Choices…Part 3

“Wild shit.” Dodger added.

Jordan was still shaking when she hopped into the back seat of the beamer.

“Did you see the look on their faces when they saw the gun was real?” Frank laughed.

“Punks.” Dodger huffed.

“The younger guy was on the news. He was arrested for rape.” Jordan opened a new bottle of whisky and took a sip.

“Are you all right, Jordan?” asked Frank. He looked at her through the rearview mirror.

Dodger crawled over the front seat and snuggled in beside her. “It wasn’t even a close call. I’ve got something that will help calm you.” He rummaged in his coat pocket and pulled out a prescription bottle. ”Take one of these.”

“What is it?’ Jordan wanted to stop shaking so she took a pill.

“A light sedative.” She had to take a bigger gulp of whisky to get the pill down. Her eyes watered.

“Frank, you want one?”

“Why not.” Dodger took one too.

“You have a gun.” Jordan said.

“It came in handy.” Dodger answered.

Jordan took another drink. “Stolen alcohol, pills and a gun.”

“America,” Dodger laughed.

The alcohol, the pill, or both were doing what they were supposed to do and Jordan was relaxed. She laughed and took another big gulp. This time the liquid went smoothly down her throat and she felt the warmth all the way to her stomach.

“You boys sure know how to show a girl a fun time,” she laughed out loud and so did the guys. “What’s next?”

“Look who’s getting her adrenaline on.” Dodger said.

“The man of a few words, speaks.” Jordan teased.

Dodge grabbed her by the neck and rubbed her head like she was a child. After all that had happened in a few hours, she thought she should probably be on the alert with the men, but somehow she felt at ease and comfortable.

“I’m in for some music. Are there any honky tonks around here?” asked Frank.

Dodger shook his head. “Who says honky tonk?”

“Would you prefer speakeasy,” Jordan asked.

Frank laughed so hard he snorted. “That’s probably what you’d find in your dry county.”

“Well, I wasn’t exactly kidding. There’s one about a half hour from here.”

“An actual establishment that sells liquor without a license?” He was making fun of her.

“Yeah.”

“Point the way darling’,” Frank said.

By the time they had reached The Byre, it was like the three of them had been friends for years. Frank snaked the car through a winding gravel road that seemed to disappear into nowhere. Just a big wooded area. The path narrowed to just one car width.

“Are you sure there’s something back here?” The beamer’s headlamps lit up tree, after tree after tree.

“Just up around the bend there. You can barely see the lights.” Jordan pointed to something in the distance.

It was then that the faint rumble and vibrations could be heard and felt from the bass in the music. The old barn building sprung up and appeared as if it was some sort of magic trick. A few dozen cars were parked in no particular order. Jordan jumped from the car just as Frank put it in park. The guys followed and the three of them ran toward the music. They didn’t waste time. Dodger grabbed Jordan by the hand and they headed to the dance floor. Frank found the bar. The music was country and many of the people were line dancing but there were others just doing their own thing. That was Dodger’s style. The dance floor was made from unfinished pine planks and consumed the entire center of the bar. The bar was the entire perimeter of the room with high top tables, double rowed, between the bar and the dance floor.

The bar ran the outer walls of the barn and high top tables in front of the bar were lit by Mason jar candles. Strands of uncovered light bulbs hung loosely covering the barn ceiling. It was beautiful in a rustic sort of way. The place was crowded. People filled the dance floor and lined the bar area three deep. There were five members to the live band, currently performing a Brooks and Dunn song, Boot Scootin’ Boogie.

Frank purchased three beers and found a table to share with a couple of women. Dodger and Jordan joined them after three dances. She learned about the women through Frank who had questioned them with his charm and finesse. Lauren was grill cook at a local Wendy’s and Haley worked at the candle factory on third shift. She and Jordan hit it off talking about all the things that go wrong at work. Jordan, Lauren and Haley were pretty drunk at closing time.

Lauren invited everyone over to her apartment to continue the party. Dodger drove the beamer and followed Frank and the women in Lauren’s car. Once the long exit line of cars were free on the road, Lauren started weaving all over the road. She was going at least fifteen miles over the speed limit. It was a good thing they were on country roads after 3:00 o’clock in the morning. Dodger used the horn when he thought they were too close to the shoulder of the road.

After four or five of those he got out his cell phone.

“What’s up?’ Frank answered.

“She’s not driving too well, man.”

Dodger put the phone on speaker so Jordan could hear too. The girls were signing to a song on the radio and laughing between notes.

“She’s not too bad. She only swerves when she tries to find a new song on the radio.”

“You should take that over then.” Jordan joked.

“It’s too far from the back seat.”

“You and Haley in the back?’ Jordan asked

“Yes, how else could we stretch out?”

“That explains a lot.” Dodger grinned.

“We’re only a few minutes away.” Lauren shouted.

Jordan looked around. “We’re still in the country. I don’t see any houses or apartments.”

Jordan was looking left and didn’t see what was about to happen, she only heard the screech of the tires and Dodger, “Damn!”

Two deer came out of the dark and into the road. Deer number one made it past, but Laruen’s Volkswagen bug caught the other full-on with the front of her car.