Iām going to Hell for this. I just donāt care anymore.
My life is total garbage now and itās all due to James Buchanan Barnes. Before him, I lived the American Dream.
Okay, actually rewind further back. It used to be, but then turned to shit, even before then. My boyfriend and I had been together for 5 years. Something happened (more like the pre-honeymoon phase ended) and he changed. I did everything in my good girlfriend power to keep us happy. But it took a toll on me.
Then one night it happened. I took the advice of one of my best friends and decided to have a girls night out. I got all dolled up and just as I was about to head out the door, I stood there for a good two minutes with my hand on the handle. I even cleared my throat trying to catch his attention.
Go figure; the headphones were glued to Lukeās head as always. It was the usual Saturday night routine of completely ignoring me while he kills CG soldiers in the latest Call of Duty Game. It wouldnāt be such a big deal, but lately it was all he ever did while at home and Saturday nights were the only night we had together. It didnāt matter how much I begged to even just stay in and watch a movie, invite some friends over, or do whatever he wanted.
It took him an hour to realize I had left. Thatās when I got the call.
āDamn girlā¦you werenāt joking around,ā Tessa yelled above the music in the smoke filled club.
As Carrie scooted in the booth seat, pushing the drinks down the round table towards us, she slipped a piece of paper into my hands.
āCarrie, guess who finally noticed that she was gone,ā Tessa said followed by a laugh and then sipped her martini.
āGuys, can we not right now?ā I ask as I shut my phone after getting a third unanswered call from Luke.
āOkay, okay, okay,ā Tessa said.
The girls and I had known each other for almost 20 years. We had separated for college, but swore that weād all move back to New York when we finished. And thatās exactly what happened.
Tessa was the almost annoyingly cute one who had the outlook on life that I could only ever dream of having. Meanwhile Carrie was just there. She wasnāt quite the tag along, but she was. She just went with the flow. She honestly probably would never go out if she wasnāt asked.
Then there was me. Tessa was big into the show X Files and always called me her Scully. I was the responsible one (normally) who questioned everything. So she was pleasantly surprised when Iād agreed to her idea leaving Luke for the night. It was more of a dare than anything. But there were no objections to her surprise. Itās not like it would matter. Iām still surprised it was only an hour before he called, and not a āOh, I didnāt even realized that you headed out,ā from Luke.
I took a drink from my gin and tonic and opened the piece of paper that Carrie had given me. It was some guys name illegibly scribbled with a phone number. I held it up and looked at Carrie.
Tessa snatched it out from between my fingers and looked it over, āWho is it from? Which guy?ā
Carrie pointed over to some preppy and definitely not my type of guy at the bar. Who the hell wears a too tight plaid golf shirt and skinny jeans to a club, or anywhere for that matter? Eww. I mean he definitely wasnāt unattractive by any means, but now I was almost curious as to why he was dressed like that. Maybe if I was more soberā¦
I immediately pushed Carrie out of the booth and completely ignored the comments from the girls as I walked towards this gomer.
The smirk he had on his face was priceless. I could tell before reaching him that he was going to be a cocky son of a bitch. Oh this would be fun. Now mind you, this was before I realized how much alcohol I had consumed. Hell, I still donāt think I ever realized that night at all.
āHey, baby. I see that you decided to take me up on my offer.ā
Okay I needed to have a little fun first, and all I could do was giggle. Ugh, I hate being the giggling drunk, but he seemed to like it.
āSo, you have a man?ā he asked, shooting the shot followed by a chaser.
āMaybe, maybe not,ā I proclaimed as I took the shot the bartender was about to hand to another patron, āit depends on you.ā Did I actually wink?
So anyways, we were still standing at the bar where the flirting and drinks continued on for at least another twenty minutes. Well, thatās when the truth finally came out. As he started to run his hands up the back of my legs and under my baby doll dress, he came closer and whispered, āSo, you wanna head back to my place?ā He asked, following with a white, toothy grin and wink.
āActually, I just have one question first,ā my hand ran up his chest and my index finger hooked his collar of the hideous plaid fabric.
āWhatās that, gorgeous?ā His hand slammed the empty whiskey glass down on the bar in anticipation.
āWhat compelled you to wear that outfit?ā Had it really taken me that long to come up with that? I swore I was going to conjure up something so much wittier than that.
āHaha,ā oh shit, he realized what I had just asked, āWhat did you just say?ā He snarled.
Oops. I guess he took it way more offensive than I had imagined.
His hand snaked around my neck and before I noticed what happened, he was in the middle of the dance floor behind us, laying on the ground
Some dude in a deep red leather jacket and what I later found out to be a black and gold lined vibranium arm was pummeling this asshole on the ground. All I could do was run back over to Tessa and Carrie and try to get them out of there, but all they could do was continue laughing.
āGirl, he gets what he deserved,ā Tessa started laughing again, āAs soon as I saw him wrap his hand around your neck we were just about to get you, but then metal arm there pushed us back down rushing past us,ā Carrie slapped Tessa on the arm, āOkay, maybe thatās not exactly what happened, but close enough. Oh oh oh, heās coming over!ā
Thatās when I felt the coldness of his hand lightly wrap around my arm and I quickly turned around. If it wasnāt for the distraction of seeing plaid boy, who I never actually got the name of, attempt to get up with no help from his buddies, I donāt think I could have willfully stopped staring into those gorgeous blue eyes of Buckyās.
And thatās how my knight in shining armor, James Buchanan Barnes, slayed me.