Hell's kitchen is a strange place to find heaven

 It was a pretty chilly evening in March, but when you’ve had a few, there’s really no such thing as too cold. Rob needed a break from the music and the crowd that overtook the inside of the bar. He signaled to his friends that he was stepping out for a smoke, before emerging into the crispy night air. He patted his pockets while he searched for his J, his lighter, and his balance. As he leaned up against the building with relief, like it was built specifically for this purpose, he lit the J and deeply inhaled. He knew that if he’d had one more drink, he would have been a goner, so you can imagine how thankful he was to his past self, that he remembered his emergency J to help get him through yet another drunken night. While he stood minding his business, a group of young ladies also stood a few feet in front of him on the curb. He watched as they took selfies to document their night, and listened while they laughed way too loudly at something that probably wasn’t that funny. After the excitement settled, one of them decided to break away from the pack and find a spot against the wall, next to Rob. 

“Wow”, she began with a laugh. “We can smell that all the way over there. You mind if I have a hit?”, she said as she gestured to his hand. 

“Bold, much?” Rob thought to himself. Normally he wouldn’t oblige, but she caught him on a good night. He lifted his hand towards her and she smiled as she received it.

“Thanks”, she said before taking a pull. “I’m Sam, by the way”, she stated her name and pushed the smoke out through the side of her mouth, simultaneously. 

“Rob”, he nodded and responded flatly. He wasn’t trying to be rude, he was just too focused on standing up straight. She reached over and passed him back his J, which he grabbed by the filter. The now sticky and lipglossy filter. He could feel that it was no longer dry but he couldn’t muster up words to say anything, so he briefly weighed his options. Let her keep it, throw it out, or take another hit. He knew there was only one right answer and that answer left the evidence on his lips. 

“So, Rob”. Sam stood there, back against the bar and facing her friends, as she cut into the silence between them. “What brings you out tonight? Are your friends inside?”

“Yeah, yeah they’re all inside. I had to come out for some air it was getting really loud and hot. Plus I needed a pick me up.” He quickly lifted his hand to show his trusty friend, before placing it back down beside him.

“You celebrating anything or just a regular Friday night?”, she inquired. By now she was facing him, arms crossed with her head leaning up against the brick. 

“No, just a regular Friday night. Nothing special. We come out together pretty often but not usually in this area, we usually meet up in Brooklyn. I prefer the dive bar scene, honestly. No pressure, just cheap drinks, and good vibes.” Rob offered Sam one more hit before he ashed and put it back in its case for the time being.

“Yeah, I get what you mean”, Sam affirmed. “You see that one right there”, she pointed over to her friends who were drunkenly laughing and using each other as support to balance in their heels. “The one in the ripped jeans in the leather jacket? Yeah, that’s my cousin. Tonight is her 21st birthday. She thinks she’s making it to another bar, but I already picked her up from the floor tonight. Twice. I’m taking her ass home.” She kept her eyes on her cousin as she explained and Rob chuckled while he listened and watched her stumble from friend to friend. 

“She was thirsty for a ‘grown night out’”, Sam continued, “So my usual spots would not have sufficed, so I said fine. That’s how they got me dressed up tonight.”

“That’s sweet. Showing up for your cousin like that. It’s nice having people who will put their feelings aside and show up for you anyway. She’s lucky to have you”, he told her. 

Sam smiled to herself, in a sort of confused way. She didn’t know how he could have such little information about her and make an assessment like that. But it was appreciated. Just then, a car pulled up in front of the ladies and one of them turned back to get Sam’s attention.

“Sam”, the young blonde, also with high heels and a leather jacket turned around and waved her hands sloppily in her direction. “Hey, we gotta … we gotta go, the uber is here. See it’s right here.” She turned back around and started following behind the other girls as Sam said goodbye. 

“That’s my cue. It’s was nice meeting you, Rob.” She pushed off the side of the building and hurried towards the car. “Thanks for the hit, you have a great night”, she called out before getting in the back seat and closing the door behind her. 

Rob stood there processing the brief and stress-free encounter he just had with a stranger. He stood there for a while, taking in the night air and contemplating going back inside. He knew what awaited him in there; more drinks that he couldn’t stomach but would be pressured into. He was content with his current state and instead of setting himself up for regression, he called an uber as well. From the back seat, he texted his friends before laying back and reminiscing silently on the best part of his evening. 

The next day, Rob lay awake in his bed. Groggy, but awake as the sun cut through a crease in his curtain and projected onto the pile of laundry in the corner of his room. He began to stretch and adjust to the morning, which was better than previous mornings after a night out, so he couldn’t complain. He grabbed a t-shirt off the top of his pile and walked out into the rest of his apartment to start his day.

“Hey! He’s up!” Janine, his roommate and childhood best friend was sitting on the couch, phone in one hand and orange juice in the other. She was louder than he had anticipated, which was obvious by the way he grimaced as he opened the fridge. 

