“I can’t just put you in an Uber,” the club-rat told Anna. “You won’t be able to get her out of the car. She’s too drunk.”
“Aaaamm noooot,” Claire cried out again, her head practically rolling along her shoulders.
“Yeah, and how did she get that way? How many shots did you buy her? Five, six?”
“She said she could handle it,” he said, somewhat defensively.
“Obviously not,” Anna countered.
“Look, we don’t want any trouble here,” the bouncer said. “Why don’t you take this outside and figure it out?”
“I’m waiting for someone to come help me,” Anna told the bouncer.
“Your wait is over,” I said, pushing into the circle so Anna could see I’d arrived.
“E.G.! Thank God,” Anna declared. “I need help getting her out of here.”
I nodded and walked over to where Claire was sitting.
Her head popped up. “Oh my gosh, she said she was going to call you but I said noooo! You’re scaaaary!”
“Excellent.”
I bent down to wrap her arm around my neck to lift her into a standing position, but as soon as I did, I realized how much dead weight she was. Quickly, Mr. Club-rat took her other arm, and between the two of us, we managed to help her to the door, while Anna followed behind us.
The bouncer, gracious enough or relieved enough to be rid of us, opened the door.
It wasn’t until we actually reached my car when I realized the problem.
I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t put What’s-her-face and Anna in my car. There was no way I could handle one passenger, let alone two. I couldn’t do it.
“Flowers, you’ll need to drive,” I said, as if that made all the sense in the world. It wasn’t ideal, but I was better as a passenger.
“What? Why?”
“Because. The keys are in my back pocket. Reach in and grab them so you can unlock all the doors.”
“Yeah, no.”
I closed my eyes, trying to maintain my temper. Although the only person I was angry at was myself.
“Flowers, seriously. Now is not the time for me to explain myself. You’ll need to drive.”
“I don’t know how to drive,” she muttered.
I was still holding up half of What’s-her-face and had to re-adjust her weight so I could look at Flowers over my shoulder.
“What?”
She made a face and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s not like it was ever a priority to learn.”
Shit. Of course no one had taught her how to drive. Access to a car would have been totally out of her reach.
“I can drive.” This from Mr. Club-rat.
I looked at him skeptically.
“Look, I’m not a bad guy, okay? Yes, I probably bought her too many drinks, but I didn’t know, man. Sometimes these girls can really put it away. I can drive. You can ride shotgun. We’ll drop them off first.”
