Action (DNF)

Chapter 16: Work

George POV.

“Thank you for the ride.” I said with a smile as I stepped out of the car in front of the bar. It was a few minutes before I was meant to start my shift and we’d been on the couch playing more board games up until a few minutes ago.
“Any time George,” Clay replied. “Does this mean I’ll get free drinks from you if I come in?”

I rolled my eyes before grinning at him. “Not a chance Clay. You have to drive home and I don’t want anything bad to happen to you if you get drunk.”
“Aww you care about me.” He beamed. “But fine, I’ll see you some other time George.”

The blond playfully blew me a kiss before driving off, as I turned to step inside I got a text message from him, saying ‘I miss you’ with a blank box beside it. I smiled before responding with ‘don’t text while driving, idiot’ then I sent another message asking what the box was. ‘It’s an emoji, I forgot you can’t see them’.

After a couple of seconds of me waiting while looking at my phone, the blond sent me something that looked like an ‘<3’ which I quickly came to realise was a heart. I sent a goodbye to him before pocketing my flip phone and heading inside the side entrance of the bar.

When we had gotten back from the mall a couple of hours ago we’d both been pretty annoyed by what had happened with Clay’s ex Monica. I told him that I’d just have a sleep early and maybe we could go to the mall another day. Much to my surprise when I woke up he’d brought us some ice cream to make up for the afternoon being ruined.

That became our dinner, ice cream on the couch while playing some board games, then he offered to give me a ride to the bar for work. I couldn’t help but wonder how someone as kind, loving, and perfect as him ended up with Monica, a woman who seemed like a cold blooded snake. And the fact that he might have had a child with her…

I pushed the thought out of my head as I walked into the staffroom and put my stuff away before heading out to the main room. It was relatively quiet like most nights, but the moment that I was visible the pair of girls who had the shift before me came over and grabbed my hands eagerly. It was a strange thing for them to do seeing as they hate me.

“Hey George, how was your weekend?” One of them, a blond woman called Livia asked. Her grey eyes stood out against her face as the make-up made her appear much more pale than she usually was (I think, since I have never actually seen her without it).
“It was fine, why are you asking?” I responded awkwardly.

“We saw you all over TikTok. The two of us honestly can’t believe that you managed to get a date with Clay Smith.” The other girl, a blond with blue eyes called Maddie said, swooning as she mentioned his name. I didn’t respond for a couple seconds, just watching the way they both watched me, wanting me to say who knows what.

I looked from one of them to the other. They looked somewhat similar and always had the same shifts, they also lived together. It had become a common question between myself and Wilbur as we tried to decide whether they were siblings, roommates, best friends, or dating, and as I examined the pair of them I still couldn’t figure it out.

Eventually I just responded with a ‘good for you’ before noticing a man who wanted to be served and so I took the opportunity and walked towards him. “Good evening, what can I get for you?” I asked, and nodded at him as he gave his order. The two girls just followed my movements, tailing behind me like a pair of puppies as I got the customer his drink and added it to his tab.

“So what’s he like?” One of them asked when I turned around. “Is he as sweet as his co stars all say that he is?”
“How did you even get a date with him? Did you blackmail him or something? Or are you some kind of make a wish kid?”

“I’m twenty-six. I am not a fucking make a wish kid.” I grumbled. “And I don’t see what my date has to do with either of you. We met, he found me funny, and he asked if I wanted to go with him to the charity event.” I hoped that they’d be satisfied with my explanation but that wasn’t the case.

“But you don’t use any form of social media or anything, how did you even meet him?” Livia asked accusingly, continuing to imply that I had somehow blackmailed him.
“None of that matters. What I do with my personal life has nothing to do with either of you.” I growled, feeling increasingly more fed up with them.

“Well would you like to film a TikTok with us, prove to people that we know you?” Maddie asked, holding her phone, which wasn’t even supposed to be on her person while she was working.
“I’m not interested, sorry.” I responded, wondering why I would be so important to know

“Surely you could do one little-” they cut themselves off as the door opened and someone walked in, but not just anyone. It was Clay, and he had Sapnap, Karl, Quackity, Niki, Bad, and Skeppy with him. Their jaws dropped, and I gave the blond who walked in a look as he approached.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him. “I thought that I told you not to get a drink because I didn’t want you driving home drunk.”
“I know.” He responded. “But Bad, Niki, and Skeppy don’t really drink, so they’re going to be giving us a ride back once we’ve finished.”

“Actually he wanted to spend more time with you but didn’t want to seem ‘too desperate’ so he begged all of us to come with him.” Sapnap explained, causing me to raise an eyebrow at the blond.
“You last saw me five minutes ago. Are you seriously that desperate?”

My question caused the group to all laugh as Clay shrugged and blushed slightly. I glanced at the two girls who were shocked at the fact that I was talking casually with the group. One of them moved to lean against the bar. “Can I get any of you a drink?” She asked. “It’ll be on the house.”

“Didn’t you two just finish work a couple of minutes ago?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at them since I knew they were the type of people to leave as soon as possible.
“We did, but this is a big group, you might need some help with them.” As Livia spoke she smiled, specifically as Karl who seemed annoyed.

“From what we know about George he should be more than capable to serve us all.” Sapnap smiled at the pair, all the while not so subtl moving to stand in front of Karl.
“Plus, Wilbur will be here any moment to help.” I added on. “He can help me if I need.”
“Just wanting to help.” Maddie murmured.

I ignored them as I began asking the group what they wanted to drink, taking note of what each of them asked for. Another man came up to the bar and I nodded in his direction, “you girls can serve him then. I’ve got this lot handled.” From the glares I got from the girls I knew they were back to hating me the next time they had a shift.

The two of them slunk out of the room and I watched them from the corner of my eye as they did. Once they were gone I sent an apologetic look to everyone inside the bar before beginning to make the drinks for my friends.
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1360 words