The Day of Legion by Craig Taylor Read Free Book Online

school, Alex and....”
    “Alex?” John interrupted. “What did he say about him?”
    “Something about how naughty he is.”
    “Look, I’ll talk to him when you drop him off tomorrow, and see what the story is. I’m sure it’ll be all right.”
    He said the words, but didn’t really believe them himself. Given what he’d been through, he was very worried about this imaginary friend.
    John and Patrick drank wine for half an hour or so, then ordered food. A few more people entered the café and sat down. Some just came in to drink, stayed for a round or two, then left. A couple came in for dinner and sat talking quietly and holding hands across the table. The murmurings of conversations hummed across the room, just barely audible above the quiet music.
    John ordered lamb shanks and paired them with a nice New Zealand Merlot. He and Patrick didn’t talk much: partly because Patrick had ordered spare ribs and was busy stripping the meat from the bone and also was attempting to talk to every woman who walked past their table to the restroom, but partly because John’s mind was elsewhere.
    He laughed when he watched Patrick attempt to say hello to an attractive blond walking past their table. She gave him a filthy look, and made a remark about the sauce all over his face and how he should ask the waitress for a bib.
    “I think she likes you,” John teased him. “Maybe when she comes back to get to her table, where her boyfriend is by the way, you could put tomato sauce in your hair.”
    “Up yours.”
    John exaggerated a stretch and yawn. “I might call it a night. I’m not really into it tonight.”
    Patrick looked surprised. “Come on! It’s early. Granted, this isn’t the most exciting place on earth right now, but it’ll get busier. You know the ladies come here when they can’t be bothered with bars.”
    John shrugged. “I don’t know, I’ve got Jason tomorrow night and I don’t want to be tired or hung over.”
    “What?” Patrick shrieked. “Tired? It’s eight-thirty! Hung over? You’ve had two glasses of Merlot! Come on, what are you going to do? Go home, lay on the sofa by yourself and listen to music? Right on; way to spend a Thursday night, brother!”
    John smiled. “Okay, you’re right. I could do with some company and laughs. Oh and by the way, no one says ‘right on’ anymore.”
    This time Patrick laughed.
    Patrick was about to say something when his attention was diverted to the door. “Heads up. Four very attractive ladies just walked in the door and are sitting down behind you.”
    John didn’t turn around. He wasn’t going to go back to picking up women in bars. Too much baggage there, he thought. Patrick wasn’t giving up.
    “Dude, take a peek.”
    He decided to humor Patrick. He turned around slowly as if looking to the door, but passed his eyes over the group of ladies in the corner. He found himself staring.
    “Hey, the idea is to not let them know you’re looking,” Patrick whispered.
    “I know the brunette from somewhere.” John answered.
    “Where, your dreams?” Patrick scoffed.
    John thought for a moment, then realized who she was. The beautiful nurse who came into his room when he was admitted to hospital in the...other...life. My god, she’s beautiful . If I were to create a perfect woman that would be her.
    “Check out the brunette,” Patrick said, a little too loudly, and one of the women in the group scowled at him.
    She mouthed a word to him from across the bar.
    “I think she called you a Neanderthal,” John laughed, feeling like a teenager for a moment.
    “Is Neanderthal ‘girl code’ for ‘hunk’?” Patrick asked.
    John didn’t hear his last question. He was completely taken by the brunette nurse. He wanted to go talk to her. He had given up on bar pick-ups, but there was nothing meaningless about this woman. He could see himself with her forever.
    “Yo, Hugh Hefner,” Patrick called to him.
    He snapped out of his fantasy and turned to