Down But Not Out by OlumpusMons90
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As we enter Hawkeye's Bar in the near west side of Chicago, it's early evening on a Wednesday and we're a little thirsty for a few beers tonight.
My name is Tony Bianchi, and I'm here with my two friends, Jeremy and Lars. We all work together as paramedics for the same ambulance service here in Chicago's near west side, and it's been a busy week for us, unfortunately. But tonight, we're here as three divorced dads looking to relax with a few beers.
"Same as usual?" I ask them as they grab a table near the bar.
"Yeah, Tony. Can you grab a menu while you're up there? I might get something to eat later. I hear they make some good pizzas in this joint." Lars responds.
"We're in Little Italy Lars, every bar and restaurant around here probably make good pizzas." Jeremy laughs in response.
I return to the table with our three beers, and a menu for Lars.
"You get many jobs today, Tony? We had a few hospital runs earlier, and an OD later this afternoon that was a pain in the ass." Jeremy enquires.
"Two different car accidents this morning, just cuts and bruises, nothing major. This afternoon we had a triple fatality job, some guy drove through an intersection and cleaned up a car and two pedestrians. Tammy wanted to throttle the guy, he was tripping on something and barely hurt, but he kept whining the whole time before the cops took him away. I was surprised you guys didn't show up as well." I respond.
"Nah, we spent forever with that fucking junkie, we lost him twice on the way to Cook County too, I have no idea if he pulled through later after we got him into ER." Jeremy replies.
Both Jeremy and Lars crew the same ambulance, I share mine with Tammy. We've all been working together for about five years now, and we've all seen our marriages go under in that time too. Except for Tammy, she's still married with two young kids.
Jeremy's the eldest of us at thirty-three, he got divorced about two and a half years ago now and has three kids and lots of bills. Lars is thirty-two and the proud father of two beautiful little girls, he's more recently divorced from his ex as well, although his split was way messier than Jeremy's or mine.
As for me, I've recently turned thirty, and have two kids with my now ex-wife Eva, with Justin being my eldest at 7 years old, with Gabriella or Gabby as she like to be called, my little princess who's just turned five. I've been divorced from Eva for almost two years now, but we still get along well, for a divorced couple at least.
Our work as paramedics means that we usually work weekends, doing long shifts, and can have extremely stressful days triggering bouts of PTSD. Not very conducive to having lasting relationships, especially if your partner doesn't work in the field or understands what you're going through. Tammy's husband is a former ER doctor, and they met through work. He's still a doctor now, while he no longer works in ER he does understand what Tammy experiences and has been there himself. Me, Lars and Jeremy weren't so fortunate. It took its toll on our wives, having to deal with us and our work shifts, not to mention our somewhat random bouts of 'depression'; eventually they all wanted out. But for us three, our shared experiences of doing our job and going through our divorces have united us a bit, we now have an unspoken bond with each other.
After our first round, Lars goes up to the bar to get our second. There's a few more people coming in here now, it's starting to fill up. There's more than a few attractive twenty something women in here too, all three of us taking notice of them but most likely we won't do anything about it. It's our night to relax together, not to chase women.
Although we could all probably do with getting laid, I bet none of us have seen any action in months. Not that we'd kiss and tell anyway if we did get lucky. Yeah, maybe the three of us are a bit too jaded right now, once bitten, twice shy and all that.
By 9pm, we're enjoying our fourth round while I've been noticing a very attractive woman standing up at the bar not far from our table who I've seen look over at me a few times already, she appears to be with another women who has a boyfriend by her side. The attractive girl I'm checking out looks to be in her mid-twenties, wavy light brown hair, lovely emerald eyes and a killer smile. It's hard to tell too much about her body from here as she's wearing an oversized jacket, but she does look fit, thin at least anyway.
There's something about her though that keeps attracting my attention, like I'm drawn to her smile or something. Whatever it is, I keep checking on her as I watch a guy come over and say a few words to her, trying his luck no doubt. A few minutes later and he's on his way though, as she continues to chat with the couple she's with.
Again, not long after that, another guy is up chatting with her, she's very popular it seems. And I can see why, she's definitely one of if not the best-looking women in the now crowded bar. I'm not sure why this place is getting busier as the night goes on, as now there's not a free table anywhere with extra people standing mainly near one end of the bar.
Shortly after, a guy's voice comes over the speakers, welcoming us all to tonight's karaoke fun. I quickly look over at Jeremy, he loves this shit. He's smiling back at me; the cheeky fucker has set us up.
"You knew all along that they do karaoke here, didn't you?" I ask Jeremy while shaking my head.
"Did I forget to mention that? My bad." Jeremy replies while laughing.
He's then on his phone, busy with something before looking back up at us.
"There, I've already got my song requests on, you guys should request a few songs too." Jeremy tells us.
"Maybe I will, text me the link." Lars responds.
"How 'bout you, Tony? Tammy tells us you like to sing in the truck, maybe you should get up there and show us what you've got." Jeremy persists.
"Nah, I'm good." I respond, I'm not nearly drunk enough for me to get up on stage in front of strangers.
By the time the first patron hits the stage to start singing, I head back up to the bar to buy another round. I'm standing right beside the attractive woman I've been checking out for the last hour or so, the second guy that had been trying his best has already been shot down, I don't think I wanna be number three, so I just smile and nod at her as she looks at me for a moment, before turning my attention to the barman.
With our drinks in hand, I return to our table.
"Hey Tony, that woman up at the bar was just checking you out, she looks fantastic too." Lars informs me, motioning back to the woman I was just standing beside.
"Yeah, I've been watching her too. I've already seen her dispose of two would be suitors, I don't wanna be the third to crash and burn."
"Ah come on Tony; you'll never meet someone with that attitude." Lars replies.
"Says the guy who still bitches about his ex-wife every day." I respond with a smirk.
"Yeah, alright. But still, it's been what, two years for you now? Even your ex has since found someone new, maybe it's time you got back in the saddle."
"Leave him be, Lars. He'll be ready when he's ready. More importantly, I'm gonna show these people what a real crooner sounds like." Jeremy responds to us both.
"Ah, fuck no. Unchained Melody again, am I right?" Lars replies to Jeremy laughing to himself.
Jeremy just grins back at us both. For a divorcee, he sure likes to belt out love songs. I'm surprised when for the third singers of the night, the couple that's with the attractive woman I've been watching, both step up on stage to sing 'Ain't no mountain high enough' together. They do a good job of it too, getting a big hug from the girl I've been watching when they return back to their spot up at the bar.
Not long after it's Jeremy's turn, as he belts out his jailbird's song of longing. I always wonder if he's secretly thinking of his ex when he sings Unchained Melody, maybe he's missing her more than he lets on. As Jeremy gets a loud applause before returning to our table, I notice that the attractive woman and the couple she's with are looking over at us while chatting amongst themselves, before all three of them approach us.
"Hi guys, do you mind if we join you at your table? There's nowhere else to sit in here tonight." The cute blonde with the boyfriend asks us.
"Of course you can, the more the merrier." Jeremy exclaims as he moves the chairs for them to sit down.
We only have two free chairs however, and I quickly look around for a third at the other tables. Seeing one at the table beside us, I ask if I can have it, as I then place it beside me, for the attractive woman I've been watching to sit down.
"Thanks, I'm Allison by the way." She tells me as she takes her seat.
"I'm Tony. This is Lars and Jeremy."
"Hi guys. These two lovebirds are Samantha and William." Allison replies as we all shake hands with each other.
