Chris's P.O.V
My manager Suzy sighs as she dries off a glass,
" It's another night with him again." I am sitting on a bar stool, when I turn my head to the right seeing one of our popular regulars. I look at him for a few seconds before, I turn my head back to face Suzy. " I'll go over and talk to him.". She gives me a not so convincing look but, goes to helping out a few customers who sit at the bar.
I get up out of the seat walking over towards him. I sit down next to him, " Hi I'm Chris. I'm one of the employees here. Look I've been well my co-workers have noticed that you are always in a grumpy mood, and you are always drunk. Is there anything you want to talk about?" He takes a sip of his tequila shot before slamming it down on the table, " No! There's nothing to discuss. Now if you can just so kindly as to go back to your little bar over there it would be appreciated." Something inside of me says there's more to his story, and normally I would've left him but this situation seems different. A few people look over at us including Suzy but, she goes back to working.
I lower my voice, " I'm not leaving you. Not until you tell me what happened. Something must've happened to you in order for you to be drunk every night." He calms down for a bit, " I have been going through a hard time. I don't even know where to begin." I listen to him, " Well for starters you can tell me your name." I manage to get a little smile out of him, " Okay my name is Eric." I smile back at him, " My name is Chris, and you don't have to tell me everything about what happened if you're not comfortable talking about it."
Eric looks around the room almost as if he's nervous someone will catch him, " Can I talk to you in a more private setting?" I could sense the nervousness in his voice, " Sure but they're no rooms here so you would have to come back to my apartment." He nods getting up from his seat as I do the same. I tell him to wait for me at the door when I walk over to Suzy. " Hey Suzy I'm going to take him back to my place. Is there anything you want me to do before I leave for the night?"
Suzy smiles, " Nope I have enough workers here to help me out if I need it. Go. I'll be fine. " I smile at her before walking back over to Eric, and hold open the door for him. When we get outside there's a couple breeze, and a few cars pass by us. I look over at Eric who luckily wasn't drunk but, was heavily thinking about something. I nudge him with my elbow leading him in the direction of where my car is parked.
We both get inside as I drive away going back home. Parking on the street I get out as Eric following behind me. Opening the main door to the apartment complex I close the door behind us. Walking up a flight of stairs, turning a few corners down a hallway I arrive at my apartment. I get my keys out of the back right pocket of my jeans.
I slip the key into the hole hearing a *click* noise. I hold the door open waiting for Eric to get inside, and close it locking the door behind me. We both take off our shoes before I lead him inside where there's a bed, a bathroom, a closet, and a kitchen that's not too big. I sit down waiting for him to sit beside me on the bed. He sighs, " I get beaten up every day by these guys who I see every morning or afternoon. They are in a gang and at some point I was supposed to be a part of it but I told them I didn't want to. The reason why they keep on beating me up is because I am gay. I try to get away from them but they somehow always end up finding me wherever I go. It's not easy being a gay person and having to deal with what I go through."
I say calmly, " Well I am not judging you at all. I think the really only best solution for this is by you staying here." He looks at me, " Are you serious?" I nod my head, " Yes, you can sleep on the couch if you want. I'll bring you a pillow and a blanket along with some medicine if you end up having a headache." He says, " You don't have to do this." I smile, " It's okay I don't mind and we can discuss this more tomorrow after you are sober."
Eric nods his head while I go get his things bringing it to him. He says, " Thank you" when I turn off the lights and lie down next to him on the bed. I look over at him when he takes the medicine drinking the glass of water before setting it down on the table. He pulls the blanket on top of him laying down on his back.
" Did you want to share the blanket? I don't want you to freeze to death." I chuckle at him, " Sure." He hands over some of the blanket, as I wrap my myself in it. We both fall asleep. The next morning I toss and turn in my sleep.
In the midst of my sleep I could faintly hear someone throwing up. I rub my eyes waking up to see Eric not next to me, so I get out of bed and walk over to the bathroom seeing him on the floor. I knock, " Hey you okay?" He nods, " Yeah I'll be fine. Could you get me some water?" I nod at him as I go back into the kitchen to get a glass with some water walking back over to the bathroom. I hand him the glass watching him take it and drink slowly before handing me the glass.
