After the spectacle she had made of herself last Friday night, Elsa was determined never to drink again. At least, that is- not in public.
Good girls just don’t do drunken strip teases atop the bar- and if that had been the worst of it, she could have written it off as due evidence that she was just not a good girl. After all, she made no pretense of being a good girl. In fact the whole idea of being ‘good’, whatever that meant, had always repulsed her.
Stealthily, as if she was trying to hide it from herself, Elsa slipped the bottle into the crook of her arm and made a dash for the safety of her bedroom.
She was free, she was wild. She fit no cookie cutter category. She defied all garden variety. She was a girl of her own creation. She did what she wanted, when she wanted, and with whom she wanted. She had just never found the need to trample on anyone else to do it. Not, that is, until- evidently last Friday night.
Pouring a healthy three fingers of her favorite elixir into the bottom of a glass, she felt her breath quicken with anticipation. She rolled the precious liquid seductively in the bottom of the glass. Heightening her desire. Prolonging the enticement.
If only she hadn’t kicked that drink off the bar. That was what sent the whole evening reeling out of control. If one stupid guy hadn’t refused to pick up one stupid drink, then she couldn’t have allowed it to piss her off like it did, and she wouldn’t have felt compelled to kick said drink off the bar.
“It was a good solid kick though. Connected just right. Man! That thing took off like a pinball!” She laughed aloud, as she tipped a congratulatory toast to herself and knocked back that first ever so alluring shot.
Instantly, she was set adrift in a calm sea. Everything was moving in slow motion.
If she hadn’t done that, if she hadn’t kicked the glass off the bar and sent it hurling, no matter how masterfully, across the room, Rufus would never have ordered her off the bar, and therefore she would never have had to so vehemently refuse him.
‘Exactly.’ She placated herself as she poured just a tad bit more into the tumbler.
If she hadn’t so vehemently had to refuse, Rufus would never have grabbed her leg. In turn, if he hadn’t grabbed her leg, she would never have had to jump off the bar and bite him in the back, as he wouldn’t have turned his back on her- as there would have been no need to call the police.
“Humph.” She grumbled to herself as she looked disparagingly into the bottom of the empty glass. “That was a tease. If your going to have a drink, have a drink.”
If Rufus hadn’t called the police, Frank, one the regular bunch, would never have had to spirit her away before the cops showed up. And if he had never spirited her away in an effort to take her home, thus sparing her the indignity of going to jail, she would never have had the opportunity to kick belligerently at his steering wheel, proclaiming all the while she was going to wreck his truck.
“Can’t imagine why I did that. I’ve always thought Frank a right guy. He had to have done something. Had to have. I just can’t remember what. Well, anyway, here’s to Frank!”
Had she not been kicking at his steering wheel whilst attempting to wreck her wanna be savior’s truck- he would not have been swerving irrationally, and therefore would not have been pulled over nor would he be sitting in jail right now facing a charge of DUI.
Elsa’s demeanor dropped like a spent shell as she drained the first drops of eminent self loathing from the bottom of what now appeared to be a dirty glass .
Frank was a right guy. He didn’t deserve what happened to him. It had all been her fault. He was only trying to help.
“What is wrong with me?”
As she continued to silently berate herself, not only for the events surrounding last Friday night, but for all the miserable nights she had inflicted upon herself and everyone who had the misfortune of being found in her company over the course of her entire ill fated life- Elsa attempted to flee the tumult that raged, if only inside her own head- by slipping onto an old familiar stool at Charlie’s.
“The regular?”
“Yeah. And make it a double.”
Sometimes life will drag you where even fiction fears to tread. This flashback moment is brought to you courtesy of OLWG #6. The wildly inspirational phrases being:
- Everything was moving in slow motion
- adrift in a calm sea
- make it a double
Thru Violet's Lentz 