If That's Your Excuse

I didn't really know what was wrong, and the only idea I had I didn't like.

I sat her down in the nearest booth, and she looked like she was half asleep.

"Lexi what happened? What's wrong?"

"I'm so tired. I don't know.. I'm just so tired."

She looked like she was about to pass out. I leaned over and smelled her breath, thinking it might be alcohol. She smelled faintly of beer, but nothing that could get her this smashed. I stopped for a second, not remembering her drinking anything. All of a sudden I realized. That idiot from the bar.. he must have given her something.

I nudged her quickly trying to keep her awake a few more minutes.

"Lexi! Lexi did that guy get you a drink? From the bar?"

"Yeah.. he got me..."

The end of her sentence dropped off as she passed out. I caught her as she started to tilt over. I pulled my jacket off and bunched it up, carefully laying her head down on it. I stood up looking around for either of my friends. I saw Mike dancing a few feet away.

"Mike!" I yelled trying to be heard over the blasting music. He looked up and came over when he saw the look on my face.

"What's up man?"

"Listen I need you to watch this girl for second. Something happened to her, and I gotta go ask someone about it. Can you just sit here for a minute? I'll be right back."

I could already feel my hands balling into fists at my side, as I tried to control my quickly growing anger.

He looked up at me again, and I'm sure my frustration was obvious in my expression.

"Yeah sure. Is she going to be ok?'

"Yeah I think so. I just have to go handle something first."

He nodded, knowing better then to ask anything else, and walked back over to the booth sitting down next to Lexi.

I glanced by the bar, trying to spot the guy from earlier. Finally I spotted him, and it looked like he was already talking to another girl. I started to walk over, balling and unballing my fists in a failed attempt to seem calm and cool. I didn't want him to get scared and run away. I had to find out what he'd given her, and I couldn't call the cops. Lexi would get in trouble with the police, and I didn't want that to happen. I made my way over to the bar stopping behind him.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

My voice probably gave away my anger, but at that point I didn't care very much.

He turned around glancing over his shoulder and seeing me, I saw a mix of surprise, shock, and fear flash through him. He turned back to the girl he was talking to, saying something about being right back.

"How about we go over here?"

I point out a corner. He walks over, looking a little nervous. Which he should be. Once we were out of earshot he turned facing me.

"Look man I didn't know you guys were dating. She was just a girl at the bar."

I started to lose a grip on my frustration as I pushed him back against the wall.

"Oh so it would make it ok if she wasn't my girlfriend?" I was almost shouting at him.

"Well. No but come on I was just looking for a little fun.."

"Were you also looking to go to jail? Because besides trying to drug and rape a girl, I don't think buying a minor alcohol would help you either."

He looked up, trying to seem surprised.

"What? You have to be fucking kidding. And I didn't drug her I have no clue what you're talking about."

Again I could feel my hands clench into fists, but I resisted.

"Now here's what I'm going to do, because even though I really want to beat the crap out of you right now and call the cops, I'm not interested in screwing her over too. So how about you just give me whatever you put in her drink, and I'll let you walk away without a broken nose?"

I could see him thinking it over, but he glanced over at the bar and probably saw that girl he was talking to now. It disgusted me that he seemed to be thinking of screwing with some other girl too.

"I didn't drug her. I have no idea what you're talking about."

He repeated this with a mock innocent expression on his face. At that point, I just lost it. I reached across and punched him in the face as hard as I could. He sunk to the floor, clutching his probably broken nose.

"What the fuck man?" He swore. I could see some blood seeping through his hand, but I didn't care. I grabbed him by the shirt pulling him back up.

"Now I'm only going to ask you one more time. Give me the dam pills"

He looked like he was going to regret what he was about to do, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bag of white pills. I grabbed it from him and put it into my pocket. I started to walk away but I stopped and walked back over to him.

"I almost forgot something"

I hit him as hard as I could in the stomach, this time knocking him to the ground hunched over. I turned around and walked away. I stopped by the edge of the bar when I saw the girl look over scared. I walked over to her.

"Did that guy buy you a drink?"

"He was just about to," She answered, sounding confused.

I pulled the bag out of my pocket and held them up.

"I don't think you want to drink that," I said and turned around heading back through the club.

I weaved through the couples on the dance floor till I saw Mike sitting next to Lexi. He was looking around, seeming impatient, and probably a little annoyed at how bad he looked sitting next to an unconscious girl.

I walked over.

"Hey thanks man, I owe you one."

He stood up and looked at me, like he wanted to say something, but hesitated.

"You didn't have anything to do with this, right?"

I shook my head.

"No it's been taken care of. I figured out who did. Listen, do you mind if I take the car? I should probably get her out of here. I can leave cab money if you want?"

"No it's fine of course you can take the car. We'll be fine. Hopefully, we won't need to go home anyway."

He smiled with a wink and pulled the keys out of his pocket.

I smiled back.

"Well good luck with that. Have fun. I'll see you later."

He gave a small wave and walked off towards the bar.

I turned back to Lexi, who seemed to still be sound asleep. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with her, and the guy didn't seem worried about it, but I couldn't just drop her off somewhere and hope she was ok. But at the same time, where was I supposed to go with her? Pulling up and giving her to her parents didn't feel like the best idea. And I had no clue where or who her friends even were in here. Finally, I settled that I'd just have to take her back to my apartment. It wasn't like there was much else I could do anyway, not that taking her home with me didn't sound good.

