Ness was sat at her usual table; out of the way but still able to see what went on in the bar; nobody tried to get her to join in anymore, not that they had ever tried very hard, but she had always said no, and they had moved on to easier tasks. She knew all of them standing around the bar, had known them for over a decade but she had never really gotten close to any of them.
The reason for her continued self-imposed distance had just arrived and Ness swallowed hard, it never got easier to look at him, he never got uglier; she raised her glass to her lips and glanced his way again, his arm was carelessly draped around the shoulders of a leggy blonde girl who looked like she only left school a couple of months before, he was laughing at something, the way his eyes crinkled as he did so caused a muscle spasm in her heart; draining her glass in one Ness shook her head, she was hopeless, it was hopeless but she had decided long ago that seeing him, even with other girls, was better than not seeing him at all.
"God you really are pathetic, Ness." She muttered to herself as she walked the short distance to the bar to get a refill.
"Same again Nessie?" Jon the barman asked, removing the dirty glass and hovering by the racks of clean ones,
"Of course, Jon, why change the habits of a lifetime?" Ness grinned; a deep laugh nearby startled her, and she turned to see that Zach had moved along the bar in her direction and had heard the interchange between her and Jon.
"Evening Zach, who's the blonde?" She asked, proud of how steady her voice was despite his closeness.
"You know me, Ness, I haven't a clue what her name is..." He winked at her and handed money over as Jon put her glass of whiskey down. "I've got this one Jon." He added, shooting a quick smile her way and raising his eyebrow at her as she began to argue. Ness gave up, took her glass and with a quick nod of thanks she returned to her table, letting her light brown hair fall slightly over her face so she could watch without being seen.
It had always been that way, Zach had always been the hottest guy to ever walk through her life; through it not into it because despite her dreams and fantasies they were friends, just friends and after all the years she knew that was all it would ever be. She wasn't his type, he was almost always with a blonde, you know the type, long, gorgeous hair that reached halfway down to her ass and took someone's eye out if she flicked it back suddenly; body like a model, face as flawless as a movie star; and Ness, well, short brown hair that never did seem to grow any longer than her shoulders, a couple of extra pounds, weirdly pale green eyes and a wonky eyebrow from when she fell out of the treehouse as a kid and split it open – didn't really stand a chance.
The nameless blonde laughed loudly at something Zach said and Ness winced at the pitch, it was almost high enough to shatter crystal, she glanced through her hair to see Zach was also wincing at it and chuckled softly to herself. Zach looked directly at her as if he had somehow heard her and Ness was glad she had hidden behind her hair; she pulled her notebook open and made a show of making some notes for her latest blog post. She was really starting to get noticed online where only the stories she shared mattered and nobody cared about her appearance; all she needed now was to make enough money from it to be able to quit her job at the Paper, she was a creative writer, not a journalist but she had to eat.
Finishing her drink and stuffing her book and pen into her bag, Ness shrugged her leather jacket on, gave Jon a salute and headed for the door, as she passed Zach and his blonde she heard a derisive snort,
"Oh my God, why do girls think they look good as biker chicks? I mean, please... I bet she's never even been near a motorcycle!" The blonde said in her strange squeaky voice,
"What? You mean Ness? She's as badass as she looks." Zach responded simply. Ness grinned to herself and pushed through the door before she heard any more and headed for her bike. 'eat this bitch' she thought as she did up the buckle on her helmet and kicked the engine roaring into life, the grin widened as she pulled away from the sidewalk, she knew Zach would have made sure the girl watched; he had always called her badass, even when it had been just a 50cc engine.
Back in her apartment, Ness was still smiling to herself, Zach might not see her as girlfriend material but he had never failed to defend her over all the years they had been friends, he was like a brother to her, a stupidly hot brother; she had met him on the first day of freshman year at high school, she had moved into the area that summer and the first time she saw Zach he had Toby Garves pinned against the lockers because he'd heard him saying something derisive about a girl; Zach never did say what Toby had said but Ness got out of him that the girl had been her and she'd yelled at him that she didn't need anyone to defend her; hadn't stopped him but he soon realized what she had meant the next week when she had punched another guy, before he could, for slapping her ass. They had both spent a lot of time in detention for fighting and it was what had cemented their friendship, but they had never fought each other.
