Swallowing hard, Shane forced her eyes to fall on Alice‘s perfect slightly upturned nose.  What she wouldn’t give to be allowed to kiss the nose.  What am I thinking…stop it, you’re turning in to a weak person.  Get your ***** together McCutcheon before you hurt her.  “Look Al…I have to go back to work.”  She wrenched herself away from the warm comfort of the blonde’s hands.  “I haven’t found a roommate yet, so I’ll be there later tonight.”  Turning on her heels she left the room and briskly walked by her two other friends giving them each a slight nod and mouthing the word “work”, before she left the hospital for good.

She was unsure of where exactly she was headed; she just knew that she had to get out of there before she did something she couldn’t take back.  It would be just like her to cause emotional pain to one of the only people on this earth that seemed to care that she was alive.  “I need a drink.”  Finding the first bar she came to, she plopped herself in a stool and waited to be served.

“I need to see some I.D.” 

Shane looked up to see an older black man smiling at her.  His brown eyes seemed to be twinkling with knowledge and wonder.  Still the teen had been in many similar situations when it came to getting a drink, so she began to make up an excuse.  Rubbing her hands over her pockets and checking her parcel she began to act flustered and scared.  “My licenseoh my God where is my license”  Laying it on thick she dumped the contents of her pockets on the counter.  “I just had it”  She looked up into the amused man’s face and continued her spiel.  “You wouldn’t believe the day I hadand now this.”

The old bartender continued to grin at the antics of the young woman before him.  He gets a hundred teenagers in a month trying similar tactics to get served.  On a normal day he would ask her to leave but for some unknown reason he felt this girl needed a drink and possibly someone to listen to them.  “Well I would hate to add to your bad day, so what will it beon the house.”