Another Dream, Another Woman

Only names changed in this story are Elaine and Barry! Enjoy

We decided to go to Fibbers for a few drinks and meet up with some old friends.
As we made our way there I noticed it was a lot darker than normal and it was only 8pm but i wasn't concerned, all i wanted to do was get to the pub, have some drinks and chat with some friends, and hopefully meet Elaine.

Elaine was this beautiful girl i used to work with, really amazing, well i thought so anyway. We used to get along very well in work and we always had a laugh with the emails we sent each other. Sure they didn't make sense to others when they read them but that was because only we knew what we were talking about.

I hadn't seen Elaine since leaving Eircom, which was about 3 months ago, not because she didn't want to or i didn't want to but because we were both so busy with our respective jobs. When i had some free time she would be stuck on a late shift in work and when she had some free time i would be away on training or something but we made sure that this time we would both be free so we could meet up and catch up on things. We didn't have to walk to far to get to Fibbers, i only live around the corner in Gardiner Street so its very handy for when i have to go home. No taxi, no long walks and quick access to my bed! Once we got there we ordered our drinks and went to the smoking area, that's where everyone that we know normally goes. Kev was the first guy i saw there, i love this man, tall fucker and genuine nice guy, he's like a brother to me and i always tell him that! He gets up from his seat and greets me with a big hug and as he goes to sit back down he rips a hole in my shirt. One of the sharp studs on his belt just hitched itself to my shirt so it was an accident and i told him it was alright but he felt very bad about it and said he would pay for a new one. I just told him that buying me a drink would be more than enough compensation. Like i said, i love the guy and accidents are accidents, its only a shirt and i have many more of them at home.............at least i hope i do.

Sitting next to Kev was Dean. You could say that Dean and Kev are brothers. They've only known each other for about 3 or 4 years but in that short time they've grown close, they get each others weird sense of humour and are almost always hanging out together. Dean is another great guy too, i remember when he used to be a shy guy but that all changed when he met Kev. He is the most evil, politically incorrect guy i know but in a very good way and i like him. He makes me laugh, he helps me out when i need help. He's been there for me when i rant on after 8 too many shots and will give some sound advice.............alright, so his advice isn't always that great but you get the idea. When you have Dean and Kev together you have a lethal combination, nothing can go wrong and if it does, well your pretty much fucked and you better run as fast as you can!

So Dean starts asking me about Elaine, wondering where she is, what she looks like, has she got a sister, just taking the piss with me. I tell him that i dint know where she is but I'm hoping to God she will be here soon. I've had a crush on Elaine since i first saw her when i started in Eircom but being the shy guy that i am, i could never ask her out or anything. I wasn't sure if she was seeing anyone and i didn't know how she felt about me, the last thing i wanted to do was pour my heart out to her only for her to get freaked out and run a mile and believe me that's happened to me before. I did finally find out that she wasn't seeing anyone but i was only told that after i had already left the job and it was her best friend who told me so there had to be some truth to it. I had tested Elaine a few weeks back to make sure that we could meet up today and nothing would get in our way but i was getting a little worried that she may have forgotten about it. I wasn't going to call or text her, i didn't want to seem like some sort of psycho who's stalking her or something like that.

11:30 rolled around and my phone beeped, i checked it and saw a text message from Elaine, she just got into Fibbers and was wondering where i was, i replied back that i was in the smoking area and would see her in a few seconds. I started to get a little nervous, Kev put his hand on my shoulder and told me to just relax and be myself and everything will be alright, Dean slapped me across the back of the head and told me that i would do fine. So i waited a couple of seconds and i saw her at the doorway looking around the room, i raised my hand up and shouted over to her, she saw me and waved at me. We managed to snag a chair from someone who wasn't paying attention and made room for Elaine, i introduced her to everyone and then she introduced her guy friend she brought along to everyone. I didn't know what to do or say, yeah i said hi to the guy and shook his hand, he said his name was Barry. Elaine sat down beside me but Barry got a chair and put it between us and he sat down. I was thinking back to what i was told about her being single and was wondering if i missed something or if she had met someone since i was informed about it. I was a little heartbroken but didn't show it, i just kept chatting away to her and Barry with a smile. She was telling me about what had been happening since i left the job and how there is a new boss who she doesn't like because he's a bit of a hard ass. I told her i was loving my new job and suggested she should apply too, we could have fun there together, like before.

