Time Warp: Midnight Drinking

[Erika Young]

22 October 1999
Seattle, Washington

It was pouring rain out, not that that was really a way to distinguish the day to day in Seattle. The only real thing distinguishing this rain from any other rain was the fact that it hadn't stopped raining in about a week. Her apartment was flooding, which was a fairly difficult thing to accomplish up on the 22nd floor. Mostly it was because her balcony didn't have any holes or things like that. Still fairly ridiculous though. The company was putting her up in a hotel for the time being, and she was going to be in Dallas for Halloween, doing some investigating about some actress that'd hired them to investigate a stalker.

Erika was snapped out of her thoughts by a particularly loud and obnoxious man taking the seat next to her at the bar and yelling his order at the bartender. It was nearly midnight, but most people weren't planning on leaving. She was particularly in no hurry to leave, she had to walk all the way across town to the hotel, unless she called a cab, but she didn't really want to do that right now. She didn't really want to do anything right now. Just sit here, drink, and imagine that she had that really nice looking motorcycle she'd seen earlier in the day. Maybe she'd get one soon enough.

"What're you doin' here chick-a-dee..." said the man, turning over and nearly hitting her with his beer gut. She ignored him for the moment, but she got the feeling it wasn't going to be the end of it. It never was, why would it be any different at the moment? The man smelled like a sickening combination of wet b.o. and booze. She guessed that he'd probably been sitting in some other part of the bar and had decided to approach her. If he didn't give up, she would politely say no. Hopefully then he would decide to go away.

"I tuld you she was stuck up," came an irritatingly familiar thick southern accent. She shut her eyes and hung her head, this wasn't going to end very well. He was someone that lived in her apartment building, that enjoyed harassing her every chance he got. At this point she just ignored him. Apparently he didn't like that very much to have come out to say hello like this. "She works at sum fancy security place. Bet she's a seceratary or somethin'."

"I unno. Maybe she can fight, eh?" came a third voice, sitting down on the other side of her. "What about it girl, can ya fight?"

Erika looked down at her bottle, twirling the liquid around for a moment. "Leave me alone," she said simply, shutting her eyes. She slowed her breathing, waiting. The three of them smelled just drunk enough to actually try and hit her, even if they did just think she was 'just some woman' or some other stupid thing along those lines.

Her 'friend' was the first one to do something. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Maybe we shuld take this outside," he said, followed almost immediately by a very pained groan as Erika's elbow found his stomach. He released her shoulder in surprise, and she yanked his head down and banged it against the bar. Tubby reacted next, but he didn't manage to get much of an attack out before Erika's fist found his throat, causing him to fall to the ground, gasping for air. She opened her eyes and glared at the man in the other seat, who wisely decided to stand up and head back to his table.

The bartender came down and she took another sip of her beer. "Going to kick me out?" she asked.

The bartender shrugged his shoulders, "What for? They're idiots, you're actually gonna pay me. Bit of a no brainer. Should probably still call an ambulance though. Hey Joe! Take these two idiots out front to wait for the bus." The rather large bouncer gave a halfhearted nod and started dragging the two of them out of the sunken bar. Erika closed her eyes and went back to drinking her beer.

[Patricia Reed]

Addie had never been to Seattle before. Nor did she really ever feel the need to come back after this little visit. She liked the sun too much. She liked spending much of her time outside. She liked digging her fingers into dirt, not mud. But she’d be home soon enough. A promised visit to a friend was a promise she intended to keep.

Lot of good it did her though. She’d only been here a day before he got called away on some business trip. The way Addie figured it though, she was already here. A new town, filled with things she might not be able to see again, so she stayed. After having done all the touristy stuff, she had her friend tell her some places she had to hit though, places that were worth stopping in, even if they weren’t really worth it.

That was how she’d ended up at this bar. It was bar. Really, nothing special. Just like any other. But it was apparently a favorite of her friend’s. She’d have to give him an earful some other time for sending to her to regular bar. Though she supposed there had to be a reason he liked it so.

She’d noticed the girl sitting at the counter. Well, woman rather. But she hadn’t thought anything of her. Not until a… large man sat next to her. After a sigh, Addie took a sip of her drink and watched. It wasn’t uncommon for a man to try and shoot for the stars. Even when it was plainly obvious they would fail. And miserably so.

But she’d developed a way of avoiding such situations when they came about. She’d go over to the person being bothered, sling an arm around them, and say something along the lines of ‘Hi baby. Miss me?’ Apologize to the other person for misunderstanding that the one being bothered was single, then offer to buy them a drink as a sort of condolence prize.

However, that didn’t seem necessary. Because before Addie knew it the woman was surrounded. Two other men had joined the first. But the woman still seemed calm. Maybe she didn’t know? How could a woman not realize that she was in a dangerous situation like that. And nobody else seemed to be doing anything.

Just as Addie rose from her seat, she understood why the woman hadn’t been panicked. There was no need to be. She watched in amazement as this slender woman took down two men, while the third went skittering away, tail between his legs. That was just… It was brilliant.

Already standing, Addie decided to join the woman, taking the seat that the man before her had occupied while the other men were cleared out. “That was amazing. Where’d you learn to do that?” She waved her hand at the bartender. “One for me and my friend please.” She said with a smile. “I hope you need another. Because we all owe you one, making the bar a little safer for us all.”

[Erika Young]

Erika cracked her fingers after she was done with the two of them, watching as one of the guys came out from the back and dragged them over to the door. She liked the rain, to be perfectly honest, but this week had been a bit much. She would have to go back to the hotel room sooner or later though. Maybe she'd lay down in the bathtub... take a nice warm soak. Although, she'd probably be having a nice cold one by the time she made it back there. So a warm bath, or at least a shower, would probably be in order anyway. Then some sleep, with a training session at 9 am tomorrow.

At least now she had some mild motivation to leave, there would probably be some looks at her from the other patrons at this point. Nevermind everything else she would have to get done if she actually decided to leave. She sighed, finishing what little was left of the drink she'd been nursing for a while. She went to order another one when the other woman came over and sat next to her. What next, asking if she wanted to buy some Avon?

"I work as a bodyguard and trainer for a personal security firm," she replied to the woman's question when she sat down next to her. She bit her tongue when the woman bought her a drink, resisting the urge to turn it away. This was the kind of thing that her therapist had been talking about. Maybe if she had been more friendly in the first place, the three men hadn't found the need to be so aggressive. She sighed again, pulling the new drink a little closer to her when she got it, not taking a sip just yet.

"Um... thanks," she said reluctantly. She still wasn't good at the day to day interaction with people. She doubted that it would magically clear up over night, but she was still slightly better. She didn't feel like there was going to be a van pulling down the street at any second to rip her off the street and take her back to... him. She took a sip of the drink and blinked a few time, forcing the thoughts out of her brain. She didn't want to retreat into herself yet, it might cause more problems, she didn't want more problems....