Loving Wright

Chapter 6: Drunk In Love

Eli...

"Hey Eli," she said, surprising me

How did she know my name?

"Uh, hey," I hesitantly answered, "Do I know you?"

"I work at Cooper Chronicles, I saw you there this morning," she slurred a bit

"Oh, OK."

"Who's your cute friend?" she asked, pointing to Alex among the group of girls

So she wasn't here for me. A bit of a bummer.

"Iris!" I heard someone hiss behind her

Her friend had finally caught up to her.

"Uh, that's Alex," I answered

"What does Alex do for a living? Does he have a girlfriend? Is he married? Any kids?"

"Iris, you can't ask him that!" the friend grabbed her hand, trying to pull her away. She turned to me, "I'm so sorry. She's a little drunk."

"Ken, I'm not drunk," Iris denied "I know when I'm drunk, and this is not it"

"You're embarrassing yourself, let's go," Ken said trying to pull her away again

"Who's this?"

We all turn to see Alex standing there, staring at the two women, well, one of them in particular. A bright smile appeared on Iris' face.

"Hi, I'm Iris," she wiggled her fingers in a wave and then put out her hand for a handshake

"Alex," he said taking her hand

The instant their hands touched, they froze. And for the next 30 seconds, they just stared at each other.

Her friend and I stood there looking on. What the hell was going on?

"Nice to meet you, Iris," Alex said, sounding like a white boy again

"Same here."

"Would you like to sit?" he asked, pointing to a table close by

"Sure," she quickly answered

He leads her to the table, his hand still holding on to hers. They sat down and immediately started talking. It was like we weren't even there anymore.

"What just happened?" her friend asked

"I don't know," I admitted

We stared at them for a few seconds before she turned to me.

"I'm so sorry about her behavior," she apologized "I've never been around her when she's this drunk, so I don't really know how to deal with it."

"It's OK," I assured her "And I can teach you a few tricks that I learned from dealing with him," I pointed to Alex

"He can be a hand full too huh?"

"Handful is an understatement," I say observing my friend at the table "He seems sober now though, which is weird since he was so close to being wasted a few minutes ago. Was afraid I had to carry him back to the apartment."

"Roommates?" she asked

"More like the best friend I'm crashing with while in town," I answered, "What about you and Iris?"

"I've only known her for a few months. She's kind of the only friend I've had since I moved out here," she said, taking Alex's seat

"So you're new in town?" I asked and she nodded, "So this must be your first time here too."