Kev decided to buy a round so he got up to go to the bar, he asked Barry if he could come and help him, obviously trying to help me out with the situation. Barry was a bit hesitant in replying to him and by the time he was ready Elaine had decided she would help instead and excused herself. Kev gave me one of his weird looks that said "sorry, i tried, it backfired" I started talking to Barry, asking him all sorts of generic questions like what sport he watches, football team he supports, just idle chit chat and then i asked him how long he had known Elaine. He said he met her in work about 2 and a half months ago, she had found his wallet and brought it back to him. Now i was in Eircom a good 6 years and i dint remember ever seeing this guy so i asked him what department he worked in, he said he was in Faults & Recovery but had only started working with the company in the last 7 months. So there was a good reason why i had never seen him before. Elaine and Kev came back with the drinks, they had a tray between them and she had bought me a double JD & Coke and a shot of Purple Haze. I cracked a joke about her trying to get me drunk so she could take advantage of me and she laughed and commented that i wouldn't mind if anyone took advantage of me drunk or sober.

It was a little difficult trying to talk to her with Barry in the middle so i took complete advantage when he went to the loo, i got up and sat in his seat and chatted away to Elaine. I really wanted to ask her if there was something going on between the 2 of them but i couldn't. I just had the thought in my head that she might not appreciate me being nosey about her private life and it would probably ruin our friendship. For the whole time we were talking i couldn't stop staring into her eyes, beautiful blue eyes, i didn't even notice the guy behind me take my chair. Barry came back and looked at us with his hands out to the side asking what happened to his chair, i looked over and apologised that i hadn't noticed my one being taken and was getting up to give him his back but he said it was alright and sat himself on Elaine's knee.

Elaine was a little surprised about it as she wasn't really expecting him to do that, i hung my head down, admitting defeat to this other man, Dean leaned over the table to get his drink and as he did he whispered to me that it was alright and we would beat Barry up later outside, i smiled a little but i knew he was only joking about it and was just trying to cheer me up. So we continued chatting about things and having a laugh, all the time i tried to get my mind off Barry on her knee but i would end up imagining them kissing instead, it was wrecking my head. I said it was my turn to get a round in, i asked everyone what they wanted and once i had repeated it back to them and still got it wrong i went up to the bar. I looked back at the group hoping that Barry would take my seat but he never budged from her Knee. Once the barman gave me the drinks i ordered i put them on the tray and went back to my seat. I put the tray on the table and sat down, as i did there was a low rumbling noise all around us, everyone looked around and for just a split second there was silence, something that's extremely rare in Fibbers on a Thursday night. It was broken by the door slamming from the high winds. After that it was back to the usual noise of the place, everyone just seemed to assume that it was the wind making the noise.

I wasn't paying attention again because when i went to pick up my drink i saw that Elaine was actually holding my hand and i was holding hers. I looked down at it and then at her and she smiled at me. At that point i was very confused, what was she trying to do? It felt like time had stopped and it was just the 2 of us there but it didn't last long. Suddenly there was a load roar and some shaking in the pub. Somebody shouted earthquake but it couldn't have been, Ireland docent get earthquakes, does it? This was an earthquake though, i remember being in France 10 years ago when there was a minor earthquake, it only shook the ground a little and did no damage and that was my first and only experience until now and i thought back to only just 5 or 6 minutes ago when there was that low rumble, that must have been an earthquake too. This second quake was loud and had actually broken some of the windows and made a few of the more drunken guys fall over but it wasn't too bad, it didn't cause too much, if any, damage apart from the windows. Barry seemed to be more shaken than us, he went to grab Elaine's knee and she pushed him off her. Everyone stood up, there was some chattering about what to do, Dean thought it would be a good idea to get more drinks in case the bar got damaged with the shocks, we laughed thinking he was joking but he was actually very serious and seemed almost upset about it. Some of the people started to leave, others thought it was great, someone mentioned it felt like drinking on a rollercoaster.

