Milk And Cardamom | S. Brown ✔

[12]

The music was blaring and the dazzle of the disco lights swirled in the club blindingly. Though the rest of the lights were dim with only the popping colors of blue, purple and green flashing as the disco ball revolved overhead.

As usual the place was crowded and the heavy scent of liquor and cigarette smoke was accumulated in the atmosphere.

Rose worked in that club as a bartender because other jobs became quite a no go option soon as the employers saw her. The fact that she had a damaged left eye rendered her incapable to achieve any other type of job, which was unfair but not something she could fix.

Her silvery hair carefully concealed the left side of her face as she stood behind the counter, mixing the drinks as per required and serving them to the visitors up front.

Ever since the night she had had the vision of Jason dying, her powers had faded completely. She no longer operated as a vigilante, instead lived in Star City under a new identity of Zyrah Hoult.

And though she had not had any vision for five long years, that day her head had been throbbing just like it did at the onset of a vision.

All she wanted to do was go back to the place she lived in and sleep off the headache but she couldn't take an off from the club and as it was the only job she had, she couldn't afford to lose it as well. So despite the splitting headache, she served the drinks and even though the music and the scent of liquor and smoke made the pain worse, she tried her best to suppress it within her.

Time moved painstakingly slow as her eye would flicker towards her wristwatch again and again, only to find out that there were still quite a few hours left until her shift ended.

Someone was standing at the other side of the counter and she knew she had to ask what drink he wanted but right then an agonizing jolt of pain stabbed through her head again, making her almost lose her balance as she gripped the counter for support.

"I... I'm sorry, can you please give me a minute? Thanks..." 

She held her temples that were throbbing violently, one hand reaching for her water bottle and the aspirin tablets she kept in her bag. 

The man waited patiently as she swallowed the pills and put her bottle back then turned towards him, "what do you need, Sir?"

The word that passed his lips though caught her by surprise, "Rose?"

The voice was unrecognizable with the noise of the club drowning it in but there was a trace of familiarity to it as if she had heard it somewhere before. And the fact that he had called her by her real name indicated that he was aware of her past.

Mostly people from her past were not faces she wanted to see again because they revived memories she had painfully buried deep inside her in order to move on.

"Zyrah," she corrected him not sure if the fact that he knew her real name was a good thing or not, "would you like to have a drink?" 

"A Martini please, thank you."

Though her eye focused on his features that were unclear due to the swirling lights in the club and also due to the fact that her head still hurt and her vision was getting slightly hazy.

The only thing she caught clear sight of was a white streak up front, standing out prominently among the rest of his dark hair. 

She mixed his drink and handed it to him, retreating to deal with the other customers. Eventually he left the counter but she knew he was still staring at her as if she was a ghost and he had definitely not expected to see her there.