Eric wipes his mouth, " Thank you." I say, " Your welcome." I walk over to him helping him get up, walking us both back to the bed. He lays back down when I look at the time on my phone 8:40 a.m. I say, " Hey, I'm going to make us some breakfast. I'll keep it light though for you. Do you want anything in particular?"
He asks, " What do you have?" I walk over to the kitchen opening the refrigerator, " Let's see we have eggs, bacon, some left overs that I made 2 days ago, fruits, oh there's also cereal and milk." He says, " Mmm a fried egg, and a piece of bacon will be good." I smile at him, " Okay." After debating on what I should have I just decided to have cereal.
I make Eric's breakfast plating it while walking over to him. He takes the plate from me thanking me, and picks up the fork to start eating. I walk back over to the kitchen opening the cupboard taking out a cereal box, grab the milk from the fridge, a bowl, and a spoon. After pouring in the milk with the cereal I walk over to the bed to sit beside him. While eating I couldn't help but to think about what Eric told me last night.
Placing my bowl on the night stand beside me, I wait for a few minutes before asking. " Do you want to talk about last night?", " Um well I told you everything. There's really nothing more to explain. It's just a bunch of messed up shit that shouldn't happen." He sets his plate on the table laying down. " What will you do if they decide to show up here?" " Well, I will have to talk to them and try to keep you safe."
Eric laughs, " How in the world are you going to plan on keeping me safe?" I lean on my side, " You seem like the type who is good at hiding you can hide in the closet. Even though it's a bit small I'm sure you can hide well in there." He sighs, " Your right I am great at hiding." He turns to face me, " Don't you have work today?" I shake my head, " No luckily I am off today but Tuesday- Saturday I work."
He gives me a disgusted look, " Why work on the weekends?" I say, " Well look at it this way I'm not much of a party person and I have to put food on the table for myself. Pay some bills, etc." He says, " That I understand. I myself am not much of a party person." I give him a questionable look. He says, " Bars and clubs are too different things. I don't go out to dance my ass off every minute of the night. I just choose to drink." I nod, " Sounds reasonable. Oh did you want to watch a movie here keep your mind from thinking about other things."
He smirks, " Well what do you mean by other things?" I hit him lightly, " Not those things you idiot. The stuff you told me last night." He nods while laughing, " Sure. I don't mind." I sigh while getting up, " Well we could have a movie marathon today."
He smiles, " Sounds good what do you have in mind?" I walk over to grab the remote from the dresser it's sitting on. Turning it on I sign into Netflix scrolling through to put on " The Walking Dead." Eric questions, " Huh, I've never heard of it. Is it an American show?" I nod at him, " Yeah it's really good but I won't spoil it for you. The only I have to say is it's really gory. Are you okay with that?" Eric smiles, " Yeah I'm fine with that." I put it on while walking back over to the bed laying down next to him. I turn on the subtitles before the show starts.
" Wait so it's a zombie apocalypse? Woah that's cool.", " Yeah but you have to fight your way through it." " That's pretty messed up how Rick's best friend took his wife and kid. What kind of messed up shit is that?", " You'll find out what happens later on."
About 3 hours in to the show and we are already tensing up. I pause in the middle of the episode to get us something to eat and drink. I take care of the plate, bowl, and the glass. I set the bowl and glass in the sink, along with the fork, and throw away the plate. I wash the dirty dishes then dry them off putting them away.
I walk back over to the bed laying down. Eric takes a few chips eating them while watching as I try not to look at him. For some odd reason, ever since I met him I've seen him as a very attractive person. Why the hell am I thinking about him like that he's a man? I calm down myself continuing to watch the series with him.
We both finish eating as I wrap the blanket around us. As the day lingers on we talk for what feels like hours, and finish the first season of the show. Soon, night comes awfully quick as we fall asleep hoping that there won't be anymore bad days to come. Sometime in the middle of the night Eric gets a text message,
* Unknown number* " I know you are hiding my team and I will find you. You will pay trust me. Don't get too comfortable or else it will be worse then last time.🖕"