| Chapter Forty-Six: |
| "Are we all ready to go now?" Cathy yelled from where she was entering the front door, coming back in the house from loading her stuff into Ali's car for the drive to the airport. "Yeah," Ali muttered, walking past her, grabbing her jacket on the way out the door. "What's gotten into her?" Cathy asked, watching Ali throw her jacket violently into the passenger seat. "I don't know..." Hallie replied. "But whatever it is, she better get out of it before we get to Maryland." ~*~*~ ~On the flight to Ocean City, Maryland~ Ali poured herself another drink of the complimentary Vodka the airline provided and downed it within a few minutes. She reached for another small bottle, when Cathy stopped her. "What in the hell are you doing?" she asked, grabbing Ali's wrist. Ali glanced from her wrist to Cathy with glazed over eyes. "Drinking." With that, she tried to take her wrist back and grab the bottle. "No, Ali, come on, what's wrong?" Cathy said, sitting down next to her in the seat Jamie had vacated recently in order to find some privacy to call Howie. "If you must know, Justin dumped me," Ali muttered, playing with the empty glass in her hand. Cathy's mouth dropped open. "You're kidding me." "I kid you not, now would you kindly give me that bottle of Vodka?" "Ali, you're drunk!" Cathy said, trying to keep the bottle away from Ali's outstretched hands. "I'm coping," Ali shot back, still trying to reach the bottle. "There's a difference." "Of what?" "About three more shots, now hand me that damn bottle. And if you refuse, I swear I'll crack your head open and find out why." Cathy gave up the bottle without any more struggle and watched her friend drown her feelings in alcohol for the remainder of the flight. ~*~*~ "We're in Ocean City! Yay!" "Where's the condo?" "Did you get the keys for the rental car or should I?" "How far away is it?" "I didn't get the keys, I thought you were going to." "How should I know, the last time I was here I was ten." "It is such a beautiful day, I wanna hit the beach right away." "No, I thought you were going to." "EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Ali yelled, getting their attention. "I may be coping, but I still know what to do and where to go. Now, of someone will help me get my stuff, then we'll go and get the rental car." Her friends glanced at each other, then picked up their bags, Hallie and Lily took one of Ali's bags. They headed to the Avis counter where Ali managed to get the keys to their car, a red Mustang GT. After which, they drove to Ali's condo, where they began to unpack. Ten minutes later, Hallie was whining to go on the beach, Jamie wanted to talk to Howie, Lily and Cathy wanted to go shopping and Ali just wanted to drink some more. They all headed off in their own directions, Hallie to the beach behind the condo, Jamie upstairs to the phone in her room, Lily and Cathy to the Boardwalk, and Ali to a local bar she knew of. ~*~*~ Ali walked in the bar, feeling out of place and lonely. She stepped up to the counter and ordered a Scotch on the rocks and sat down atfer the bartender checked her ID. Soon after her drink arrived, two guys walked in and sat down at the bar a few stools to Ali's left. One of them ordered a beer and went over to the jukebox. The other ordered a Margarita and began looking around the bar for any new faces. His blue eyes rested on Ali, who was sipping her drink, staring at the ice in the glass. "Hey," he said to her, causing her to almost spill her drink in surprise. She looked up at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just haven't seen you in here, and I wanted to know how long you've been in Ocean City." Ali blinked. She was not in the mood to flirt with some guy she didn't even know. "How long have you had such tight pants?" Ali asked, never blinking. The guy smiled and let out a small laugh. "If that was pickup line, we're a match made in heaven." "That wasn't a pickup line, so don't get yourself all worked up." "I'm Dylan. And you are... You know, you look really familiar," he said, apparently thinking. Ali rolled her eyes. "I'm probably who you think I am," she said, purely out of alcohol content. "Ali McLean, ex-fiancee of Kevin Richardson, ex-girlfriend of Justin Timberlake, cousin of AJ McLean, that's me. Happy?" He smiled. "Extremely. You know, I work for a radio station not too far away from here, B-101.7. I'd love it if I could do an interview with you..." "Oh no, I don't think so, I don't think I can handle one more interview," Ali said, standing up and putting her drink down on the bar. "Okay, no interviews," Dylan said, putting up his hands for her to stop. "You said ex-girlfriend of Justin. Could I take you out for a drink or something tonight?" Ali thought for a moment, and only seeing Justin leaving without a goodbye, she shook her head. "No, I'm sorry, I don't think I can make it tonight." "Well how long are you gonna be here? Maybe sometime later this week?" Dylan asked. "I don't know... But I'll be here for a while, around a year. Maybe we can do something next week or whatever," Ali muttered, grabbing her purse and hurrying out of the bar. "What did I say?" Back to Close Chapter Forty-Seven |