Mole woke up in the morning with Anne fast asleep next to him. He thought he would get started on his homework before heading to his physical therapist. He carefully got out of bed, hopping over to his cane. He limped to the dresser where he had put the laptop but couldn’t find it. He looked and saw it on the floor where it must have dropped when Gastrix slammed the door to Alex’s bedroom. He picked it up off the floor, hoping it still worked and carried it into the kitchen where Alex was eating her egg-white omelet. “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked her.
Alex snickered, “Nope.”
Mole pulled out a chair and cringed as he put his foot on the chair to elevate it. “Let me ask you something.”
“What?” Alex said, looking at him as if she did not want to have this conversation.
Mole knew that look and he didn’t have the energy to fight with Alex this morning, “Do you like egg-white omelets?”
“Not really,” she answered, forcing it down.
“Then why are you eating them?”
“Let me ask you something: do you do stuff for Anne that you don’t like?” Alex asked. “There is no difference between what you do for Anne and what I do for Gastrix.”
“For God’s sake, Alex, do you even know his name?” Alex slammed her water on the table and could feel her arms start to tingle. She calmed down before she accidentally ignited in front of Mole.
“Forget it,” Mole said. He turned his head to see Anne coming in. They kissed each other good morning and smiled.
Anne sat on the other side of the table across from where Mole had his foot elevated. “Morning, Alex.”
Alex just nodded.
Anne turned to Kale. “Is everything okay?”
Mole opened his laptop to see a broken screen. “My laptop is busted, damn it. Anne, can I use yours?” Kale asked, showing her the screen.
“Mole just realized he was overstepping his boundary,” Alex told Anne as she choked down another bite of omelet.
Mole slammed his laptop closed before he could get it started. “What the hell, Alex?! We have boundaries now? When did this happen?”
Alex stood up and put her plate in the dishwasher. “Damn it, Mole! Just come out and say what’s on your mind.”
“What the hell is going on with you? This guy is all wrong for you. He’s an ass!” Mole said, pointing towards the bedroom. “He treats you like crap, and I would never have thought I would live to see the day that Alexandria Johnson would put up with all that from anyone.”
“Not everyone can have a perfect little relationship like you have. Relationships take work,” Alex started to get annoyed.
“He almost hit you last night, Alex,” Mole yelled.
Alex rolled her eyes knowing full well Gastrix couldn’t hurt her, “Oh, like you were all perfect when you were drinking. Do you not remember that car and a certain tree.” Alex angrily got up from the table to put her bowl in the dishwasher. After she closed the door, she just turned around to stare at Mole.
Mole was just about to lose it when Anne stepped in, “Okay, okay, let’s settle down. Let’s relax.”
Mole just stared at Alex and Alex glared back at him. Gastrix came into the kitchen. “Hey babe.” He kissed her and patted her butt. “I’m sorry about last night. It’s just that you know I love you so much and I don’t want to lose you.”
“It’s okay, honey,” she hugged him while looking at Mole who was giving her a look of anger.
“Kale,” Anne said, putting her hand on his hand. “Kale.”
Mole shook his head. “I don’t have time for this.” He opened his laptop, forgetting about his cracked screen. “Son of a bitch.”
“Dude, your screen is cracked. Should take care of your stuff,” Gastrix told him.
Anne grabbed his hand and squeezed as if telling Kale not to respond.
“Here is a computer company that Gastrix knows,” Alex said, going into her purse and handing Mole the card. Mole took the card and handed it over to Anne, not taking his eyes off of Alex and Gastrix.
“I’ll take care of it, honey,” Anne said. “Come on, let me take you out to breakfast before your PT session.”
Alex motioned sarcastically and waved off Mole. Mole literally bit his lip. “You know, Anne, I think I’m in the mood for a bowl of Fruity Pebbles and an Apollo. Suddenly, that sounds really, really, good.” He painfully took his leg off the chair and walked out of the kitchen without his cane.
Anne grabbed his laptop and cane which was leaning against the wall by the door. She turned to look at Alex and Gastrix. “Dinner reservations are for this Saturday at six. I figure we will be there for drinks at 5:30.”
“Good, looks like that man needs a few drinks in him,” Gastrix said, grabbing Alex around the neck.
