Chapter
2
AJ arrived a couple minutes before nine. He came to the door to get Nick, and they
walked out into the crisp night air and got into AJ’s car.
“Whew, it’s cold out tonight, huh?” AJ asked.
“Yeah,” Nick replied, gazing out the window up into the night
sky. It was February 21st, not quite a
month after his twenty-first birthday.
He recalled the night of his birthday with some longing, wishing he
could feel as happy and carefree as he did then. But that was when he was still with
Mandy. Things had changed now, and Nick
didn’t think he could ever be genuinely happy like that again.
They rode along in silence.
Every time AJ tried to start a conversation with his friend, he was met
with only one word replies. It was no
use. But AJ knew exactly what would
bring Nick out of his shell.
***
“A bar? You brought me to a
bar?” Nick asked a few minutes later, as AJ parked in the parking lot of a
small tavern near where they lived.
“Sure,” AJ said. “Nicky,
this may not be the best of advice, but alcohol works wonders. You get a few beers down, and suddenly, you
feel good. All your problems are gone.” Nick rolled his eyes. “Look, Nick, you’re an adult now, and
sometimes, adults need to go out and have a few drinks. It’s stress relieving, you know?”
“Sure, AJ,” Nick said.
“Well, come on, Nick.
You’ll see,” AJ said, heading to the entrance of the bar, Nick following
reluctantly behind.
They took seats at the bar, which was relatively un-crowded, a
good thing for them. Nick was in no mood
to be recognized by crowds of people.
“Two Buds please,” AJ said to the bartender. The older man nodded and slid two bottles
across the counter to them. AJ handed
one to Nick. “Drink up, dude,” he said,
opening his bottle and taking a swig.
Nick took a sip from his.
He was not a big drinker, even now that he was of legal age. But still, he felt the need to humor AJ by
drinking some anyway.
However, an hour later, he had finished the beer and was on his
second, and suddenly, he did feel a little better. Maybe AJ was right. As long as Nick didn’t go overboard, he figured
a few beers wouldn’t hurt him any. How
wrong he was.
***
As it was nearing midnight, AJ was getting ready to go home. But Nick seemed to be having a great
time. AJ was pleased to see him smiling
for the first time in weeks. He hadn’t
kept track of how much Nick had drunken, but he could tell it was getting time
to cut off the drinks. Nick was clearly
drunk. AJ knew that Howie, Brian, and
especially Kevin would be furious with him if they knew he had brought Nick to
a bar, intending for him to get drunk and use alcohol to forget his
problems. He knew it wasn’t right
himself, but he felt the need to do something. He couldn’t stand seeing Nick so depressed
and miserable all the time.
Meanwhile, Nick was having a great time. He had lost count of how many beers he had had,
but he knew he had downed at least four.
His thoughts were becoming fuzzy, but that didn’t matter because for the
first time since Mandy left, he was enjoying himself. He didn’t want that feeling of happiness to
leave.
“Hey, man, you up for a chuggin’ contest? See who can drink the most?” the man sitting
next to Nick asked, his voice slurred.
“Sure,” Nick said, picking up his beer bottle.
“No, no, not that,” the man said.
“We do it in shots.” He turned to
the bartender. “Gimme some shots of straight
Scotch.” He nodded and handed the man
two small shot glasses of liquid and a bottle.
The man passed one glass over to Nick.
“Ready?” Nick nodded. The man raised his glass and downed the
whiskey in one gulp. Nick did the same,
and the man filled their glasses with more.
AJ turned his attention to Nick to find him chugging a shot of
whiskey. “Nick,” he started, putting his
hand on Nick’s shoulder, “don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
Nick shook AJ’s hand off of him and glared at him. “No,” he said defensively. “You wanted me to have a good time, and I am,
so back off.” His speech sounded
somewhat slurred.
“But Nick, drinking all that isn’t good. Do you know how much alcohol is in each of
those little glasses?” AJ pointed out.
Nick was clearly not in the mood to be think logically.
Nick shrugged. “Who cares?”
he said, filling up his glass again and downing another shot.
“You can’t beat me, ya know,” the drunk man beside him
taunted. “No one can beat me.”
Nick’s eyes narrowed and he poured and drank another shot. The man leveled his gaze at Nick and did the
same.
“Nick!” AJ hissed. “Come
on, stop! You’re not used to having so
much alcohol in your body! You can’t
keep drinking like this!”
“AJ, shut up!” Nick yelled, whirling around to face AJ. “I can…”
Suddenly, he stopped in mid-sentence.
His blue eyes rolled back into his head, and he toppled off of the stool
he was perched on, crumpling in a heap on the floor at AJ’s feet.
“Nick!” AJ cried, hopping off his own stool and leaning down next
to his friend. He shook his shoulder,
trying to wake him, but Nick was unconscious.
His breathing was alarmingly slow and shallow, and his skin looked pasty
white. “Someone call 911!” AJ
shouted. The bartender hurried to his
phone and dialed 911.
“Is he breathing?” he asked AJ a minute later.
“Yeah, but just barely,” AJ replied, a tremor running through his
voice. He looked down at his friend,
feeling both helpless and guilty. It was
all his fault that this had happened, and there was nothing he could do for
Nick. He just prayed the paramedics
would arrive soon.
***
