3 Word Wednesday #18

Each week, I will post three (or more) random words. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write something using all of those words. It can be a few lines, a story, a poem, anything. This is a writing exercise. It doesn’t have to be perfect. The idea is to let your mind wander and write what it will. I’ll also attempt to write something using the same three words.

Be sure to leave a comment if you participate.

This week’s words are:
Decisive
Bands
Pen

Brandon sat looking at the lighted Budweiser clock which hung behind the bar. In his current state, he was really wishing for a digital clock, as he wasn’t quite able to make out whether it was ten after eleven, or nearly two AM.

He had ducked into one of the local bars off the plaza at some point in the evening, just like he’d done for the past six nights in a row. To drink for awhile. To try and drown the regret. Even though it didn’t seem to be working. At least not for very long.

After four or eleven beers, he fidgeted around until he found his credit card and tossed it onto the bar. One of the local bands was on stage, and playing way too loudly. The lead singer, who looked to be nearing fifty, was dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, singing nineties songs that he seemed way too old for.

Brandon needed to get outside. His head was pounding. As was his heart. Finally, the bartender laid a pen on the counter along with his receipt. Brandon quickly scribbled some numbers that all seemed to look alike. Then got up to leave.

Once outside, the street was alive. He stumbled down the sidewalk trying to avoid bumping into anyone. When he finally got to his car, he missed the ignition the first two times he tried to put the key in.

Despite the alcohol, Steph wasn’t leaving his thoughts. She hated him, he thought. She had to. They hadn’t spoken in a week. She kept calling at first, but when he never answered, she finally stopped.

Why had she left it up to him? He was the least decisive person he knew. But she had. Amidst a flood of tears late one night at his apartment. He hated decisions. Especially ones you couldn’t undo.

He’d always told himself he would never do that. But you never truly know until you find yourself in that situation.

“A man on the corner told me that Jesus is coming soon. But I was lost in the music and the crowd and the smell of cheap perfume…”