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Angela
I closedmy eyes against the bright overhead light.
“Angela, wake up,” the voice said. Something jostled me. It was Pris.
“I’s juss resting my eyes,” I complained as I sat up. “Can I stay here tonight?” Things were fuzzy, but I knew I couldn’t go back to Boone’s house or his hotel.
“Sure, but why are you here drunk off your ass instead of over with my brother?”
“I’s juss taking the edge off.” The bottle was still in front of me, so I held it up. “And talkin’ with Jose,” I said, tapping the label. Jose had been a good listener, but not as good a talker.
“Right.” She wandered to the cabinet and took another glass down .
Putting the bottle down to pick up my glass, which was still half full, I quickly took a gulp. “Thiss good stuff.” The pain of Boone’s words still bit at my heart, but every glass made it sting a little less. Whoever said you couldn’t find happiness at the bottom of a bottle hadn’t met Jose.
Pris sat next to me, took the bottle, and poured herself some. “There used to be a lot more in here.”
“It went to a goods purpose.” I sipped from my glass and lifted it in her direction. “May your bottle never go empty.”
She clinked her glass to mine and sipped. “What did my stupid brother do now?”
I was trying to forget. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” She’d only take his side and make it worse.
“Like you told me, keeping it bottled up isn’t good for you.”
“Bottled up. Thass funny.” Forgetting was the right medicine for what ailed me. Tonight was the first step in that journey. When I got to Florida I’d have a lot of things to keep me busy and take my mind off of Boone fucking Benson.
“A good friend told me once that I needed a good listener,” Pris said. “And she was right.”
Logic wasn’t my friend tonight. I reached for the bottle. “What’d ya say, Jose?” I tipped it up for a swig. “He says wees don’t wanna talk about it.” Tomorrow I’d be out of here and starting my new life.
She took hold of Jose. “Let go. I’d like some too.”
“Sure.” I released it and slumped into the cushions.
After adding to her glass, she waved the bottle in front of me. “Jose says tell your good friend Pris what’s going on.”
I looked up at the ceiling and sighed. “Boone accused me of lying. He doesn’t trust me, and I’s can’t trust him.”
“Men can be stupid.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Men are.” And I knew one so stupid I didn’t ever want to see him again. No. I knew two like that.
“They can say stupid things they don’t really mean.”
I shook my head and took another swallow. “You have to say that cuz he’s your brother.” She was trying to trap me into accepting the blame, or at least some of it. But after Kevin, I knew that never fixed anything.
“I’m not trying to take sides. I just think you two fit together.”
For a second, the good times Boone and I had shared overrode my current disgust. Then reality returned. We were done. “Thaz ship sailed.” I laughed. “Nope, thaz ship sank.”
“Really? Is that what you and Jose…” She wiggled the bottle. “Have been talking about.”
I nodded. “Some.”
She stood, still holding my bottle of medicine. “You should get some sleep. Things often look better in the morning.”
