The Golden Band

The assignment was on friendship, lack of trust, etc. Once again, write only what can be seen. And again, my apologies to Julia. I really did feel bad about that.

We were at the Michael Collins that night. I had arrived late, and all of my friends were already seated at a small table with their Guinesses, their martinis, their various fruit-flavored margaritas. I saw Julia the moment I stepped in, she had an almost empty glass of something bright blue that looked toxic. She stumbled over to me, threw her arms around me and yelled “Courtney!!!” I caught her as she almost fell and turned to my other friends, who smiled and shrugged and then went back to their drinks. I deposited her at the table and squeezed my way through the throngs of people to get a drink. As I waited by the bar, I looked around at all the unfamiliar faces when Julia suddenly ran through my line of vision and into my side. “Oh my god, do you see that guy?” she said, pointing to two guys who were seated together at table nearby. “He’s hot!” she said. The bartender finally came down to where I was standing, and I ordered the kiwi blended drink that was advertised in chalk on the specials board. As he began to make it, I turned to Julia and said “go for it, go talk to him.” She turned to go, then turned back. “Go! Before my drink comes!” I said, pushing her in the guy’s direction. The bartender put my drink on a napkin in front of me, and Julia took a sip of it as I handed the bartender a few crumpled dollar bills. “Okay, I’m going.” She went over to him, whispered something in his ear, and then pulled him out of his chair by his hand and led him down the stairs towards the bathroom. My eyes widened as I watched her disappear, and my brows knit as I told my friend what I had just witnessed. My friends started gathering by my side, and we all stood with our eyes glued on the stairwell. A brave friend peeked around the corner, searching the darkness below. She began to go down the stairs when Julia turned the corner and ran up the stairs and outside the bar. We all followed her outside, where she was leaning, breathless, against the façade of the bar. “He’s married!” she gasped out, glaring at me with glassy eyes. I had seen how drunk she was, but somehow I hadn’t seen the band of gold encircling his next to last finger of his left hand.