Page 26 of Storm in a Teacup
The waitress shakes her head. “No bother at all. It happens when people are having fun.”
Atti snorts distastefully. “She needs to be more careful.”
Ben snaps, “It was an accident, mate,” as his grip tightens.
Atti’s lip curls as the waitress walks away. “All I’m saying isthis isn’t the first time I’ll have to tip a waitress because Linny broke a glass.”
Ben scoffs. “Youdon’t have to do anything.”
“It’s fine, Ben,” I say. “I’ll add a tip. It’s fine.”
His hold remains on me and his eyes maintain the glare for Atti, but he doesn’t say anything more. Everyone else settles back down, so Ben and I sit, me retaking my place on his lap. I lean back into him again, but no longer feel like talking. Tears are still threatening to escape.
It’s ridiculous. It is so embarrassing when I do things like this and people assume it’s because I’m drunk. It would be less embarrassing if they knew I was night blind, but there is no need to announce that every time I make a little mistake. I need to get a sparkly button that declaresvisually impaired personwhenever I go out in public, I suppose. I wish I had seen the glass.
If I keep sitting here, the tears will fall. I push myself up, saying, “I’m going to the bathroom.”
“Do you need me to go with?” Mel asks, moving to stand.
But I’m already walking away—too fast. I bump into someone and apologize. I force myself to walk slower, eyes darting around the dark room in an attempt to see as much as I can. Thankfully, we have been here for a while, so I have had time to map out the path to the bathroom if I needed it. That’s what I do, take in a less-than-light space for as long as I can before I have to move independently in it. It helps. However, it’s never a perfect system because there is one factor that never stays consistent: people. They have a very annoying tendency to move.
I bump into a few other people, apologizing over and over, but I do eventually make it to the restroom. There’s a small line that I’m fine to wait in. Finally, I get in and close the stall, covering the seat in toilet paper before I sit down heavily and let myselfcry. I hate feeling like this. It’s just a broken glass, butno one gets it. It’s so hard to explain how much this frustrates me—how I feel like an inconvenience wherever I go.
Once I get the tears to stop, I emerge and wash my hands. My eyes are red and my makeup is smeared. I do what I can to fix the makeup with a wet paper towel, but not much can be done about the redness. Hopefully, no one will notice.
When I exit, a hand stops me. Ben is waiting for me in the hallway.
“Hi?” I say curiously.
“Hiya, I figured I could walk you back to the table.”
My heart swells. “Thank you.”
“Are you alright?”
I shake my head. “Not really.”
His mouth turns down. “I’m sorry you broke the glass.”
“Me too.” I push into him, circling my arms around his waist and leaning my head against his chest. His arms wrap tightly around me in return, cheek resting against my head. He is warm and comfortable and consuming in the best way—and a part of me senses that he needs this hug as much as I do.
I’m not sure how long we stand there, but a few people have to push past us with annoyed grumblings to get to the restroom. Ben holds me until I pull away.
“We should get back,” I say, crossing my arms over myself. “We’ve been gone a while.”
“I have a good explanation for that,” Ben says. He licks his thumb before dragging it across my lower lip. My body flushes at the contact, instinctively craving more. I shove that feeling aside because I don’t understand what he’s doing—until he presses that thumb to the corner of his mouth, smearing a bit of my lipstick. Ah.
He takes my hand and leads me back to the table. We sit down as we have been sitting, with me on his lap.
Mel catches my eye and mouths, “You okay?”
I nod with a shrug. I look down at Ben and laugh, ready to go back to maintaining our ruse. “Oh, Benny, you got a little lipstick on you,” I say loud enough for at least Atti to hear. I lick my thumb and wipe it off with a smile on my face. He grins back at me.
Everyone else orders another round, but I refrain. Two was my plan for tonight anyway. Once they’re all done, we move on tothe club, our last stop of the night.
As we walk there, Mel takes my arm and ushers me away from Ben. “You good?” she asks again.
“Fine. Generally. Annoyed with myself.”
