My night with a guy named Cooper (the actual story)

Sorry for the delay, been a little busy. A little back story: Every Wednesday after class, i go to Applebee's with some people from ITT to just kinda hang out and grab some food. One of the guys is roommates with the female bartender so it's pretty awesome. Also, i have moved back home so i drive up to Arlington Heights every Wednesday morning, go to class, stay the night with my mom in the city, go to class on thursday, and drive back home afterward.

NOTE: Dictated, not read.

It's a typical Wed. Lab is a pain in the ass and never works right so we end up leaving a little early. JP and i head out at the same time and i get into my car. I get to Applebee's before him and sit at the bar and talk to Amanda, the bartender. I sometimes don't get any food because i'm broke as shit. Amanda knows this and offers me her chicken pasta thing that she's not gonna finish. I say "Ok."

It's been about 30 minutes and JP still isn't there. I think about calling him but he pulls in just as i'm reaching for my phone. Apparently someone had a problem with their car so he was helping them out. He also says no one else is coming. Oh well.

We just kinda shoot the shit. It gets to be about 11:45pm (they close at midnight) when a guy walks in, looks about our age. Amanda looks kinda disappointed. It's been a long day for her. The guy just wants a beer though. Sportscenter is on and i notice that K Love still has his double-double streak going. I start to wonder if anyone has ever had a quadruple-double or even a quintuple-double (answers: yes quite a few, and yes but only once by a chick in high school). The guy asks "What the hell is a double-double?" I explain. He introduces himself as Cooper. We are all kinda talking. He says he's from Detroit and works for a Korean auto parts company and is here for a convention or something like that. He's looking for any bars that stay open past 1am. I say i have no clue, but JP knows of at least two that are close. He asks if one of us could give him a ride since he's been drinking at the hotel bar but decided to come over here (he's just staying at the Double Tree behind Applebee's and walked over).

At this point, i'm just tired and still have to drive 30 minutes to get to my mom's. JP has to take Amanda home and only has a two seater. I just tell him that i'm going the opposite way. Amanda says she'll call him a cab. He's cool with that. So Amanda calls and the cab company says it'll be an hour and a half. Now i feel bad for the guy. Since i'm not really doing anything, i agree to take him to one of the bars. Plus, he says he's gonna pay me.

We head to Stadiums. The whole time he's just thanking me and talking about his job. Seems like a pretty cool dude even though he dresses and looks like a brodog. We pull into the parking lot and it's dead. Apparently they closed early. I say we can try a place called The Blues Bar. We head there and he's still just thanking me. Obviously drunk. We get to Blues Bar and it's closed. There is this little place right next door though called like "Ye Olde Inn." Swear to god i think that's what it was called. It's got tons of beer lights and such in the window and seems kinda like Slick Ricks, in terms of exterior. I say "Wanna try there?" Before he gets out he says, "Please don't leave without me." I laugh and say "I'm not gonna leave dude."

He goes inside and comes back out about 10 seconds later waving me in. I kinda sigh but he shouts "I'm gonna buy you a beer!" He had me at "beer." I go inside and it's pretty small. Chick bartender. Looks kinda like a dyke but is decent looking. Two females sitting at the end of the bar. Also kinda look like dykes but decent. There's also an older woman (probably mid 40's) "dancing" to music across the bar. We both sit down. I ask if she doesn't mind is we just get a quick beer (they close at 1 and it's 12:45). She says "yeah just try to hurry", but in a nice way. I'm looking at what they have on tap and she says "come on guys." I'm thinking jesus christ, it's been 10 seconds. I see blue moon so i say that. He's still thinking and she says "when i get to one, you're getting what i pour you. 3. 2." He says jack and coke. She says "that's what i was gonna pour you, you look like that kinda guy." He goes to the bathroom. She purs his jack and coke and puts a lot of jack in it. She smiles and says "whoops." I'm just like, ok. She asks who's getting the bill and i say "oh, definitely him."

Meanwhile, the two females have been kinda laughing the whole time. I can't remember what i said to them to start talking, but we started talking. I think it was about him paying. He gets back and the baretender and female A and us are all just kinda talking. He used to play hockey for like "minor league" teams around chicago when he was 18-21 (he's 28 by the way). One chick knew some people that did too so they're chitchatting. We talk about some other stuff like Comcast, the snow that keeps coming down, etc. Female B is mostly quiet. She finally says "so how long have you guys been friends?" he says "we just met." she doesn't believe him. I say "i literally met this guy an hour and a half ago." I tell her our story and she says "ok, i believe you (meaning me). you seem trustworthy. him not so much." We laugh because he's very obviously drunk by now. Still not stuttering or anything, but very drunk. Female A asks me about driving up every Wed for class. She actually graduated from Bradley and worked for WHOI for awhile so she knows BloNo well. Bartender ended up closing and we were all just talking til about 2:30. She finally says "ok guys, i gotta kick you out." We get ready to go and female A asks me "so you go out every wednesday night? we're usually here every wednesday, you should drop back by next week." I say "i might just do that."

I drop Cooper off at his hotel and go to piss in the lobby bathroom. I think he's gone up to his room but he's actually outside smoking when i go back out. I say "thanks for the beer and the $20." He says "thank you much man." I walk to my car when he shouts out "what's your last name?" i say it. He says "i'm totally gonna book you man." I say "what?" He says "book you. book you man. Facebook." I say "ok cool."

Never did. Douche.