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Description
It was about 10 AM as Conner walks into Starbucks.  The cool air was a welcome change to the blistering summer heat.  The smell of freshly ground coffee helps him wake up a bit.  He glances around and notices that there is no line today, so he heads straight for the barista at the counter.
"What can I get for you?"  She asks with a polite smile.
"I'll take a grande iced mocha, with a double shot of espresso, no whip."  Connor responds plainly.
"Can I get your name please?"
"McGinnis"
"Alright, coming right up!"  The barista then leaves to the preparation area and makes Conner his drink, while he places the exact change by the cashier and sits down on one of the couches.
As he sits, he takes a deep breath, rubbing the corners of his eyes, trying to keep himself awake.  He's only a few weeks into his first semester, and he still can't adjust.  He brings his head back and relaxes on the couch.  Just as he feels himself drift off he hears the barista's voice calling to him.
"McGinnis?"  Conner begrudgingly gets up, and walks over to her.
"You're not a morning person, are you?"  The barista asks as she hands him his drink.
"Not really.  Thanks"
"Thank you. Have a nice day!"
Conner takes a sip of his iced mocha, and feels the ice cold liquid flow down his throat, cooling his body down.  He then notices that under his name, there's something else.  He sees the name Lilly, and what he assumes is her number.  Without looking back, he goes for the door.  At that moment, the door swings open, letting in the bright light from outside, nearly blinding him at that instant.
"Conner?  Oh my god!"  The familiar voice runs up and hugs him.  Before his eyes adjusted, he already knew who it was.
"Hi Julie." He responds, forcing a kind smile on his face, while hugging her back with his free arm.
"It's been like what, four years?"
"Just about, yeah"
"So what have you been up to?  Anything interesting?"
"Nothing really, just started school."
"Oh really?  That's great."  Julie heads over toward the barista, Conner takes the opportunity to leave.  "So what are you taking?"  Conner turns around and walks over, he notices that Lilly has a somewhat downtrodden look to her.
"Just some general ed. classes."  Julie squats down, looking through their selection of bottled drinks.
"Are you still working at Tony's Bar?"
"Nah, I left about four years ago.  Gotta job at The Number 7 now."
"You know, I've always wanted to go there, I hear they got a cute bartender there, must be you I guess."  Julie responds as she bounces up with her vitamin water, heading towards the barista.  She pays for the water and starts to head out the door, "I guess I'll see you tonight then, I'll bring Trevor, it's been a while since we all hung out."
Conner's muscles tense up at the sound of his name.  "Yeah.  I'll see you then."  Julie leaves just as quickly as she came.  He walks over to one of couches and sits down.  He breathes deeply.  He takes a sip of his mocha, finding it already empty.  "Must've finished it while we were talking."  Conner thinks to himself.
"You alright?" Lilly's voice asks from over the counter, Conner now realizes that she was there the entire time.
"I'm fine."  Conner picks himself up and heads outside.  It takes a moment for his eyes adjust to the blinding light.  He slams the empty cup into the nearby trash can.  His hand is shaking.  Conner closes his eyes, and begins breathing deeply, trying to calm himself down.  He feels something smooth and metallic in the hand that was shaking.  He opens his eyes and pulls his hand away from his back pocket.

Conner comes home to find Flint at the door waiting, staring intensely at him.  "What?  I'm not that late."  Flint doesn't budge.  "I needed coffee.  Screw it, why am I explaining myself to a dog?"  Conner walks past his German Sheppard/Rottweiler mix of a mutt, into his studio apartment and sits down on his couch.  Flint jumps on the couch and rests his head on Conner's lap.  "So I ran into Julie today."  Flint sneezes, "Yeah, my thoughts exactly."  Conner responds in a minor chuckle.
"How'd that go?"  Conner looks over, to find his roommate and AA sponsor Steve walking out of his room.
"It went fine."
