One Year Clean

"No,  Ashley, I don't want to go it will be weird and I won't fit in with these people."

"You'll have fun just loosen up for once."

"Whatever"

As we get ready I get this funny feeling in my stomach that something weird is about to happen and I don't like it all all. I try to ignore this feeling because Ashley is the last one in our friend group to turn 21 so I can't miss out on her birthday. Going to a bar with men and women is odd for me, I usually only hang around at women only bars, seeing as I am a lesbian woman. We continued to get ready and this feeling started to subside. We got to the bar and I cringed at all the straight men feeling up women who don't want to be touched. It is so disrespectful it disgusts me. Ashley was already off on the dance floor with some guy she never met. Grace and Brooke were hip to hip as always dancing up rejecting every guy in sight while I sit at the bar hoping the cute bartender is gay. 

“I’ll take a Shirley Temple, (bartender laughs), I’m recovering and can’t drink, don't laugh it sucks.”

“Okay cutie”

She winked as she said that. She is definitely giving off a gay vibe but I still can’t tell. Until I notice a tattoo on her left hand that says “Love is Love” in rainbow ink. I also happened to notice she had no ring on that hand. Maybe this night won’t be as bad as I thought.

She handed me my drink along with a napkin. I looked closely on the napkin and it said “Shift ends at 10 meet me outside ~ Julie”

Time went on and while waiting for her shift to end I danced on the floor with Grace and Brooke. Realizing I am not gifted in the dancing area. 

10 hits and I head outside without my friends noticing and not telling them so Ashley doesn’t get upset I left her birthday. 

“Hey pretty girl” Julie says to me and call me over

She offers me a hit of her blunt and I take a few hits to ease my nerves. We flirt for a little until she gets a call. I could hardly hear what the person on the phone was saying but judging by her short responses and her facial expressions she was not happy about this conversation. 

“Okay, on my way now” 

“Everything okay” I asking seeing how upset she looks.

“Ya just family things, I am so sorry- what was your name again sorry?”

“Alexa, and it’s totally fine I understand we all have family responsibilities.”

She heads off and soon after I realize I never got her number. But I did see two guys in grey suits coming out the backdoor of the bar into the alley.

“Hey, hey wait up” I call out to the men. 

They looked at each other confused but stayed still until I ran over. 

“Can one of you give me Julie’s number or snapchat, she ran off before I got to ask her” 

“No!” The tall one yells in my face

The other guy grabs me by the arm, handcuffs me and whispers in my ear “You know what you do.”

I tried to call out to tell them I have no clue what they are talking about but they covered my mouth, threw a blindfold on me, and tossed me in the back of a truck. I sit there wondering if I am taking my last few breaths in the back of this truck. I can hear them mumbling in the front seat but cannot decipher their words. Soon after I realized Ashley has my phone because she didn’t want me glued to it all night. I begin panicking in this cold, creepy truck until I feel the truck make a hard stop. I hear the back doors of the truck open and the two guys grab me and pull me out. They brought me to my feet and directed me where to walk. I was shaking so hard I could barely move a muscle. All I can think about is how Ashley’s birthday has always been the worst day of the year for me. Last year on Ashley’s birthday I got send to rehab for my drinking problem, four years ago on Ashley’s birthday my parent’s divorced, and our junior year of highschool a boy poured Kool-Aid on my head at prom and yelled “Dyke get the fuck away from my girlfriend.” That hurt alot and I ended up switching to online highschool after it. 

“We are at the stairs, be careful” One of the guys says to me.

Weird they are telling me to be careful after kidnapping me and throwing me in a truck” 

They open a door, bring me in and sit me down on a chair. They take the handcuffs off me and tie me down. I begin to question them but get no response. What felt like hours after they walked over to the door opened it, closed it, and left. I screamed and screamed but never responded. I try tipping the chair over hoping that it will break and I will blindly figure out how to untie myself. I can’t tip myself over at all. It is almost like the chair is bolted to the ground. I sat there defeated wondering what is going to happen to me and how upset Ashley is going to be when she noticed I’m not at the bar anymore. I hear a cough in what sounded to be the room over. I screamed until someone finally opened a door in walked into the room I was in.

“Where am I please, what did I do, explain it please, where am I? I’m begging you to talk to me please.” 

He came over and took the blindfold off of me. I can’t see anything. The room is pitch black.  All of a sudden the entire room lights up red. I look around and see nothing but a door and a sign that says “1 year clean, we are so proud of you.” Soon after Ashley, Grace, Brooke, Julie, and the two guys in suits walk in through the door. 

Ashley looks at me with tears in her eyes, “I couldn’t be more proud of you.” 

I’m speechless, the three of them come up and hug me so tight I can barely breathe. They untie me right after. 

Julie looks at me “I am so sorry there was no family emergency Ashley comes in regularly and talks to me about her “gay best friend.” When she gets really drunk she tells me that we are the perfect match but she didn’t know how to get us to meet because you only go to gay bars.”

“Ashley, you could have just told me instead of kidnapping me and scaring the shit out of me” 

“What would be the fun of that?”

We all laugh and continue on with conversation . I even get Julie's number. We walked up some stairs only for me to realize we were in the basement of the bar.  We partied the rest of the night and I even got Julie’s number. Guess straight bars aren’t so bad after all.