Happy Hour (A Romantic Comedy)

Chapter 32

"What do you mean?" I'm confused. "I've actually watched you work here. I've worked alongside you. Unless I've been imagining that."

He nods. "I've been doing the job, yes. But I'm not actually employed by the pub." He grimaces a bit. "I'm not actually getting paid."

This is still making no sense. "Like, what? Some sort of unpaid internship?"

"Not exactly." Chris shakes his head. "It's hard to explain."

"Try." I say stonily. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he hasn't cheated on me but I still don't understand what the hell is going on. 

"Okay." Chris stands up and paces the room. "So, like I mentioned before, Calum is an old pal. We went to uni together. I've actually been in here a few times for a pint but it's never been at the weekend, so I had no clue you knew Calum or worked here.

"The night Calum introduced us, I was meeting some friends in the West end and running early so I thought I'd pop in for a quick drink beforehand. I couldn't believe it when I saw you behind the bar. It just seemed," he runs a hand down over his face, looking troubled, embarrassed. "Sort of like fate? I hadn't seen or heard of you in fifteen years and then this was the second time in less than a fortnight I'd spotted you."

I'm beginning, slowly, to understand, to put the pieces of this puzzle into place.

He continues. "When I initially started following you on Instagram I was trying to work up the nerve to talk to you, but like I've said before, I didn't really know if it would be welcome or not so I kept myself anonymous. And then when I saw you here, I panicked. I wanted to get a chance to get to know you, but I thought if it seemed like we were thrown together it might make things easier."

"So you asked Calum to pretend you were a new colleague and I'd have to train you." I guess.

He nods, shame-faced. "Yep."

There's a long silence before he speaks again. 

"Almost the minute I started the plan, I regretted it. I realised I didn't even know how to talk to you without instantly going on the defensive, and it was clear you didn't want to work with me from that first conversation we had. I was instantly thinking it was a bad idea and I was being an absolute dick for putting you in that position at all.

"I decided I'd come in the next day and see if I could make more of an effort and be less of a snarky git. If it still felt at all like I was making you uncomfortable, I would 'quit' and that would be it. I just felt like I had to try though. I'd liked you for so long, I had to just take a chance."

"You could just have walked up to the bar and spoke to me rather than going through this whole charade," I point out.

He laughs sadly. "How do you think you would have reacted to that given you tried to hide both times you saw me? Plus, I'll remind you again of how disastrous our first conversation in here was."

"That's fair enough," I concede.

"Anyway,  Saturday actually went okay in the end, so I decided to hang on and then, as it turned out, Kirsty outed me and I didn't need the fake job to get to know you anymore." He shrugs. "It's been nice to have that extra time with you in here though so I thought I'd keep it up for a bit longer."

"So . . . Why did you think I'd hate you if I found this out?" I ask tentatively.

"I can't help but feel . . . Well, like I set you up somehow? Forced you into liking me, maybe."

I stand up and walk towards him. "So . . . You like me. You've always liked me. Seeing me at Glasgow Green that day was a coincidence, right?" He nods. "Tracking me down on instagram . . . Not a coincidence, but if I'd had a way of tracking you down, I'd have taken it. Coming into this pub, not knowing I worked here, was also a coincidence - or fate. Pretending to work here so you could get to know me better though…" I trail off, shaking my head.

He looks at me with trepidation. "What?" He asks quietly. 

I burst into laughter. "It might be the most adorable thing I've ever heard."