St. Paul Part 5

They left work early and drove through Lowertown towards McGovern's. The bar was empty save for the smoking regulars sitting in their drinks at the bar. They ordered cocktails, and he lead Steve into a booth where he could keep an eye on the door.

They drank, and when Steve returned with a third round of drinks, he admitted "This place is kind of dead. Think we should check out a different one? What time is it, anyway?"

"Six o'clock, I guess." Steve said, looking down at his watch. "Why, you supposed to call the wife?"

He hadn't been thinking about it, but considered it. Then answered "No. She's probably busy."

Steve sucked on the last drops of his drink in an extremely annoying manner "Come on, let's go. I don't know the next time I'll get to do this."

"One more drink" he said, eying the door one last time. Then sat in silence feeling a cigarette calling him in his pocket. He pulled it out, placing it in his mouth.

"You smoke?" Steve asked him, letting the ice from his empty cup clink in the bottom of his glass as he put it down on the table.

"Only on the bad days." He inhaled, letting the smoke fall out of his mouth as he talked. "When do you think cheating happens? Do you think it's when two people fuck around with each other, or is it when two people, who are perfect for one another meet and can't do anything about it?"

"What?" Steve questioned, the nature of the argument not falling into his usual order of thinking.

"Nothing." He replied, stabbing out the freshly lit cigarette into the ashtray. "You're right, we should go."

Steve lead the way westbound down 94, pulling off on Cedar towards the heart of West Bank. Parking their cars proved to be a task, but they found one another in front of Grandma's and walked into the pile of writhing college students on the dance floor.

"Aren't we a little old for this place?"

"Nonsense." Steve asserted, pushing his way towards the bar. "What do you want?"

They drank their first drink and the second went down even easier. By the fourth and fifth drink they were ordering two at a time so as not to waste time wading through the masses.

"I wonder why Emma didn't come out?"

"What." Steve yelled, hearing him but not taking his eyes away from the girl working the beer tub.

"Emma. Coffee Shop Girl. I wonder why she didn't come out tonight?"

Steve, whose head was plastered to an over sized speaker, turned a drink and a smile towards him.

He informed Steve, "I need to use the bathroom."

Ordering another drink he looked at the long line waiting to use the bathroom. Knowing his usual inability to perform under pressure he found himself walking up the stairs towards the bar on the second floor.

A couple was making out in a booth, and a lazy bartender was playing with the channel changer, yawning. The bartender looked at him for a second, sizing him up to make sure he was all right, that he needed nothing, then went back to the television.

He went into the bathroom and washed his hands, pulling out his phone to look for messages. He placed the phone back in his pocket, re-scrubbing his hands. And a sudden mental image came to him. Adam bending his wife over the kitchen counter, taking her from behind. Her face winced as she finally felt the touch of a real man while they ground together.

She deserved better. Not his life. Not him. He felt himself readying to release all that had been consumed into the bathroom sink; the slick feeling of metallic growing up from his stomach. But then another body entered the bathroom, and he quelled it all back down.

He washed his hands again, splashing water on his face then wiping it off with a paper towel, while the other man let forth a glorious stream. The drink found his hand, and he trembled it off of the porcelain counter and back out the door.