ARIANNA

I’m sitting here in my office for the 17th day in a row. I’m planning jobs for my men, small ones of course. I’m holding the big ones for James when he gets back if he ever comes back. He does not think I can handle the big ones by myself very well right now, and even though I believe he is full of it, I am okay with it because I do not have any desire to go out right now.

So, here I am in my office putting things together when I get a call. “What do you need?” I answer it.

“You need to find a happier way to greet people.” I hear Chase tell me, unsure of what he wants to say.

“Then I suggest you find another way to annoy me, maybe a different way to get a hold of me.”

“Well you banished me and Tabbetha and you don’t come home and you ignore your cell phone.” He points out.

“I am well aware of what I do and don’t do. Is there a point coming up soon?” I ask him.

“We miss you. Tabbetha is a wreck and we just want you to come home. We promise no talk of Justin, your work, or anything. We can stick to the weather if you want.” He tries hard.

“I can’t. I’m busy and James is out of town, so I need to get all of this done.” I try to hard not to tell him I am not going because I would rather have all my limbs ripped from my body then go out with them, but still trying to be nice.

“You have men that could help, plus it’s just for one night. We can go to the karaoke bar we all love.” He is desperately trying to persuade me now.

I am quiet for a few minutes. I cannot help but think it over. I can use a night out, but do I really want to take my friend’s word for it and believe that work and Justin will not be brought up. Then again if I drink enough, which I plan on doing, I can ignore them and enjoy some good, or bad, karaoke.

“Arianna?”

“Fine,” I sigh, “I’ll go, but you must tell that girlfriend of yours not to get too excited and no Justin talk and no work discussions. We just go and listen to the music and drink.”

“Okay. I’ll tell her and we’ll see you tonight. Meet here or at the bar?”

“I’ll meet you at the house at nine.” I answer him. I will be driving, so I can leave anytime the annoyance gets to be too much.

“Alrighty then. Nine it is. See you then.”

I hang up and find myself unable to focus on paperwork any longer. I decide to head to the training room and get one of my men to work out with me. He is nice enough to throw on some padding to let me hit and kick at him. Well, he wasn’t going to put the padding on at first until I informed him I am a bit frustrated and reminded him of James’s face when we finished fighting. I got several got hits in, but it is obvious that for some reason my mind is not completely in it. Matthew is able to knock me off my feet a few times, and that is not common. I train my men well, but I also know all of their power moves. After a couple of hours, I see that my frustration is not going anywhere with my men being able to knock me off my feet.

“Maybe you just need to get rid of your frustration in a way that works pretty much every time.” Matthew suggests raising his eyebrows.

“And what do you suggest, Smartie Pants?” I ask, fully aware of what his suggestion is going to be.

“Sex. You get a work out and if you have control in the situation, you can definitely work out some frustrations. If you don’t work out your frustrations, you can definitely work off some steam.” He tells me with a smirk of a smile.

“Matthew, I appreciate the suggestion and the workout, but I am not going to be working out any frustrations or steam with you, doll.”

“I figured that much. I guess a man can hope and dream, huh? Besides, James isn’t here so it’s almost like my chances go up. Or so I thought.” He laughs at himself.

I just roll my eyes. “I’m flattered, but James wouldn’t be getting any either even if he were here.” I inform him. “I’ll let you in on a not so big secret. When if comes to him and me, James is a lot of talk. He hasn’t gotten any from me in quite some time.” I just shake my head and walk away. “Go out and get yourself a girlfriend, Sweetie. You’re good looking, so it shouldn’t be hard.” I holler back to him as I leave the room to make my way to my room.

I sit around in my room and apparently visit a far away land where things are much easier for me, because before I know it, it is 7:30. I go shower and get dressed. I decide to look hot tonight, so I pick a pair of tight fitting jeans that make my ass look amazing and a strapless green and white striped shirt that compliments my slim and fit figure while showing that I do have a chest. I may not be huge but proportioned to my body, they are big enough in my opinion. I straighten my hair and put a little makeup on and grab a pair of black heels and head out.

On my way out of the door, Charles stops me. “You’re looking fine. Where you planning on going?”

“I’m going out to the bar with Tabbetha and Chase.” I answer him trying not to roll my eyes.

“Ah, I see. They annoyed you enough to make you give in” He laughs at me.

