Kay pushed open the door and paused as she surveyed the circle of chairs in the middle of the floor. She tried to smooth down the imaginary wrinkles in her jersey dress and coughed gently to attract attention. The heads of the people turned and looked at her; it took every ounce of willpower not to turn and run back out of the door.
"Come on in." said an older grey-haired man with a big smile, "all are welcome here and I guess by your reluctance this is your first time at an AA meeting?"
Kay blushed deeply although it didn't really show against her dark, copper skin that gave her a Mediterranean or Hispanic look. Her long, dark, thick hair cascaded over her shoulders and she bowed her head making her tiny 5' frame seem even smaller. Her dark eyes were wide open; making the fear quite evident as she surveyed the chairs again counting them in her head. She could see that 12 were filled and that next to two blonde haired men there was an empty chair.
One of the men moved quickly and patted the seat between them as he smiled and said, "come on take the chair. I'm Rob and this is my little brother Gary, we don't bite."
"But," stammered Kay, "that's the 13th chair so won't that be unlucky?"
Gary threw back his head and laughed loudly, "There is no such thing as bad luck, just the 12 steps." Then under his breath whispered to his brother, "though for her, I think there will be a 13th step for sure."
Kay sat quietly between the two men and looked at the people sitting around them as they each related their life story. As she listened; Rob told his story about how he and his brother had made moonshine from an early age and would sell to the locals, though they got the taste and started drinking more than they were selling. Then he fell silent and everyone looked at Kay waiting for her to speak and for a moment she sat quietly before the silence was broken by the older man who had welcomed her into the room.
"You don't have to speak if you don't want to," he said kindly, "many find it difficult the first time."
Kay nodded but cleared her throat, "this is something I must do." then she went on, "Hello my name is Kay and I am an alcoholic." She was startled when all of the circle responded with a greeting and then fell silent waiting for her to continue. "My full name is..." but then she stopped as the grey-haired man held his hand up.
"Just first names here Kay, I am Steven, like you I am an alcoholic, that is all we need to know," he said before nodding for her to carry on.
"I started drinking 20 years ago when I was just 14 to blot out the abuse my step father was committing against me." Kay went on to describe how she had run away from home and drifted from one relationship to another, never really settling down. She told how she managed to get it together for long enough to get married but then started drinking again after the birth of her first child. This culminated in her husband leaving her and taking her daughter with him a few months back, which resulted in her going on a huge bender and drinking herself almost to death. Kay sucked her breath to give her time to gather her composure before she went on. "This morning I woke up in an alley and decided I need to change my life so here I am! I haven't had a drink in 13 hours and..." she paused as she glanced at her watch, "...13 minutes."
There were murmurs of support from the group and a couple of the women were visibly shaken by Kay's story so Steven stood and clapped his hands, "OK folks lets grab a quick break and a coffee for 15 minutes."
A couple of the people came over to Kay and hugged her for support before going to the coffee stand. An older woman of around 50 walked over and smiled at Kay before she said," Hi; I'm Mary, your story was so sad and I do hope you get to see your daughter again. You are doing the right thing coming here." She then paused before glancing with her eyes across to the two brothers who were watching from the other side of the room, "Just be careful of those two they have a bit of reputation." Kay raised an eyebrow inquisitively and the woman fished a smartphone from her pocket and after pressing a few buttons showed the screen to Kay.
Kay read the screen which was a website called the Urban Dictionary and read under her breath, "the 13th step is used to describe the efforts of an old timer who tries to screw a newcomer; or someone with less than a year of sobriety."
"Screw as in have sex with them?" Kay said looking at Mary who nodded, "Perhaps it's you that wants to 13th step me," said Kay without any emotion in her voice but maintaining eye contact with Mary. Then Kay reached out and gently touched the small gold brooch that Mary had on the lapel of her expensive suit jacket, showing two female symbols entwined. "After all," smiled Kay with no real warmth in her smile, "You are a lesbian aren't you."
Mary snorted with derision but the flush to her cheeks gave her thoughts away as she said, "I am just trying to warn you that's all." and then moved away to the coffee station.
"What did the dyke want?" said Rob as he appeared on one side of Kay and looked down onto her small frame.
"Was she hitting on you?" asked Gary who had appeared on her other side and leered at her as he tried to peer down the top of her dress.
Kay just laughed as she turned to re-join the group and said in a low voice, "She was wasting her time if she was... I like cock too much."
The two brothers looked at each other and could hardly contain their grins as Rob whispered to his brother, " the same method as last year; though this one seems a lot more willing, she is still gonna end up with a couple of Johnsons in her." They were both laughing as they re-joined the group and joined in with the reciting of the 12 steps.
*****
At the end of the meeting as Kay went to leave; the Johnson brothers caught up quickly with her and Gary's voice was laced with sincerity as he said, "Me and Rob here would like to be your sponsors and guide you through the process if you want."
Kay looked up and moved her glance from face to face before smiling and nodding silently, to which Rob said with glee, "well let's get a drink to celebrate." Seeing the look of shock and horror on Kay's face he laughed as he said, "Non-alcoholic beer, let me and Gary show you how to have a good time without being drunk."
*****
In the club despite the alcohol flying round none of the three had touched a drop and consumed the non-alcoholic beer with relish between bouts of dancing with the two brothers taking turns.