There is a legion of people at the bar tonight. On one side of the bar, there are tables full of football players and cheerleaders. The boys had a game tonight and they've been cheering all night which leads me to speculate that they had a victory. Some of the cheerleaders are still in their uniforms while others have changed into sweatpants.
On the other side of the bar, you got older folks. Old biker guys, who are luckily minding their own business. Nasty, perverted scumbags shouting at the TVs. And older ladies taking shots like they are in their 20s again.
I'm working with three other girls tonight. There's Alyssa, Charlie, and Nina, but not nearly as entertaining as Scarlett. Sadly, we are usually only scheduled to work together one night out of the week.
I've been fortuitous tonight. The chaos in the air hasn't sparked my anxiety to drown my sanity yet. We ran out of clean shot glasses, so I sneak away to grab more. When the door closes, all the noise gets muffled by the thick walls. I take a deep breath before I start to rummage through all of the shit that is hoarded back here.
I start to sing A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes. It's what my mom used to sing to me when I would get scared from a nightmare. It's my default song to sing when I find myself in the quiet of all the madness.
People can stress me out fairly easily, but I've gotten really good at being able to deal with the chaos that comes from drunks. Luckily, everything is going smoothly so far even with the throng of people consuming giggle juice.
What has been getting to me is seeing all the beautiful couples drinking together.
All night I've been fantasizing about Riley walking through those doors. I'm so pathetic. My heart is trying to pull me toward him while my brain is trying to pull me away from him.
"I told you she was working tonight." I hear somebody say behind me. I turn around and see a bunch of familiar faces.
"Scarlett!" I squeal like a child before walking around the bar and wrapping my arms around her upper body while she squeezes me around the waist. I swear this girl lives at the bar. She works here and comes in any day she has off.
Behind her is JC, Tucker, Leo, and Ella. "What are you guys doing here?"
"I needed a drink." I crinkle my eyes at Scarlett. "I'm kidding! I actually missed you. So here we are." Scarlett has an extroverted personality, but when it comes to her being sensitive, she will become as sheltered as a turtle who has been picked up by a stranger, so hearing the words "I missed you" is recherché.
"I know you weren't kidding about that drink, Scar. What would you like?" She hops over to a stool while I prepare a glass for her.
"A white Russian, please." She supplicates like a kid wanting a cookie before dinner. I get everyone else water which makes Scarlett's drink look lonely.
"Can you make me an Old-Fashioned? I don't want Scarlett looking like the alcoholic of our group." JC requests.
Ella and JC sit next to each other which is foreign for me to see, but they look so natural together. If I was a new bartender, I would strive to have a relationship like theirs. JC has held eye contact with her for a solid straight minute. That's a whole minute longer than Michael was ever able to achieve.
Ella is chatting his ear off right now, and he's just listening. He's looking at her with doe eyes. He's not even looking at me, but even I feel enchanted.
Ella's conversations with Michael were excruciating to watch. He would always interject or interrupt her which pissed me off, but she never seemed to mind. I would want to yell at him to let her finish her sentences. You could see his facial expressions change when he decided he was bored with her.
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In Two Years
RomanceJosephine Bellamy is a student at the University of Massachusetts. Jo is a hopeless romantic who has decided to take a break from love. Although she fantasizes about love, she has decided that she would not let that get in the way of her studies. On...