“Gastrix, Kale cannot drink alcohol, at all,” Anne told him. “It's a mandatory jacket and tie.” Anne started out of the kitchen before she turned around to Alex. “Please be on time.” Anne’s phone rang and she looked down at it. “It’s my school. Excuse me, but I have to take this.”
***
Sanah was on the rooftop of a building looking over the park. For a long time, his mind had been blurred, but tonight it had been cleared. He now knew what he was doing. Humanity doesn’t deserve this world. He found himself loathing the people that he once protected.
Salamor joined him, “I need you to choose for them.”
Sanah looked over the park at all the young college students pushing their agendas. “That one.” He pointed to one of the tables. “But first, I need to talk to someone.”
“As you wish,” Salamor whispered in his ear.
Sanah broke into the apartment where the little girl lived. He searched around the grimy living area but couldn’t find any of the needles that killed her. He walked into her bedroom where he found multiple boxes of condoms. He opened the one that had been opened before. Inside was a couple of needles with a name, Cuegle.
***
Anne dropped Kale off at his physical therapy appointment. She checked him in at the front desk and helped him to the room. She headed off to drop Kale’s computer off at the repair shop to get it fixed. Normally, she wouldn’t take it to somewhere that Gastrix knew, but it was close to the Physical Therapy office.
“Chix Cyber Fix,” Anne walked into the computer store where he saw two young girls behind the counter.
“Shelly,” one girl said. “It’s the cute innocent one.”
Anne raised her eyebrows, “Excuse me, have we met?”
The other looked up, “Ah, still cute. And the flower is a nice touch.”
Anne blushed, “I’m sorry, you look familiar, but I can’t remember where I know you from.”
“We are the girls who warned you about your friend dating Gastrix,” Shelly said.
Anne realized who they were, “I apologize. I didn’t recognize you.”
“Quite all right. I’m Shelly. This is Tory.”
Anne put her hand on her chest, “I’m Anne.”
“Tory, her name is even cute,” Shelly said.
A teenage boy came up from behind the doors to the back room. “Excuse me, but I’m having trouble bypassing the command structure.”
Tory placed her hand on Shelly’s arm, “I’ll take care of this.” The two of them imitated kisses towards each other.
“She’s not only eye candy,” Shelly said. She turned her attention back to Anne. “What brings you in?”
Anne put the laptop on the counter. Shelly opened it up and saw the screen crack. “Oh, poor baby,” she grazed her finger across the screen. “What happened to her?”
“It fell off the dresser,” Anne told her.
“Oh, honey.”
Anne knew Shelly was talking to the computer. “Can you fix it?”
Shelly looked it over. “No, I don’t think so. It would cost more than it’s worth even if I could.”
Anne sighed, “I guess I could order him one for his birthday.”
“When is it?”
“What?”
“His birthday,” Shelly asked.
“Saturday,” Anne said. “Can you get the information from it?”
“That we can do,” Shelly looked over at Anne. “What did you think of Gastrix?” she asked as she looked over the laptop.
Anne didn’t know how to answer it, “I guess he makes my friend happy, so I guess I’m okay with it.”
“So, they are still dating?” Shelly asked as she picked off a piece of the screen.
“Yep, and it is…challenging,” she replied.
“He’s a jackass.”
“The laptop is a result of it,” Anne admitted.
“Ah, I thought I recognized the work,” Shelly playfully grinned.
“What do you know of him?” Anne asked.
“Tory, can you come out here for a second?” Shelly yelled to the back room.
Tory came out drinking a soda, “We really need to teach him how to bypass the command structure. What’s up?”
“Anne would like to know about Gastrix,” Shelly said.
“Oh, you mean Rumpelstiltskin,” Tory said. “He’s an ass.”
“Why do you call him Rumpelstiltskin?” Anne asked.
“His real name is Eugene Lewis,” Tory said. “For some reason he hates it. I found out because, well I went through his wallet.” Tory then added, “He was dating my sister and I wanted to…put a…. let’s just say…the police department’s computer system may have input that he was wanted for sexual misconduct with some sheep in Montana.”
Anne laughed, “What?”
“So, one night, he was drinking, and I had no proof he was beating my sister, so I wanted to see if he had been.”
“What did you do?”
“I called him Eugene,” Tory admitted.
“What happened?”
Tory turned around and lifted her hair to see a bunch of scars on the back of her neck. “He grabbed my throat and threw me into a light on the wall. I got burns and scars from the glass.”
