Down But Not Out

Down But Not Out by OlumpusMons90

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As we enter Hawkeye's Bar in the near west side of Chicago, it's early evening on a Wednesday and we're a little thirsty for a few beers tonight.

My name is Tony Bianchi, and I'm here with my two friends, Jeremy and Lars. We all work together as paramedics for the same ambulance service here in Chicago's near west side, and it's been a busy week for us, unfortunately. But tonight, we're here as three divorced dads looking to relax with a few beers.

"Same as usual?" I ask them as they grab a table near the bar.

"Yeah, Tony. Can you grab a menu while you're up there? I might get something to eat later. I hear they make some good pizzas in this joint." Lars responds.

"We're in Little Italy Lars, every bar and restaurant around here probably make good pizzas." Jeremy laughs in response.

I return to the table with our three beers, and a menu for Lars.

"You get many jobs today, Tony? We had a few hospital runs earlier, and an OD later this afternoon that was a pain in the ass." Jeremy enquires.

"Two different car accidents this morning, just cuts and bruises, nothing major. This afternoon we had a triple fatality job, some guy drove through an intersection and cleaned up a car and two pedestrians. Tammy wanted to throttle the guy, he was tripping on something and barely hurt, but he kept whining the whole time before the cops took him away. I was surprised you guys didn't show up as well." I respond.

"Nah, we spent forever with that fucking junkie, we lost him twice on the way to Cook County too, I have no idea if he pulled through later after we got him into ER." Jeremy replies.

Both Jeremy and Lars crew the same ambulance, I share mine with Tammy. We've all been working together for about five years now, and we've all seen our marriages go under in that time too. Except for Tammy, she's still married with two young kids.

Jeremy's the eldest of us at thirty-three, he got divorced about two and a half years ago now and has three kids and lots of bills. Lars is thirty-two and the proud father of two beautiful little girls, he's more recently divorced from his ex as well, although his split was way messier than Jeremy's or mine.

As for me, I've recently turned thirty, and have two kids with my now ex-wife Eva, with Justin being my eldest at 7 years old, with Gabriella or Gabby as she like to be called, my little princess who's just turned five. I've been divorced from Eva for almost two years now, but we still get along well, for a divorced couple at least.

Our work as paramedics means that we usually work weekends, doing long shifts, and can have extremely stressful days triggering bouts of PTSD. Not very conducive to having lasting relationships, especially if your partner doesn't work in the field or understands what you're going through. Tammy's husband is a former ER doctor, and they met through work. He's still a doctor now, while he no longer works in ER he does understand what Tammy experiences and has been there himself. Me, Lars and Jeremy weren't so fortunate. It took its toll on our wives, having to deal with us and our work shifts, not to mention our somewhat random bouts of 'depression'; eventually they all wanted out. But for us three, our shared experiences of doing our job and going through our divorces have united us a bit, we now have an unspoken bond with each other.

After our first round, Lars goes up to the bar to get our second. There's a few more people coming in here now, it's starting to fill up. There's more than a few attractive twenty something women in here too, all three of us taking notice of them but most likely we won't do anything about it. It's our night to relax together, not to chase women.

Although we could all probably do with getting laid, I bet none of us have seen any action in months. Not that we'd kiss and tell anyway if we did get lucky. Yeah, maybe the three of us are a bit too jaded right now, once bitten, twice shy and all that.

By 9pm, we're enjoying our fourth round while I've been noticing a very attractive woman standing up at the bar not far from our table who I've seen look over at me a few times already, she appears to be with another women who has a boyfriend by her side. The attractive girl I'm checking out looks to be in her mid-twenties, wavy light brown hair, lovely emerald eyes and a killer smile. It's hard to tell too much about her body from here as she's wearing an oversized jacket, but she does look fit, thin at least anyway.

There's something about her though that keeps attracting my attention, like I'm drawn to her smile or something. Whatever it is, I keep checking on her as I watch a guy come over and say a few words to her, trying his luck no doubt. A few minutes later and he's on his way though, as she continues to chat with the couple she's with.

Again, not long after that, another guy is up chatting with her, she's very popular it seems. And I can see why, she's definitely one of if not the best-looking women in the now crowded bar. I'm not sure why this place is getting busier as the night goes on, as now there's not a free table anywhere with extra people standing mainly near one end of the bar.