"Right."  Steve says sarcastically as he sits on an adjacent couch.  "You know what fine stands for?  Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional."
"Ocean's Eleven?"
"No, Italian Job.  Close though.  But seriously, how'd it go?"
"I told you.  It went fine."
"Dude, we've been roommates for as long as you've been clean.  You know I have your back, just tell me what happened."
"Nothing happened."  Conner picks Flint's head up to readjust something in his pocket, and begins to head to his room.
"God dammit Conner!  Are you still carrying that around?"
"It's a willpower exercise, you know that.  Besides, I told you, I like to be called McGinnis."
"That's not what I'm talking about Con.  Seriously, sometimes I worry about that will of yours."  Conner glances back at him.  "Fine, McGinnis, whatever.  But you can't keep everything to yourself.  You know you can't kick the habit until you get to the root of the problem.  You gotta face your demons.  Wait!"  Conner stops.  Glances back at Steve, who throws something at him.  Conner catches it and looks at it.
"It's been a year already?" Conner replies as he examines it, calmly.
"Yeah, happy anniversary.  Let's get some cake."  Conner goes into his room and shuts the door.

Conner started work at eight.  The Number 7 hasn't had much traffic since the club Jericho opened up down the street, but it hasn't been all bad.  A lot of the people usually come to The Number 7 first, fill up on drinks and head over to Jericho's, Conner doesn't  know if their drinks were cheaper, or even better, but he doesn't care.  Right now he's more concerned about Julie and Trevor walking in through that door.  Each time someone comes through, his body tenses up like a string across a guitar.  Suddenly his eyes go dark.
"Guess who?"  Asks a cheerful tone.
"Hi Alice."  Conner responds, plain as day.
"How'd you know?"
"Who else?"  Alice has been working at The Number 7 shortly after he did, and she hasn't left him alone since.   "Do you need something?"
"Yeah, those two girls at that table over there want two shots of Patrón Silver, plus one for the cute guy at the bar, do you know where he is?"  Alice asks coyly.  Conner pours two shots of Patrón Silver and places them on Alice's serving tray, then fills a third one up with water.
"I think those two would like their drinks now."   Alice pouts and walks over to the girls, who raise their glasses to Conner, and he raises his.  All three of them down their drinks.  The girls let out a loud "Woo!" and start heading out the door.
The evening went along as any other night, people started leaving, and bits of his anxiety left along with them, until there were only a few left.
"So how was your day, McGinnis?"  Alice asks as she sits down at the bar.
"Shouldn't you be waiting on customers?"
"There aren't many people left, the others can handle them. So?"
"So what?"
"How was your day."
"Fine."
"Well, that's boring."  Alice patiently sits as she watches Conner wipe down the bar.  "Well?"
"What?"
"Aren't you gonna ask me about mine?"
"I'm sure you would've told me anyways."
"Not with that attitude."
"What attitude?"  Conner finally says in annoyance.  Alice giggles, and leaves him at the bar.

Soon after, the door opens, and in walks Trevor and Julie.  His heart sinks, his gut tightens.  He puts on a smile and waves them over.  He pulls out Trevor's normal beer, Heineken, but before he takes the cap off Trevor interjects and asks for 151 on the rocks, and Julie asks for a Roman Coke with a twist.  Conner puts the Heineken away and begins preparing their drinks, puzzled that in the three years he knew her, she never had a drop, and here she is, asking for a Roman Coke, with a twist.
"You drink now?  Last I checked you never touched the stuff.  Though that was four years ago."  Julie takes a sip of her Roman Coke.
"Well I've just been under a little stress lately, and I really don't like beer.  Besides, this doesn't have nasty taste."
"Just don't make a habit of it.  What's got you so stressed anyways?"
"She dropped outta school for one."  Trevor bluntly interjects.  Bringing his glass down and pushing it toward Conner, signaling for a refill.  Conner does so, and notices Julie shooting him a dirty look from behind her glass.
