She clinks her container against mine. “To fun. By the way, I have the stripper guy’s phone number…if you’re interested.”

19

Pay the Piper

Leo

It’s been two weeks since Harper’s birthday party. I’ve stared at the same doodle of a giant fly with a man’s head for the last twenty minutes. The words won’t come. I don’t believe in writer’s block. Never have. I have a name for the current state I’m in. It’s called Harper block. I grin to myself at the thought. Maybe I should add it to Wikipedia.

If she were on my sofa watching her sappy movie of the week, then maybe I’d be able to write. Be able add a page to my manuscript that seems to be at a standstill.

I grab my keys and stride to the door, so ready to get out that I am inside my car and driving before I have a plan. I make a quick call and discover that Gunner is at Dastardly’s, along with my buddy, Aidan. This is what I need. A guys’ night out.

I finally find a parking spot in a public lot several blocks away. It’s a perpetual Saturday night in Nashville. People hang around on the sidewalks in front of the more popular bars. The music is loud and drifts out from open doors, beckoning with a lazy finger for people to come inside.

There’s a cover charge tonight, but the bouncer nods at me to go inside.

I elbow my way through the crowd. It’s standing room only, but Gunner motions at me from across the room. He and Aiden sit at a table with a couple of girls.

“Hey man. What do ya know? Miracles do happen. Somebody unglued your fingers from that computer.” Gunner grins. He’s already three sheets to the wind, by the look of him.

I smile back and Aiden scoots over to make room. “Good to see you.”

The band is jamming with a mix of old rock and roll, songs they’ve remixed to fit their sound. There’s an extra chair at the next table and I ask if I can have it. When I turn around to scoot in next to Gunner, the two girls have moved apart so I can sit between them.

“Hi. I’m Stacey,” the girl to my left says in my ear so she can be heard above the music.

“Leo. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too.”

She places her hand on my forearm and puts her mouth close to my ear again. “I think my friend wants to go home with your friend.” Her gaze flicks to Gunner and her friend.

“So,” I say, moving back an inch so we aren’t so close. “They just met?”

“Uh huh.” She shakes her head. “I hate going out with Cherry. She’s fun and everything, but she always ends up hooking up and she leaves me stranded.”

I laugh. “The fun ones always do.”

“What do you do, Leo, beside look handsome?”

I tell myself she’s just being friendly. Still, unlike Gunner, I’m not looking for a hook-up. I back up another couple of inches. “Writer. You?”

“Dental hygienist.” She sips from her frozen drink.

Aiden gets up and wanders off through the thick crowd and I lose sight of him. Another band takes the stage and begins preparing for their set.

Coming here was a bad idea. Stacey keeps talking to me and she’s nice. Pretty. But I can barely pay attention to anything she’s saying, because I can’t quit thinking about Harper.

Stacey puts her hand on my arm again to get my attention. “Hey, the waitress is here to take orders. What do you want?”

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

Stacey turns to the waitress who stands somewhere behind my chair. Her hand is still on my arm. “He’ll have a beer. Whatever you have on tap. I’ll have a Sex on the Beach.”

“I’m not drinking,” I say, leaning toward her since she’s either deaf or determined. When I lean back, I pull my arm from her grasp and make certain my body isn’t in easy reach again.

“Someone will drink it. Not to worry, handsome.”

She doesn’t touch me again but continues to attempt conversation. Some girls are just like that—touching you when they want. Perhaps I’m being paranoid that she’s interested in me for more than a diversion while her friend gets friendlier by the minute with Gunner.

A beer appears in front of me and a frozen drink in front of Stacey. She reaches for her bag. “I’ll get yours.”

I shake my head and reach into my pocket for my wallet. She is not buying me a drink. I pivot in my chair slightly so I can hand the waitress money for my beer. My gaze travels up the length of the waitress in the revealing black shorts and tight t-shirts that all Dastardly’s waitresses wear. A shock reverberates through me as if I’ve fallen twenty feet and hit the ground flat on my back. I need to blink to clear my vision.

Harper’s hair is down, curling in ringlets down her back, and she’s wearing makeup. Those shorts make her legs go on for miles of beautiful skin.

This cannot be. Harper stands behind me, waiting for payment.

“You work here?” This is the dumbest thing I’ve said in ages. I hand her a twenty dollar bill.

Harper gives a couple of bills back. “No,” she yells. “I walk around scamming folks for money, but no one has caught on yet.”

Funny girl. She walks away and I stare at her retreating backside until I can’t see her through the crowd.

“Thanks for getting mine,” Stacey says.

It’s then that I realize that Harper gave me only a couple of bucks, assuming I was paying for both mine and Stacey’s. She thought we were together. My gut is churning with a terrible need to jump from the chair and race after Harper. Why would she think I was paying for a girl’s drink?

“Sure,” I say.

I glance around the table. Gunner and the friend are sitting close and they look like a couple. As if they came here together. Stacey’s not sitting quite as close to me, but we do appear to be on a fucking double date.

I feel hollow inside and hear a ringing in my ears. She thinks I’m on a date.

“It was nice to meet you,” I say to Stacey. I get to my feet and walk through the crowd. I’ve left the beer on the table. Harper stands beside a table near the back and the restrooms where she’s serving a table of four guys. Two of them are telling her something and she smiles at them.

Her smile. She always looks pretty, but there’s a transformation that takes place when she gives you that genuine smile—a stamp of approval for whatever you’ve said or done. It gives me a buzz to think about that feeling.

Now, some strangers are the recipients of her smile and my chest burns. I tell myself to get over it and go home because tonight isn’t working out.

Instead of leaving, I find a spot along the wall where I can watch the band and keep an eye on her. My phone vibrates in my pocket. I check the display.

Josie: What r u doing dork?

Me: Dastardlys

Josie: Yes. I know that. What u doing holding up that wall?

I scan the room. Josie waves at me from the bar where she sits on a stool.

Me: When did Harper start working here?

Josie: Last week

Me: Why didn’t you tell me?

Josie: Did you ask me about Harper and I forgot?

I roll my head in a circle, stretching the tense muscles of my neck.

Me: It’s too dangerous for her to work here.

Josie closes her eyes and shakes her head. She bends her head to continue texting.

Josie: She’s a big girl

Me: What about drunks hitting on her?

Josie hops from her seat and pushes her way through the crowd until she reaches me. She flings one arm across my shoulders. “You can’t have it both ways. You’re either dating her or not.” She yells above the music near my head.