Shortly after, a guy's voice comes over the speakers, welcoming us all to tonight's karaoke fun. I quickly look over at Jeremy, he loves this shit. He's smiling back at me; the cheeky fucker has set us up.

"You knew all along that they do karaoke here, didn't you?" I ask Jeremy while shaking my head.

"Did I forget to mention that? My bad." Jeremy replies while laughing.

He's then on his phone, busy with something before looking back up at us.

"There, I've already got my song requests on, you guys should request a few songs too." Jeremy tells us.

"Maybe I will, text me the link." Lars responds.

"How 'bout you, Tony? Tammy tells us you like to sing in the truck, maybe you should get up there and show us what you've got." Jeremy persists.

"Nah, I'm good." I respond, I'm not nearly drunk enough for me to get up on stage in front of strangers.

By the time the first patron hits the stage to start singing, I head back up to the bar to buy another round. I'm standing right beside the attractive woman I've been checking out for the last hour or so, the second guy that had been trying his best has already been shot down, I don't think I wanna be number three, so I just smile and nod at her as she looks at me for a moment, before turning my attention to the barman.

With our drinks in hand, I return to our table.

"Hey Tony, that woman up at the bar was just checking you out, she looks fantastic too." Lars informs me, motioning back to the woman I was just standing beside.

"Yeah, I've been watching her too. I've already seen her dispose of two would be suitors, I don't wanna be the third to crash and burn."

"Ah come on Tony; you'll never meet someone with that attitude." Lars replies.

"Says the guy who still bitches about his ex-wife every day." I respond with a smirk.

"Yeah, alright. But still, it's been what, two years for you now? Even your ex has since found someone new, maybe it's time you got back in the saddle."

"Leave him be, Lars. He'll be ready when he's ready. More importantly, I'm gonna show these people what a real crooner sounds like." Jeremy responds to us both.

"Ah, fuck no. Unchained Melody again, am I right?" Lars replies to Jeremy laughing to himself.

Jeremy just grins back at us both. For a divorcee, he sure likes to belt out love songs. I'm surprised when for the third singers of the night, the couple that's with the attractive woman I've been watching, both step up on stage to sing 'Ain't no mountain high enough' together. They do a good job of it too, getting a big hug from the girl I've been watching when they return back to their spot up at the bar.

Not long after it's Jeremy's turn, as he belts out his jailbird's song of longing. I always wonder if he's secretly thinking of his ex when he sings Unchained Melody, maybe he's missing her more than he lets on. As Jeremy gets a loud applause before returning to our table, I notice that the attractive woman and the couple she's with are looking over at us while chatting amongst themselves, before all three of them approach us.

"Hi guys, do you mind if we join you at your table? There's nowhere else to sit in here tonight." The cute blonde with the boyfriend asks us.

"Of course you can, the more the merrier." Jeremy exclaims as he moves the chairs for them to sit down.

We only have two free chairs however, and I quickly look around for a third at the other tables. Seeing one at the table beside us, I ask if I can have it, as I then place it beside me, for the attractive woman I've been watching to sit down.

"Thanks, I'm Allison by the way." She tells me as she takes her seat.

"I'm Tony. This is Lars and Jeremy."

"Hi guys. These two lovebirds are Samantha and William." Allison replies as we all shake hands with each other.

"Great duet by the way, you both sounded terrific." Jeremy tells the couple.

"Thanks, you were pretty good yourself. What about you two guys? Are you both singing tonight?" Sam asks Lars and me.

"Yeah, I'm doing a bit of Elvis soon. Tony here though is too shy to get up there." Lars responds with a chuckle.

"Same with Allison, although she probably has the best voice of anyone in here." William chimes in.

"Really? Maybe we should get them both to do a duet together as well." Jeremy responds while grinning over at me.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Samantha replies.

"Nah, I'm fine. I don't need to embarrass myself in front of Allison, not yet anyway." I reply.

Allison looks at me and gives me that million-dollar smile, damn she makes me feel all warm inside when she does that.

"Did you guys come here just for the karaoke?" Sam asks us.

"I did, but I didn't tell them that when I picked out this joint. They both thought we were just going out to have a few beers tonight." Jeremy replies.

"How do you guys know each other? Are you all old school buddies or something?" Sam asks further.