"Well it was getting hard to pay for, so I had to.  But I got a job though."
"Paying for college is pretty hard, especially when you have to work two jobs.  Those loans take a while to pay off."  Conner replies contemptuously.
"She's only working one job."  Trevor adds.  "Over at the mall, Hot Dog on a Stick.  You gotta see that ass of hers in those shorts."  Julie brings her head down in embarrassment.  "Why aren't you drinking with us?  Get a glass out for yourself."
"I'll pass on that.  I don't drink when I'm behind the bar."
"That's bull.  Why don't you have one anyways, it's a special occasion."
"No thanks.  I'm fine."
"Suit yourself."  Trevor takes a rather large gulp of his drink, some of it trailing down his chin on onto his shirt.  He didn't seem to care.
"So what do you do, Trevor?"  Conner asks, trying to be polite, clenching his teeth.
"No much, y'know.  This and that."
"Well if you don't do much, then why can't you spend more time with me?"  Julie asks, irritated.  Conner goes to refill her glass, but she covers it with her hand, enjoying the irony of the conversation at hand.  "Is it irony?"  He thinks for a moment.  "I'll look it up later, right now it doesn't matter."
"Well it doesn't sound like you're really busy."  Conner just had to butt in.  It was the sick satisfaction he needed.   Trevor glares at him with the corner of his eye.
"I just got my hands full.  With, stuff."  Trevor stutters out.
"I'll be right back."  Julie gets up, and heads away from the bar.  As she walks to the bathroom, Conner notices Alice and a couple other waiters and waitresses who were still at the bar, trying to look as though they weren't listening.  His glance gets everyone moving around, acting as if they're doing something.

"What's her name?"  Conner asks Trevor, with a tone of disgust.
"What are you talking about?"  Trevor asks defensively, trying to act innocent.
"You and I both know that you're not the commitment type.  I'm surprised you lasted this long."  After a short moment of silence, Conner's narrowing gaze finally breaks him.
"Kristy.  I was planning on ending it a while ago, but she's just, so, needy."
"Really?   Are you fucking kidding me?"
"I take it you're still bitter about what happened."
"Oh you have no idea."  Conner says calmly.  "It's taking everything that I got, from kicking your ass right now."  Trevor smiles slyly at this bit of news.
"Hey man, you know me.  We go way back.  What happened to bros before hoes?"  Trevor asks, testing his limits.  However that was the wrong move, as Conner reached over the bar and pulled Trevor up close to his face.
"First of all, we're not bros.  Bros don't do what you did.  Secondly, don't you dare call her, or anyone for that matter, a hoe.  She is a decent person, and if it hadn't been for you, her life would be all the better."  Conner then throws him down off the bar.  "Get the fuck out of my bar, and get the fuck out of my life!"  His breathing is heavy.  He looks up and sees the entire bar looking at him.  He see's Julie.  "How long has she been there?" He thinks to himself.  "How much of that did she hear?"  Julie then runs over and tries to help Trevor up.  Trevor pushes her hand away and helps himself, and storms out of the room.  Julie chases after.
"Julie!"  Conner calls after her.  She stops and looks over.  Conner takes a small object from out of his pocket, and tosses it at her.  "It's not your fault.  Take care of yourself."  Julie catches the object, and looks curiously at it, but runs out the door before she can examine it more carefully.  Trevor can be heard yelling outside, something along the lines of "I told you this was gonna happen!"

Conner's whole body is shaking.  He needs to get out.
        "Uh."  Conner stutters.  "Mark."
        "Y-yeah?"  Mark, the other bar tender, hesitantly responds
        "Take over."  Conner stumbles to the alley behind the bar, and collapses on his knees.  His breathing is getting heavier.  He hears the door swing open.
        "Conner?  Oh my god!"  The familiar voice runs up and embraces him
        "Alice?"  Her hands are warm.  He's never noticed before.  At least, didn't bother to notice.  Her hands help Conner up and place him against the wall.
