Finding Solace (27 page)

 
Did she
really think I was so shallow that I would care if the spot light wasn't always
pointed at me? I hope not.

 
"It
will be an amazing night regardless."

 
When I was
done getting ready I walked back over to the floor length mirror in my room to
check myself. It was funny how I now had to stand practically on my bed to see
myself. Ever since Colt moved it so we could watch each other during sex, I
have not been able to put it back.
It’s
little things
like the placement of a mirror that give way to a smile. That man has truly got
me.

 
One last
look and I was ready to go. I decided to go for comfort versus sexy. We are
going to be in bumper cars remember? Blue jeans, a cream sweater and my black
chucks made up the ensemble for the evening. I went downstairs to wait for
Heather. Eventually she came down and boy did we look ridiculous together. She
was wearing a skin tight black sequin top, bright orange skinny jeans and black
pumps. She looks fantastic, but did she forget where we were going?

 
"You
look great! But don't you think you at least need comfortable shoes?"

 
"Oh,
I'm not playing that silly game. I need to look good if Jason is going to pop
the question." I sure hope he does. I will still think they are crazy but
she will be devastated if he doesn't.

 
"Ok
then. You ready?"

 
“Are you
sure I look okay?"

 
"You are
the shit without trying. You look perfect. Now let’s go."

 
When we
walked in everybody was already there waiting on us, literally. The guys
bitched because we took so long and they were ready to get started and play.
Happy birthday to us.
I went over to the bar where Ashlee,
Angie and Megan were. I ordered a Red Bull and vodka, figuring it would wake me
up and get me started all at the same time. Colt was nice enough to wait until
the next game to play. He came over and kissed me.

 
"Happy birthday, Sadie."

 
"You
know it’s not until tomorrow right."

 
"Well,
my plan is to have you until at least midnight, so officially it kind of is
your birthday."

 
"In
that case, thank you." I kissed him back.

 
"So, is
there anything special I can do for you?"

 
"I can
think of a few things, but it probably isn't the time or place to talk about
those." He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me close to him.

 
"My
beautiful dirty girl"

 
"Yes, I
am." We started laughing. I pulled away from him enough to be able to see
the game. Not one of those losers came up to say hi when we got here. They were
so eager to get out there, that I don't even know who all came.

 
"Who's
out there?"

 
"Well
you've got Shawn, Dave, Bryan, Mike, Geoff, Jason, Tony, and Jeff."

 
"Tony?"

 
"Yeah,
Tony, Why is that such a big deal?"

 
"Because it is.
I never could get him away from work
long enough for that lunch I promised Mike about. I miss him."

 
"Really,
that's comforting."

 
"Are
you jealous, Jennings?" I looked at his face and was floored. "You
are! Colt, Tony is who drove me to you at the gym. He’s the one that got me out
of my funk. You have no reason to be jealous."

 
"Whatever
you say, beautiful." and then he kissed me and walked away. I didn’t
follow him. That was just weird behavior and I didn’t want to get any deeper
into the reasoning behind it. I walked over to Heather. She was filling the
other girls in on how she thought the night would pan out. They all screeched
and screamed. Yuck. This is why I mainly hang with boys. I am not a screechy
kind of girl. The buzzer sounded, so I guess since the guys were coming off the
court, the game ended. Now was the time I felt like screeching. ‘It is my turn
to play!’ I ran past all of them and got in a bumper car. They all went to get
a drink at the bar and I was just sitting in my car waiting. I am not
competitive or anything. I just like a good game. It took forever for the guys
to come back out. They all laughed at me.

 
"Couldn't
even have a drink with us, huh?”

 
Dave
couldn’t help but point it out.

 
"Of
course not, this is Sadie we’re taking about." Thanks Bryan.

 
"I
personally would have liked a hug. Not you running past me and preferring to
sit in a bumper car for twenty minutes before we even play." Mike was a
softy.

 
Tony came to
my rescue. "Leave her alone. It’s her birthday and if she wants to come
out here and get her ass spanked, it’s up to her."
Really?

 
"Whatever,
assholes, let’s just play."

 
The buzzer
sounded and the game started. Ramming into each other was a blast. Trying to
get the ball wasn’t. This looked a lot easier out in the bar. If you were lucky
enough to pick the ball up without getting your hand smashed between the cars,
you still had to pass or shoot, get the rebound or catch. It was hard. I hurt
from laughing so hard but when the game ended, I decided I was done with
demolition ball forever. Colt did not play that game either. He watched though
and cheered me on. He even lied to me and told me I did great when it was over.
Nice man. He did go out the next game and naturally, he did great. He doesn’t
know how to be bad at anything. His team won because of Colt’s eight points. It
was bull shit how good he is. The bar became the hot spot after a while and the
drinks were flying. Music was pumping and things just couldn’t have been
better. Tony being there did mean the world to me. Somehow he worked his way
into becoming one of the best friends I ever had. Colt being jealous was just
plain silly. I mean yeah, I slept with him, but it is not like that with us. He
just gets me. I noticed he wasn’t drinking and wondered what was up with that.
I walked over and sat down next to him.

 
"Where's
your drink, cowboy?"

 
"Cowboy
huh, did you just come up with that all on your own?"

 
"Sure
did. It has felt like forever since I've seen you. Are you avoiding me on
purpose? I'm starting to suffer from Tony withdrawal syndrome. What can you do
to remedy that?"

