Getting a Life Ch. 07

"What better way to celebrate your job right?"

"You mean what better way to help me make an idiot of myself." She retorted as they went through the doors of the bar. She had to admit though, it looked classy enough. The place wasn't filled up with loud, unruly drunkards, perhaps because there were no games on tonight. Then again, this was an upscale bar, she doubted they catered to neanderthals.

Linda shrugged, "I'm not asking you to clear the bar Selly, just let loose a little. You're going to be walking stiff and acting 'proper' from Monday, so just celebrate with some wild fun."

"You're so lucky neither of us drove over here." She muttered. They had taken a cab, Selly had been suspicious at that because whenever Lin didn't want to drive, she usually got Chuks to drive her...or rather, Chuks insisted, he didn't trust her enough to be safe on her own and it was justified. If Chuks knew Linda was taking Selly to a bar, he would never have driven them, he would have made sure they had fun within the confines of the house where he could see them.

Sometimes Selly felt like Chuks took his role as 'big brother' to her a little too seriously, and it most likely had a lot to do with Chuka's death. It unsettled her a little to think he was being this protective because he felt he owed it to his brother.

"Just 2 drinks Selly, that's all you'll have to take...and maybe a little flirting." She added as she winked at some guy that was staring at her like he had never seen a female.

Selly scoffed and rolled her eyes, oh, this was going to be a long night. She had forgotten how much of an unrepentant flirt Linda was, she just loved to tease men.

"Fine. Two drinks." Selly said with finality.

*****

2 hours and four bloody marys later, Selly was feeling more than a little light-headed. She hadn't meant to drink so much, but there was something eerily familiar about the tall, light-skinned man at the other end of the bar that wouldn't take his eyes off her that made her feel uneasy, so much so she needed those drinks.

The man had been staring for quite a while, she noticed because everytime she checked to see if he was still there, she found those light brown eyes staring at her with an intensity that shook her to the core- and not in a good way.

She looked around for any signs of Linda and sure enough, she saw her at the other side of the bar with some dude that oddly enough, almost resembled Chuks, she seemed to be making the most of this girls' night out as she shared a laugh with the guy. Yep, this was definitely Linda's forte...

"Hello."

Selly almost jumped at the sound of the baritone voice, she turned swiftly to see...HIM. Up close, he looked much better with his million watt smile, like some GQ model, he was tall and lean, a physique that agreed with the maroon blazer he had on over an ash-colored dress-shirt and black jeans.

As much as this man, who only seconds ago, had been staring at her from across the room looked good enough to eat, she couldn't shake this eery vibe she got from him, "Hi." She replied drily, just before she sought her drink for some more liquid courage.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked in that smooth baritone that reminded her of Robin Thicke.

She shrugged non-chalantly, "Suit yourself." There was absolutely no need to entertain him. Maybe if she gave him the cold shoulder long enough, he'd get the point and move on

He slipped into the barstool in a heartbeat, apparently refusing to be fazed by her cold demeanor, "My name's Daniel, yours?"

Selly took her time before answering, "Ellie." She replied, unwilling to disclose her real name.

"Ellie, like Eleanor?"

She gave a tight smile, "Yes."

He nodded, "Okay. You've been sitting alone for a while, just thought I'd come keep you company. No boyfriend?"

Well, he certainly didn't waste time getting to the crux of the matter. Unfortunately, she wasn't a fan of straightforward men, some things were better soaked in caramel before they were presented, "Girls night out." She replied.

He looked around apparently looking for whoever she had tagged along with, "Where are your friends?"

"One friend, she's occupied." She replied unwilling to specify who exactly she was talking about, she doubted it was smart exposing Linda's identity.

He raised a brow and gave an "Oh.", a mischievous smile dancing on his lips.

She could only imagine what he assumed she meant by being 'occupied'...not that it was any of her business, she didn't care what he thought. She took her drink and downed the rest of the glass. What time was it any way? She had had enough of this outing, she just wanted to go home and re-acquaint herself with her bed.

"Mind if I buy you another drink?" He offered.

She looked at the cup in front of her like she expected it to give her a clue on her reply. This was her fifth cup, the fact that she was yet to throw up was a miracle in it's self, her maximum was usually 3 cups, she didn't want to test the endurance of her kidney, especially when she was sitting next to some weird guy.

"Actually I..." The words got stuck in her throat as she looked toward the entrance and saw Chuks with a couple of guys...her eyes bulged out, if he saw her...no, if he saw them, they'd both be screwed.

"You what? Are you okay?" She heard Daniel say.

She shook her head, her eyes still trained on Chuks, she had to get Linda, it was time to leave. Just as the thought crossed her mind, his gaze fell on her, she whipped her head away, but not fast enough to miss his smile wipe off his face. She grabbed her handbag, maybe they could leave fast enough and avoid him, he could peg it as a figment of his imagination.

"I'm sorry, I have to go." She said to Daniel as she got off the stool and made her way towards Linda, ignoring Daniel's questions.

Linda seemed to be having fun with her new found friend, Selly saw her throw her head back in laughter at some story he was telling her, she almost felt bad that she'd have to break up the conversation, but it was better than having Chuks break it up. She shivered at the thought, unlike his older brother, Selly was aware of Chuks' possessiveness, he would throw a huge fit if he saw Linda with another man.

"Lin, we gotta go." Selly said as she grabbed Linda's hand.

