Lola Kingston
Alec Montgomery
That Girl Lola
I was sat at the bar in Employees Only, sipping on a dry martini with extra olives. I gazed around to a group of drunken guys a few feet from me who were laughing and swiping shots from the black marble counter, they were definitely having a better time than I was, I thought to myself. I'd just had a huge fight with this guy Jay that i had been dating, had stormed off, come into the nearest bar and decided that it was absolutely not too early to start drinking myself. I let out a small sigh and waved in the direction of the barman, signalling that I wanted another of the same.
After a few more martinis and a shot of sambuca, I stumbled off my bar stool after getting one of my heels caught and in the process, dropped my purse and watched everything in it scatter across the floor. In a fluster i gathered everything up, and headed briskly for the doors. It was strangely humid outside, a November evening but instead felt like a summer’s night, and this made me feel not only queasy but I was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol I had just consumed. I suddenly began feeling somewhat dizzy and the cars that I could hear whizzing past, the blur of neon colours that I presumed were the traffic-lights and the smell of strong liquor struck me with so much force that I could feel myself about to faint, until someone's hand gripped my arm and pulled me back to the safety of the sidewalk. “Uh.. what? Who are you?” Was all I managed without feeling like i was going to hurl into this stranger's face.
“I'm Alec. We go to college together. I study Architecture. And you’re welcome, you really should be more careful next to these busy roads. You want me to get you a cab? You look like you need one, how much have you been drinking, huh?” I stared blankly at him for a few seconds, wondering if I really did look that wasted and wracking my brain trying to think how he knew me and I didn't know him. I settled with “don't worry about a cab, thanks, i’ll be fine.” I grinned at him, out-reached my arms and attempted to walk in a straight line back down the street, not so subtly trying to prove to him that I was sober enough to manage myself. Before I had even walked three meters I felt a pair of hands steering me to face the other way, it was Alec, he looked concerned but his mouth was twitching with another smile. “I think you should just let me get you a cab, you look really drunk.” He said and before I could answer him he was hailing one of the many yellow vehicles that were zooming past and was opening the door when one pulled up at the curb. I got in nervously laughing, not sure what else to say to him. I looked up at him standing next to the cab door, in his jet black jeans and navy marl sweater, his curly hair twitching gently in the slight breeze, and i remember noticing the way that his jaw looked, so prominent and dreamy. Also how different, he looked. The sort of different that draws you in even if there is no immediate attraction there, there’s just that something. And that something was enough for me. All thoughts of previous lover, and by this point certain i'd never go back there again Jay, had floated from my mind and i was happy about that. I shut the door and wound down the window so I could say what I had finally decided was an appropriate response to all of this. “Thanks. I'm Lola.” I gazed at him for a few seconds before we sped off down the highway, leaving him standing there on 510 Hudson St.
It was about eleven o'clock when i decided to head out; it was my birthday and me and my friends Nick and Toby had been into a few different bars before heading to Employees Only, which was our last chosen venue for the night. Nick ordered us all some shots and after about five each and a few final drinks, i noticed the time had crept on and it was now 3am. I decided that I had had enough for one evening, i was feeling pretty inebriated and didn’t want to over-do it like i had the previous year. I hugged and waved my friends bye but just as I was about to leave, I noticed Lola, a girl from my college, a girl that i had always had a huge and quite embarrassing crush on. She was 5”9 or so with long auburn hair, was wearing a black leather dress and was trying to remove herself from one of the bar stools in quite a humorous and not-very-successful fashion. Despite this, she still looked as amazing as ever.
Lola always looked good, though and she didn’t even have to try;it was so effortless. I never thought it possible to be in love with someone this much who didn’t even know who i was. Someone like me, or 'Brooklyn Boy' as I used to get called in school, could never be a worthy match for someone like Lola. She was a high-society, cocktail-drinking, gala-attending beautiful bombshell, living in one of the most wealthy parts of the West Side. Well me, on the other hand, not so much a socialite but quite the opposite, a verbal-diarrhea awkward guy whose favourite things to do on a weekend were listen to Jeff Buckley, go to art galleries or the movies to watch some black and white 1950’s film. What sort of chance would i ever get with a girl like Lola? Nevertheless, i hadn’t given up after 20 years to get her attention so why should i begin now?
After getting her boot heel caught on the bar stool and dropping her purse with all it’s contents on the floor, Lola managed to get up with near succession, looked around as she stumbled a little, and walked quite promptly out. I followed her out the doors when I saw her legs starting to give in as she was stood at the curb, presumably waiting for a cab. I ran a little and gripped her arm and pulled her back to the sidewalk, she looked dizzy and confused and a little bit flustered, but before I could say anything she came out with “uh.. what? who are you?” I instinctively felt a little offended but of course she didn’t know who i was. I was Alec and she was, well, her. "I'm Alec. We go to college together. I study Architecture. And you’re welcome, you really should be more careful next to these busy roads. You want me to get you a cab? You look like you need one, how much have you been drinking, huh?”
She stared at me with a dazed look on her face, I couldn't quite work out what she was thinking or if maybe she was just trying to concentrate on not being sick. After a couple of seconds though, she replied with “don't worry about a cab, thanks, i’ll be fine.” gave me an unexpected blinding smile, stretched her arms out and headed off down the sidewalk, turning her head backward, as if to convince me that she was totally okay to get herself safely home. Only, I noticed the size of the heels she was wearing, the way she was slightly swaying (though trying very obviously not to) and the fact she had come out completely by herself - I decided it would be totally discourteous and unacceptable of me to not help her get home in one piece. I walked over to her, steered her to face me and instructed that i’d get her a cab as she looked too drunk to get home without either hurting herself or perhaps falling into the wrong sort of company. I couldn’t help but smile as I was hailing her a car and without really giving her a chance to say anything, i had opened the door and was gesturing for her to climb in. She began nervously laughing, but got in and once she had shut the door, she wound down the window, sat there and just looked at me for a little while; i had real trouble trying to decipher what she was thinking. Damn, this girl is a mystery, i thought to myself. “Thanks. I’m Lola” was what i finally got in response. Before either of us could say anything else, the cab left seconds later. I stood in the same spot for a while, half watching the traffic whiz by, but mostly just thinking about how wonderful it had been to even get the chance to talk to this girl. That girl. I shut my eyes and smiled to myself. Oh Lola.
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