        "What happened, who were those guys?"  She lays her arms around him, and holds him tightly.
        "The girl.  Her name is Julie.  My ex-girlfriend."  Conner explains in a somber tone.  "We dated for three years, broke up four years ago.  That guy with her, Trevor.  Ex-friend, so-to-speak."  Conner is struggling with his emotions.  He hasn't talked to anyone about it since.  "About four years ago, me and Julie were going through a rough patch.  She was complaining that I wasn't spending enough time with her.  I couldn't explain to her that I took up an extra job to help pay for her college and…"  His voice trails off.  He brings his head back, and takes a deep breath.  The tears he has fought back for so long have finally been set free.  Alice rubs his shoulders in reassurance.  "Then Trevor.  He took advantage of the situation.  When I found out what happened, I just left.  No goodbyes, no nothing.  I just wanted to get away, put it all behind me."
         "So what was that thing you threw at Julie?"  Alice asks
         "That?  That was an engagement ring I took the extra job to pay for.  I wanted to surprise her."  Conner pushes himself against the wall to stabilize himself as he gets to his feet.  His hand reaches for his back pocket, and pulls out a stainless steel flask.  He begins to unscrew it.
        "Conner.  What are you doing?"  Julie gets up to her feet and tries to grab the flask out of his hand.  Conner moves his hands away and raises the flask up.  "It's not worth it, don't!"  Conner then tips the flask over, and watches the clear liquid flow out and on to the asphalt below, forming a small puddle by their feet.  The action was so liberating.  It was as if losing an invisible weight he's been carrying for many years.  He suddenly felt lighter, smiling as the final drop splashed.
        "Water."
        "What?"  Alice asks, still dumbfounded.
        "Steve must've switched it when I wasn't looking."  Conner tosses the empty flask into the trash.  Streams of liberating tears glistening on his face.  He turns to Alice gives her a sincere smile.
       "So how do you feel?"
        "Better."

Description
It was about 10 AM as Conner walks into Starbucks.  The cool air was a welcome change to the blistering summer heat.  The smell of freshly ground coffee helps him wake up a bit.  He glances around and notices that there is no line today, so he heads straight for the barista at the counter.
"What can I get for you?"  She asks with a polite smile.
"I'll take a grande iced mocha, with a double shot of espresso, no whip."  Connor responds plainly.
"Can I get your name please?"
"McGinnis"
"Alright, coming right up!"  The barista then leaves to the preparation area and makes Conner his drink, while he places the exact change by the cashier and sits down on one of the couches.
As he sits, he takes a deep breath, rubbing the corners of his eyes, trying to keep himself awake.  He's only a few weeks into his first semester, and he still can't adjust.  He brings his head back and relaxes on the couch.  Just as he feels himself drift off he hears the barista's voice calling to him.
"McGinnis?"  Conner begrudgingly gets up, and walks over to her.
"You're not a morning person, are you?"  The barista asks as she hands him his drink.
"Not really.  Thanks"
"Thank you. Have a nice day!"
Conner takes a sip of his iced mocha, and feels the ice cold liquid flow down his throat, cooling his body down.  He then notices that under his name, there's something else.  He sees the name Lilly, and what he assumes is her number.  Without looking back, he goes for the door.  At that moment, the door swings open, letting in the bright light from outside, nearly blinding him at that instant.
"Conner?  Oh my god!"  The familiar voice runs up and hugs him.  Before his eyes adjusted, he already knew who it was.
"Hi Julie." He responds, forcing a kind smile on his face, while hugging her back with his free arm.
"It's been like what, four years?"
"Just about, yeah"
"So what have you been up to?  Anything interesting?"
"Nothing really, just started school."
"Oh really?  That's great."  Julie heads over toward the barista, Conner takes the opportunity to leave.  "So what are you taking?"  Conner turns around and walks over, he notices that Lilly has a somewhat downtrodden look to her.