“I’m sorry,” Anne said, looking down.
“Not your fault, dear,” Shelly said.
“No charges were pressed?” Anne asked.
“My sister lied to the cops about what happened, so it was two stories to mine alone…and I don’t have the greatest police record.”
“Tory,” the boy’s voice cried from the back room.
She rolled her eyes, “I swear if this kid had half a brain, he’d be dangerous.” She turned to go to the backroom. “What?!” she playfully screamed.
“She is so hot,” Shelly said, looking at her as she walked away. “Anyways, about your little predicament.” She picked up the laptop. “I can build you a custom-made laptop”
“How much will that cost?” Anne asked.
“How about the dealer's cost of the parts?” Shelly said. “Labor and markup will be on the house?”
“Really? Why?” Anne asked.
“One, you have enough troubles with the jackass and two, just promise me that you’ll get him out of your friend’s life,” she asked. “In all seriousness…he’s not a good man.”
***
Sanah walked out to the table in the park that he chose for the purpose. There were many vendors in the park, but he knew these folks already had some influence of the Dark in them even though they didn’t know it. He walked up to the man holding an F.O.R. pamphlet. “Dude, are you interested in getting religion out of our government and influencing our kids to murdering propaganda?”
“I promise, I will talk to you later but right now I need some information,” Sanah told him. “Where can I find the man who distributes these?” He held up the needles and the name of the man who distributed the narcotics that killed the little girl.
***
“Why do I have to buy a suit and jacket for someone else’s party?” Gastrix asked. “This conforms into how white America wants you to dress and wants you to think.”
“Think about it, we dress certain ways for the club, think of this as a club and we follow the dress schemes,” Alex pointed out. She moved her new brightly neon red hair out of the way. “Besides, I would like you to go.” She held up a jacket and tie. “I like this combination.”
“Whatever, but we are not going to stay long,” Gastrix said. “We need to put this on your charge account until I get paid on the first of the month.”
“Yah, that’s fine,” Alex was a little worried about what the church was going to say regarding that month’s bill. “We need to find a shirt and pants as well.”
“And shoes, socks, and belt,” Gastrix added.
“Okay,” Alex said. She caught herself in the mirror. She stared at herself as she ran her fingers through her new hair color and style. “I guess I can grow to love it.”
After Alex paid for the outfit for him to wear at Mole’s birthday dinner, they walked through town. It was busy as people were shopping and laughing. Komptin kept on trying to get in between Gastrix and Alex but Alex had enough of it. She pushed him so he had to stay behind her on his leash. Alex looked ahead and saw a welcome set of faces.
“Celestial,” Alex said, giving a quick minor bow.
“Alexandria,” Celestial said, giving her a big hug. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” Alex peered over to see Ariel and Devine, both of them eating ice cream. Alex found herself a little envious of the two angels. “Ariel, Devine,”
The two of them just nodded as they ate their ice cream cones.
“Who,” Ariel was studying him.
“Or what?” Devine said as she pointed up and down at Gastrix.
“Is this?” they both concluded.
“Oh, I’m sorry, this is Gastrix,” Alex told them.
Ariel and Devine choked on their ice cream which Alex thought was odd because they didn’t breathe.
Celestial reached behind her to grab the ice cream toppings out of her hair. She turned to them, “Be open.” Celestial turned to Gastrix. “I am Celestial.” She extended her arm. Gastrix shook her hand and she placed her other hand on top of his hand. “It is nice to meet you.”
“Gastrix, music extraordinaire, listen to beats I dare. I don’t conform to your way, don’t listen to me and you’ll pay,” he bragged to himself.
Ariel and Devine struggled to keep themselves from laughing out loud.
“Excuse me,” Celestial said out of confusion.
“I lay down beats for my peeps,” he started spouting off.
“Oh my God,” Ariel commented.
“This just gets better,” Devine finished. The two of them continued to eat their ice cream as if watching a show.
Alex shot them a dirty look. Komptin walked up to Celestial as she knelt down and generated a dog treat from her hand. She fed it to him, “I miss him as well.” She placed her head on Komptin’s head.
Alex got a look of worry on her face. “Is he not happy with me?”
Gastrix looked at Alex, “It’s a dog, he’s happy as long as he eats.”
