Since We're Alone |NH|

Chapter 14

When I returned, he was looking at his phone and rolling his eyes. I walked back towards him. "Still liking it?" I asked, picking up a dirty glass.

"Very much."

"You know, I admit, it was really kind of awesome having you and your friend like my drink last night. Means a lot to have two Irishmen give a little American girl a compliment on a drink that poses as Irish."

He smiled at me. "Well, I don't dole out compliments willy nilly, so that should tell you I meant it. And I did. And I wouldn't have had Mully try it if I didn't. I also really liked the other drink from last night and I really like this one. Definitely makes me want to go sit on the beach in the Tropics somewhere."

I smiled. "That's the goal with that one."

"So you have a whole new cocktail menu coming out?"

"Yep. We do seasonal cocktail menus, as well as the classics, of course. Plus, a special of the month, and occasionally a weekend special. Depends on how creative I am or one of our other bartenders."

"How often do you create them?"

"More often than not. I like getting input from the other bartenders, though. I'm not the overall manager but I am the bar manager and I want my bartenders happy. And I want them to feel that they can contribute. Next month's special is Tomi's creation. Which is really good. Probably going to end up being added to the Spring menu. Right now, I think I've got it narrowed down enough, I just need names. I usually try to do some sort of play on words with an ingredient or something. Like I did with the Manifest Retrograde. Got any suggestions for that one?"

He looked down at the glass in his hand and made a thoughtful looking face. "Hmm, all I know is that if I were to have too many of these I'd probably end up with me taps aff running down the street or something."

I laughed, "Your what? Was that some sort of Irish vernacular?"

"Scottish, actually."

"So, an Irishman just used a Scotsman's saying in an American bar?"

He looked at me and I could see he was trying not to laugh but he failed. He laughed. The same contagious one from the night before.

"That sounds like the start of a really bad joke," he said, when he had calmed down. "An Irishman walks into an American bar..."

"Oh boy."

I smiled and looked around at what I needed to do to clean up for the night. Grabbing some high-powered dish detergent, I started running the water in my sinks to get the water hot and dumped the detergents in so I could start cleaning my dirty glasses.

I looked up and noticed two people sitting in a booth looking over at us. The guy looked familiar but the girl didn't. But it seemed as if they were intensely watching us.

"Everything alright?" I heard him ask.

I turned back to him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just...um...are those people over my right shoulder watching us?"

He looked past me and glared a little. "Okay, I think I stared them down enough that they'll go away."

I laughed a little. "That stare was very intimidating." He looked back at me, his eyes still very bright, even in the dim light. "Want another?" I asked, noticing his glass was empty.

"Uhh, yeah, sure. One more. You close soon, don't you?"

"Yeah, in about thirty minutes."

"Okay, just want to make sure I'm not keeping you here."

"You aren't."

"Okay."

I finished making his drink and handed it over to him before turning the water off and starting to clean my glasses.

"So, uh, you got a couple of days off after you get off tonight?"

"I do."

"Any big plans?"

"Sleep. Be lazy. You know, the usual crazy stuff."

"Sounds good to me."

"Yeah. I'm exhausted. Tomi wants me to meet up with her at some club but I think that's gonna be a hard pass from me."

His phone started making some sort of noise so he picked it up to look at it. I went back to cleaning my dishes, finishing them up before starting to pick up the last couple of plates I had out and taking them to the kitchen. When I got back, he was still looking at his phone, but looked a little annoyed. I looked around and the only people left in the place were him, the two people who still looked as if they were watching us and another couple who were paying.

"You want anything else, Niall?"

He looked up at me. "It's closing time, isn't it?"

I shrugged, having enjoyed his company. "It's okay. If you want another, you can have another. Will make this your last call."

"I think I'm fine. I don't want to keep you any longer. You're looking forward to your date with your bed," he said, smiling. He had a nice smile. A genuine smile.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

He stood up to get his wallet out and handed me his card. I took it, walking away and running it at the other end. As I placed the card and receipt together, I looked down at the end of the bar where Niall remained standing but he had his head down looking at his phone. I looked back down at the receipt and looked back up at him. Taking a breath, I decided to take a chance and quickly wrote down a little note and my number.

Before I could change my mind, I walked back and handed it to him, and a pen to sign my copy. "It was good to see you again. Hope you'll come back," I said, smiling.

He looked up at me as he took his receipt. "I'm sure I will. Sounds like I've got some more drinks to taste test."

"That you do. I expect a full and honest report for each one, too." He laughed a little as he looked down at the papers in his hand, picking up the pen to sign it. Getting nervous, I quickly said, "Have a good night," and started walking off so as not to see him see my lame attempt at being brave.

Going into the kitchen, I peeked out the side to watch him. He signed the paper which seemed to take him awhile and dropped the pen on the counter. Picking up his copy, I watched as he read it and a small smile appeared on his face. He picked the pen back up and wrote something else down on my copy.

Once he was done, he placed everything down and looked up in the direction of the kitchen, and waited. I couldn't go back out there while he was still there so I waited until he left.

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Niall's POV

"So how was it?" Tara asked, meeting me in the parking lot.

"Hold on a minute," I said, turning to look through the window.  I watched as she made her way back down to where I had left the receipt.  She picked it up and looked at.  A small smile appeared on her face.  She placed the receipt in her pocket and continued cleaning up.

"Aww, he's smiling," I heard Mully say.  "Did you get her number?"

"I did.  And I gave her mine."

"Woohoo!  That's my boy!" Mully slapped me on the back as we all turned and headed back to the car.