Win a Date with Amber Rivers

chapter three

"And that, my friends, is why you don't want to get yourself stuck in an ice cream shop refrigerator during the peak of summer." Mikey proudly folded his arms across his chest. "Any questions?" He asked.

From across the booth, Pam sat dumbfounded, her lips pursed together in thought. Beside Mikey, Riley sat with her mouth slowly opening but quickly closing, looking a bit like a goldfish as she struggled to think of what to say next.

"Uh, so did you want a beer or...?" Pam questioned, unsure of how her initially asking him this led into such a story. When Mikey nodded in response, she then raised her hand to grab the attention of a waitress to order them a couple more beers.

After work on a Friday, like most hard working citizens, the dynamic trio always found themselves over at the local bar The Drunk Skunk. It was probably the most popular bar in the town of Harwick, Washington State and it also just happened to be the only bar in town that did cheap drinks. It was an old school bar with a lot of historical wooden features, almost reminiscent of a saloon from a western movie (it even had swinging doors to go down to the bathroom and into the kitchen). There were booths lining the walls and a scattering of high tables with stools throughout the floor. The lights above them were dim, partially because it was set that way but also because there were a few broken bulbs that they hadn't gotten around to fixing yet. Two pool tables and a dart board were on the other side of the room from the booths and, sometimes, Pam would drag her friends over to play pool (but that was mostly because she was the best pool player out of the three of them and was a sore loser if anyone defeated her). Down a few steps away from the booths and pool tables though is a large floor space where they used to have a bucking bull until someone rode it too long, the machine died so, until they fix the bull, people have just been using it as a dance floor.

The waitress returned, balancing a tray of beer bottles on her palm. She placed one in front of each of them and, as she put the last one down in front of Riley, she gave her a soft smile and a quick comment of "enjoy" before walking away. Riley found her eyes following the waitress for a little bit but returned to her friends, who both stared at her with knowing grins.

"What was that?" Pam asked.

"It was nothing." Riley said and, when they both kept giving her that same grin, she doubled down. "Guys, it was nothing."

Pam, who sat across from Mikey and Riley, reached her hands across the table and took Riley's hands in hers. "Dude, I love you and there is nothing I want more in this world than to see you find happiness and love with someone."

I had happiness and love with someone, Riley almost said but had to bite her tongue. Her breakup with her ex still lingered on her, making it tough to even contemplate seeing other people. She had been with her since high school and it's hard to move on from your first love, especially when you were together for seven years. It makes it all the more harder when it all comes to a crashing end when she moves out of state for some guy she met through her job who, as she put it, "had direction in his life".

"She was cute." Mikey suggested, nudging Riley with his elbow. "You should go talk to her."

"No, I'm all good. She's probably just being friendly so we tip her more." Riley responded, sipping at her beer and letting her eyes skim across the bar until they landed on an empty pool table across the room. "You guys wanna play a game of pool?"

"Dude!" Pam swiped at Riley across the table with an open hand, smacking the blonde's forearm. She ignored the little "ow" from her best friend as she continued talking. "Don't change the subject, asshole. We're just trying to help you here."

"Did you look at any of those dating apps I suggested?" Mikey asked.

"No." Riley stated. That was a lie because she signed up to one but only lasted on it for maybe about twenty-four hours. Given that she was a lesbian who lived in a small town, there weren't a whole lot of options for her. She kept coming across too many people she knew from high school or people she recognised from frequently shopping at the Smart Mart. Just having an account on there made her all too anxious about the whole thing, worried if anyone would like her back if she liked them. It just wasn't for her. She would much rather meet someone in person, like people used to do before apps and the internet came along.