"Just some general ed. classes."  Julie squats down, looking through their selection of bottled drinks.
"Are you still working at Tony's Bar?"
"Nah, I left about four years ago.  Gotta job at The Number 7 now."
"You know, I've always wanted to go there, I hear they got a cute bartender there, must be you I guess."  Julie responds as she bounces up with her vitamin water, heading towards the barista.  She pays for the water and starts to head out the door, "I guess I'll see you tonight then, I'll bring Trevor, it's been a while since we all hung out."
Conner's muscles tense up at the sound of his name.  "Yeah.  I'll see you then."  Julie leaves just as quickly as she came.  He walks over to one of couches and sits down.  He breathes deeply.  He takes a sip of his mocha, finding it already empty.  "Must've finished it while we were talking."  Conner thinks to himself.
"You alright?" Lilly's voice asks from over the counter, Conner now realizes that she was there the entire time.
"I'm fine."  Conner picks himself up and heads outside.  It takes a moment for his eyes adjust to the blinding light.  He slams the empty cup into the nearby trash can.  His hand is shaking.  Conner closes his eyes, and begins breathing deeply, trying to calm himself down.  He feels something smooth and metallic in the hand that was shaking.  He opens his eyes and pulls his hand away from his back pocket.

Conner comes home to find Flint at the door waiting, staring intensely at him.  "What?  I'm not that late."  Flint doesn't budge.  "I needed coffee.  Screw it, why am I explaining myself to a dog?"  Conner walks past his German Sheppard/Rottweiler mix of a mutt, into his studio apartment and sits down on his couch.  Flint jumps on the couch and rests his head on Conner's lap.  "So I ran into Julie today."  Flint sneezes, "Yeah, my thoughts exactly."  Conner responds in a minor chuckle.
"How'd that go?"  Conner looks over, to find his roommate and AA sponsor Steve walking out of his room.
"It went fine."
"Right."  Steve says sarcastically as he sits on an adjacent couch.  "You know what fine stands for?  Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional."
"Ocean's Eleven?"
"No, Italian Job.  Close though.  But seriously, how'd it go?"
"I told you.  It went fine."
"Dude, we've been roommates for as long as you've been clean.  You know I have your back, just tell me what happened."
"Nothing happened."  Conner picks Flint's head up to readjust something in his pocket, and begins to head to his room.
"God dammit Conner!  Are you still carrying that around?"
"It's a willpower exercise, you know that.  Besides, I told you, I like to be called McGinnis."
"That's not what I'm talking about Con.  Seriously, sometimes I worry about that will of yours."  Conner glances back at him.  "Fine, McGinnis, whatever.  But you can't keep everything to yourself.  You know you can't kick the habit until you get to the root of the problem.  You gotta face your demons.  Wait!"  Conner stops.  Glances back at Steve, who throws something at him.  Conner catches it and looks at it.
"It's been a year already?" Conner replies as he examines it, calmly.
"Yeah, happy anniversary.  Let's get some cake."  Conner goes into his room and shuts the door.

Conner started work at eight.  The Number 7 hasn't had much traffic since the club Jericho opened up down the street, but it hasn't been all bad.  A lot of the people usually come to The Number 7 first, fill up on drinks and head over to Jericho's, Conner doesn't  know if their drinks were cheaper, or even better, but he doesn't care.  Right now he's more concerned about Julie and Trevor walking in through that door.  Each time someone comes through, his body tenses up like a string across a guitar.  Suddenly his eyes go dark.
"Guess who?"  Asks a cheerful tone.
"Hi Alice."  Conner responds, plain as day.
"How'd you know?"
"Who else?"  Alice has been working at The Number 7 shortly after he did, and she hasn't left him alone since.   "Do you need something?"
"Yeah, those two girls at that table over there want two shots of Patrón Silver, plus one for the cute guy at the bar, do you know where he is?"  Alice asks coyly.  Conner pours two shots of Patrón Silver and places them on Alice's serving tray, then fills a third one up with water.