“Whatever. I’m going out, and I’m sure I’ll be coming back here for the night. If James calls, tell him I would appreciate it if he would inform me if he is planning on coming back or not.” I tell him with a tone full of sarcasm. “If anything happens and you need me, call me.”

It is just before nine now, and I jump in my car and speed off. I arrive at my house a little after nine. I walk into the house and see Tabbetha and Chase sitting on the couch. They jump up as soon as I walk in.

“Anxious much?”

They do not answer me. They just walk over to me, and Tabebtha gives me a hug. I shrug her off as I give Chase a though-I-told-you look. “That’s enough of that.” I say as I turn to leave.

They follow me and we pile into my car and I drive us to the bar. It is silent the whole way there. I can tell my friends are scared to talk to me, afraid of how I will react. I do not blame them. I am actually okay with it though because that means they will not bother me.

We get to the bar and I pull up to the front of the bar where a valet is standing. I get out and give my keys to one of the boys, who looks extremely excited to drive my car. “If there’s so much as a scratch, dent, or anything on this car that I do not see now when I get it back, you will regret it. I will literally take it out of your hide. You’re not a huge guy, so I’d hate to have to take it all.” I tell him as I smile sweetly at him.

His smile is gone instantly. “Y-yes, ma-ma’am.” He stutters and gets in my car and slowly moves it.

I meet Chase and Tabbetha at the door. “I cannot believe you just scared that kid like that. He’s here trying to make money and you probably just made him pee his pants.” Chase says laughing.

“What? That’s an expensive car.” I say as if that should explain everything. “He would not be able to pay for the damage, so it’s better that he doesn’t risk it. He’ll be okay. Someone else will come along with a cool car for him to speed around in.” I shrug as we walk in.

We walk in and I make a point to wave over to the bartender as we go find us a table. We find a nice one that is off to the side but not too far away from the stage. As soon as we sit down, a girl walks over holding a tray with 3 drinks on it.

“Bartender says these are for you.” She tells us as she sits a fruity drink in front of Tabbetha, a beer in front of Chase, and double shot of Jack Daniels in front of me.

The bartender read my mood well with my straight whiskey. I look back at him and wave my thanks with a smile to him. He smiles back and then focuses back on the customers in front of him. He is hot too. Maybe I’ll take Matthew’s suggestion and use the bartender with some unwanted frustrations and stress. Plus, if I remember correctly, he is pretty good in bed, so it wouldn’t hurt my feelings.

“So, Arianna,” Tabbetha starts nervously, gaining my attention back, “how’s work?”

I sigh, but hopes this does not lead where I think it will. “Pretty boring. I haven’t really left the office in a couple of weeks. Setting up meetings and all,” I nonchalantly answer as if it were a regular job. I see this eases her tension a little.

“I’m sorry it’s so boring. Maybe work will pick up soon or maybe you can quit and become a minimum wage bum that gets paid to do something legal.” She tells me with a little laugh because she knows that will not happen.

“Bottoms up,” I reply as I down my drink and wave over to the bartender to have another one sent over.

“Seems like your ‘boring week’ is equal to a bad one.” Chase takes a drink of his beer.

I just shrug and turn my attention to the stage where some girl is trying to sing a Christina Aguilera song. I am sure she thinks she is fabulous but she is not. She is followed by some guy who sings ‘Vanilla Ice’ who is joined by everyone in the bar.

~*~

I am four drinks down and starting to feel good.

“You plan on slowing it down before we have to take you to the hospital for poisoning?” Chase jokes a little.

“Nah, no fun in that.” Plus I am sure I need to have this alcohol to handle another bad version of ‘I will Always Love You’ by Whitney Houston. This song annoys me because there is always at least one person a night that sings this song to their significant other as a love song, but it isn’t really. It’s her way of saying ‘I love you, but I can’t be with you.’ People need to make sure they know what they are singing before they do so.

Between and during the songs, we talk and joke around a little, almost like we used to. Another drink and they are begging me to get up there and sing myself. “You two are full of shit. I am not getting up there.” I laugh at the thought.

“You so should” Chase pushes laughing. He’s pretty tipsy himself. He’s had 4 beers and then I made him switch to whiskey with me.

“No, besides what in the hell would I sing.”

“I’m sure you can come up with something.” Chase answers.

“Absolutely not.” I say with no room for negotiation.

