Can I say that I was officially shocked??

After getting back to the apartment, I change into a pair of sweatpants, a turtleneck, a sweatshirt and fuzzy socks that look warm but actually aren’t. I slide into the kitchen to heat up some food that my brother brought over from his restaurant. He and I don’t talk often nor see each other often but I know he’s always there for me and he knows that I’m always there for him. Bob and my buddy from the NYPD reached out to my brother the other day to let him know what’d been going on since he’s my power of attorney.

The pasta that my brother cooked was amazing, as always. I spied a slice of the heavenly cheesecake that he also brought over. In general, I can’t stand cheesecake but my brother makes the best! He left a huge slice of Belgian chocolate raspberry swirl. Now that is what I call heaven!! I chased it down with a cold glass of milk.

I walk over to the living room and check out the DVD collection that my co worker’s brother has. There were so many of my favorites. I was pretty unsure which one to put into the Blu Ray thingy until I saw “Schindler’s List”. It doesn’t matter how many times I watch it, I will always need a few boxes of tissues.

Not too long after putting the movie in, my coworker got back to the apartment and brought us each a slice of the cheesecake he got at my brother’s restaurant. He sat down and watched the movie with me. Somewhere halfway through the movie I fell asleep and the next thing I remember was waking up in my bed in the arms of my coworker.

“I’m sorry, baby girl. You were tired and I didn’t want to finish the movie without you. I wanted to just hold you and watch you sleep. Look, there’s something that I want to tell you” he said.

“If you say so. What’s up?” I ask.

“I went to my lawyer and asked him to speed up the divorce process. The divorce should be finalized in a few days” he said.

“Why are you telling me this? It’s got nothing to do with me. I’m just a coworker but not for much longer. I gave my two weeks’ notice; I found another job with a different company. I did it because we have no future together” I said.

“I know that you’re leaving the job and I’m going with you” he said.

“You can’t come with me! I need to get away.”

“One thing you didn’t realize, baby girl, is that yes I can come with you. You now work for me at my company. The good news is that I get to spend more time with you and fall deeper in love with you.”

“What?”

With nights like this, I do NOT miss bouncing at a club

I do a full body stretches to loosen up my muscles. Somehow I knew it was going to be a fun night so I figured I’d stretch just in case someone does something stupid but nothing’s new with that. It’s October and Halloween is around the corner, as is the full moon.

As I leave the locker room, Bob’s waiting just outside for me with a bag of my things. He said that he had a bit of a verbal confrontation with my coworker but Bob called my buddy from the NYPD and he came over to the apartment to oversee Bob grabbing some stuff….My buddy intentionally let it leak that I was his partner for a number of years before I got transferred to the Homicide Department.

As the night wore on, I swear people got crazier and crazier despite no full moon yet. It wasn’t the fact that people started dressing in costumes, it was their behavior. Most of the clubbers are regulars. I’ve gotten to know quite a few of them in the months that I was one of the bouncers but I became closest to my buddy Roderick.

Tonight was insane. A group of 5 military members tried to take out Rod because he’s a cross dresser. I love this guy to pieces. I said no way in hell that I’d let these military people bother my friend. They tried some crazy shit to get Rod out; they got to the point where he was lifted over their brainless skulls. The next thing I know, I have some 300 pound military guy trying to choke me out but an elbow to the gut followed by a fist to the nose got him to let me go. The short order cook (about a solid foot and a half taller than me) goes for his gun that he smuggled in but I knocked his ass out. He was out cold for a solid 3 minutes before I allowed Bob to call the EMT’s. The EMT’s know me and once they saw this bozo slowly coming to, they *tried* to stifle laughter. They checked him out to see if he was ok and he was. He said that he wanted to call the police to file a report against me. I said that there wasn’t any reason to call the police because I *AM* the police and that I was going to file a report against him for attempted assault on an officer. The guy pales and leaves Cielo with no need for an escort.

