When he finally produced the phone he looked at it to see there were no missed calls or messages. He tried calling her. The automatic message started after the first beep. Her phone was off. He panicked instantly.

“Hey, man, thanks for everything. I have to go now.” Aaron said.

“Sure thing mate. Drop by anytime if you’re in the mood for a trip down memory lane.” Dan replied with an even bigger grin. “And don’t worry about the vomit...” he said slowly “...I’ll clean it up.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. I’ll make it up to you.” said Aaron from the door.

“I’m sure you will mate.” said Dan as Aaron walked down the corridor.

“I’m sure you will.” he whispered again when Aaron was out of sight.

Aaron was confused when he got to the street level. He couldn’t find his bearing. None of the buildings were familiar.

“It’s going to take me forever to get back home.” he thought

He took out his wallet and fished out some money. It would probably be enough to pay for a cab back home although he would have to pay extra for exiting the city limits.

He found a cab pretty easy and gave his address.

“That’s gonna be extra, buddy.” said the cabby.

“I know, that won’t be a problem.”

“Do you mind showing me the money first? I hate giving free rides.” insisted the cabby

Aaron pulled some of the bills out of his wallet and shoved them in the cabby's face.

“Are these good enough for you?” Aaron barked at the cabby.

“Yeah buddy, these will do nicely. Take it easy though, you might pop a vein.”

The car started moving. The shock started to wear off and Aaron started feeling a little sick. The buildings sped past him as he started to drift off.

...to be continued...