Overload

**Thank you so much to all of you for wishing me a Happy Birthday! That was so sweet and I appreciate everyone being patient with the post! It's a long one :-) Have a fantastic weekend everyone!**

I messaged Josh back right away, letting him know I was on my way to work but would call him later. I didn’t want him sitting and waiting for his phone while I worked for the next 5 hours and I didn’t want to squeeze in our conversation right before work because I had a feeling there was a lot to talk about.

When I walked into the bar, it was about half full and the majority of the customers were regulars who came every Sunday to watch football and drink. I hadn’t been working there long but I quickly learned who the regulars were and what they ordered.

“Hey sweetheart!” I looked to the end of the bar and Brian was sitting there, drinking his watered down rum and coke.

He was probably the sweetest older man I had ever met. His wife had passed about 5 years ago and I think he came in to the bar so much just to have some company. He would usually sit for about 4 hours but would have 2 drinks maximum and was always chatting with the servers and other patrons.

I loved Brian because he was not only a great tipper, but I also found him genuinely interesting to talk to. Sometimes I would find myself staying more than an hour after my shift just sitting and talking to him (this usually started as me doing my cash out at the bar and then getting fascinated with one of his stories and loosing track of time). I also was absolutely in love with his dog.

“Hey Bri, how’s my favourite customer?” I asked cheerily as I walked up to him.

Even though I had a lot on my mind and couldn’t stop thinking about the call I had to make to Josh, I tried my best to focus on work and having Brian there would definitely lift my mood. He was like an adoptive grandpa and had a great positive energy about him.

“I bet you say that to all the guys!” He said with a smile and a wink.  

Just then I heard the familiar dog collar jingle from beside his stool.

“Bella!” I exclaimed as I bent down and started petting her.

Brian got Bella about a month ago and they had been inseparable ever since. Now, I know most people would say it’s unsanitary to let a dog be in a bar but she was the most well behaved dog in the world. The craziest thing is that she was only 2 years old but she was so calm and quiet that most people didn’t even notice her unless they actually saw her. She was a shepherd/husky mix which should have made for a very high energy and hyper dog, but not Bella.

Prior to Brian adopting her, Bella was in a very abusive home, but she had a heart of gold and reminded me a lot of my dog back at home. The owner of the bar, Tom, was a huge dog lover and had become quite close with Brian over the last 5 years so he had no issues with Bella being in the bar as long as she was behaved, which she always was.

“Nope you really are my favourite, but don’t tell the other guys” I said back to him while continuing to pet Bella. “Have I mentioned to you that if you ever need someone to watch this pretty girl I would be at the front of the line?”

He laughed, “Only about a hundred times! Don’t you worry if I ever need a dog sitter you will be my first call!” I chatted a bit more with Brian before I took over the bar from Sam, who had opened that morning.

I hadn’t really talked to Sam much since I started because we were always on opposite shifts but he seemed really nice. He was a bit older than me, probably closer to mid-30’s but was always friendly. Tom always referred to him as “my boy” even though he wasn’t his son or anything, I think he had just been working for him for so long that they had established a good relationship.

“Bye Sam, have a good night!” I said to him as I started doing beer count.

“Actually I'll be back later, I, um, have a date…” He mumbled while looking down.

I had just assumed he was married since he was in his thirties but I guess I really didn’t know too much about him.

“You’re bringing a date here?” I asked, sounding more surprised than I had intended. I didn’t mean for it to come out rude or anything, I just didn’t see The Black Bull as a place you would take a date.
I mean don't get me wrong, they have good food (if your okay with 90% of the menu being deep fried) and I loved both the customers and the other people that worked there, but it was totally a dive bar.

His eyes widened when I asked him that. “Ya, I was going to. Why, you don’t think it’s a good idea?” He asked, sounding nervous.

“My boy, you don’t take a girl on a date and bring her to the pub you work at! You want her thinkin’ you’re cheap?” Tom shouted from the back office.

I started giggling – for an older man his senses were so sharp, I swear he heard and saw absolutely everything that went on.

“Shit, you’re right” He said quietly. He looked so out of sorts and I was guessing he didn’t date much, which didn’t really make sense because he was a nice enough looking guy.

“Is this a first date or have you gone out before?” I asked, not because I was being nosy but I was trying to think of a good place he could go (okay, maybe it was both).

“First date.” He answered back.

“Okay, you should take her to Brewsters! It’s casual but nice and they make all of their own micro-brews right there at the restaurant! The food has always been awesome too.” I said enthusiastically, trying to get him a little bit more amped for his date.

“Oh yeah, I’ve driven by there and wanted to try, I’ve heard good things!” He said, looking a little more upbeat.

“It’s really good, I’m sure you will have a great time!” I said while pouring a pint of Budweiser for another regular, Jim whose beer was getting low.

Another thing you start to know is how many drinks the regulars usually have before calling it a night. For most of them, the general rule is to keep pouring until they ask for the tab.

“Thanks doll.” He said as I placed it in front of him.

Jim didn’t talk a whole lot but was polite and friendly when he did.

“No problem!” I answered.

“Well thanks for the suggestion Sarah, have a good shift! By the way, were getting low on cranberry juice, can you mention it to Tom tonight?” He said as he was leaving.

I knew I would forget with everything going on so I went to tell him right away.

“Tom, we’re running –“

“Cranberry juice. Got it.” He said without looking up.

Again, that man hears everything.

_________________________________________________________________________________

I went back behind the bar and started cleaning up a bit, trying to keep myself busy and distracted.

