Got the Hook Up: Part 2

     Gene sat at the bar and waited for Lenny to show up. They were supposed to meet at five thirty, but it was six now and Lenny hadn't shown up. Sitting by himself, surrounded by loud people, Gene thought about how well he actually knew Lenny.
     The people around Gene were local. Judging by the amount of people sitting at the bar and the cars in the lot beside the building, most of them had driven there. They sat around the bar and drank. They drank with purpose. They were dressed in flannel and dirty pants and they wanted to forget that. They laughed and carried on like people 20 years younger then them.
     Gene was would feel himself get a little nervous as the voices rose. Because he was sitting at the bar he could feel people standing behind him and wondering what he was doing there. They would get loud and laugh loudly. Gene knew he had no business being in a place like this. These people had had hard lives. Gene's life wasn't a picnic, but it was different.
     Gene grew up in a family that never talked about their emotions and pretended that everything was okay. His family kept up appearances  In that way he envied these people. All of their hardships were clearly displayed on their bar tabs and weathered faces. They were rageful and happy and funny and they wanted every one to know about it.
     While he sat there, Gene felt like these people could tell he didn't belong. Gene was young, was carrying a shoulder bag with a laptop he had gotten for Christmas, and had been sitting with a miller light for cover, but they could tell.
     He would take a sip from the beer every time he was nervous that he didn't look casual. He had drank three beers in a half an hour so far.
     After college Gene didn't really talk to Lenny too much. They had been friends on facebook, but he had never been to active on there, so it was hard to tell what his life was like from looking at it. His picture had been the same from when he left school and there weren't any new ones on there, or any posts at all really. That seemed to tell Gene something, but he wasn't sure what.
     Could Lenny have become one of these people that were slowly hating Gene as he sat at their bar. Sometimes, in the mornings before work at the library, Lenny would talk about how he used to be a great football player in high school, but busted his leg. He had always walked with a little bit of a limp, but it wasn't something that you would notice without paying attention to it. He was studying sports medicine and graduated with a degree in it.

     At six thirty Lenny finally walked into the bar. Gene wouldn't have noticed it if a few of the other guys at the bar hadn't gotten up and loudly greeted him when he walked in. Lenny was know here, a regular. Gene looked up from his beer and tried to make eye contact with him.
     Lenny stood at the door for a few seconds and saw Gene sitting at the end of the bar. He nodded his head began moving towards him. His limp was much worse than it had been
     "Hey man hows it going." He walked up to Gene and patted him hard on the back.
     "Hey Lenny, its great to see you again, I'm pretty good." There wasn't another seat at the bar next to him, so Gene suggested grabbing one of the empty tables on the other side of the place.
     "Yeah sure, lemme grab a brew first and I'll meet you over there."
     Gene gathered his coat and shoulder bag from the ground beneath his stool. He felt funny carrying all this stuff across the bar to where the tables were. He got a seat by a window that was mostly covered by a large sign for Miller Light.
    Lenny came over with his beer and sat down across from Gene, he held his leg out straight from the table it went right next to Gene, hr would have to step over it to get out.
     "So, Gene," Lenny took a long drink from the beer. "How the hell are you."