"I think those two would like their drinks now."   Alice pouts and walks over to the girls, who raise their glasses to Conner, and he raises his.  All three of them down their drinks.  The girls let out a loud "Woo!" and start heading out the door.
The evening went along as any other night, people started leaving, and bits of his anxiety left along with them, until there were only a few left.
"So how was your day, McGinnis?"  Alice asks as she sits down at the bar.
"Shouldn't you be waiting on customers?"
"There aren't many people left, the others can handle them. So?"
"So what?"
"How was your day."
"Fine."
"Well, that's boring."  Alice patiently sits as she watches Conner wipe down the bar.  "Well?"
"What?"
"Aren't you gonna ask me about mine?"
"I'm sure you would've told me anyways."
"Not with that attitude."
"What attitude?"  Conner finally says in annoyance.  Alice giggles, and leaves him at the bar.

Soon after, the door opens, and in walks Trevor and Julie.  His heart sinks, his gut tightens.  He puts on a smile and waves them over.  He pulls out Trevor's normal beer, Heineken, but before he takes the cap off Trevor interjects and asks for 151 on the rocks, and Julie asks for a Roman Coke with a twist.  Conner puts the Heineken away and begins preparing their drinks, puzzled that in the three years he knew her, she never had a drop, and here she is, asking for a Roman Coke, with a twist.
"You drink now?  Last I checked you never touched the stuff.  Though that was four years ago."  Julie takes a sip of her Roman Coke.
"Well I've just been under a little stress lately, and I really don't like beer.  Besides, this doesn't have nasty taste."
"Just don't make a habit of it.  What's got you so stressed anyways?"
"She dropped outta school for one."  Trevor bluntly interjects.  Bringing his glass down and pushing it toward Conner, signaling for a refill.  Conner does so, and notices Julie shooting him a dirty look from behind her glass.
"Well it was getting hard to pay for, so I had to.  But I got a job though."
"Paying for college is pretty hard, especially when you have to work two jobs.  Those loans take a while to pay off."  Conner replies contemptuously.
"She's only working one job."  Trevor adds.  "Over at the mall, Hot Dog on a Stick.  You gotta see that ass of hers in those shorts."  Julie brings her head down in embarrassment.  "Why aren't you drinking with us?  Get a glass out for yourself."
"I'll pass on that.  I don't drink when I'm behind the bar."
"That's bull.  Why don't you have one anyways, it's a special occasion."
"No thanks.  I'm fine."
"Suit yourself."  Trevor takes a rather large gulp of his drink, some of it trailing down his chin on onto his shirt.  He didn't seem to care.
"So what do you do, Trevor?"  Conner asks, trying to be polite, clenching his teeth.
"No much, y'know.  This and that."
"Well if you don't do much, then why can't you spend more time with me?"  Julie asks, irritated.  Conner goes to refill her glass, but she covers it with her hand, enjoying the irony of the conversation at hand.  "Is it irony?"  He thinks for a moment.  "I'll look it up later, right now it doesn't matter."
"Well it doesn't sound like you're really busy."  Conner just had to butt in.  It was the sick satisfaction he needed.   Trevor glares at him with the corner of his eye.
"I just got my hands full.  With, stuff."  Trevor stutters out.
"I'll be right back."  Julie gets up, and heads away from the bar.  As she walks to the bathroom, Conner notices Alice and a couple other waiters and waitresses who were still at the bar, trying to look as though they weren't listening.  His glance gets everyone moving around, acting as if they're doing something.

"What's her name?"  Conner asks Trevor, with a tone of disgust.
"What are you talking about?"  Trevor asks defensively, trying to act innocent.
"You and I both know that you're not the commitment type.  I'm surprised you lasted this long."  After a short moment of silence, Conner's narrowing gaze finally breaks him.
