Page 5 of Please Don't Leave Me

“There’s basically no one in here.”

Umm, there very much are people in here, and they are staring at us over their shoulders from the urinal. I accidentally make eye contact with a brown-haired guy with shockingly blue eyes. He smirks at me, and I immediately turn my head away, praying that this will be over soon.

We cram both of us into a stall meant for one person and take turns peeing. Once we finish, I high-tail it out of there, hoping that we don’t draw any more attention. I saw some hand sanitizer on the wall outside, so I don’t bother wasting time washing my hands.

Part of me is glad she dragged me in there because I really had to pee. When I turn away from the hand sanitizer hanging on the wall, I’m confronted by the attractive man who smirked at me only minutes ago.

Shit. I was trying to forget about that. He clearly hasn’t.

He confidently walks up to me and says, “Hey, what’s your name?”

I glare over at B. She tries to suppress a laugh, but it comes out in bursts of squeaks before she runs back up thestairs, leaving me alone with the mystery man. She is likely going to find Iris and tell her what happened. At the top of the stairs, she turns back and mouths, “Are you okay?” and flashes me two thumbs up. I nod but try to tell her with my eyes that I’m not happy.

“I’m Louisa,” I say, turning back to the bathroom guy and reaching my hand out to shake his. Fuck. Do people shake hands when they’re interested in someone? Based on the grin on his face and how slowly he lifts his hand to mine, I’m guessing they don’t.

“Your friend abandoned ship pretty quick there.” He’s clearly referring to B’s disappearing act.

“That was my little sister.” I lean in when I’m talking to him because even though it’s quieter back here than out by the bars, I still can’t really hear him over the bass. “And I’m going to kill her when we get home. That was her idea to barge into the men’s room.”

“She’s smart. The men’s line is always way shorter than the women’s. They really need to do something about that.”

Agreed. Yet another one of B’s feminist rants that I quietly agree with.

“In hopes that she never does that to me again, I’m not going to tell her you said that.”

He laughs and takes a step closer to me. I can smell his cologne. It smells like Axe, which reminds me of middle school, but it’s not bad. God, I forgot how horny I was.

One moment I’m looking into those blue eyes, and before I can even process what I’m saying, words start coming out of my mouth. “Want to come back to my place?”

Oh my god, why the hell did I just ask him that? We literally just met.

“Uh, yeah. I’d like that. Do you live close?”

“Just a few blocks that way,” I say, pointing to what islikely the wrong direction because we’re inside, and I’m clearly tipsy.

“Great! Let’s go tell your friends where you’re headed and then get out of here.” Well, that just made me feel better about going home with a complete stranger. But also, I think I could take him if I needed to.

“Good idea. Are you here with anyone?” Figured I should ask in case he’s here with a girl.

“Just came here with some coworkers. I’ll shoot them a text to let them know I’m heading out.”

After finding my group and letting them know I’m walking home, we make our way toward my apartment. The fact that no one seemed shocked when I walked up with a stranger tells me that B had already filled them in and likely made some assumptions about how my night was going to go.

We make small talk, and I find out that he works at a nature center doing environmental education, which makes sense. His outfit and shaggy hair were definitely giving granola vibes.

His name is Darrah, by the way. I awkwardly learned that in front of everyone else when I went to introduce him and realized I never asked.

I wakeup to the sound of Iris and B giggling and stumbling. There’s a crash, and I’m pretty sure they just broke a lamp.

“Shit! Lou is going to kill me. I’ll find some glue and put it back together before she notices.”

Before she makes a huge mess, I go out there to stop her. “B, just go to bed. I’ll clean it up in the morning.”

“I’m sorry, Lou.” One side of her lip curls up, and she shrugs her shoulders. “Wait. Is he in there?” She points to my room, and I assume she means Darrah.

“No, he left a couple hours ago.”

Eyebrows scrunched together, she looks at her phone to check the time. “It’s only 2am. You left the bar around 11:30.”

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