It happened the first Thursday in the New Year. The girls from work went out drinking. It was Heather, Juliet and I. Heather was about my age, mid-30's, and happy to have some time away from her husband and kids. In a lot of ways she was just like me, except that she was a mildly chunky brunette with a mom-bob, and I was still pretty fit, 5'8" with shoulder length red hair with an undercut you couldn't really see when my hair was down.
Juliet, on the other hand, was the odd woman out. Barely 22 years old and just an admin assistant, she was a little punk rock pixie, prone to wearing spunky and silly outfits, usually tight jeans with sneakers and big jackets over her rail thin body. She was 5'4" and maybe 100lbs, sometimes I felt like her legs were smaller than my arms, and her hair was always pretty short, changing colors every week. She was funny, and Heather and I found her very charming, which is why she was always a part of our group.
Juliet wasn't married like Heather or I, but she had just moved in with her boyfriend of three weeks, a musician named Colt. She had shown us pictures and talked about him incessantly. He was a decade older than her, tall and thin, and she would say he was so talented. I didn't think too much of the idea of him based solely on the fact that I think 30 is far too old to be so unstable you were able to move in with a girl you met in a bar after only one week. But she was young, and what was being young all about except making horrible mistakes and then learning from them?
We had a good night out at the Mexican restaurant, and drank far too many margaritas, but we hadn't planned on staying out too late; two of us had husbands to get home too, so by nine o'clock, Heather and I were ready to turn in. Unlike the two of us, Juliet drank a lot.
Like WAY too much.
So much she was as drunk as I have ever seen her. She tried to take her pants off in the bar, so I decided to drive her home. We were barely in the car and she was gone, basically passed out.
When we got to her place, I got her out of the car, largely carrying her, and helped her up the stairs to her door. But I didn't know where her keys were, and couldn't really drop her to search, so I knocked and she started preparing to vomit. When Colt opened the door, I said something about "bathroom" and quickly took Juliet there, where she proceeded to puke her pretty little head off. I was keeping her hair out of her face, and rubbing her back, and this Colt, just came to the bathroom door and said "nope" and walked back away. Obviously I had him pegged just from hearing about him. Not a good guy. But, I could see what Juliet saw in him. He was a man, while still feeling young like she was. He had a greasy sheen to him that made him seem like trouble, and we all know how young women like trouble. Still I think there's something to be said about finding a man who would give a shit if you were vomiting in the bathroom after a rough night. I guess you can't have everything.
I got Juliet up and cleaned her up and helped her to bed. She was basically out, but still mumbly, I took her shoes off and helped her into bed, and Colt just stood in the doorway. I could tell he was eying me, I always look good, and I was wearing this casual black blouson tank dress that was loose, but cinched at my waist and was longish about to my calves, it lets me feel pretty and sexy, while still casual.
I turned to him and told him who I was.
He said something like "oh, I've heard about you." but he lingered on the "you."
I told him I heard about him too, but I didn't say it like I was interested. I got up and walked towards Colt, on my way out of the room, but he stood sideways in the doorway, so I would have to press passed him. As I did, he told me I was a good friend.
We were right next to each other, and I will give him this, he is magnetic. Dark hair, tall, and thin, but not weak. I told him I try to be, and walked passed him down the hallway towards the living room and the door, he stayed right behind me as I walked, and offered me a drink. I laughed and turned to look at him, I was almost to the door, I smiled at him and said "That's not a good idea."
"Just a friendly offer." He said.
"Oh, is that what it is?" I said and turned again, putting my hand on the knob.
"Of course. What else?"