Celestial got up and grabbed Alex’s hand. “Come with me, please.”
Alex started to walk with Celestial when Gastrix started to follow her. Ariel and Devine quickly stepped in and put their hands on Gastrix.
“What?” Gastrix said. He turned around, annoyed. “Doesn’t matter. She will tell me anyways.”
“Doubt it,” the two of them said simultaneously.
Celestial interlocked her arm with Alex. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” Alex looked back at Gastrix to see where he was. “I didn’t think I would meet the one you were so reluctant to tell me about so quickly.”
“Are you happy?” Celestial asked, studying her.
Alex didn’t answer right away, “Yes.”
Celestial gave a loving mother’s smile, “Be careful when opening doors, you might be surprised what is on the other side.”
Alex didn’t really pay attention to what Celestial was saying as she was worried about Gastrix. She was afraid to say anything that would upset him. “What about Komptin?” Alex looked back at her dog out of worry. “Is he not happy with me?” Alex almost didn’t get the next words out. “If he is with me because of a promise to Osiah; I don’t want him too miserable.”
“Alexandria, he loves you and will die for you in a moment’s notice,” Celestial said. “Do not ever worry about that.” She looked over at Ariel and Devine. “But he is worried about you.”
“I get it,” Alex said. “I had a fight with my brother this morning. Gastrix and I just got done with a big fight because we ran into Sanah. He thought Sanah and I were sleeping together.”
Celestial stopped in her tracks. “Sanah. Sanah is here.”
“Yes, we ran into each other a little bit ago. He is a really good hunter,” Alex pointed out.
“Best I have ever seen,” Celestial commented. “He had such a beautiful family.”
Alex couldn’t believe what she heard, “What do you mean had?
“A demon tortured and murdered his wife and son,” Celestial said. “He buried himself in the hunt to make sure their deaths would not be in vain.”
“I didn’t know, he told me he writes them,” Alex said. Then she realized that it was probably just his way to deal with the loss. “I didn’t know.”
“And that is how I live to work on my music,” Gastrix told Ariel and Devine as they stood there dumbfounded, letting their ice cream melt over their hands.
Ariel and Devine both turned their heads to greet Celestial. They both shook their heads as they said, “Wow.”
Celestial turned to Alex, “I have to go, my dear, but we will see you again.” She kissed her on her forehead. Alex watched her disappear into the crowd.
“Who was she?” Gastrix asked.
“She’s kind of like my work mom,” Alex said. “She looks out for me.”
“What did she say to you?” Gastrix asked.
“Just asked about work,” Alex said.
“I don’t like you lying to me,” he reminded her.
She turned to him and kissed him. “I know, baby.”
***
Sanah approached a crappy looking house in the rough part of town. He heard a man yelling at some kids to be quiet. Sanah knocked on the door and a young woman in her mid-twenties opened it.
“Yes?” she asked, looking at him. She looked around to make sure there were no cops in the area.
“I’m looking for the guy who deals with these,” he held up the needles.
“Are you a cop?” the lady asked.
“Nope, looking for a hit,” Sanah told her.
She opened the door. “Come on in.”
Sanah walked into the house where there were kids who were malnourished and wearing dirty diapers. The house was dirty, and the smell of a mixture of rotten food and urine filled the rooms. He walked into the kitchen where a man was playing cards with three other guys.
“What do you want?”
Sanah held up the needles, “I want more of these.”
“It’s a hundred a hit, let’s see the cash,” he said, placing a gun on the table. The three other guys placed guns on the table.
Sanah looked around as the mom was yelling at the kids to be quiet. “Let’s see the needles.”
“Cash first.”
Sanah pulled the cash out of his jacket pocket and placed it on the table. “There should be 800, count it.”
One of the guys picked it up and counted as Sanah kept staring at the boss. “Yo, Hans, there is $840.00.”
“Consider it a tip if the product is good,” Sanah told him.
“Best there is, man.” The man got up and picked up some kid’s cereal. He pulled out eight needles and handed it over to him. “Your money is good here anytime.”
Sanah looked at the needles. “Do you mind if I shoot up really quick?”
“Mi casa su casa,” the man said, picking up his cards. “I raise 25.” He threw his chips onto the table.
Sanah took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve.
“Hey man, where’s your tracks?” one of the guys asked.
