Read Online Steel & Ice by Emily Eck - Free Book Online

Elle. TMI. Well, your
friend is cool as fuck and bought us another round and shots. He
said to tell you he would find you later after he finished some
business.”
    Business. Hmmm.
    ******
    I was half way through my next beer, and a
little tipsy from the shots when Larry arrived.
    “ Fuckin’ A, it’s a mad house
over there. I had to beg Aaron to let me go, even though it was
forty-five minutes past the end of my shift. I need a shot and a
beer and a bowl and a smoke, in that order. Oh, and Aaron said
‘Here’s a nugg. Now buck the fuck up’. Whatever that means.” Larry
shook his head and handed me some very fine nuggs of light green
sticky icky icky in the cellophane from his cigarette pack. I would
have to thank Aaron later.
    “ What can I getchya?” the
bus boy from before came up to the table and asked.
    “ Whatever beer they are
drinking, three shots of Jack,” Larry started.
    “ Don Julio for me. Larry,
you know I don’t fuck with the brown liquors.”
    “ Whatever. Their beers, two
shots of jack, a shot of what she said, and an MGD,” Larry told the
bus boy. “When did Checks get table service?”
    I shrugged. Jesse was staring at some girl
bent over a pool table making a shot. “So Larry? Barely skated
outta there, ay?”
    “ This was the worst Black
Friday I have EVER seen!” Larry thundered, taking his hat off, and
running his hands though his sweaty hair. The three of us must be a
sight, or smell as it was, in our Applebee’s uniforms.
    “ Larry, you say that every
year,” I scoffed. Our drinks came, and Larry pulled out his
wallet.
    “ It’s taken care of,” the
bus boy told us.
    “ By who?” I asked. The bar
was at capacity, and we had a bus boy bringing us free
drinks?
    “ J,” the boy said, shrugging
as if it was nothing big. “He said you guys were taken care of for
the night and to get you whatever you want.”
    “ Well fuck man, we’re gonna
step out. Bring another round when you see us come back in,” Larry
told the bus boy, handing him a $10 tip.
    “ No problem. Thanks, but J
covered the tip too. I’m taken care of.”
    Before Larry could say anything more, I
raised my shot glass and yelled, “To free drinks, mutha fuckas!!”
We slammed our shots back.
    “ Hell yeah!” Larry
yelled.
    We took our beers outside, and snuck into
the Monte Carlo with them. The parking lot was packed with folks I
assumed were drinking off their own Black Friday stress. We smoked
the nuggs Aaron had generously provided. I sprayed us down with
“girly spray” (Larry’s words) and we went back to the patio with
our beers to smoke a cigarette.
    “ Elle won’t play me in pool.
You interested?” Jesse asked Larry as we walked back
inside.
    “ Looks like our table’s
still open, and there’s a pool table open beside it. Have at it
boys,” I told them sitting down at the empty table, and making sure
my hat covered my eyes. Jesse racked the balls, and Larry came to
sit with me as the bus boy brought another round.
    “ Toast?”
    “ Sure, but keep this up and
both our cars are going to be here in the morning,” I told
Larry.
    He gave me a devilish grin. “Jesse, get your
ass over here.”
    “ Shots. Yesssss!” Jesse was
easy to please.
    Larry made devil’s horns with his free hand
and yelled, “ROCK AND ROLL!” We threw our shots back like it was
1985, and apparently we were at a Mötley Crüe concert.
    “ Either of you got singles
for a ten? I wanna play some songs,” I asked the guys, holding my
bill out. They each threw a hand full of singles on the table and
waved away my ten. “Make sure no one takes the table?”
    “ Yeah, but you better play
some songs with electric guitars and not beat machines.” Larry
winked at me.
    “ I got your electric
guitars, Larry,” I countered with an eye roll.
    I leaned up against the juke box. If I was
going to listen to rock music, I was going to choose the shit I
liked, which as previously established would be classic rock or