The clock read 2.27 when Ness was woken by her phone buzzing on the side table, she considered ignoring it but there was only one person that would call at that hour and she knew she couldn't ignore him, besides, if he was calling her it probably meant he was too drunk to drive safely and it was her that had made him promise to call if that ever happened
"Hey Zach," she said answering the call
"Hey Nesh, Jon took my keys off me..." his voice tailed off
"Sit tight, I'll be there in 20 minutes or so." Ness was already throwing clothes on as she spoke "Are you good to hold on, on the bike? Or will I be leaving it at the bar and driving your car"
"I can hold on, thanks Ness, you're the besht." His speech was a good indicator, only slurring a few words, Ness knew he would be fine behind her, but she would still be riding more carefully than normal.
"OK, see you soon and I already knew that, jerk." She ended the call and stuffed her feet into her boots before grabbing the spare helmet from the top of the closet and heading out the door.
"Record time Nessie" Jon called as she pulled up, he handed her the keys to Zach's car with a wink before disappearing back into the bar to finish locking up, Zach managed to look sheepish about being so drunk for about 3 seconds before his face split into a massive grin.
"Come on then, haven't got all night," Ness said holding the spare helmet out to Zach, he pushed himself away from the wall, paused to get his balance and stepped forward
"Sorry Ness, I would've got whatever-her-name-was to drive me, but her laugh was driving me mad, so I gave her the boot quite early on." He said as he took the helmet and put it on, fighting slightly with the buckle.
"No worries dude, I told you before to call me if you needed a ride, I meant it then and I mean it now, so will you please get your drunk ass on the seat?" she said, raising her eyebrow at him
Zach grinned again, put one hand on her waist and swung his leg over the bike, Ness grabbed his other hand and made him wrap his arms right around her before heading off yet again, this time towards Zach's apartment.
"You good from here dude?" Ness asked as she pulled up,
"Might need some help on the stairs, elevators out again." He replied simply without moving. Ness cut the engine and took her helmet off,
"Come on then, three points of contact, but you need to get off the damn bike already!" she felt his chuckle rumble through her back "Dammit Zach, you've got yourself kinda stuck there haven't you" she said as she peeled his hands off her waist, and dragged herself off the bike awkwardly while he just sat there with a silly grin on his face,
"You are way drunker than I thought, we should've used your car, that was fucking dangerous dude if you'd lost your balance or passed out you could've killed us both!" Ness glared at Zach
"I knew you would be fine" he enunciated each word carefully
"I will punch you one day Zach, that was not cool, now move your foot to the floor and lean on me to keep your balance."
It took quite some time to get Zach up to his fourth-floor apartment, he was still wearing the crash helmet since Ness figured it might save him from a concussion if he swayed head first into a wall on the way; but eventually, she maneuvered him into his room and sat him on his bed,
"Have I told you, you're the best?" Zach asked as she undid the helmet buckle and pulled it off his head.
"Yes, repeatedly, shut up already." She glanced at the clock, 4.06, great, no more sleep for her, the sun would be up soon, and she never could sleep during the day. She pulled his t-shirt over his head and knelt to get his shoes off, the jeans were staying put, but leaving him to sleep in his shoes was something she couldn't do.
"Come on, lay down, get some sleep, I'll let myself out." She said
"Stay, please Ness" Zach mumbled, "stay."
"OK, just get some sleep," she responded quietly, as her heart did somersaults in her chest "I'll be on the couch," she added thinking she may be able to catch some more sleep after all.
"No. Stay... Here... Ness" he was barely awake and very drunk, Ness figured if she stayed put for a few minutes he would be out cold, and she could go lay on his couch, so she pushed the pillows up and sat on the bed; Zach promptly foiled the plan by falling asleep with his head in her lap and his arm flung carelessly across her lower legs. Ness sighed and stroked his hair gently, letting her mind wander back through to their younger days; she soon drifted off to sleep herself despite her position.