“Watch this,” Sanah said. He lit up his fist and punched the first guy in the face, smashing through to the back of the skull. The sound of kids screaming filled the house as Sanah used his power to push the boss away from his weapon. He flew through the wall, screaming. The two others got up and Sanah formed a knife, jabbing it into the eye socket of one of them. The last guy standing begged for forgiveness. Sanah grabbed the crucifix from his neck and ripped it off.
“I’m sorry, please, I’m sorry,” the man pleaded.
“I’m not,” Sanah formed a spear and thrust it into his heart and the man dropped on the table, covered in drugs and money. Sanah walked into the room where the boss had landed.
“Go to Hell, you piece of shit,” the man spat at Sanah.
“See you there,” Sanah said as he formed a spear and jabbed it through the head of his victim. The man’s body laid on the floor twitching as Sanah got off of him. Sanah walked back through the kitchen and into the living room where the kids were hiding alone. Their mother was nowhere in sight. “Find the mother, kill her.” Sanah spoke to the infiltrators as he walked out of the house, “The children…just do it fast and painless.” The infiltrators walked into the living room as the kids screamed and then suddenly silenced.
***
Anne helped Kale out of the car as he tried to lift himself out. “You all right?”
“I’m good,” Kale said, trying to hide the pain in his back. “You look beautiful.”
Anne smiled, “Thank you, but I’m nervous.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone is going to be looking at me and ask why I am with the most handsome, generous, funny, and best man in the room,” Anne told him.
Kale laughed at Anne, “We’ve come a long way since that night on the lake beach.”
Anne remembered that night, “It all started with you giving me your sweatshirt. I knew right then and there that there was more to Kale Moler than he lets on, and I’m the lucky woman who you let see it.”
Kale kissed her, “I don’t know where I would be without you.”
“Stop being so mushy,” Dan said behind him. A girl came out the passenger side of Dan’s vehicle. “Oh, I’m sorry. This is Jessica.”
Anne and Kale greeted Jessica. “You were at Distance the night we were there?” Anne asked her.
“Yes,” Jessica said. “I woke up next to Dan that next morning and thought, what the hell, let’s see why I went home with him.” Jessica grabbed Dan’s hand. “I’m glad I did.”
“That’s sweet,” Anne said. “Come on, let’s go inside and check in.”
“Happy birthday, buddy,” Dan said as they walked into the restaurant.
“Thanks, man,” Mole said to him.
“Yeah, sure thing,” Dan adjusted his tie as he watched Jessica and Anne walk ahead of them. “How have you been feeling?”
“Sore, but manageable, thanks to my live-in nurse I have,” Mole said. “Still not getting the sponge bath, though.”
“I’m sure Dan would help you with that,” Anne yelled ahead of them.
The four of them reached the top floor of the restaurant and to Mole’s surprise, his mom was there with her new boyfriend. She ran over and gave her son a hug. “Oh, honey, how are you feeling?”
“Good, mom,” Mole said. “So glad you’re here. Nice to see you again, Victor.”
Victor put out his hand, “Kale, you look good.”
“Thanks,” he said. “Where’s Alex?”
“Haven’t seen her,” his mom said.
“Think she’ll come?” Kale asked Anne.
“Why wouldn’t she?” his mom asked him.
“We kind of had a fight this morning, a big one,” Mole admitted to his mom.
Anne rubbed Kale’s back, “She’ll be here, honey.”
“What did you fight about?” Dan asked. “You guys were two peas in a pod and never fought.”
Anne got a text, she looked at it, “She said she’s running late but will be here by six.”
“Mom, you will see what we were fighting about at six,” Mole said. “Come on, let’s go see the rest of the guests.”
Mole and Anne were talking at the bar. Mole decided to treat himself to a Coke. They sat around laughing and Mole was telling the story about him falling off the treadmill making fun of himself. The elevator opened and Kameron came up to him.
“Sorry I’m late,” Kameron said. “But my appointment lasted longer than I expected.”
“No problem,” Mole said. “Mom, Victor, this is Kameron.”
“Oh,” Kate said. She gave him a big hug and kissed him on the cheek. “That is for helping my son at the hospital.”
“Ma’am, it was no trouble at all,” Kameron told her.
“Can I get you a drink?” Mole asked.
“I’d love to, but I just had enough time to stop in to wish you a happy birthday and to let you know that I have to move out tonight.”
