ice and sugar dust (alex turner fanfic)

Chapter Fifteen

Chloe's heart was racing, the heels of her boots clicking on the asphalt as she hurried down the street, her skirt flowing around her legs. She felt her phone vibrating in the pocket of the thin jacket she was wearing, her fingers shaking as she undid the zipper and fished it out, a photo of her and Hazel on the screen, signaling the incoming call from her best friend. She contemplated for a moment to not pick up, but caved then, knowing she was only worried.

"Chloe!" Hazel called when she didn't say anything. "Where are you?"

"I'm just heading to the pub..." she said quietly, the neon sign above the pub already coming into view in the distance. "I'm almost there."

A sigh came from Hazel on the other end of the line. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" She asked. "You can come back to my place and we'll watch some movies, ask Beth if she can take a break from entertaining her cousins and come over too, maybe..."

"No" Chloe managed to say to stop her from continuing. "No, no..."

"Oh, come on. We should talk, you..."

"I haven't seen Alex in two days, I've been telling him I'll come by, he'll just be suspicious if I cancel on him now."

A short silence on the other line, then Hazel spoke again. "You ... you're not gonna tell him?"

Chloe swallowed, her voice getting significantly quieter. "Well, what is there to tell?" She sighed, the tense feeling tugging at the pit of her stomach feeling much heavier as she was afraid of what Hazel would say, she simply couldn't stand hearing it, so she quickly kept talking. "Just a stupid feeling, but nothing to worry about." She was consoling herself more than her friend but this was exactly why she didn't want to go back for a movie night, or to talk, or to do anything other than see Alex, because at least he wasn't going to talk about it.

He couldn't talk about something he didn't know and right now, feeling guilty was better than facing reality.

She let out a sigh of relief when she reached the building, stood still under the neon sign for a moment to compose herself before pushing open the heavy door, entering the stuffy pub, her eyes wandering as she scanned the place for Alex.

Her heart skipped a beat when she caught a glimpse of him behind the bar, a towel thrown over his shoulder, a silver cocktail shaker in his hand and he raised the other to give her a wave, a large smile spreading across his face. "Chlo!"

She smiled back nervously, slowly approaching the bar. There was no reason to be nervous, she told herself. She was going to keep this to herself until she could be sure, and she'd just have to deal with the uncertainty of not knowing what Alex would think. "H-Hey, baby" she said quietly, climbing clumsily onto one of the bar stools, caught off guard when he stuck his head over the bar and captured her lips in a soft kiss.

She kissed him back instinctively, could never resist his soft lips, the flavour of his favourite bubblegum, mixing with a hint of alcohol. "Y-You look professional" she said when he drew back and steadied herself on the stool with her hands gripping the edge of the bar counter.

Alex smirked. "Yeh fink?" He asked, unscrewing the lid of the shaker and pouring the contents into a tall glass. "Learnt 'ow teh make most o' the cocktails todeh..." he announced and placed the drink on the bar in front of a customer without taking his eyes off her. "Yesterday I were bareleh allowed teh do anehfin' ... can I make yeh a cocktail, babeh?"

Chloe quickly shook her head, her eyes growing wider. "O-Oh, um ... no, no, just ... maybe some Ginger Ale?"

"Comin' reyht up" he said, giving her a wink and turning around to grab a glass and filling a fresh glass, placing it down in front of her. "On meh, 'course..." he said, shaking his head before she could even begin to protest. "Let meh beh yehr cool bartender boyfriend."