We closed at 3 am so we could clean up the club for the next big event in a few days. We worried about the bigger stuff: the trash, recycling, dirty panties, used condoms…you name it, we cleaned it up......wearing gloves! I made sure that the floors were well cleaned; first with a water and bleach mix followed by the normal floor cleaner and water.


By 4:30 am, I went home with Bob and his wife, Marla – she tends the bar. When we finally got to their place at 5, the first thing I do fall down face first onto the closest couch. I’m out in seconds. When I woke up at noon, I realized that I was SO tired, I didn’t even move an inch while asleep. I get up, head on over to the spare room and the attached bathroom to take a shower and become more human. I think I showered long enough to become a raisin. I brushed my teeth and hair, did minimal makeup, dressed and went into the kitchen to start cooking pancakes. One of our – Bob, Marla and I – traditions is who ever woke up first from a rough night got first dibs on the hot water then made chocolate chip pancakes and bacon.

I was still kinda tired from the previous night that I cut up the bacon to put in the pancake mix. After making about a million and a half pancakes, Bob and Marla wake up and sit at the table drooling over the stack of the bacon chocolate chip pancakes. They asked where the most important food is – the bacon – and I told them I ate it all. They weren’t too surprised at that since I’d done it before. They dig in, not suspecting the bacon inside the pancakes. Once they started eating, they found the mother load of all mother loads of bacon. I’m serious about bacon; I promise you that it’s its own food group and is the one thing that everyone should eat!


After we eat and clean up, I run back to the club to grab my badge and field weapon from the locker. Once armed with these items – pun intended – I head back to my coworker’s brother’s apartment to relax for the rest of the day and read a few books.


The following day, Sunday, I head to St Patrick’s Cathedral for mass. I see the military guy – the one who tried to choke me - walking in, crossing himself with the holy water and sitting down in one of the pews near me.


Once mass was over, I leave and heard someone calling out “Detective!” I turn to see who it is. It’s the military dude who tried to choke me. He said that he wanted to apologize for his behavior. I said that it’s not my job to forgive him and that he sure does need Jesus for that…thankfully he was in the right place to do that. I patted him on the shoulder and left.


As I was heading back to the apartment, I ran into A. He asked how I was and what I was up to. I told him – except for the bouncing part; I’m grateful that my scarf was covering the slight bruising that the bastard gave me on my neck. I asked him how he was doing. He said that he was good; he misses me but now understands why I left. He said that he still loves me – always will – but is now taking some time to be by himself and not rush into relationship. I nodded and wished him luck.


I jogged back to the apartment with a sense of renewal and that I, too, can take time to be by myself and heal from past relationships.

Working as a bouncer for the night

I redid my hair, brushed my teeth, threw my sneakers on, grabbed my phone, wallet and a bottle of water from the fridge. My feet took me to Cielo….the only club to go to; especially in the Meat Packing District. I used to bounce there up until I started the current job. They pay was good but not the fights I broke up; on more occasions than I’d like to admit I had more injuries by the end of the night than the people in the fights.

Once at the door, I grabbed my electronic key/id and as I entered, I got a few nasty looks from a few clubbers. Oh well. I went to the manager’s office to see if my former boss was around and he was; thankfully. I needed to talk to him and I knew I could talk to him about everything under the sun.

“Bob! Do you have any time for your favorite and shortest bouncer?” I ask.

“I’ve got all the time in the world for you” he said. “What’s wrong with my best bouncer, baby girl?”

I tell Bob everything….the situation with the coworker, finding out that his brother is our mutual boss, the break-in at my apartment and now me staying with my coworker at his brother’s apartment. I even admit my feelings for my coworker and that I know darn well that my coworker won’t leave his wife for me.

“I’ll go swing by the apartment to grab a few of your things so you can stay with my wife and I tonight. Are you wanting to do any bouncing tonight? I hear the crowd we’re getting tonight is a little unruly! I’m sure that you’d love to throw a few people out and break up a few fights tonight! You’re locker still has your stuff in it. Go get ready; I’ll run to the co worker’s brother’s apartment to get your stuff so you can spend the night with us!” he said.

