Jaycee Woods

Formatting a Chad story with the working title “Girl at the Bar.” It gives an early look at Chad after Iris’ death. This is before he started his quest to find a wife through blind dates arranged by Mary. This won’t be a chapter in The Misadventures of Chad Seeking a Wife, instead it is a teaser story for the companion anthology.

** Beginning of draft **

Chad saw a pretty girl sitting alone at the bar on a Friday night. She seemed bored as she looked at her phone.

Chad ordered a double Jack from the bartender.

The bartender passed Chad his drink, then went off to serve someone else. Chad saw the girl looking over at him from time to time. After a while, she spoke up, “You just sitting here all alone?”

Chad said, “Yep.”

She gave him a bit of a smile as she took a sip of her drink “Why not find some friends? It’s Friday night after all.”

Chad said, “I just stopped in for a drink after work.”

“Ah, I see. I just got ditched by my friends,” she said with a bit of annoyance. “So, I’m stuck all alone!” She finished with a sigh.

Chad said, “Still your choice, isn’t it?”

Eliza gave him a bit of a pout at his comment “Not everyone wants to be alone, you know. What’s your name?”

He said, “Chad. Yours?”

Eliza looked him up and down, then smiled. “Eliza, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Chad.”

Chad said, “I guess that is better than drinking alone for you. Why didn’t you follow your friends?”

Eliza rolled her eyes as she finished off her drink. “It’s my fault, really…I didn’t wanna go to the club, so they told me to go home. But I wasn’t really up for that, so here I am. Just being a bit of a loner here.”

Chad said, “There are worse things than being alone, Eliza.”

Eliza laughed. “Why are you so dark?” She signaled to the bartender for two more drinks. They were delivered shortly after.

Chad said, “Someone died.”

Eliza paused, looking over at him. “Why do I get the feeling it’s personal for you?”

Chad said, “Because it is.”

Eliza nodded before taking a sip of her drink. “Wanna talk about it? I’m a good ear.”

Chad said, “No. Words won’t bring her back to life.”

Eliza fell silent after he said that. After a quiet moment, she reached across and gently squeezed his hand.

Chad looked at her hand silently.

Eliza smiled at him, saying nothing. Eventually, she broke the silence, “You need someone to take your mind off things. To let you unwind a little bit. And I need some company for tonight.”

Chad said, “No. That doesn’t help. That is how it happened.”

Eliza said, “How-…what do you mean?” Her eyebrows furrowed as she looked over at him. “What exactly did you mean?”

Chad said, “Maybe if I didn’t treat her as just a situationship then I would have known she was in trouble.”

“A ‘situationship?’” she echoed, confused. “And what do you mean trouble? What happened, if I can ask?”

Chad said, “She’s dead. It can’t fix it by talking.”

Eliza frowned a bit, reaching over and gently resting her hand on his back. “I understand that nothing can ever take away that pain. But you can’t keep carrying it all on your shoulders. You’re clearly beating yourself up over this.”

Chad sipped his drink.

Eliza bit her lip, not knowing exactly what she could say to him. She wanted to comfort him, but she did not really know how. She took a deep breath and leaned a little closer to him. “It’s not your fault, you know. Whatever happened to her, it wasn’t because of you.”

Chad said, “It was her choice, but I didn’t do anything that would have helped her live.”

Eliza gave him a sympathetic look, and she shook her head. “I know you can’t stop blaming yourself in your head but…don’t. It would do no good to dwell on the past, especially in situations like this. You never know what was going on in her head. And you are not responsible for what happened.”

Chad said, “I am responsible for what didn’t happen.”

Eliza said, “Okay, fine, I’ll bite. What exactly is it that you could have done differently? You said it wasn’t a serious relationship. So, what exactly could you have possibly done to prevent what happened?”

Chad said, “I could have seen that she was using and intervened.”

Eliza was surprised at this revelation, her eyes widening a bit. “She was using? Using what, if you mind my asking? And…what did she overdose on?”

Chad finished his drink. “Yes.” He pointed at the bartender for a refill.

Eliza asked, “Yes to both questions? She was using and she overdosed?” Eliza furrowed her eyebrows and bit her lip, a million thoughts running through her head.

Chad said, “Yep. One wrong pill and she was gone.”

Eliza fell silent for a moment, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, that sounds really rough.” The bartender passed him his new drink. Eliza looked over at Chad before speaking up again, “How long ago did this happen?”

Chad sipped his drink. “Yesterday.”

Eliza’s face fell, and her eyes widened in surprise. “Yesterday?! What the- why did you even come into work today, then?”

Chad said, “What else was I to do? I had appointments and needed the distraction.”

Eliza said, “Appointments? Distraction? How can you even go to work and pretend to be okay when something like that happened to someone you once cared about?” She looked at him, a mix of confusion and concern on her face.

Chad said, “I didn’t care about her until I heard that she died.”

Eliza paused. Her brow furrowed as she looked at him. “You didn’t care about her until you heard she was dead?” She shook her head, not believing what he said. “You mean to tell me…you had a situationship with this girl, but you didn’t care about her until after she was gone? How is that even possible?”

Chad said, “She just scratched an itch.”