“Poor guy, in the same boat as me.” Brian suddenly said as he finished the last of his rum and coke.

“What? Who?” I asked him, confused.

“Sammy boy. Lost his wife 2 years ago.” He said while pulling out his wallet. He never needed a tab because he had memorized exactly what 2 rum and cokes came out to be (plus a hefty tip as usual).

“Oh my god, are you serious?! That’s so sad, what happened?” I asked.

“Some sort of accident. He doesn’t talk about it much, so I don’t bring it up. Such a shame to see a life go so early. At least I got 50 years with Betty before she passed. Sammy only got a couple years with his bride.” He said while shaking his head and fiddling with his wedding ring which he still wore.

I didn’t even know what to say. My heart ached for them both to lose their spouses, but Sam lost his wife right when they were starting their life out together, and I felt terrible for him.

“C’mon Bella, let’s go. Time for our truck ride home.” Brian said as he laid down some money and started walking to the door.

“Have a great night you two!” I yelled over to him.

“Thanks love, stay outta trouble” He said back.

The rest of the shift went by relatively slow and I only had a few customers.  I couldn’t help thinking about Sam and the heartache he had been through. No wonder he seemed like a newbie at dating, he probably hadn’t been out much since his wife passed. I was surprised that none of the other girls at work had mentioned this about him, but it might not be well known so I decided I wouldn’t say anything about it to anyone.

After cashing out and driving home, I sat in my car (just in case anyone was home I wanted some privacy) in the parking lot of our apartment building and pulled up Josh’s contact and pressed the little phone icon to call him.

“Hello?” He answered on the second ring.

“It’s Sarah” Was all I said, I just wanted to get to the point and know what was going on.

“Hey, I’m glad you called.”

“Yeah, so can you just start from the beginning and tell me what’s going on with her?” I asked. I wasn’t trying to be short with him but I was tired from work, and the weekend, and just everything.

“Okay, but you have to tell me what happened this weekend if I’m willing to tell you everything” He said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well obviously you noticed something or you wouldn’t have thought to message me, and I don’t want you holding anything back. I deserve to know, Sarah. No pulling the girl code card here.” He was being firm but I know he wasn’t trying to be controlling, he was just worried about Katelyn.
“Okay I won’t.” I’m all for girl code but when I was seriously concerned about the health or well-being of one of my friends, things changed.

“Well I started noticing her changing a couple months ago. Nothing too big, but partying a lot more, lost some weight, started hanging out with people I had never met and she wouldn’t invite me to go anywhere with her. I thought we just hit a rough patch maybe so I didn’t think there was anything more to it. Then she started going to a few raves over the summer and even for the party girl she’s always been, she was never into raves.”

“Yeah, I know she used to make fun of people that went to them and she hates EDM” I said.

“Exactly! Anyways, I was getting worried that she was slipping away from me so I brought it up and she flipped out. Called me clingy, said I needed more of my own friends, stuff like that.”

“That doesn’t even sound like her…”

“I know, that’s what had me worried. She never talked to me like that and we always had such a strong relationship, I never knew she thought that way. I knew that I didn’t want to lose her so I did what she asked and let her do her own thing more, but even when we did see each other it wasn’t the same. She wasn’t the same.”

There was so much emptiness in Josh’s voice and I immediately felt bad for being snippy with him.

“So a few weekends ago, she asked me to go to this music festival with her that a bunch of her new friends were going to. I was excited that she invited me this time and figured that things were getting better. About half way through the first night, she left her phone sitting open on a group message when she went to the bathroom. I looked at the text and saw she had sent it to about 5 people and all it said is “Anyone seen Molly?” I had no idea what that meant but then she started asking random people if they had seen Molly. I was so confused and asked her if that was one of her new friends and she just laughed and said “Oh my god Josh you are so stupid sometimes” and that was it. I was sick of feeling left out and fighting so hard for her attention when she was treating me like shit, so I left the festival and drove home that night.”

“Josh, Molly is a form of MDMA…” I said as I was trying to process everything he was saying. This wasn’t the Katelyn I knew. He was right, she never talked to him like that and if anything, she had been the clingier one throughout their whole relationship.

“I know that, now. I told my roommate about everything when I got back from the festival and he told me that Molly is a street name for it. So, when she came back I brought it up and she said it wasn’t a big deal, that everyone takes it at raves. Still, I told her it worried me and I wasn’t comfortable with how it made her act. She started crying and apologized, and said she wouldn’t do it again. It’s like she was back to her regular self once she was sober. I thought things would go back to how we were but she was still not herself. Glued to her phone when we would hang out, distracted, wouldn’t return my calls, stuff like that. Anyways, one night we had plans to go out for a nice dinner and she didn’t show. I tried calling and texting her but she didn’t answer so I got worried. I went over to her place and without thinking just walked in as I usually did…”

He sighed heavily again and said “I walked in on her doing a line of coke on her coffee table. And there was some random dude I had never seen sitting on the couch without a shirt on.”

“Josh…” I started. He sounded completely broken as he re told me.

“That’s when I broke things off. I flipped out and left. But, a few days later I realized that I still loved and cared about her. We've been together for too long to just throw things out the window. Not only that, I'm worried about her and I don't want her to go down a path that will ruin her life. I told her I would help her and do everything I could to go back to how things were and to get her back to the old Katelyn but she refused and hasn’t returned any of my calls or texts other than to say to leave her alone. This isn’t her Sarah, I just want to get her help…”

“So do I. We need to do something.”