Hi Stranger

Lara sat at the bar. ‘Can I have another one?’ she asked the barkeeper. She had been here multiple hours, and beers. As the barkeeper handed Lara her beer, he asked, ’Isn’t it time for you to get home? How many beers have you had already?′ ‘Can’t go home and don’t know,’ she said while burying her face in her hands.

Lara had been strolling down the road, when she stumbled upon this bar. It was a dark, lowkey bar at the end of Main Street in the otherwise hip-and-happening college town, Barklin. Some middle-aged men and women had been inside, but nobody her age appeared to be there. Perfect. She had no desire to see anyone she knew. She had no desire to be social at all, but she had nowhere to go.Her blonde hair she had tied up in a bun on top of her hair. Her hair wasn’t dealing well with today either.

‘How so?’ the barkeeper asked. ‘I used to live with my best friend, but that didn’t turn out too well, to say the least. I called the college, but they don’t have any dorm rooms available, not even a shared dorm.’ ‘That sucks,’ the barkeeper said. ‘You can stay at my place,’ he continued, ‘I have a spare room.’ Lara wasn’t sure if he was kidding or not, his face didn’t tell. ‘Usually someone at least buys me a beer, before I go home with them,’ Lara laughed with a half-smile. ′I guess you’ve got plenty on your tab. I’ll pay for those then and then we’re good to go,′ the barkeeper respondedseriously. ‘I was joking,’ Lara laughed, ’but I really can’t take you up on that offer. It is kind of you to offer though, thanks.’ ‘The offer stands you know. It really is no bother.’ He kept serving drinks to the other guests but kept looking sideways at Lara.

Within the hour the bar died down. Lara had switched to coffee now, to sober up. The barkeeper had been right, she had had enough to drink. The entire night was becoming one big blur, and not a happy blur. She was so ready for it to be over. Soon Lara was the only customer left. The barkeeper came up to her and said: ‘I’m going to close up soon. Can I call you a cab?’ ‘No, thanks. I’ll pay and leave. Thanks though.’ ‘Are you sure you are going to be fine by yourself? I don’t like the idea of you out on the streets all night.’ ‘To be honest though, when does anything bad ever happen in Barklin? I can’t remember ever hearing about big crimes. I’ll go to the library at the university, I guess.’ Barklin University had a 24 hours library, but it was far from comfortable, but at least it would be dry and warm. ‘Okay, I’ve heard enough. You are coming home with me and I don’t accept no for an answer.’ ‘Well, this doesn’t sound the least bit creepy,’ Lara answered sarcastically. ‘I’m sorry, but my momma didn’t raise me to leave a girl out in the cold all night by herself. Especially not when I have a spare room available without any trouble.’ ‘and just to be sure. You aren’t like a murderer or something? You know, I wouldn’t want to sleep over if you turned out to be a creep of some kind.’ ‘Oh yeah, I’m all good, not even a ticket. But to be fair, would I tell you if I were?’ he said while winking at her, ’Anyhow, I have to clean up here and then I’m ready to go home. You can either wait here or go there already.′ ’I’ll wait for you here. And you are really sure about this?’ The barkeeper rolled his eyes at her.

As he was cleaning up, Lara was looking at him. She had offered to help, but he had only given her another cup of coffee and told her to sober up. Lara figured that would be a good idea. She was going home with a stranger, whose name she didn’t even know. Going home with this stranger beat sleeping on a bench in the park or in the library though. As Lara was looking at him, she noticed he was handsome. He was the muscular type of guy. He moved very smooth though. He for sure knew he was good looking. His tight shirt really accentuated his muscles on the right spots. His jeans were tight as well. He was wearing sneakers that had been white some time ago.

‘Okay, I’m going to close up now. Do you mind waiting outside?’ Him speaking at once made Lara realize she had been staring at him for a while. She started to blush. He politely did as if he didn’t notice. ’I’ll be out in like 5 minutes. You can ride with me and we can pick up your car tomorrow. You have had way too much to drink to still be driving,′he continued. ‘Sounds good and I don’t have my car here, so we don’t have to pick it up. Makes life easy’ ‘By the way, I’m Seth. You said you usually have guys buy you a drink before they get to take you home, so I took care of that. I usually know the name of a girl, so...’ Seth said while reaching out for a handshake. ‘Hi, nice to meet you, Seth. I’m Lara.’