"Nah, we all work together, we're paramedics." Lars responds.

"Really? Do you guys work in this area?" Sam comes back with.

"Yeah. We're based not far from here. How about you guys?" Jeremy replies.

"Well, Ally and I both work together at the Rush University laboratories just up the road, William here works in ICU at Cook County Hospital."

"What is it you guys do, exactly?" Lars asks.

"We're biochemists, William is a doctor." Sam responds.

"You used to work in Emergency at Cook County, didn't you?" Lars asks William.

"Yeah, I did. I thought you guys looked familiar. I guess it's bound to happen though, meeting people that work in the field. I bet half the people in here probably work in the medical precinct down the road." William responds.

"True. Anyway, it's good to meet you all." Jeremy responds.

"Likewise." William replies as we all raise our drinks and give 'cheers' to each other.

With the music and singing going on, it's a little hard to have conversations across the table. Jeremy and Lars are soon talking with Sam and William, as Allison leans in closer to me for us to talk more.

"So, Tony. What's your story? Apart from that you're a paramedic and trying hard to avoid singing in public." Allison asks me with that wonderful smile of hers again on show.

"Umm, what do you wanna know?"

"Are you from Chicago, did you grow up around here? What made you become a paramedic?"

"Well, yes I was born and raised right here in Chicago, I played football in high school, before joining the army. After I got out, I did my EMT-P which was shorter for me as I was a Medic in the army. That was about five years ago now, I've been a paramedic with these guys ever since."

"I'm assuming a big handsome guy like you is married though, or did you leave that bit out on purpose?"

"I was married, yes. Not anymore though."

"Children?"

"Yeah, two. Jason who's seven, and Gabby who's five now." I reply as I reach for my phone and show her my front screen, which displays a photo of my two kids.

"Oh, they're both gorgeous. Do you get to see them much? I'm assuming you're divorced now, you don't have a ring on."

"Yeah, I'm divorced. All three of us here are divorced dads, we have that in common too. But yeah, I get to have my kids every Sunday, my ex-wife and I get along fine, she's never made it difficult for me to see them which I've been thankful for."

"That's good. My parent's divorced when I was young, I think me and my brother were used by mom a bit to make my dad pay for cheating on her, it's not good for kids to be put in that position." Allison responds.

"For sure. So how about you? What's your story in thirty seconds or less?" I reply with a smile of my own.

"Well, let's see. I was born in Green Bay, we moved around Wisconsin quite a bit growing up as my dad was a Sales Rep for a few different companies. He was always off somewhere, and usually with someone, apparently. When my parents split, we lived in Madison when I was in high school, but then I went to college here in Chicago. I got a job where I am now and have been living in this area since I started college, for the good part of a decade now."

"Okay, do you have your own place?"

"I'm renting with Sam; we've been sharing an apartment together for the last twelve months."

"So now I'll ask, that a beautiful woman like you, surely your married too, or have been."

"No, and I'm not even divorced. No kids either. I was engaged though, but that's with someone I'd rather not talk about right now."

I nod back at Allison, as Jeremy taps my shoulder.

"Another one?" He asks me.

"Yeah, sure." I tell Jeremy.

"Do you want a drink too?" I ask Allison.

"No thanks, I have to work in the morning still." Allison responds.

After Jeremy returns with our drinks, it's Lars's time to shine as he gets up on stage and sings 'Blue Suede Shoes' for the crowd. Allison is on her phone before leaning over beside me again.

"Maybe we should get up there and do that duet, Tony. Could I convince you to sing with me if we did? Something a bit newer perhaps? Can you rap at all?" Allison asks me while smiling.

"Do I look Gangsta?" I chuckle in response.

"Maybe not. What about something a bit older then?" As Allison starts to scroll through the songs available.

"How about 'The Sound of Silence'? I'll do the Garfunkel part." Allison asks me.

"Nah. That's a bit too slow and dramatic for this crowd."

"Well, there's also 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart' by Elton and Kiki Dee. Do you know that one?"

"Yeah, but my voice isn't high enough for Elton's part." I respond.

"Okay, oh, I know. Sonny and Cher's 'I got You Babe.' You can sing that one, surely." Allison says excitedly.

"Alright, yeah we can do that one." I reply as Allison places the request on before smiling back up at me again.

