Tell My Heart To Beat

Dive Bar Serenade

There was something about a dive bar that always relaxed Dante after a good job. Eighties rock music, cigarette smoke, and cheap beer was always a win. Not to mention the sound of glasses clinking together as the bartender worked to fulfill draft in pitchers. He preferred imports and top shelf, but sometimes cheap beer was a good way to get completely numb for a night.

As it so happened, he was two towns away from Capulet on a job. It was a college town with mostly young adults roaming the streets on a Friday night looking for a good time. There was nothing wrong with that. Had Dante gone to college, maybe he may have had a few friends to party with. He tried not to go with what ifs because they led down a dark road. As it was, he was not buzzed enough to go there.

He sat at the bar holding an empty shot glass in his hand while he attempted to drown away his sorrows. One shot of top shelf whiskey was not enough to even do anything. No, it took a bottle for him to feel slightly buzzed, but he was not going to get that far in public. Tonight was a night he did not want to cause any trouble.

As it happened, the smell of cheap cologne and sweat was enough to tell him he was in for a rough night. The further the night went on, the more the youth of the town filed into the bar. By ten, the music had been turned up and the sound of billard balls clashing against each other filled the smokey atmosphere.

Maybe he had picked the wrong place to go.

No, that was not it.

He shifted his attention to the bartender and held up to fingers. Moments later, two more shot glasses filled with whiskey slid down the dark stained bartop. He nodded in thanks before picking the first of the two up and tossing it down his throat. He slammed the glass down before picking up the next to do the same thing. The burn in the back of Dante's throat was a good way to bring him out of those pesky memories.

It was around eleven when some punk decided it was a good idea to get up on stage and sing karaoke. It was some shitty love song to his girlfriend, but Dante knew the chick appreciated the sentiment behind it, even if her face was as red as her hair. Yeah, he was pretty sure he would never do that to any girl he ever dated. He was not that much of an idiot.

"Caroline, I love you baby!" Dante rolled his eyes. These punks were around his age, if not a little younger. A little more maturity and all of them would be masters at serenading the females. Not that he knew any better. The closest he got to that was telling Lady he would pay her tab at the last outing they had.

Other than that, Dante was just there to drink.

Until someone bumped into him.

"My bad, dude." Dante barely turned his head to see who had made impact with him. It was one of the muscle bound college football players that had been a little too drunk on the cheap stuff. It was not even midnight yet.

"Don't worry about it." He waved it off before the dark haired drunk threw up his hand.

"Hey, his next one is on me!" Well, that was nice. He would not pass up a free drink at someone else's expense. Dante knew a trust fund baby when he saw one. He felt a hand on his shoulder. "There you go man, I gotcha covered."

"Thanks." He caught the shot that was sent to him across the bar and did the same as the others.

Just as he was about to order another shot, the lights in the bar turned low and everyone started shouting in praise. He really did not pay attention until a girl came out onto the small stage with a guitar. She was not bad to look at with her dark hair and green eyes. She had a smile on her face as the spotlight was put on her when she sat down on the stool.

"Woo, I love you Ali!" Some idiot yelled out making her smile.

Oh boy when she smiled her eyes lit up like nothing Dante had ever seen before. A genuine happy smile from someone who was excited to be in that dingy dive bar in the middle of a small college town.