One more drink, Drink #6, and sure enough the DJ is introducing me. “You two owe me,” I say pointing to the shits as the music starts.

I chose ‘So What?’ by Pink. I start to bob my head and I start to sing it. I replace ‘husband’ with ‘boyfriend’ and Chase and Tabbetha laugh at this. I rock it out if I do say so myself. I cannot believe I got up there, but it was fun. When the song finishes up, I hand the microphone back to the DJ and I receive a loud round of applause from the bar. I laugh and take a bow.

I stumble a little on my way back to my table, but make it back without a major fall. I grab Chase’s drink and take a small swig and cringe a little when it burns on the way down.

“That was great, girl,” Tabbetha praises.

I smirk and get another drink. This one will be my last I am definitely feeling the alcohol. I slowly sip this last drink. I turn away from the stage as some guy gets up to sing some country song.

We sit there quietly as a few more people sing their drunken songs. I look at the clock on the wall and realize that it has gotten a lot later than I thought. It is almost closing time, and I am pretty sure they’re about to make the last call, which is okay with me. I’m almost ready to go sleep this off and pray the hangover isn’t unbearable.

I take another sip and then look at my friends across the table who are watching whoever is on stage butchering a Journey song. “You guys are great. Thanks for making me come out.” I say to them with a slight smile.

They both turn to me and smile. “No problem. We’re glad you actually agreed to come out.” Tabbetha said smiling.

I hear the DJ announce the last singer for the night, so I know this night is almost over. “I’m really sorry about…” I trail off as I notice neither one of them are paying attention to me. They are staring behind me with a look of disbelief. “What the hell are you two staring at?” I ask but before I can get an answer or even turn to look for myself I hear the person on stage talk.

“I’m hear tonight because someone I care about deeply is here. She saved me at one point and I was too damn blind and selfish to see it myself. I walked away and I am here tonight to ask her to forgive me and take me back. I’m doing it this way because she once told me that karaoke is a great way to relay a message. Now I may be able to sing but I don’t know about this. I hope it isn’t too bad.” He announces before the music starts.

I still have not turned around to look at him yet. I am pretty much frozen in my seat. I see Tabbetha staring at him, wide eyed and she covers her mouth with her hands. I almost see her smile and her eyes water a little. I look over to Chase who looks at me. He gives me a look to tell me that he is will be here for me. I sigh and then take a deep breath before I turn around to look at him.

Justin Timberlake, the one and only, is on the stage dressed casually. He’s in loose fitting jeans, a dark gray t-shirt that fits a little tight, and a cap on his head. He is singing ‘I’m Sorry’ by Tyrese. He is definitely not sounding great which almost makes me smile.  I see flashes going off around the stage. I am sure that people know who he is, and the news story will be out tomorrow about Justin trying to woo his girlfriend back.

This gets me thinking. Why did he come back? How did he know where I was? Was this all part some plan by Tabbetha and Chase that goes along with me coming out tonight. Here I am feeling like things were getting back to normal. We were having fun and now I am too damn drunk to drive myself home. This is all part of their damn sneaky plan. I knew there was something more to just wanting to hang out with me. I can’t even focus on what Justin is singing.

It isn’t long before he is finished singing and he gets a roaring round of applause. As girls all stop him along his path to our table, I take this time to turn to my friends. I see the smiles fade fast as my glare hits them full force.

“I can not believe you two would stoop so damn low. You promised me tonight was not to be about work or Justin.” I say to Chase as my voice rises. “I cannot believe I fell for it. I knew there was something behind this other than just wanting to hang out.” I get up and throw money on the table. “This should cover the tab for all three.”

“Arianna, I promise we didn’t know anything about this. We had no idea he was in town or how he even knew we’d be here.” Tabbetha yells out desperately to me as I start to walk away.

I just shake my head and walk away. I walk right past Justin, who tries to get my attention. I ignore him and keep walking. I hear him try to push his way through the crowd after me. I can’t stop. This was supposed to be my fun, forget all, safe night. It was all just a setup to get me to fall back into my weak self. I will not fall for this. I get outside and feel a cool breeze hit my face as soon as I walk out the door. I close my eyes and try to focus.

I walk over to the valet podium and before I say anything, the young guy grabs my keys. He remembers me. Good. This will take shorter time than I thought. I wait to get my car back and to get away from all the feelings that are flooding back, the feelings that I had just drank away twenty minutes ago.