“What? Why?” Mole asked.
“My credits came through and it turned out I had enough to graduate already,” he said. “And I just got notified I have to leave for a training course tomorrow.” Kameron looked at his watch. “In fact, I have to get going and pack.”
“Oh man, well, congratulations on early graduation,” Mole said. “Let me walk you out.” Mole got up, limping over and Anne handed his cane over to him. “Thank you,” Kale said.
***
Anne watched Kale walk Kameron to the elevator.
“You love him, don’t you?” Kate asked with a loving mother’s smile.
Anne turned her head over to his mom, “Like no other.”
“There’s something wrong though, isn’t there?” Kale’s mom noticed.
“Yes but no. I wish I could tell you, but I need to talk to Kale first,” she said.
“Are you pregnant?”
“No,” Anne was calculating in her head. “Not that I know of.”
“Well, I’m sure whatever it is, I’m sure you two can manage to get through it,” she said. “He’d never admit it, but he’s loved you ever since you two graduated high school.”
“I’m a lucky girl,” Anne admitted. Anne watched Kameron leave down the stairs of the restaurant after Kale gave Kameron a quick hug. The elevator opened to Alex with Gastrix. “That’s the reason for Kale and Alex’s fight.”
***
The first thing Kale noticed was Alex had changed her long, weaved hair to a new neon red hair style. She looked awful. “Happy birthday,” Alex said to him. She gave him a quick hug, but Mole felt it distant and just going through the motions. After a quick release she handed him a card.
Mole took the card from Alex, “Thank you.” He smiled at her, but she did a half return as she walked to the bar to talk with Mole’s mom and her boyfriend. Mole watched her laugh and smile as she made the rounds with Gastrix at her side. She was showing off her hair to the people around it. Mole was joined by Anne.
“Still fighting?” she asked.
Mole held up the card. It was a generic card that said, “Happy Birthday from Alexandria and Gastrix.” Inside the card was a twenty-dollar gift certificate to Wal-Mart. “I guess so,” Anne said. She put one hand up on Mole’s shoulders, “Come on. Try to have a good time, this fight won’t last long.”
“I guess you’re right,” Mole said. He turned around. “We’ve never fought before, not like this.” He looked over at Gastrix who was getting a drink from the bar, probably with Alex’s credit card. “I don’t like him.”
Anne gave her man a quick hug from the back, “Go on. Go try to have fun.”
***
Mole was actually having a good time talking to Dan and his mom’s boyfriend. Just prior to the conversation, Dan and Mole were video chatting with Robbie over in Minnesota. It was nice of him to call Mole on the night of his party. It made Mole feel pretty good that he was doing well since Sara’s death.
Dan got Mole another Coke as Dan was looking over at Gastrix, “What the hell does she see him?” He got another drink and handed it to Jessica.
“Thank you,” Jessica said. She returned to talk to Kale’s mom and her boyfriend.
“No clue, dude,” Mole replied. “He’s a putz.”
Dan put his drink on the bar, “Man, the seal is about to break.” He started to look around. He turned to the bartender, “Hey, where’s the restroom?
“Down the hall, plunger is under the sink,” the bald bartender said.
“Thanks, man,” Dan walked up the hall to the bathroom.
Mole looked over at the bartender in confusion who was continuing to serve drinks. Mole continued to look over the crowd as he was waiting for dinner to start. He was getting kind of hungry. He tried everything he could to prevent himself from rolling his eyes as Gastrix came up to him.
“Hey, man,” Gastrix ordered another round of drinks.
“How’s it going?” Mole said, looking around for Anne or Dan to save him from having to talk to Gastrix.
“Oh, you know, little woman wants a refill and so she made me come get it,” Gastrix told him. “Oh, the things I do for her.”
“It’s just amazing,” Mole looked over at Alex. The two made eye contact and she quickly turned away with a cold look in her eyes.
“You look tense, man, you need to relax,” Gastrix said. “You need a drink.” He motioned to the bartender.
“I can’t drink,” Mole said, still looking for a way out.
Mole’s phone rang and he saw that Anne’s parents were calling. “Excuse me, but I need to take this.”
