Free Between Dreams by Cynthia Austin Page B

you?”
    She opened her leather tote bag and pulled out a stick of red lipstick and began applying a thick coat to her full lips. She turned and asked me, “Do I have any lipstick on my teeth?”
    I shook my head.
    “Oh!” she said, suddenly surprised. “I forgot. You two haven’t met. Gosh, how rude of me. Dave, this is my bestie, Sidney.” She put her arm around me and pointed my face towards him. “Sidney, this is my favorite guy, Dave.”
    Dave leered at me and reached out his hairy tattooed arm to shake my hand. I reluctantly returned his smile and effortlessly placed my limp palm in his as if I was the Queen of England and he should be delighted to have such an honor.
    “It’s very nice to meet you, Dave.”
    My girlfriend took over the dialogue, “Sidney here is on the verge of a nasty break up or mental breakdown, whichever comes first, I suppose. I’m trying to take her mind off all the drama so she can live it up a little bit. You know; the calm before the storm sort of thing.” Chrissy winked at him.
    I rolled my eyes.
    Sometimes Chrissy could have such a big mouth. I didn’t need the world to know about my relationship and besides I never once said that Ray and I were breaking up. I don’t know why everyone always assumed we were on the verge of demise. We’re just going through a little rough patch right now, that’s all.
    Dave raised his eyebrows as his beady eyes sized me up and down. I wanted to barf.
    He went into flirt mode. “Well hey, I’m actually meeting a friend here in a minute or so.” He pulled out his cell phone to glance at the time. “It’s pretty slow right now so I’m punching out in about five minutes. Why don’t you ladies go on inside and when my buddy arrives, we’ll buy you two a drink.”
    I grimaced inwardly. Just what I need; a double date with two Hells Angels .
    I shot a look at Chrissy, my expression screaming no. She laughed in response, knowing full well what I was thinking. I was really not feeling this place, but one look at Chrissy’s face told me there was no getting out of it. That’s what I got for agreeing to go to this biker bar with her. I focused on putting one foot in front of the other and headed inside the “club.”
    “You seriously broke up with Finn to date some tattooed biker?” I whispered, not attempting to hide the disapproval in my tone.
    She snarled, “Hey. None of that Debbie Downer crap. I told you we’re going to paint the town red, and painting is what we’re doing. And no way am I dating that penniless bouncer, but how else did you expect to get inside of here with no I.D.?”
    I shrugged and left it alone. Chrissy had made her point. As we made our way to the bar, I looked around. The place was pretty small. The walls were painted a puke green color and I couldn’t help but think that if I happened to drink too much and get sick somewhere in the corner, it would nicely blend into the walls.
    I snickered to myself at the thought as I took a seat on the black leather stool in front of the bar. At least the place didn’t smell. No one else was inside the lounge besides an old man with gray hair at the opposite end of the bar. I couldn’t believe I had let Chrissy talk me into this. Chrissy must have read my thoughts because she responded on cue.
    “This place usually doesn’t start filling up until about ten or ten-thirty. We’re way too early but I figured you needed a drink ASAP.”
    “Thanks, Chrissy. You know me well. Tonight, I will drown my sorrows in alcohol.”
    “Here, here,” Chrissy exclaimed, toasting her imaginary glasses again. Then in an instant she slammed her hand down on the table. “Jenna. Quit acting like you’re busy. We’re the only people in here and we’re thirsty, I say!” she shouted at the bartender.
    Jenna was a pretty girl masked in tattoos and piercings. I vaguely remembered her from high school, although she was a few grades ahead of me. She never spoke much in school and by the