You Came to Me

1. Deimos

Published: June 3rd, 2021.

Word Count: 2,519

Madrid. August, 1975.

It was a slow Friday at the end of August and I was serving drunk men their thousandth drink of the night. I was supposed to be quietly tucked into my bed reading my current book, but instead I was working on my only day off in my sister Maria's new bar, the King's.

As I was doing some boring task, I could see in my peripheral vision a woman walk down the stairs. She was wearing bright yellow shorts and a short sleeved shirt that had colored stripes running down it vertically. Of course I was wearing the turquoise dress that is part of my uniform. I can't even begin to count the amount of times I've asked Maria if she could change the uniforms since I hate it so much, but my requests never get anywhere.

I walked over to the bar and began to clean some of the mess that had been made that night.

- "Hello." Said the woman from the stairs, who was now sat at the bar.

A smile quickly grew on my face when I saw the woman in perfect view for the first time.

- "Hello, can I get you something?" I replied with a smile that seemed too big for the occasion.

- "Just a beer, thanks." She answered and I began to pour her a beer when I heard her continue. "I'm Amelia." She said eagerly, sticking out her hand for me to shake it.

From the way she introduced herself, it seemed that she was nervous, but she had a little confidence to her greeting. It was almost like it was a challenge she had to get through in order to talk to me. I think she could notice my surprise at her sudden introduction, usually the customers at the King's aren't so friendly.

- "I'm Luisita, nice to meet you. I don't think I've seen you before." I said honestly. I would've remembered if I saw this woman at the King's since she isn't the usual customer at the times I work.

I shook her hand before giving her her drink and immediately noticed the delicacy with which she touched me. Contact with her made my smile grow to it's full extent, and I could see that she had a pretty big smile too.

- "You haven't, I've never been in here before. I just moved, so I'm trying to see where my local bar will be." She explained with an awkward laugh.

- "Ah, well I better be on my best behavior for you to come back." I was surprised at my friendliness for it being almost one in the morning, but part of me wanted to see Amelia again, even though I'd exchanged only three sentences with her.

- "Well, you're lucky this plaza only has two bars, so your competition isn't too high." She joked back.

- "I guess I am lucky then." We shared a silence with a smile after my comment. "How long have you been here, and more importantly, have you been to the other bar?" I didn't want to seem invasive after asking a question to this stranger, so I tried to appear warm.

- "I've been here for only a week, I'm originally from Zaragoza. Unfortunately, I have been to the other bar and it was kind of awful so I think yours has won my loyalty." She answered in a way that I couldn't help but feel special; knowing that someone may return to the King's because of me made me feel valued.

- "Well, I don't know why out of all of Madrid you'd move to this neighborhood, but hey, it's your decision." I said as I looked down to rinse some glasses. "But I'm glad the King's will have a new local." I looked into her eyes and found that ours automatically met.

- "This neighborhood isn't all too bad, I like the quietness it has. It kind of reminds me of my hometown, so I'm not feeling the full extent of home sickness just yet." She looked down at her beer and took a sip.