Isobel

Isobel Pt.4

Joe has gone home early and left Brendan to close the shop. He locks the door and is putting the shutter down. He is about to head home whenever he hears someone in the shadows clearing their throat. Isobel steps from behind the wall. He is surprised to see her but also delighted.
"Hello again, Brendan," she said.
"Hello."
"I hope you don't mind me being too forward but I'd like to thank you again for your help, earlier on."
"It was nothing, I'm sure anyone would have done the same..."
She touches his shoulder.
"You seem to know my name, what's yours?" Brendan asked.
"My name's Isobel."
"Isobel, I...I was wondering would you like a drink, maybe sometime?"
She smiles at him and jokingly nudges his arm as she looks into his eyes. "Are you asking me out?"
"No, no, I mean yes, well there's a bar just around the corner, that's all," he said nervously.
She smiles a wide grin. "Sure."

They walk on together in silence, unsure what to say to each other.
He clears his throat. "Well the rains cleared up alright."
She giggles as she wraps her arm around his arm.
They get to the end of the street and stand facing a pub. She insists they go in to the pub but he is reluctant. He has heard bad things about it and doesn't want any trouble. She drags him in any way without another word of dissent.

A few of the clientele look around at them as they enter but leave them to their own devices.
He has just ordered their drinks and both he and Isobel take a seat at the back near the pool table.

She holds up her drink for him to 'cheers', which he does. She knocks her drink right back until it is empty. When she finishes she smiles and wipes her mouth.
He is astonished at how quickly she drank her beer. He has never seen a girl behave like that before. He sits quietly sipping his own.
"Did you ever find your purse?" He asked.
"No! But if I ever meet that fella again I'll kill him. I swear to God I'll kill him. That was all the money I had."
"Don't you have a family you can go to?"
"They are too far away for me to ever go back. Frankly, I don't need them."
"Where are you from?" He enquires.
She looks him up and down before she answers his question.
"I'll tell you when I get to know you better," she said.
She smiles at him and touches him on the leg as she gets up from her seat. "I'll be back in a minute, just going for a pee."
He is embarrassed by her bluntness. He watches her as she walks towards the ladies toilet. As she walks past the pool table, a couple of the men watch her pass and whistle at her. The men share a joke amongst themselves.
Brendan looks unsettled as he sits sipping his drink, nervously looking around him. He sits observing all the clientele in the bar, especially the two pool players. She comes out of the ladies toilet. She walks towards the men again and one of the men whistles at her. She turns on her heels and walks straight up to him. He has a cigarette in his mouth.
"Can I have your cigarette?" She asked.
The man takes out a cigarette and gives it to her. She puts the cigarette in her mouth and he lights it for her. She leans on the pool table as she watches their game.
"Can I play?" She asked.
The men laugh.
"I don't know love can you play?" The man asked.
"You can play with me anytime," his friend said.
Brendan watches her talk to the men and looks nervous.
"We're in the middle of a game here," his friend said.
The man winks at his friend. "Let her play. Give her your cue and let her take a few shots."
He hands her the cue and she lines up her shot.
"What colour am I?" She asked.
The man points to the colour yellow. She gestures for Brendan to come closer to the table. She leans over the table to take her shot. The man stands directly behind her with his drink in hand. She realises this and nudges him oh so slightly with the pool cue. He takes it as playfulness. Isobel takes her shot and scores.
She is surprised and so are the men. She does a little dance of victory. She smiles at man and this only makes him more enamoured of her. She then turns to the friend, moving closer to him. She takes his drink from him. She takes the drink and finishes it off. She hands the empty glass back to him as he looks at it in disbelief.
She turns back to the table again. Eyeing up the ball and the socket, she hits the ball but misses. The man gets ready to take his shot and just when he is about to hit the ball Isobel clears her throat very loudly. This distracts him and he misses his shot. She pushes him out of the way as she prepares to take her shot.