Just Remember to Breathe (Thompson Sisters)

and louder in the thirty minutes we’d been there.
    That’s when I saw Randy Brewer, and felt a sudden twist in my stomach. I literally felt my heart lurch into gear, the pulse making the arteries in my neck throb. I grabbed Kelly’s wrist, gripping it hard.
    “What’s wrong?” she shouted in my ear. “Is it Dylan?”
    I shook my head, unable to speak, even to tell her that Dylan didn’t drink.
    Randy saw me, and leaned against the bar, leering at me. Slowly a grin broke out on his face, and he winked at me.
    “That fucker,” Kelly said.
    I turned my back on him, toward her, and blurted out, “Let’s go somewhere else.”
    The guy she’d been talking to leaned in and said, “What’s wrong baby? I’m not boring you am I?”
    Kelly smiled sweetly, and I don’t think he saw the daggers headed his way.
    “Yeah, you are,” she said. “You should go find something more exciting to talk about, then come back, okay?”
    “Bitch,” he said, then let out a loud belch and wandered off.
    Kelly met my eyes, her smile genuine, and we both burst into laughter.
    “You really know how to pick ‘em, Kels.”
    “Oh, my God,” she said, still laughing. “Am I boring you, baby? Wow.” She giggled.
    “Hey, did you hear from Joel?”
    Her tone was still light, but she said, “Jesus, Alex, way to kill the mood.”
    “Oops, sorry.”
    “Yeah, I heard from him this morning. He wanted to go out tonight. What the hell? I’m breaking up with you, because being in love is too much, so let’s just date casual while I screw other people? What the hell is wrong with him? What the hell is wrong with all guys?”
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. I hope it’s not contagious.”
    She grinned, then said, “Only sexually.”
    I groaned, laughing, then jerked when I felt a hand close around my upper arm, then a voice thick with lust in my ear.
    “Hey, Alex. I’ve been looking for you, how ‘ya been?”
    Randy. I jerked away, but he didn’t let go.
    “Let go of me, Randy. Get away from me.”
    “What the hell? I just wanted to say hi.”
    He looked offended, but didn’t let go. He started rubbing my arm with his thumb. “Come on, Alex, I made a mistake last spring. But it wasn’t that bad.”
    I looked him in the eyes, and said furiously, “Get your hand off of me, now. ”
    “Babe, I just want to talk to you, okay?”
    “I don’t want to talk to you! ”
    Some of the people around us were starting to shift positions, sensing the tension and anger. Some guy tentatively said, “I think she wants you to leave her alone.”
    “Alex, listen to me. Look… I admit I screwed up. I had too much to drink, and I shouldn’t have pushed so hard…”
    I saw a flash of movement to my left as Kelly stood up, reached in her purse, pulled out a bottle of something and lifted it up to his eye level. His words transformed into a scream, and he backed away suddenly, hands at his eyes.
    “Fucking bitch!” he screamed.
    “Stay away from her, asshole!” Kelly screamed back.
    Seconds later a bouncer waded through the crowd. “What the fuck is going on here?” he shouted.
    I was frozen in place.
    “I pepper-sprayed his ass. He sexually assaulted my friend last year, and he wouldn’t let go of her just now.”
    Someone else in the crowd said something to the bouncer and pointed at me. The bouncer’s eyes landed on me. He was huge, at least six five, maybe two hundred-fifty pounds of muscle. He walked over to me and said, “That true? The guy wouldn’t let go of you? And you told him to?”
    I nodded.
    “All right. Next time you fucking call for me. I’m Wade. You don’t pepper spray people in the bar, got it?”
    I nodded, quickly.
    “All right.”
    He turned away, then grabbed Randy by the arm. “Come on, asshole. You’re done for the night.”
    He lifted, and half-dragged Randy through the crowd and away from us.
    I turned back to Kelly, my eyes wide. “Oh. My. God. You didn’t just do that.”
    She grinned.
    I grabbed her by the shoulders and hugged her. “Kelly, you are the best friend ever! I love you!”
    But my eyes darted back toward the door, where Wade the bouncer was dragging Randy. For the thousandth time I found myself wishing I’d reported him when it happened.
    I don’t really know why I didn’t.
    I’d briefly dated Randy last spring, after Dylan and I had our last fight. It was a stupid fight. I was drunk, and had been agonizing over the danger he’d been in. I said some things, things I