"Kristy.  I was planning on ending it a while ago, but she's just, so, needy."
"Really?   Are you fucking kidding me?"
"I take it you're still bitter about what happened."
"Oh you have no idea."  Conner says calmly.  "It's taking everything that I got, from kicking your ass right now."  Trevor smiles slyly at this bit of news.
"Hey man, you know me.  We go way back.  What happened to bros before hoes?"  Trevor asks, testing his limits.  However that was the wrong move, as Conner reached over the bar and pulled Trevor up close to his face.
"First of all, we're not bros.  Bros don't do what you did.  Secondly, don't you dare call her, or anyone for that matter, a hoe.  She is a decent person, and if it hadn't been for you, her life would be all the better."  Conner then throws him down off the bar.  "Get the fuck out of my bar, and get the fuck out of my life!"  His breathing is heavy.  He looks up and sees the entire bar looking at him.  He see's Julie.  "How long has she been there?" He thinks to himself.  "How much of that did she hear?"  Julie then runs over and tries to help Trevor up.  Trevor pushes her hand away and helps himself, and storms out of the room.  Julie chases after.
"Julie!"  Conner calls after her.  She stops and looks over.  Conner takes a small object from out of his pocket, and tosses it at her.  "It's not your fault.  Take care of yourself."  Julie catches the object, and looks curiously at it, but runs out the door before she can examine it more carefully.  Trevor can be heard yelling outside, something along the lines of "I told you this was gonna happen!"

Conner's whole body is shaking.  He needs to get out.
        "Uh."  Conner stutters.  "Mark."
        "Y-yeah?"  Mark, the other bar tender, hesitantly responds
        "Take over."  Conner stumbles to the alley behind the bar, and collapses on his knees.  His breathing is getting heavier.  He hears the door swing open.
        "Conner?  Oh my god!"  The familiar voice runs up and embraces him
        "Alice?"  Her hands are warm.  He's never noticed before.  At least, didn't bother to notice.  Her hands help Conner up and place him against the wall.
        "What happened, who were those guys?"  She lays her arms around him, and holds him tightly.
        "The girl.  Her name is Julie.  My ex-girlfriend."  Conner explains in a somber tone.  "We dated for three years, broke up four years ago.  That guy with her, Trevor.  Ex-friend, so-to-speak."  Conner is struggling with his emotions.  He hasn't talked to anyone about it since.  "About four years ago, me and Julie were going through a rough patch.  She was complaining that I wasn't spending enough time with her.  I couldn't explain to her that I took up an extra job to help pay for her college and…"  His voice trails off.  He brings his head back, and takes a deep breath.  The tears he has fought back for so long have finally been set free.  Alice rubs his shoulders in reassurance.  "Then Trevor.  He took advantage of the situation.  When I found out what happened, I just left.  No goodbyes, no nothing.  I just wanted to get away, put it all behind me."
         "So what was that thing you threw at Julie?"  Alice asks
         "That?  That was an engagement ring I took the extra job to pay for.  I wanted to surprise her."  Conner pushes himself against the wall to stabilize himself as he gets to his feet.  His hand reaches for his back pocket, and pulls out a stainless steel flask.  He begins to unscrew it.
        "Conner.  What are you doing?"  Julie gets up to her feet and tries to grab the flask out of his hand.  Conner moves his hands away and raises the flask up.  "It's not worth it, don't!"  Conner then tips the flask over, and watches the clear liquid flow out and on to the asphalt below, forming a small puddle by their feet.  The action was so liberating.  It was as if losing an invisible weight he's been carrying for many years.  He suddenly felt lighter, smiling as the final drop splashed.
        "Water."
        "What?"  Alice asks, still dumbfounded.
        "Steve must've switched it when I wasn't looking."  Conner tosses the empty flask into the trash.  Streams of liberating tears glistening on his face.  He turns to Alice gives her a sincere smile.
       "So how do you feel?"
        "Better."