"Hey, Selly, meet Ron..he's a comedian" Linda introduced.

Ron turned to her with a grin that showed off an impressive set of white teeth, "Hi, I've heard quite a bit about you Selly."

She nodded, "Nice to meet you too." She returned her attention to Linda, "Lin, we gotta go." Selly said, her tone urgent. She looked puzzeled, which was expected, but Selly wasn't patient enough to explain what to Linda right now.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Linda we gotta go now, it's..."

"What are both of you doing here?" The very familiar voice cut through their conversation and made Selly go still. She closed her eyes and sighed deeply, well, if all else failed, she could always blame it all on Linda.

The look on Linda's face was enough evidence to show that she was probably thinking along the same line, her eyes darted to Ron who was looking from Chuks to both women in obvious confusion.

"Hello, I'm Ron." Ron said, stretching out his hand for a shake.

Chuks looked from Ron's outstretched hand, to Linda who was avoiding his gaze and back to the hand before taking it in a firm grip, "Chuks." He replied as he shook him, he gripped Ron's hand tighter, making him wince just a little before he released him.

Ron was glad to have his hand back, he flexed his fingers to be sure he could still feel them, his smile unwavering, "It's nice to meet you."

"The feeling is mutual." Chuks replied before turning his attention to the two erring women, "If you don't mind, I'll have to steal these beautiful women from you." He said, his voice much more cheerful than Linda and Selly knew he currently was.

Ron's face registered realisation as he turned to both women, "Sure, of course. Take them away."

"Alright ladies, let's go home." Chuks replied with a straight face.

"What about your frie..."

"Let's go. Now." Linda's valiant effort at postponing the on-coming verbal tirade was shot down with those words. Chuks turned around, went to his friends and bid them farewell, the two men he was talking to looked towards Selly and Linda as if to confirm Chuks' reason for leaving before they shook him. He turned to them, seeing them rooted in the same position, he swung his head toward the door as if to remind them that they were leaving just before he walked out.

Linda and Selly exchanged looks of dread briefly, they made their way towards the door, knowing they were done for. Selly grabbed Linda's hand just before they reached the door forcing Linda's attention.

"Lin, I just want you to know that when we get back, I'm totally throwing you under the bus." She said, her tone dead serious. She had seen how bad Chuks could get in a mouth off, suffice it to say he wasn't lacking as far as arsenals in a verbal beat down went and she wasn't willing to receive any of that, especially knowing she had been reluctant to come here.

*****

The tirade was taking an uncomfortable amount of time to be unleashed.

Linda stared at Chuks' broad back as he busied himself with baking chocolate chip cookies, it was almost midnight when they returned, yet the first thing he did once he got into the house was wash his hands and get out ingredients for cookies and from the amount of flour he had used, it was safe to say Miley and Rory- the neighbbour's kids, would have enough chocolate chip cookies for an entire week.

Where did that leave her?

In a deep mess. Whenever he had to bake this late, it always meant that he was trying to bottle up his anger and she of all people knew the longer that anger remained bottled up, the worse his eventual explosion would get once it was uncorked.

He had dropped off Selly with a goodnight, which meant that she would be taking all of the reprimanding . Selly always got off the hook with him. He treated her like his baby sister and poor Linda was treated like the erring older sister who knew better than to take innocent Selly to bad places. It definitely was good to be Selly

She let out a dramatic sigh, one of many she had been releasing the past 1 hour to draw his attention, once again, he went on like he was the only one in the house, totally ignoring her. She bit her tongue to stop herself from letting out a scream of frustration. It was bad enough that he had withdrawn himself since he told her he was in love with her, now it would probably get worse. That thought scared her just a little. She needed to remedy this situation fast.

"Chuks." She called softly. No reply. "Chuks." Again, he ignored her, she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth before trying again, "Chuksy."

His lack of response pushed her to move toward him, she slowly wrapped her arms around his torso and laid her head on his chest, effectively ending his movement.

"What is it Linda? I'm busy."

She cringed inwardly at the edge in his voice, "I'm sorry." She sealed her apology with a kiss on his clothed back.

He moved out of her reach and went to the sink leaving her standing at the counter as he washed his hands, "Chuks..."

"Ron? Really? Is that supposed to be my replacement? Not even a Jake or a Ryan, Ron." He scoffed as he shook his head, "And what was up with that weird smile he had on? What is he? One of those Disney junior actors? Maybe the latest cast on Imagination Movers..." He snorted, "Ron....a ton of macho guys at the bar and you pick some weirdo." He shook his head

Linda fought a smile as she listened to Chuks diss Ron, so he was just jealous. He didn't even care that they had gone to a bar without informing him, this wasn't about Selly. It was all her. She stopped herself from doing the maccarena in his presence, but in her head, it was going down

"We were just talking Chuks."

"Well he was certainly getting comfortable."

"Would you have preferred I chose a macho man? Maybe one who's over 6ft tall, broad shoulders, nice toned arms..."

"Cut the crap Lin! I would've preferred if you didn't go to a bar at all. Do you know the kind of predators in such places? For all you know whimsical Ronnie might be some psychopath who picks women up from bars and locks them up in his basement to have his way with them just before he sends them to the afterlife. I won't even talk about the smooth operator Selly was having a chat with."

"Well thank you for suddenly giving a shit about what happens to me. With the way you've been acting, I thought you were all set to move out." She shot back. She didn't particularly fancy being chided like a child.