Frank’s Place-2
470 Words
Danny was startled awake. He sat up, trying to shake off the deep sleep the alcohol and s*x had induced. He was immediately aware he was alone in the bed. A knock on the door made him realize what had awakened him.
“Hey, Danny boy, it’s Frank! Y’okay? Danny?”
Danny struggled out of bed and headed for the door. He realized he was still naked and half hard.
“Yeah, fine, just a minute.” He hopped on one foot struggling to get his boxers on. As he reached for the door he looked into the bathroom. Al was not there.
He opened the door.
“Y’okay? Your boyfriend split about twenty minutes ago. When ya didn’t come down I got worried, so I come up to see.”
“Uh, yeah, thanks, Frank. Um…I’m okay.”
“Have a good time?” said Frank with a wicked chuckle.
“Yeah, it was really good,” muttered Danny, still trying to get his bearings.
“Great. Always like a satisfied customer. See ya downstairs.”
“Right,” Danny mumbled, closing the door. He turned and looked at the bed. What had gone wrong? Man, it had been so good, so perfect, he thought. I thought I’d hit the jackpot.
After a period of staring at the bed, as if trying to see the moment when the tide had turned, he went into the bathroom and showered.
“I sure didn’t picture doing this solo,” he said to his reflection as he combed his hair.
Getting dressed, Danny took one final look around the room to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. Something gleamed at him from the dresser. He walked over. There with a short note was one of Al’s diamond studs. He picked it and the note up.
Danny,
I’m sorry. I thought I could do this. But, I…well, I’m just sorry.
Al
* * * *
Danny walked up to the bar. Before he could even ask the question he had been asking Frank every night for over a week, bartender said, “No, he ain’t been in.”
“Thanks,” the young man sighed.
Frank poured Danny his usual vodka and water with lime. “You got it bad, kid.”
“Yeah, I guess I do. I just don’t understand his leaving without explaining what I did wrong.”
“Maybe you didn’t do nothin’. Maybe there’s more to his story than ya know.
Here, I got ya somethin’.” Frank handed Danny a bottle of scotch—the kind Al drank. It had a ribbon on it. Tied to the ribbon was a slip of paper with an address scrawled on it.
“That’s where he lives. Go wish him a Happy New Year. Ask him to tell ya about it,” Frank said with a wink.
“God, thanks, Frank. But how did you find out?”
“Ahhh, I got a friend who’s a friend of a friend of a guy who works for the same outfit your guy does. He owed me so he looked it up. No big deal.”
“Like hell!” Danny shouted and leaned over the counter and gave Frank a big, sloppy kiss.
“s**t,” laughed the older man. “I been waitin’ fer that fer four years.”
Danny turned to leave, turned back and slugged down his vodka.
“For courage,” he said.
- Writer