“Do what you gotta do,” Gastrix said. He watched him walk away, talking on the phone as he went up to his girlfriend, pointing to the phone. Gastrix looked at Mole’s drink that he had left sitting on the bar. He asked for a shot of vodka as he poured it into Mole’s drink. “Dude needs to chill,” he thought to himself.
***
Anne returned to talking to her parents and she gave Mole back his phone. He continued to look at his glass of pop. “What’s wrong?”
“Coke is flat,” Mole said. “It tastes weird.” He continued to drink it.
“Do you want a new one?” Anne asked.
Mole chugged the rest of it down, “Nope, but for some reason I like the taste of it.” He looked over to the bar. “I think I’ll have another.”
Gastrix came up to him, “I’ll get it for you.”
Alex came up to Anne and Mole, “That’s nice of you, honey.” She gave Mole a look as if showing off she was right and then turned back to talking with Dan.
Mole snarled back at her. He felt Anne squeeze his hand, “Stop it,” she told him.
“What?” Mole said. Gastrix came back with the drinks and Mole tasted it. “Good, they haven’t changed the carbonation yet.,” he said, drinking it.
The hostess came in to inform everyone that their table was ready. Anne grabbed Mole’s arm and guided him to the table. She felt his hands grab her butt cheek, “Come on, baby,” he said to her.
“Kale,” she said, knocking his hand off. “Stop it.”
Throughout dinner, people were engaged in relative conversation, except Mole and Alex. They were not even looking at each other. Anne could tell Mole was getting more and more upset as the night was going on because he kept on getting louder, and Anne would hate to say it, a bit more obnoxious. Anne was trying to keep him under control, but he was too upset with Alex to have a good night. She could tell that Alex told Gastrix to try to make friends as he was getting drinks for everyone all night.
Dinner was over and Mole’s mom was giving Anne dirty looks all through the dessert. She knew Mole’s mom was not happy with her for something. Her stomach was in knots knowing that she did something to upset his mom.
“Speech,” Dan said, tapping on the side of his glass.
Mole stood up and tapped the glass so hard it broke. He laughed as he said, “Oh damn,” loud enough for the tables around them to hear him.
Anne was starting to feel a little embarrassed as she tried to quiet him down, “Kale.”
“Don’t worry, honey buns,” he said. “You can give me the good-loving tonight.”
Anne’s face turned beet red as she could tell that everyone was shocked at Mole’s behavior. Anne noticed the only one laughing was Gastrix.
“I just wanted to say that, well, this past couple of months have been just truly horrible. If it hadn’t been for my pretty little flower here, I don’t know what I do,” he leaned over and obnoxiously kissed her in front of everyone. She managed to somewhat push him off of her.
“Dan, you are a great friend. Mom couldn’t have asked for anyone better to raise me. Alex, you’re my best friend and a great sister, when you are not being such a close-minded bitch.”
Alex’s face turned beet red too and Anne almost thought she could see a hint of blue coming from underneath the table as she gave Mole a look of death. The table was quiet as Mole sat down, spilling water on Anne. She quickly grabbed the napkin and wiped it off.
“I gotta drain my vein,” Mole said. “I may need some help holding it,” he motioned to Anne.
“Just go,” Anne said, completely annoyed.
Anne got up and went to the bar, asking for more napkins to wipe her dress off when she felt a strong woman’s grip on her arm, turning her around.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” Mole’s mom asked.
Anne shockingly replied, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“He’s plastered!” Mole’s mom said. “When did he start drinking again?” His mom was at a loss for words as she bit her bottom lip. “Damn it, Anne, I thought you were smarter than this and more responsible.”
“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Anne said. “He hasn’t had a drink since we’ve been together, I swear.”
The bartender came to Anne and handed her a napkin and the bar bill, “I have to cut your husband off.”
“He’s not my husband, he’s my… wait, what?” Anne stopped wiping the water off herself. She looked at the bill, “357 dollars!!” Anne said. “All he ordered was Coke?! And it was flat at that.”
“He’s been drinking coke with vodka all night, if he doesn’t settle up the bill and leave, we are going to have to call the police,” he told them.
Anne quickly turned to Mole’s mom, “I swear, I didn’t know.”
Mole’s mom pulled out her wallet. “I believe you.” She paid the bill. “But now we have a problem on our hands.”
Anne turned to the bartender, “Did my husband order those drinks?”
“No, his friend did. The one with the messed-up hair,” the bartender pointed to Gastrix.