LOVE: EVERYTHING OR NOTHING

"Taken advantage of?" Jackie couldn't help but feel disgusted at that. "I'm a grown woman and can take care of myself!" She started to reach for her Cosmopolitan when Keith grabbed her arm. "Let go of me!" she said threateningly. "Jackie, he drugged your drink." "I would never do such a thing!" Mark protested. "You're just jealous that I'm here with a woman you can't be with. How dare you think I would do such a thing." "Then take a sip of her drink. If I'm wrong, I'll pay for all the drinks you two have had and will have tonight and leave you alone." Jackie looks over at Mark thinking he will lay this to rest and just take a sip. When he doesn't immediately do anything, she starts getting a little worried. "Mark, if you really didn't do anything, just take a sip and he will leave us alone." "I don't like those types of drinks and I am not going to take a sip." Mark says, trying his best to stay calm. "It doesn't matter if you like them or not, take a sip and prove to me and Jackie that you didn't drug her." "Don't tell me what to do and I don't have to prove anything to anyone." "Fine then," Keith says as he reaches for Jackie's drink and takes it from the bar top. "If you won't take a sip, then I will." Before anyone can react Keith puts the glass up to his lips and takes a sip. "Keith!" Andy yells as he approaches that end of the bar. "What are you doing?" "Proving that this jerk was here only to drug Jackie and date rape her." Andy looks over at the guy seeing him getting ready to leave. "Where do you think you're going?" Mark looks over at Andy. "I'm leaving. You are all nuts. Accusing me of trying to date rape someone. I'll sue you all for slander and close this place down." "You're not going anywhere until we have this resolved," says Andy. He grabs the drink from Keith's hand and sets in the back of the bar and then gestures for one of the bouncers to come. Mark tries to get away but is stopped by the bouncer and pushed back into his seat. A few minutes later Keith starts looking sweaty and losing his balance. Mark's eyes are wide with fear for being caught. Andy yells at one of his bartenders to call the police and tell them there was an attempted date rape. Keith was about to collapse when Jackie catches him but she was struggling to hold him up. Another of the bouncers comes over and grabs him from Jackie takes him to an empty booth and lays him down. A few minutes later the police arrive and Andy brings them over to Mark. The police search him and find small packets with a powder-like substance in them. Andy showed them the glass that Keith took a sip from that had been drugged and they carefully poured it into a vial. They put Mark in handcuffs and took him out of the bar. The police showing up and seeing someone pass out caused some uneasiness in the bar crowd. The bar was already slowly emptying out, but Andy knew it would be best if everyone left sooner than later. He got behind the bar and said the bar was closing early today due to a date rape attempt. He asked that all women be with someone they trust to take them home. Several women came to him and said they didn't have a ride to him. He called them a cab and told them he would take care of the fare. A half hour later, the only people left in the bar were Jackie, the two bouncers that helped with the situation, the bartenders cleaning up, Andy, and Keith still laying down in the booth. Jackie had grabbed a chair from a nearby table and watched over Keith. She felt was grateful that Keith had saved her from being drugged but couldn't help but feel bad for thinking she could begin to trust men again. Well, maybe she could trust Keith but would she want to go out with him after all this happened? Andy walks over to Jackie, grabs another chair and sits next to her. "Are you going to be alright Jackie?" "I don't know," she says looking at Keith. "I feel so stupid. If it wasn't for Keith, I would be at Mark's place...with him doing" "But Keith did step in like the idiot he can be." Jackie couldn't help but laugh a little at that statement. "Keith was actually staring at you and Mark the whole time you were together. I thought he was just obsessing. I'm glad though. I don't think he would have been able to live with himself if he knew something like that would have happened to you." Andy and Jackie just sat there in silence for a while hoping Keith would wake up, but it was obvious he was out cold for the rest of the night. "Where does he live?" Jackie asks. "He lives in the same apartment building that I do but a few rooms from me." "What apartment complex?" "Sunshine Hills by the grocery store on Pierson." Jackie wasn't sure if she wanted to ask what she wanted. She had so many conflicting emotions and thoughts going through her head. She wanted to repay Keith somehow but also not lead him on. "Can you get me a pen and paper?" she asked Andy. "Sure." He walked to the office of the bar and came back with a tablet of paper and a pen. He handed them over to Jackie and she started writing something down. "When he wakes up tomorrow can you give him this?" she says as she tears the piece of paper from the tablet and gives it to Andy. The paper says "I want to repay you for saving me and being my hero for the night. Call me when you read this so we can make plans for me to repay your kindness." Below that she wrote her phone number. "I'll make sure he gets this when he wakes up and calls you." Jackie stands up and gives Andy a tight hug. "Thank you for doing this for me. I just don't know how to handle this." Andy lets go of her. "I don't think he'll know how to handle this either. This is uncharted water for all of us." "Yeah, it is." "Jackie, will you be ok to drive home?" Andy asks with great concern in his voice "I will be, thank you for asking." Jackie says, trying to play down everything going on in her head. "No problem. Just stay safe and come back if you need to. I'll have one of the bouncers take you then." "That is very sweet but I'll be fine. Just need to get this night over and start over tomorrow." With that she walks out of the bar and to her car in a now very empty parking lot. She starts her car thinking what could have been one of the worst nights of her life. She drives back to her apartment safely. She locks the door as soon as she walks in. She heads to her bathroom and takes a long hot shower to help relax. After that she changes into a sleep tee and shorts and gets into her bed. Her thoughts continue, but not about what happened that night. Her thoughts were more about Keith. She wasn't sure what it was about him that kept lingering in her mind. She loved that fact that he was willing to protect her, but wondered why he took such a weird approach to the situation. However, the long night made her tired and before she knew it, she drifted into sleep.