Mockery by Lee Dunter

Author:Lee Dunter [Dunter, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-07-16T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Outwardly Outside Captivity

Sitting at the bar, Matthew hunched over a warm bottle of beer, while the bar livened to an obnoxious roar. He tried to ignore the idle chatter around him, along the bar and in the booths behind him, but the party around the pool table, like the other night, was particularly loud. It might be time to find a new bar. Matthew turned towards them and watched a tall, dark-skinned athlete shaking his hand out as the arcade boxing-machine tallied the force of his punch. Matthew turned away and became irritated as he realized that he was the stereotypical loner at the bar. He pulled out his cell phone and checked the time. He had sent the text when he left the apartment on foot; that made her late. He watched the television behind the bar to pass the time, his patience growing thinner with each commercial break.

Matthew took his first sip of beer, and, swallowing with a grimace, swiveled the stool to give himself something to do. A hand softly gripped his shoulder, stopping him mid-spin, and he faced the back wall.

“I’ve been looking all over for you. Never would have guessed to check the loner at the bar.”

Instead of turning to greet her, Matthew swiveled himself back to the bar, raised his hand, and asked Brett for another beer. Brett–an alumni whose part-time job as a bartender evolved to full-time after he graduated–set Matthew’s usual down, and Matthew took the cold beer, sliding it to the stool next to him, where Beth sat.

Brett leaned on the bar with both hands and smiled at Beth. “Three times in the last two months? You two are a regular pair of love birds.”

“Fuck you,” Matthew told him, and Brett went away laughing.

Beth picked up her beer. “Someone is in a good mood.”

“Cheers.” They clanked their bottles together and drank. Before Matthew set the bottle down, he wrapped his hands protectively around it and began to rotate it. “You are late.” His tone was playful, but he hoped she heard how annoyed he was.

She nodded. “Well, when you only give me an hour’s notice, it’s sometimes difficult to rearrange my schedule.”

Matthew turned to look at her. Below her mini-skirt her legs were shaved and silky; her red shirt matched the strap of the push-up bra on her shoulder; her face and hands were subtly layered with make-up and jewelry; her hair had been carefully curled and styled. Beth had spent time getting ready.

“You look great,” he said, raising the bottle to his lips.

“I know I do,” she said. “You definitely do not, though.” Her laugh was always quiet, self-conscious, as if she were ashamed of and hiding her actual laugh. “You couldn’t even take a shower for me?”

“If I did, what would we do later?” He gave her a sly smile and raised his eyebrows twice. Though they never defined their relationship–a definition might not even exist–Matthew liked to think of them as in an open relationship, a casual

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