I give him a big hug and the keys to the apartment. I go to the locker room and open up my locker. Happy to see that everything’s still there, I change. I also include my police badge and field weapon to my bouncer's uniform. Guess I forgot to mention that I’m NYPD as well, huh?

Another unbelievable explanation

When I woke up from my nap finding myself in my co worker’s arms, I thought I was a little hung over from the wine and was imagining things. I rubbed my eyes a little and blinked a few times. I decided to see if I could sit up to see if I was hung over and really being in my co worker’s arms OR imagining it.

“Hey, Deppgrl. Didn’t realize that you’d be wide awake after sleeping for only an hour” he said.

“What the hell are you doing? I wanted to sleep alone! Yeah I know that it’s your brother’s apartment but I did NOT invite you to join me in bed! Gah! I just wish you could leave me alone!”

“Babe. You were screaming about being attacked, I came in found you thrashing about in bed. The only way that you would calm down was when I joined you in bed and placed you in my arms. Once I did that, you calmed down and fell back asleep; you didn’t scream or thrash around anymore, you fell into a deep sleep. Despite how much you don’t like me, I’m very grateful that I was there just to hold you. I know that you needed your sleep and I felt that it was important to make sure that you sleep” he said.

“Oh. Well, thanks, I guess. I’m going out for a walk” I said.

Inconceivable

After stomping into the spare room, I grab the freshly laundered towels and went off to the bathroom attached to the spare room I was using. The bathroom was amazing! It was like you’d see in a mansion from the 1920’s era.

I strip and turn the knobs to get the water flowing. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds to get hot water (in my apartment it takes a good 10 minutes!). I quickly raid the cabinets and I find my favorite shampoo and conditioner as well as soap and bath salts. I take a quick shower to get the past few hours dirt off of me and then rinse out the tub so I can take a bath using my favorite bath salts. I hear a soft knock on the door; I throw a towel on and opened the door.

“What do you want? I had a rough few hours. I just want to soak in the tub and listen to some music” I said.

“I’m sorry that you’ve been through a shit load today. Seeing me and spending time here with me is one of the last things that you want to do especially with the door to your apartment. I’m sure it feels like insult to injury. I can apologize to you til I’m blue in the face about my estranged wife but the chances of you believing me are slim to none. I deserve the hostility and the mistrust.

That’s beside the point. The reason why I knocked is because I wanted to bring you a bottle of wine and a glass as well as a few candles. You found some books, right? I wasn’t sure what brand of wine you like so I figured Arbor Mist would be good and I know that you love blackberries so I got you the blackberry flavor” my co worker said.

“Thanks” I said. “I’ll take the wine and I don’t need any candles nor the glass. And yes, I found the books. Thanks. The water’s getting cold!”

My coworker left the bathroom, I locked the door and dropped the towel; being careful not to spill the wine. I was thankful that the water was still scorching hot…..it’d make the bath last a few minutes longer. Once comfortable, I took a long swig of the wine and grabbed a book. I looked at the cover and saw that it was “Coma” written by Robin Cook.

I read a bit of it but the stress of my door being kicked in, having sex with my coworker and the wine, I thought it be best to get out of the tub and take a long nap. I drain the tub, rinse off, hang the towel up and grab the bottle of wine as I walk a few steps over to the spare room. I get dressed in my pj’s, finished the wine and climb under the sheets. In a matter of moments, I fall asleep. It was a restless sleep and subconsciously I knew I was thrashing around the bed and was screaming.

At a certain point in the nap, I was in the in between state of mostly asleep and barely awake. I could’ve sworn that the bed dipped due to added weight but I fell back asleep. This time it was a deep slumber. When I woke up an hour later, I found myself in the arms of my snoring co worker.