Stained Glass Eyes and Colorful Tears

1

It's a quiet night tonight at the bar. It's not that much of a surprise given the fact that it's a Wednesday night at 11pm. Most people have work tomorrow and aren't too keen on staying up all night partying, so most people have cleared out a couple of hours ago. The only people left are the regulars that come in every night, staying right until closing time, but most of them are focused on the game that's on, not even paying attention to me or their surroundings. 

Even though it's dead tonight, I'm still having the time of my life. Recently I've really taken to fun country music, so each night when it's dead like this with only my regulars who know me, I put on some of my favourite country tunes and dance as I work. 

"You're almost a real country dancer." one of my regulars, Duke, says.

The one thing I can say about Duke is that he's cute. Real cute. He stands at around 6'3 and has a nice, strong cowboy build to him. He has sandy blond hair that's been lightened no doubt from being out in the sun all the time. His skin is nice and tanned for the exact same reason, which contrasts real nice with those baby blue eyes he has. Duke also has a nice, southern accent on him which isn't that rare, but it sure is cute. He's a total catch.

"I'm getting pretty good, huh?" I ask with a smile.

"Yes, ma'am you are." he says, his eyes watching my body as it moves to the music.

Over all my time as a bartender I've learned to ignore men and the attention that they give to me. God knows there were many, many times when I didn't ignore it and instead used their attention to get myself into their beds to clear my mind from my troubles. Well, I guess I haven't changed that much after all because right now Duke's attention is doing it for me.

I grin at him. "Maybe you could show me some moves sometime."

"I could show you right now." he flirts back, throwing in a wink.

I look around at the quiet bar. There's no one who looks like they'll be needing a drink any time soon, they're all too occupied on football which is playing on the TVs around the bar. There's also no one in the middle of the floor which means Duke and I have a lot of room to dance.

"Do you even know how to dance, Duke?" I ask as I lean across the bar towards him.

He grins at me, revealing his very cute dimples on that beautifully tan skin of his. Man, I love country boys.

"What kind of man would I be if I couldn't?" he says. "I can dip ya and twirl you all night long."

"Maybe you should prove it." I say, my voice husky as I lean closer to him. 

At this point I'm pretty much on top of the bar, leaning across to speak to Duke. He doesn't seem to mind, in fact he even scoots closer to me as if there's a need for it. There's only about ten inches between our faces right now, a fact that both of us are clearly aware of. 

"You want me to take you to the floor, little lady?" Duke says. He knows I love the stereotypical Texan slang, especially the term "little lady." The first time I heard his accent I was hooked, asking him to say common Texan phrases to please my brain.

"You better." I say, putting on my best Texan accent.

"Now don't do that." Duke says with a laugh. 

He reaches across the bar and holds his hand out for me to take, which I gladly do. He guides me to the middle of the bar where no one is sitting and puts his hands around me, guiding me. I clearly haven't been here long enough to have picked up any dances, but Duke seems to be a pro. He guides me through the dance slowly, twirling me with such grace that it wows me. 

"You're a good leader." I say to him as I come back into his arms.

"You're good at doing what I want ya to." he replies with a mischievous smile on his face.

"We could make it a habit?"

"I better watch myself, you're a tempting one." Duke says with a laugh before twirling me out again. 

It's weird to be here, dancing with Duke. I feel like I haven't had fun like this in so long. Lately everything has felt so stressful and hard in life, like I can't get one break after another. Here with Duke, though, I just feel good. My blood is flowing, and the bar feels more lightweight and freer than it ever has before. It reminds me of why I started bartending in the first place.

"You sure you haven't danced before?" Duke asks me. "You're a natural."

"My body just knows what to do." I say with a wink.

Duke throws his head back laughing, but it doesn't last long. Before I realize what's happening, a hand clamps down onto Duke's shoulder, pulling him away from me. I look up in horror, my eyes landing on someone I haven't seen in six months, and quite possibly the last person I would've ever expected or hoped to see here.

"You want to keep your hands off her?" the person who pulled Duke back says.

"Who the fuck are you to tell me what to do?" Duke asks, eyeing up his target.

"I'm her husband." Tony says, holding up his left hand and shows off the gold wedding ring that sits on his ring finger.