“How was your night?”, she continued. “I heard you get in pretty late.” 

“My night was good.” He paused for a second as he looked around the fridge before grabbing the water pitcher and a glass from the cabinet. “I went out with Alex and them after work.”

“I thought you were done hanging out with those guys”, she stated.

“Ehh. I mean they’re not that bad and I hadn’t been out in a few weeks so I said fuck it, I’ll go.” He poured a glass before grabbing his cup and finding space next to Alex on the couch. 

“Nice. So you all just hung out and that was it? No chug challenges? No ‘how many shots can you take in 3 minutes’ challenges?”, she teased and he laughed faintly.

“Well, I slipped away when they were preoccupied and took a smoke break before another drink put me on my ass!”

She nodded to signal she agreed with his decision. “Smart. Smart man.”

They sat there quietly next to each other for a moment, before Rob began again.

“Yeah, and I had a pretty cool conversation with this young lady I met outside too.”

Alex said nothing.  Instead, she slowly tilted her head to face Rob with an expectant look.

“Alright, relax”, he said making his way to the kitchen. 

“I didn’t even say anything”, she said as she stood and followed behind him.

“Your face said enough”, he stated before reaching for the pitcher again.

“Okay, so that was it? What did you talk about?”, she persisted.

“Nothing much. She was out with her cousin for her birthday and she came up to me when I was smoking a joint and asked for a hit.”

“Bold!”, Janine interjected. “That could be a good thing though, so I’m not mad at it.” Rob paused for a second and thought briefly about her point before continuing. 

“Yeah, I guess. But she was cool, she was nice. We talked for a while and then they called an uber and I called an uber and that was it.” He looked at Janine above his glass, as he raised it to take a drink.

“Okaaaaay”, Janine began, sounding puzzled. “So when did you get her number, or her Instagram or her Linkedin at least!?” 

“Na, I didn’t get anything. I should’ve but I was too far gone to even concentrate on anything other than not throwing up on her. But it’s fine, it was just nice holding a conversation with someone other than Alex and them.” This is what Rob said out loud, but there was a little part of him that was mad for not getting her info. He does want to meet someone, and Janine always encourages him to put himself out there, but oftentimes he falls short. 

“Alright”, Janinne said with a deep sigh, “I’ll let it go because you look like shit and I’ll just have to take your word on the fact that you weren’t coherent enough to showcase yourself with any amount of dignity.” He smiled at her as he pressed his palms together in front of him, bowed his head, walked backward into the bathroom, and closed the door. The shower began to warm, as Rob undressed and stepped in, washing off last night. When he emerged and went to his bedroom to get dressed, he got an uber eats alert on his phone. He does part-time deliveries for restaurants in his neighborhood, so he quickly finished getting ready before leaving. 

“I’m headed out, Janine”, he didn’t see her so he spoke loud enough to be heard. He stood at the front door for a second, before a faint response came from her bedroom.

“Yeah, see you later”, she called back. Rob closed the door, grabbed his bike from the hallway, and headed down the street to retrieve the order. He walked up to the front counter when he arrived and spoke to the cashier. 

“Hey, picking up a delivery. Uber eats.” He showed the cashier the phone before she walked to the kitchen and grabbed the food for him. They gave each other a brief nod before Rob left and made his way to the destination. About ten minutes later, he was standing in front of what looked like a brand new building in the area, it couldn’t have been more than two years old. He called the number on the order, so he could be let into the building. After a few rings, a voice spoke.

“Hello?”, she questioned.

“Uh, hi, this is your delivery guy. Your food is here.”

“Perfect. I’ll buzz you in. You can take the elevator to the 3rd floor, I’m in 3A.” Less than a second later, the door buzzed and Rob was making his way to the third floor. When he got there, he looked around for a second before spotting the apartment at the end of the hall. He knocked and stood waiting for a response. 

“Hi! Thank you so much.” The person on the other side opened the door to retrieve the order and after relaying her appreciation, she stopped. 

“H-hey. Hey, you’re the girl I met last night aren’t you?”, Rob smiled in slight disbelief, standing face to face with Sam.

“Yeah”, she chuckled. “Yeah, I am. Hey. This is so crazy, what are the odds? They all passed out in the uber when I left you, we didn’t even make it to the next spot, we came back here. They’re still recovering so I figured the least I could do was order some hangover food”, she said as she lifted the bag. 

“Oh, yeah that’s very nice of you.” He stood there awkwardly as she turned and put the bag on the table, before facing back and continuing.

“Well, I see that you’re working, but now that you have my number, maybe we can hang out again sometime? Like intentionally,” she suggested as they both laughed.

“Yeah, I’d like that. I do have to head out but I’m glad we reconnected again. I’ll definitely hit you up. You free next weekend?” he asked her.

“I am”, she said, playing coy.

“Great. So I’ll see you next weekend. Enjoy the rest of your day.” Rob smiled and waved at Sam,  and as he backed away he watched her wave and shut the door. Rob finally, had a date.