One Hundred Sleepless Nights

11

During my closing Tony comes in, propping himself up on the barstool right in front of me.

He's dressed more casual than usual, wearing a plain white shirt and blue jeans, something I've actually never seen him in until now. He's got a black watch on his left wrist and surprisingly enough he also has a ring on his index finger. He's wearing his classic Vans but there's no surprise there.

"You never texted me back." he says, putting his phone on the bar.

Since I saw him out on a date five days ago I haven't really reached out to him at all. He texted me the next day to hangout but I ignored it. I still couldn't get the picture of him having a great time out of my head, so I never texted him. In fact we haven't even seen each other since then. I figured he'd be out with her so I left him to it.

I give a half shrug. "Figured you were busy so I didn't want to bother you."

"I texted you three times." he says then unlocks his phone and shows me the messages I haven't responded to. "That kind of means I wanted to be bothered."

"You sure?" I ask.

I know I'm being petty, but I can't stop. My ego is hurt from seeing him out with someone else. I have no right to have a bruised ego and yet.

In front of me Tony sighs and runs a hand through his black hair.

"Alright, I guess we're bringing it up." he says, crossing his arms on the bar and leaning into them.

I give him a look as if to say 'what are you talking about' as I continue cleaning the bar up. It wasn't a busy night so there's not much to clean, but the rag puts a distance between Tony and I that I clearly need. Like a security blanket.

"It wasn't a date." he says. "Not really anyways."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I say, my voice stoic.

Its now his turn to give me a look. "I saw you."

I don't say anything, I just focus really hard on cleaning the bar. I act like its never been cleaned before ever and that its my sole duty to clean it. I don't dare look up at him , I can already feel my cheeks turning red, I don't want to give him the time to call it out.

"My ex heard I was in town, we hadn't seen each other in three years so we met up to catch up." he explains.

"Your ex?" I ask hating how jealous I sound.

Somehow him going out with his ex is worse than a random woman. He's already had experiences and an entire life with this woman and now they're seeing each other to "catch up." The only time exes meet up is when they don't want to be exes anymore, everyone knows that.

"Its not like that." Tony says as if he can read my mind.

"Isn't it?" I retort.

"Alia, you said you wanted casual anyways." he points out. "Don't act like you weren't out with someone either that night. Can you really look at me and tell me you guys didn't go back to his place after?"

I truly can't say anything to this because we both know he's right, but for some reason him going out with his ex feels wrong but me going out with other guys is expected. But I never expressed I wanted something and he did. 

"Hey," he says as he reaches out and grabs my hand. "I don't plan on seeing her again."

A wave of relief comes over me and I truly feel so much better. I also don't mind the feel of his skin on mine. Its something I haven't felt often.

I act like we're something, as if we've made a move towards each other but we haven't. He hasn't even tried to kiss me yet. He told me he wouldn't make a single move unless we were working towards something. This was a month ago. I thought he would've given in by now, God knows most people don't even wait an hour before knowing me.