now.
âSo youâre a Virgo, huh?â The dark-haired girl was a little drunk.
âDo you know Jim Beals?â said the redhead. âHeâs in law school.â
âI donât think so. I just startedâyou ever heard of Morris and Harris? Thatâs my uncleâs firm.â
âOh, yeah, Iâve heard of them.â
âI wouldnât have thought youâd be a Virgo. I would have said Aquarius.â
Travis almost jumpedâhe
was
an Aquarius. But he just shook his head.
âThis is the first night Iâve been out since I moved to town. Any other good hangouts?â
They talked awhile longerâTravis trying to remember lawyer-type words heâd heard Ken use. The girls insisted on buying him a birthday drinkâhe went to the john when they called the waitress over. Heâd never had a margarita before, it was pretty good stuff. They kept talking. When it was time for the next round he gave them the money for it and headed off for the john again. They probably thought he was tooting up or had the worldâs weakest bladder.
He got drunk enough to make a big mistakeâhe told them about his book. The dark-haired girl had been skeptical from the first, but he and the redhead had been having fun; now he lost them both.
âOh, yeah, sure, you have a book coming out.â
And when he kept insistingâdammit, he had to tell somebodyâthey started disbelieving
everything
. He knew exactly when it dawned on them he wasnât twenty-one either. Heâd lapsed into talking like sixteen and couldnât stop it.
They finally said they were going to the ladiesâ room. Of course they had to go together. He spotted them twenty minutes later with some other guys.
So what? He found an empty chair at the back of the room, almost got into a fight over itâpeople were lurking like vultures to pounce on empty chairs.
He was in a crowd and still lonesome. It was as bad as school. He wished heâd told Casey after all, it would have been better than wasting it on those bimbos. He tried to picture Casey in this placeâ¦
âLetâs see your ID.â
Travis looked up, startled. Some guy with a beard was glaring down at him.
Travis searched his pockets.
âUh, I guess I lost it. Maybe in the john. Iâll go seeââ
The guy hauled him up by his jacket and shoved him toward the door.
The crowd had thinned out quite a bit, and Travis wondered what time it was.
âGary, did you let this kid in here?â
They paused by the doorman.
âHell, no.â
Gary followed them outside. Travis assumed he was kicked out and was ready to go anyway, but the guy still had a grip on his jacket.
âHe didnât come up through the drainpipes. Howâd you get in here?â He shook Travis like a stray cat.
âOh, you know, I walkedââ
âYou didnât walk by me, man,â Gary said.
âWho sold you drinks?â
This is getting real boring, Travis thought.
âLook, Iâm new in town, I didnât know what your drinking age is.â
âIt sure as hell ainât fifteen, man.â
âI could lose my license over this, dammit! You know what kind of money I put in this place? What kind of money I
borrowed
to put in this place?â
He was shouting at Gary but shaking Travis, who was having a hard time standing up anyway.
âWho sold you drinks?â
âNobody, really man, I brought my ownâ¦â He searched through his jacket, then vaguely remembered heâd left the empty Coke bottle on a table.
âLook, nothingâs happenedââ Gary began.
âSomethingâs happened all rightâyouâre fired.â
He finally let go of Travis and stormed back into the club. Gary and Travis stared at each other.
âAnd youâre dead meat,â Gary said, and slugged him. Travis went down on his butt, then flipped backward and cracked his head
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