With a shrug I leaned over and picked her up, careful to keep an arm under her head. I headed towards the back, out the door. I found the car pretty quickly a block away. I laid her down in the backseat, and pulled away.

///////////////////////////

Half asleep, I woke up chilly and tucked the blanket over me tighter. In the back of my head I started to think, didn't I put my blanket in the wash yesterday?

Slowly I opened my eyes slightly looking around the room. I was in somebody's bedroom, but definitely not mine. I sat up quickly, not asleep anymore. I rubbed my eyes squinting to see in the dark room. I could make out a TV and a desk in the corner, with some clothes thrown over it. I saw the night table next to me, with a clock flashing 1 am.

I started to freak out a bit, right as I heard noises from the other side of the room. I jumped and turned around to see someone sound asleep in a chair next to the bed. I squinted in the dark, at a familiar looking face. Finally I stopped when I recognized Ben. I relaxed a bit, but still wanted to know what was going on. I climbed out of the bed and walked over to the chair. He looked really uncomfortable. He was in the sitting position, but his head had fallen back.

"Ben," I whispered softly.

With no reply I reached an arm out nudging his shoulder.

"Ben"

He moved a little in his sleep but didn't seem to reply.

"Ben," I said again a little louder, pushing his shoulder again.

This time he woke up opening his eyes slowly, looking around. He saw me and sat up quickly.

"Lexi are you ok?" He asked quickly, his voice still husky with sleep.

"What do you mean am I ok? What happened?"

He ran a hand through his hair.

"There was this guy at the bar, and he slipped something in your drink. Don't worry nothing happened, I just brought you back here to sleep it off. But I didn't know if the pill did anything, so I was watching you to make sure you were fine, and I must have dozed off."

I was silent; stunned that he'd do something like that for me.

"I.. wow.. that was.. amazing of you."

He looked up.

"Not really, I mean I wasn't just going to leave you there. Anyone would have done it."

I smiled to myself at his modesty.

"Well, thank you. That.. meant a lot."

"Your welcome" He said reaching a hand out and touching my arm for a second. There was only contact for a moment, but I could still feel that electricity every time he touched me.

I quiet for a moment, before he quickly tried to make up for what just happened.

"Anyway, I'm guessing you have somewhere you're supposed to be. I can drop you off if you want?"

"Well, I was supposed to sleep over at Maggie's so we could stay out late, but I don't even know where they are right now. Listen, I know it's a huge favor to ask, but would you mind if I just crashed here? I'll sleep on the couch and be out of your way."

He stood up rubbing his neck with a wince and stretching.

"No of course you can stay. And I don't have a couch, just some uncomfortable chairs. But you're welcome to use the bed, I can just put some blankets on the floor."

I sat down on the edge of the bed.

"No don't be silly. I'm not going to make you fall asleep in a chair and on the floor. I'll sleep on the floor, you look sore enough already."

"I'm not going to let you sleep on the floor," he said sounding firm.

"Well I'm not going to let you sleep on the floor either," I replied, with a smile.

He smiled back, amused by how obstinate I was.

"We could always just share the bed?" I asked, a little nervous.

It wasn't like I was afraid of him or anything; I just didn't want him to be horrified with the idea.

He ran a hand through his hair thinking it over, and gave me a small smile.

"You sure I can't just sleep on the floor?"

I gave him a soft smile.

"Positive," I replied.

"Alright then I guess we'll share."

I stood up and looked down at my wrinkled clothes.

"Would you mind if I borrowed something to sleep in? This isn't exactly the most comfortable outfit."

He smiled.

"Yeah sure there's some pajama stuff in that dresser. Take whatever you want. I'm going to go get a water."

He turned around and walked out of the bedroom. Once he left, I started thinking and getting nervous. What if he tried to do something? It wasn't like I'd ever done anything before; I wouldn't even know how to react. I went over to the dresser and pulled out a college t-shirt and some boxers. As I picked them up, the scent came off them. It was just so him. That unique smell that nobody else seemed to have. I pulled off my skirt and tank top, dropping them on the floor. Once I'd changed, I headed for the door, to see what the rest of the place looked like.

//////////////

Once I left her in my room to change, I'd started worrying. Maybe that moment at the club had been the mistake. She was my student, and it was about as wrong as it could possibly be. But I also knew there was something about her that made all that just seem irrelevant. The only thing I really didn't know was how she felt about everything. And I wanted to ask, but at the same time I didn't want to scare her. I guess I'd just have to see how things went tonight.

I heard something behind me and saw her come around the corner. I caught my breath. She was in my shirt and boxers, which looked huge on her, but at the same time she looked cute. How is it that when a girl wears guys' clothes, it looks so much better? I smiled at her after a second.

"More comfortable?" I asked.

She looked up with a smile.

"Yeah actually I am."

We just kind of looked at each other for a minute before anyone said anything.

"So this is your apartment?"

"Yeah, in all it's glory."

All in all, it could have been a worse place to live. It didn't have much space, but it was in a safe neighborhood, and close to the school, which was all that mattered.

I appreciated her trying to keep the situation from getting awkward, but the part we were both trying to avoid was coming eventually, so I just made it happen.

"So, time for bed?" I asked with a nervous smile.

She looked up, and I could see some worry in her eyes before she gave me a small smile.

"Yeah I'm pretty tired."

She turned around and walked back into the bedroom, with me a few paces behind her.