Action (DNF)

Chapter 75: Drunk

Wilbur POV.

“Give me another one.” George whined, his head resting on the counter of the bar as he looked up at me with a disoriented gaze. “Please~”
“George no.” I spoke firmly, like how a parent would address their child. “You’ve drunk three whole bottles. Clay will kill me if he finds out.”

“ ‘m fine Wilb-s” he reassured, his words slurring slightly. “Just one more. Please~”
“You drank three bottles.” I repeated. “How do you say that you don’t drink? This is probably what the average person gets through in three months.” The brunette just scrunched up his face and shrugged, causing me to roll my eyes at him.

“It has been three hours.” I stated. “How about I call Clay and ask if he’s able to come pick you up?” George’s face only scrunched up at the suggestion, although I ignored him. “I’m going to go and call Clay so that he can come and get you, alright?” Before he could answer I walked into the backroom and pulled my phone out of my pocket before dialling his number.

After ringing three times the blond answered, giving me a ‘hey Wilbur, how’s it going?’ and sounding surprisingly happy, but I knew the mood was likely going to change after he found out I allowed his boyfriend to get drunk. “Hey Clay.” I responded. “I was just wondering if you were able to come and pick George up.”

“Yeah sure. Where are you guys?” Clay asked. I gave an awkward chuckle, knowing that he was going to not enjoy this.
“Well, we are at the bar.” I answered. “And George is kinda drunk.”

That obviously confused him. “But George doesn’t drink alcohol? How did he get drunk?”
“Well when we went to the bar, since I had to work, I had thought he’d want to sit there with a juice or something and we’d talk. But he began ordering drinks. He even paid in advance.”

“Alright, I’ll come and get him.” Clay sighed, and as he said that I walked out of the backroom about to hang up. Before I got the chance to, I saw George drunkenly talking to Schlatt.
“Shit…” I murmured.
“What’s going on?” The blond asked, easily noting the concern in my voice.

“George is drunkenly talking to Schlatt about who-knows-what.” I explained quietly, my eyes narrowing as I wondered what on Earth they were talking about.
“Schlatt is the guy who fired George, right?” Clay asked to which I responded with a ‘yes he was’. “Alright then, I’m going to be there in five minutes… I plan on speeding.”

“Good to know.” I responded, shifting on my feet awkwardly to stop myself from running over and pulling the pair apart. “I plan on stopping these two from saying anything which gets somebody hurt.”
“See you in a few.” Clay said awkwardly before hanging up without letting me respond.

The moment he had hung up I pocketed my phone before hurrying over to the counter. “Hi Schlatt.” I greeted. “What are you doing here? I thought you were doing paperwork in one of the other bars on the other side of town.”
“Oh I was, but I needed to come and grab some files from here.” He answered.

“Oh, that’s understandable.” I allowed myself to nod. “Surely you’ll be in a rush though. I mean the traffic will be busy on your way to the bar on the other side of London.”
“I’m not in that much of a rush.” He responded. “I haven’t got too much to do today. And besides, I didn’t realise one of my ex-employees was here.” He said, motioning to George.

The brunette was too drunk to realise what was being talked about, resting his head in his hand and as Schlatt continued to speak I grabbed a glass of water for the brunette in an attempt to sober him up slightly before Clay got here. “So George, how have things been in the past few weeks?” Schlatt questioned.

“It’s been going alright.” George said, flicking his fingers slightly. “I mean kinda shit, but also alright.” Schlatt’s eyes narrowed with curiosity as he asked George to talk about what was happening in his life.
“How has it been kinda shit?” Schlatt asked.

“Schlatt, I’m not sure if George is in the right headspace to talk about this.” I muttered quietly, watching as George’s head moved to rest on the table again.
My boss’ face straightened into a line as he looked over at me, no longer grinning. “Wilbur, George is an adult.” He said. “If he isn’t in the right headspace, he can tell me himself.”

I bit the inside of my cheek and narrowed my eyes, thinking about what I could say to Schlatt to get him to stop asking George questions and leave, but before I got the chance he looked down to the other end of the counter. “Go to your job and serve those people.” He instructed, giving me a look that said ‘if you don’t do this now then you’ll be fired’.

After a second of contemplation I decided George would be fine as long as I remained in earshot so that I could hear if George said anything that he would regret without the alcohol, and then pass that onto his sober self and Clay. So I nodded at my boss and walked over to a man wanting a refill on his drink.

“So George.” The boss repeated in a softer voice this time, clearly wanting to make it harder for me to hear. “What did you mean when you said it’s been kind of shit?” As he asked the question I tried to subtly move back towards the pair while also doing my job at the same time.

“Well Clay’s ex…” George began before taking a sip of the water. “She’s just been harassing us for ages, she thinks Clay’s the father of her kid but she cheated on him.” He explained, his words surprisingly clear for a drunk man. “So Clay decided to take a break and we went to visit my parents up North-ish.”

“Sorry, but are you going to be filling up my drink?” A man standing in front of me asked, but Schlatt wasn’t focused on me so he didn’t realise I was eavesdropping on his conversation with George.
“Oh sorry.” I replied. “What can I get for you?”

As the man answered I went back to listening to what George was saying, all the while taking my time to make the drink so I could overhear as much as I could. “-as though they hated me, so we came up with an excuse and left early. We went to Wales, just the two of us, but when we got home we found my house had been broken into.”

I handed off the drink and watched as the man walked off before continuing to listen, this time while wiping down the counter with a cloth. “-necklace he gave me as a gift was stolen. And now I don’t know where it is, and I yelled at his ex when she called him again and she posted me yelling at her online and I’ve got so many fucking death threats and it’s so much…”

His gaze was downcast for a moment and Schlatt didn’t say anything before suddenly looking over at me. “Wilbur. Refill please. More beer.” He said, holding out his glass which he had emptied a few minutes ago out to me.
“Not a chance.” I responded, taking the glass off him and refilling it with water again.

“Clay’s going to be here in a few minutes, alright? Just have some water for now.” He reluctantly nodded before pulling the glass back towards him.
“Well George, I hope that things get better for you soon.” Schlatt said with a surprisingly sincere nod. “And I hope your job hunting is going well.”

“Actually I’m not job hunting.” He responded, taking a sip out of his glass of water.
“Really?” The boss asked, tilting his head sideways and raising an eyebrow. “Why not?”
“Well cause I’m moving to Florida with Clay.” George said simply, not taking his eyes off his glass.
_________________________________________
1379 words