Lara hung against the wall next to the backdoor as she waited for Seth. Soon Seth came out with his arms filled with groceries. He had it all piled up high in his arms. Lara rushed over to grab some of the groceries before he would drop something. ‘I had to come into work today as my coworker had bailed yet again. My boss called me while I was in the grocery store, so I put my groceries in the fridge here,’ Seth explained. Lara only nodded at him, not sure how to respond. Seth popped the trunk of his care and they both put the groceries in there.

As they were getting in the car, Seth said: ‘I live only a little bit away. We should be there in 15 minutes or so.’ Lara said next to Seth in awkward silence, both were unable to think of something to say. Very out of the blue Lara asked: ‘You haven’t had this car long have you?’ Seth, relieved that the silence was broken, answered: ‘No, I got it just a couple weeks ago. It still smells new, that grosses me out.’ Lara laughed while saying: ’I was just going to say I love that new car smell. Seth laughed as well, Lara however, wasn’t able to stop laughing. She thought by herself, this wasn’t that funny, but she was just too tired, and still a little tipsy, to stop laughing. She couldn’t help it, tears were running down her cheeks from laughter. Seth looked at her a little uneasy. Trying to calm herself down, she looked at Seths face, she started to laugh again. ‘I’m sorry, but I just can’t help it,’ she laughed. Looking at her, by now red from laughter, face, Seth had to laugh as well. As Seth pulled into a garage underneath an apartment building, they both pulled themselves together and finally got their laughter under control.

They took the elevator up to his apartment. ’Here we are,′ Seth said while swinging open the door. As Lara entered the home, she noticed it was well decorated. Someone with taste put together this place. The open kitchen was modern and clean. The cabinets were bright white with a beautiful granite counter. It fit in so well when looking into the living room. The living room was nice and spacious, but not so big that it looked grand. The living room was also decorated in a modern style, without looking plain and impersonal. A giant bookshelf covered one of the walls. It was filled to the brim. He apparently liked reading. Lara looked if she saw any books she recognized but was distracted by the outer wall. It was made entirely of top-to-floor windows. These windows spread from the kitchen all the way to the edge of the living room. Lara assumed that this room would be overflowing with light during the day. Now the windows provided a nice view over the town at night. She could see some of the flashy bars from downtown.

‘Yeah, I have quit a nice view at night from here.’ Seth said, while walking up to Lara, who had been standing in front of the windows. ’Nice think that Barklin doesn’t have much apartment buildings. This building is the highest in the area, and that makes for quite a view. I think I like this best about this place. It feels as if you can look out over the world. Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the place.′ Seth went back to the hallway, walking back towards the front door. He opened the door nearest to the front door saying ‘This will be your room. My room is the door next to this one and the bathroom is right across from my room. I only have one bathroom, so we’ll have to share. I know it isn’t much, but I think it will do for tonight. It beats sleeping at the library I suppose.’ Lara caffeine started wearing off and the weight of the day was falling over her. When looking at this comfortable bed, she felt exhausted and yawned. ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ she said, ‘It all looks great. Thank you so much for letting me stay here. I’ll get out of your hair tomorrow morning bright and early, so you won’t be bothered too much by me. Thanks again. I really appreciate it. Not that many strangers would let someone crash at their place.’ ’Don’t worry about it. It would be a shame letting you sleep out on the streets, while this bed isn’t slept in. And don’t worry about getting up early. I’m off at 6.30 am tomorrow, so you can stay however long you like.’

Seth looked at Lara’s purse. He supposed there couldn’t be much overnight gear in there. ‘Do you have like spare clothes and a toothbrush and stuff with you?’ ‘Nope, this is all I have,’ she said while holding up her purse. ‘You can borrow some clothes of mine. They will be too big, but then at least you have some for tonight. I’ll grab you a pair of sweatpants and a shirt or something.’ Seth went to his room and grabbed the smallest shirt and pair of sweatpants he could find. Leaning out of his bedroom, he threw his clothes at her as he yelled ‘Catch!’ He walked towards her saying ’There is a washer and dryer in the bathroom if you would like to freshen your clothes up. Also the top drawer underneath the sink is filled with new toothbrushes. I appear to always buy them when buying groceries, so I have a bunch of new ones. Just take one of those. Yell if you need anything else.′ ’Thank you, Seth, for everything. I owe you big.’ Lara went into the spare bedroom, while Seth went into his bedroom, both busy with the night in their own way.