Gin no Tonic

Alex picked up the empty bottle of tonic and turned it upside down just to  check it really was empty. It was! He now had a choice, he could either drink his gin neat with just a slice of lime or he could go to the shop and get a new bottle of tonic. No one drinks gin neat do they? Gin has to be accompanied by tonic or it just isn’t worth it. A third option crossed his mind, he could not drink anything at all this evening but that was even more unpalatable than drinking undiluted gin.

So his mind was made up, the shop it was. He looked around for his old jeans, sniffed them to see if they were roadworthy, decided they’d do and pulled them on. He wearily tied his bootlaces and then headed out of the flat for the first time in 3 days. The early evening sun was still bright enough to have him blinking and warm enough to bring out small beads of perspiration on his brow as he trudged up the hill to the small corner shop.

The bells of the shop tinkled at Alex entered, and he held the door open for a young woman behind him. He headed left, directly towards the soft drinks, she went right. To Alex’s horror he saw there was only one bottle of tonic on the shelf. He quickened his pace and reached out for it but instead of feeling cold plastic he felt warm skin. As their hands touched a vaguely remembered shiver went up his spine and when she smiled at him the shiver made its way back down again. But shivers were meaningless, the woman had got there first and now she was in possession of the last bottle of tonic in the shop. 

‘Do you have any more tonic?’ He asked from the back of the shop, hearing the desperation in his voice.

‘No,’ said the shopkeeper. ‘for some reason they didn’t deliver any.’

Alex’s shoulders drooped, what was he going to do? He thrust his empty hands into his pockets and left the shop, leaving the woman to pay for the bottle of tonic that by rights should have been his.

Outside in the sunshine Alex looked around, wondering where the nearest shop was. He didn’t want to walk but he didn’t want to go home empty handed either. He took a step to the left, then a step to the right, trying to decide which way to go on his search for the holy grail. Then he heard a tinkle of bells and  a voice.

‘Want to share it?’

He looked around to see the owner of the tonic standing next to him smiling.

‘Want to share it?’ she repeated. ‘I live over there, have a full bottle of gin, a big bag of ice and three limes.’

Alex looked around for the hidden camera, there wasn’t one. He looked at the woman to see if she was kidding, she didn’t seem to be.

‘So?’ she asked, taking a step away towards her flat. Alex looked at her smile and remembered those shivers but more importantly he remembered his need for a gin and tonic.

‘Okay then.’ he said.

Come on then.’ she replied, taking his arm with a flash of that smile and leading him across the road.