Day 67 - Jukebox Story

Jukebox Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

It was a lonely night at a lonely bar on a lonely street in a lonely little town.  There were two cars in the parking lot and only two people inside the bar – Ted and Becki.  Ted stood behind the bar and Becki sat on one of the stools, but both of them worked there and both had served the other many drinks before.  Tonight it was Ted’s turn to serve Becki.  Last call had come and went and yet still they were there.  Becki had had a lot to drink.  Then she had some more.

Becki looked at the clock on the wall and then at the door and then back at the clock again.

“He should be here… the bastard.”

Becki wasn’t really talking to Ted, but he was standing behind the bar and there was no one else there so it was all but impossible for him to not hear her.

She held her half empty glass up and signaled for Ted to refill it.

“Take it easy on me tonight Beck.”

“Just leave the bottle on the bar.  I can pour it myself.”

“It’s late.  Maybe you should just pack it in.”

“He should be here!”

Ted sighed.  “Yeah.  I know.  But he ain’t.”

“It’s closing time.  My last night.  He should be here.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“He should be here.”

“I know.  What do you want me to do about it?”

“He…”

Becki paused and caught herself.  She took a silent gulp of air. For a moment it wasn’t clear if she was going to cry or vomit alcohol.  Finally she let out a long sigh, picked her glass back up and nodded at Ted.

“Another drink.  That bastard.”

“Beck—“

“Ted!  Drink!”

“This is a bad idea.”

“Driiiiink!”

Ted looked her in the eyes and felt sorry for her.  She was in love and she was hurting.  How could he not want to make that pain go away?  He turned and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and topped off her glass.

“That’s the last one.  I want to get out of here sometime tonight.”

She took a gulp and slumped down a little bit.  For a second Ted thought she was going to pass out, but no luck.

“I need to clean up in the back and then we can go.”

Ted turned to head to the back room.

“Leave the bottle.”

Ted hesitated, but he didn’t argue. He just set the whiskey down on the bar and walked off.

Becki refilled her glass then stood and walked to the jukebox.  After a few seconds of flipping through album options, she took out some dollars and loaded them into the machine.  She wanted to hear something in particular, but she wasn’t having any luck finding it.  She couldn’t quite remember the title or the artist, but it was the greatest country song ever written about a man having the blues.  When she couldn’t find that she looked for a song performed by a woman who sang about a cheating heart and a cheating husband.  She couldn’t find that one either.  What was wrong with this jukebox, she thought.  She gave no consideration to the fair amount of whiskey she had consumed or the mental fog it had created.

She stopped on a Chris Isaak album.  She couldn’t remember what song she wanted to hear so she loaded them all in.  It was slow and sad, brooding and mysterious. Becki began to slowly sway to the drawn out lonely notes.  A tear rolled down her cheek.

Ted came back in to see this sorrowful sight.  She was tragic but beautiful.  She had always been beautiful, but always more so when she was sad.  Ted hated to see a woman sad, but he didn’t mind seeing Becki no matter what state of mind she was in.

“Come on kid… it’ll be okay.”

Ted went to put a concerned hand on her shoulder but somehow he ended up hugging her.  They held on for a moment too long and somehow they began to sway together.

“Ten years and you might be the first person to actually get the song they wanted.  Never understood what was so broken with that thing.”

She chuckled a little at that.

He held her cautiously at first, his hand barely touching against her back.  Then, in a moment of determination he strengthened his grip and pulled her tightly towards him.

She reacted, at first as a woman naturally reacts to desire and determination, and then she reacted like a woman who realizes that the man she is with isn’t the man she wants to be with.

Becki pulled away and Ted let her go.

“Sorry… I’m—“

“No it’s—“

They looked at each other for a second in silence.

“He should be here.”

Becki walked back to the bar and took hold of her glass.

“Let’s go home.”

“I’m not done drinking yet!”

Ted watched her drink another drink.

Suddenly Finn was there and Becki wasn’t surprised. 

“I don’t have the time to fight with you.”

She wanted to hit him.  She wanted to kiss him.  Instead she let him talk.

“I came because I had to.”

“I knew you would.”

“I’m sorry for coming.”

“No.  Don’t be.”

“I never meant to hurt you.  You never had to wait for me.”

He said all the things she wanted to hear.  He loved her.  He missed her.  He gave her permission to move on.  He promised to always hold her in his heart.  He swore someday he would come and find her.  He said everything right.

“Finn… I don’t care.  I love you.”

Ted stood there and watched Becki whisper into her whiskey.  She didn’t finish her final drink.  Ted left if on the bar.  He would clean it up tomorrow.  Becki could barely stand and couldn’t walk without help.  He helped her put her jacket on and walked her towards the door.

“I… I…”

“Shhh…  It’s okay.”

Ted held her and made sure she was okay.  He wiped the tear from her eye.

“Let’s just get you home.  Okay?”

Becki nodded.

Ted shut the lights off, locked the door behind them and then took Becki home.