 
"Wish I
could help you out with that more. I have been so busy, that life outside of
work just doesn't
happen
all that often anymore. But
I'm here for you. Doesn't that say something?"

 
"Thank
you, Tony. You being here
means
more than you
know."

 
"Oh, I
know a lot. Speaking of which, I've seen all the movies and I don't remember
Rocky shitting his pants. Do you?” Oh my God! I am going to kill them.

 
"Are
you fucking kidding me? Your brothers have the biggest mouths! I'm going to
kill them." I got down off my stool and was about to storm off when Tony
grabbed me around the waist from the back and held me still.

 
"You
can take out Mike, but promise not to hurt my littlest brother on his big night,
okay?" I spun around.

 
"He's
really going to do it? Here?"

 
"
Shhhhhh
!
It’s a secret. And
yes, he is. I thought the same thing though. Demolition ball, really?" We
both cracked up.

 
"What
did I miss?" Colt was back from wherever he went outside.

 
"Oh
nothing, Sadie was just telling me how Rocky really did shit his pants in Rocky
8."

 
"I
fucking hate your family."

 
"You
love us and you know it."

 
"True statement."

 
"Was
there a Rocky 8?"

 
"Aw, Colt.
You need another drink. Let’s go do a shot
together."

 
It was time
to call it a night. Everyone had a blast and we only had the place rented until
two a.m., which meant one half hour more and we were officially kicked out. No
one was ready to stop the party yet. Laughing and dancing, it was a memory to
hold onto.
Another birthday done well.
Speaking of
which, I was officially twenty two. Heather asked me to go to the bathroom with
her and once the door closed, she broke down sobbing.

 
"What's
the matter, girly? Don't cry."

 
"He
didn’t ask! I so thought tonight was going to be the night and he didn't
ask."

 
She was a
wreck. I personally had been thinking the same thing, but I couldn’t tell her I
knew.

 
"It’s
going to be okay. He will. He loves you. I'm sure it will happen soon, if not
tonight."

 
"I
know. Oh shit, look at me, I look like hell." She found herself in the
mirror. I was afraid of that.

 
"No,
you don't. Just wipe off the black and you'll be fine." She did the best
she could, but she was still a puffy mess. When I convinced her we needed to
get out of the bathroom, it took telling her we had been in there long enough
for the place to close and keep us locked in there all night. With that she
willingly opened the door to let us out. And that’s when the screech of a
lifetime left her mouth. Jason was down on one knee right outside the bathroom.
He gave the most romantic speech about how they met, everything they went
through to get where they are and how he wanted the rest of his life to be
filled with more amazing adventures they could take part in together. It was
better than I ever expected. Heather of course fell to her knees and hugged him
screaming, yes over and over again. Everyone clapped and hollered. They got up
and joined all of our friends at the bar, getting hugs from the girls and
slapped on the back by the men. It could not have been more perfect.

 
Let me
recap. I just got to watch my very best friend in the world get engaged from
inside a bathroom, at a demolition ball place, with her face blown up like a
balloon from crying two minutes before about the fact he didn't ask. Could it
have been better? No. It was story book perfection for the two of them.

CHAPTER
28

 
Thanksgiving
was coming up and work was once again slammed with everyone trying to get in. I
dreaded the long hours, but it did get me away from the crazy
Bridezilla
that Heather had become. They set their date for
two years from now and yet it was still all she talked about. Colt had called
me earlier to see if I had time to run by his place and cut his hair before he
left to go home for the weekend. My first response was, "Are you crazy? I
don’t have time to
pee,
more or less come give you a
haircut."

 
But luck
fell on his side when a two and a half hour color and foil appointment canceled
at the last minute. I grabbed what I needed and drove over to surprise him.
When I got there, he of course had to unlock the fifty locks on the door to let
me in, but he was so happy that I came, all of the weirdness faded away. I
grabbed a kitchen chair while he went to run his head under the tub faucet to
get it wet for me to cut. His haircut was the most simplistic one a man could
get. It made it easy to know I had enough time to cut it and get a quickie in
before I had to go back to work. I had just finished the sides and started
cutting the top when we both jumped from the loud crash that came from the
outside door. All of a sudden police were rushing in with guns, throwing us to
the ground with their foot in the middle of our backs. I was so scared and I
didn’t know what was going on. They had Colt positioned with his head facing
away from me so I couldn’t even look at him to read his reaction either. I was
shocked speechless as the officers combed his apartment. I heard one shout
"In here. I got it" and the rest followed his voice. I still couldn’t
see anything from the floor, but the officer with his foot in my back proceeded
to zip tie my hands together. He stood me up and walked me to Colt’s bedroom,
allowing me to pass the area they were all crowding around. It was the closet
Colt had started to lock up months ago. They had the door open and inside
was
pound after pound of marijuana. My heart hit the floor.
This explained everything and nothing, all at the same time. I didn’t have any
time to process any of this because the officer pushed me into his bedroom and
shut the door. I began to cry. I could not hold back my tears, as strong as I
was trying to be. Another officer walked into the bedroom with my purse in hand
and offered it to the police officer questioning me. As he searched through my
belongings all I could think was, I have never been in trouble in my life. When
he finished pulling everything out, he asked me what I was doing there. At
first I wasn’t sure what I should say, so I just came out with what I was
actually doing.