We all continue to chat with each other over the next hour or so, before our song finally comes up. Allison then takes my hand as she leads me up to the stage, where we sing 'I Got You Babe' with the crowd joining in too. It's a lot of fun, more fun than I thought it would be. Now I get why Jeremy loves this so much, although I'll need to down at least a few beers again before I'll attempt it next time.

As our song ends, Allison leans over and kisses my cheek to cheers from the crowd. This time it's me that takes her by the hand as we make our way back to our table.

"I knew it, I knew you guys would make a wonderful duet together. Although I think Allison was holding back a little. She's got a hell of a voice by the sounds of it." Jeremy announces to the table as Allison and I take our seats once again.

"Yeah, you should hear her cover Whitney or Mariah. Ally's got pipes on her for sure." Sam adds in.

"Tony did a wonderful Sonny too by the way." Allison adds as I realize that we're still holding hands under the table.

"Yeah, but just like Tony, Sonny couldn't sing either." Lars chimes in as everyone at our table laughs.

"Thanks Lars, I can always count on my friends for support." I laugh back.

"Absolutely, what are friends for?" Lars replies.

"Well, I'll happily sing with you anytime, Tony." Allison replies as she again gives me that wonderful smile of hers.

"Yeah, and we all know why. You haven't stopped batting your eyes at Tony since we got here." Samantha replies to her best friend as Allison looks back somewhat embarrassed.

"Was that before or after Tony started checking her out earlier when you guys were still up at the bar? I think there might be something in the air tonight." Jeremy adds in.

"Alright, enough the lot of you. Can we all just get back to having some fun?" I say, quickly trying to change the subject.

As the rest continue to chat amongst themselves, Allison again leans in towards me to speak.

"Is it true? Were you checking me out earlier?" She almost whispers to me through her smile.

"Yeah, you're gorgeous. You can't blame a guy for noticing that. I did watch on though as two other guys tried their luck with you before. I didn't wanna say anything to you earlier because I didn't want to be the third to fail."

"Well, they failed partly because I was already interested in you, but also because they were sounding way too desperate. If guys come up to me with stupid pick-up lines, they'll always be sent on their way." Allison chuckles to herself.

"You can't blame them for trying, you're very attractive. Maybe they should keep the pick-up lines for when they're in the clubs later where everyone is looking to hook-up."

"Maybe, or maybe they should just try to talk with women that they like as if we're anyone else. They'll probably get a lot further that way."

"Ah, you've figured out my secret game plan then?" I laugh back at Allison.

"What game plan? I was the one that had to approach you, remember?"

"Yeah, you did actually. Did you guys join us just so that you could talk with me?"

"Maybe, but also my feet were getting sore standing up the entire time. These shoes aren't very comfortable, and you had room at your table."

"So, your feet or me, which one was it?" I prod further while smiling at Allison.

"Alright, maybe it was you. But don't get ahead of yourself, I'm still expecting you to be a gentleman."

"Of course. But does that mean my prospects of getting a date with you are good, then?"

"I don't know. Why don't you ask me?"

"Allison, would you like to go on a date with me?"

"No way!" Allison responds before bursting out laughing.

She does squeeze my hand a little tighter before looking back at me with her beaming smile.

"Yes, I'd very much like to go out on a date with you Tony. Anytime."

"How about on Monday evening? Maybe I can take you somewhere to eat, just the two of us."

"Monday? What's wrong with this weekend?" Allison asks me softly.

"Sorry, I'm working Friday and Saturday nights and I'll have my two kids on Sunday."

Allison nods back to me, before answering.

"Okay then, Monday night it is. Here, enter your number for me." As she hands me her phone, an action that has not gone unnoticed by Sam sitting across from us.

I then unlock my phone, and hand it to Allison as she enters her number as well. I look up and see Samantha smiling at me with a slight nod, she seems happy that Allison might have met someone she likes.

Jeremy was able to get a second song in before we all decided to call it a night, both Sam and Allison have to start work early in the morning, I'm off tomorrow but Lars and Jeremy have a shift starting at lunchtime.

As we all walk out of the bar, I'm once again holding Allison's hand as we enter into the cool night's air. As Sam informs Allison that they have an Uber on the way, I quickly turn to Allison to have a few quiet words before they leave.