased me but I just stared at him.
I didn’t know it at the time but as I look back now that was the first day I ever felt like a real woman. I had my hair down and my cute jeans on, and I was being treated all special. I have to admit it felt fucking nice. Overwhelming even. If I thought I was close to crying that morning I was sorely mistaken because as John stared at me with concern on his face, my eyes actually glossed over. “What the hell’s going on Cin?” he whispered, all joking aside.
I shook myself free of the emotional constipation and forced a smile. “Nothin’”, I said. John knew that was a lie but he also knew that I wouldn’t have told him what was wrong had I know myself. “Alright then.” I said turning my attention back to the whole room. “Somebody get me a fucking bat!”
“I don’t think so.” Danny laughed handing me the bottle of Jack Daniels. “You’re not nearly wasted enough for that yet.”
I smiled at the man and downed as much of the bottle as I could stand. It’s a good thing John closed the shop all weekend because we were going to have serious fucking hangovers tomorrow. “Happy fucking birthday to me.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Hey everyone! Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad you like it so far. I probably won't be back until after Christmas so, HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!!!
