There was a bad jazz four piece playing behind us, mostly college kids who’d just discovered Charlie Parker and Chet Baker. Normally, I’m a big fan of jazz, but not tonight. I’d had a few hours sleep here and there over the course of the week, mostly because I was working too many hours and playing way too hard at night. When I’d woken up that morning it felt like I had ground glass in my guts and someone had caved in the left sidde of my face with a ball peen hammer. My internals were thrashed from all the booze the night before and my face hurt because I’d passed out in front of my bed and landed that way. It was relatively early and I had had no intention of going home, but the night wasn’t calling to me to stay out like it normally did.

The bartender rolled over and refilled my glass without asking. She stopped, took a look at the kid, and tilted her head to the side. “What’re you boys up to this evening ?” she asked. The kid sat, wide eyed and nigh slack jawed. She’d spoken to him before, but nothing more than small talk here and there. “Nothing. Might try drinking myself stupid and going home.” I replied.

“We don’t have any plans,” the kid countered. “Good,” she replied, “A bunch of us are going to play pool. You guys want in ?” Having nothing better to do and nowhere better to go, I conceded to the evenings plans while the kid got ten kinds of excited. He was ecstatic that she’d asked him to do something with her. I pooh-poohed his enthusiasm and turned back to my drink. It wasn’t like she’d asked him to hang out alone, or anything. Just a clutch of kids playing pool. It did nothing to dampen his spirits. He sat there, grinning like an idiot.

A half hour later, the owner came in. He usually worked the last three or four hours and would then keep the place open for his friends. The bartender grabbed her coat and the line cook and we were off like a dirty shirt. We headed down to a small bar off Broad, one with pool tables and strippers. It was one of those places where the strippers almost seemed like an afterthought. The type of place where cheap booze and pool tables were a bigger draw than the ladies. We grabbed a couple of tables and played pool for a while.

While I was playing against the bartender, she made comment about how she was doing some DJ work on the side. She and another girl had a couple of regular slots around town. Their next gig was Sunday night and she was wondering if I’d show…. She even offered to let me bring the kid. I didn’t like the way the conversation was going, so I sunk the eight-ball “by accident”, blaming the booze and the lateness of the night. I couldn’t tell if she was flirting with me or not, but I figured so. After losing several games, it was time for the bar to close it up. I was ready to go home, but the bartender and the kid talked me into heading to an after hours with them.

So, we headed over to the after hours joint. It was far too late for me to be out and I was damn near done in. The booze seemed to be leaking directly out of my pores. I’d become a one man distillery. And the place was tiny. There was a bar downstairs (with no room to sit in front of it) and a larger area with tables just up a short flight. (funny side note… The staircase was short, but it was the primary cutoff point for most of the patrons. If you couldn’t make it down the stairs to get your beer and back up to drink it, the bartender would flag you.) Somehow I managed to order a handful of Bud and make it up the stairs. There were half a dozen small groups at some of the tables, most of whom I recognized. I said “Hi” to most of them on my way over, but most everyone was too drunk and clustered amongst themselves to make any real conversation.

I found my group at a table near the back. The kid was trying to impress the bartender and not doing a real good job of it. I took a seat across from her and motioned to him to knock it off. He took the hint, and the three of us started talking about old guitarists. She started talking about some cat I’d never heard of (Django Reinhardt, if you’re interested). After a few minutes, the bartender nodded to someone over my shoulder, but continued on. She pulled a pencil and a piece of paper out of her bag, scribbled something on it, and handed it to me. Puzzled, I shot her a look. She motioned over my shoulder, so I turned around.

There were a couple of people sitting at the table behind me, a girl and a guy. I tossed the slip of paper on the table and turned back. I felt someone tap my shoulder, so I turned around… Right back into the prettiest green eyes I’ve ever seen. It was the girl from a few weeks ago. And she was so much prettier than I had remembered. Even in the dim light, I could see the freckles on her face and the glint in her eye. “Hi” was about all I could manage. “Hi, yourself” she replied.

And right then, at the sound of her voice, everything else seemed to fade away. The peeling paint of the walls, the overly loud crowd. All gone. I had to leave. I had to get out and get as far away as humanly possible from her. She was stunning and I knew I’d break her heart and she’d completely shatter mine. Everything I had left, I’d give to her and she would take it…. And I’d do something stupid and fuck it all up and be left more broken than I was before. I had to leave….

It turned back to the bartender, already mumbling some excuse about having to be up early. She gave me a look. “What ? Did my partner scare you off ?” she inquired. "Huh ?" I boggled. "That's Kat, the girl I DJ with" she replied. Great, the bartender who had been flirting with me all night had a partner whom I was convinced was the prettiest girl in the world. No matter, I was leaving. I started to put my coat on, and smacked the pretty girl in the back of the head with the arm of my coat. She turned around and shot me a look. I apologized as best I could in my current state… And she smiled at me.

That was it. I was done. There was no way I could walk away from her this time. If I did, I wouldn’t see her again. I knew that. And I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life not seeing her, not waking up with her, not staring into those beautiful eyes. I started to take my coat off and sat down next to her. She looked at me puzzled.

“Hi.” I said, extending my hand. “My name is Finn.”

“I’m Kat” she smiled back.

And that was it.