I suggested going back to my place, the guys knew where i lived and they knew that i always kept a good stock of alcohol there so we could have a more relaxing time, i even invited Barry over too. He seemed a little hesitant at first but agreed to come. We pushed our way through the people to get out and just as we reached the door there was another tremor and this one was strong. People started screaming, we grabbed onto whatever was near us to keep a balance. Elaine held onto me as i held onto one of the large pillars, well just about, i couldn't get my arms all the way around and i ended up falling over with her on top of me. The tremor lasted about 4 minutes and in that 4 minutes it did a lot of damage. Kev and Dean had been holding onto the bar counter, which surprisingly seemed to be in good shape. I got up and helped Elaine up too, Kev shouted about getting out quickly so we did and as soon as we went out through the doors we saw that the road had split, there was a void between us and the opposite side, people were screaming, cars were dangling by the side, falling over into the abyss.

Luckily we didn't have to cross to get to my place, we hurried down towards Gardiner Street and started making our way to the apartment. As we rounded the corner of Parnell and Gardiner another tremor struck and we all grabbed onto the railings near us. The ground started to part at our feet so we got onto the small wall that the railing were mounted on. Dean was at the front with Kev behind him followed by Barry, myself and then Elaine. We moved slowly as it was very hard to go fast with the little space we had, Barry lost his footing and slipped, I managed to grab his hand in time and told him to hold on, Kev slowly squatted down and grabbed hold of Barry and the 2 of us pulled him back up, he grabbed hold of the railings and kissed them, promising never to let go of them until we got past the drop. So we continued on and as we looked around we could see the devastation caused by the last tremor. We could see fires in the distance, black smoke, we could hear more people screaming, praying, crying. I looked back and saw that the wall with the railings we had just passed was starting to crumble and fall down. I told Elaine to go over me and go ahead and not to look back so i pushed into the railings to give her some space to pass me, we picked up the pace a little to get off and into the apartment as we got closer. I started thinking that it may not be such a good idea to go indoors because the building might get demolished by the tremors so we started throwing out some ideas or plans on what to do. Barry suggested getting in a car and driving but Dean pointed out that the last car we saw had fallen into the open and there was a very high chance if we did get into one the same would happen to us.

We eventually got to my place, unfortunately it was in bad shape, actually terrible, half the building was gone, destroyed. Dean jumped off the wall and Kev followed him, Barry gently sat down and off, he was still a little shaken form earlier, i was helping Elaine off when all of a sudden the railing i was holding onto started falling back with the wall and into the open. Elaine managed to get clear but i was left hanging on and screaming. Kev dived onto the ground and grabbed onto my arm, the railing started to break off so i let go of it and held onto Kev otherwise i would have gone down and dragged him with me but i hadn't noticed that he had gone a little too far and we were both dangling over the hole now, me holding onto Kev looking up at him and he holding onto me looking down the hole, Dean had grabbed Kev by his legs and Barry was there holding on too. "Jesus that's fucking dark down there" he said. They pulled us both up and i thanked them and hugged them. Elaine came over and hugged me and then kissed me, she then smacked me and gave out for not being careful, i told her i was sorry. Then i decided to tell her how i felt. I told her that i liked her, always had from the first day, that i was too scared to say anything to her, that i always thought about her, every day and every night and that just holding hands with her was the best thing i could ever want and that's what i would want to do all the time. She stood there, looked a bit shocked and then she kissed me again and asked why i hadn't said anything until now. Dean asked if we were done and if there was anything i wanted to get out of what was left of my place. I looked at my home, the place i had lived in for the last 6 years, i had worked so hard to get it. Sure it may seem like a dump on a good day but it was home and now it was half a home. I said i didn't need anything and we should get a move on. We were trying to decide where to go and how to get there and what we would do when we got there when there was a loud explosion and a screeching noise, things were about to get a whole lot worse................................