The Night Watch ✓

4 / drink to that

At exactly four o'clock. Bree logged off her computer at work and pulled up on her jacket. Despite being the tail end of July, the country supposed to be at the height of summer, the sky outside was grey and after already having rained all morning, it was now looking as though it was about to tip it down again. Heavy clouds darkened the town and for a moment, she stared outside before hanging her bag over her shoulder and clocking out. A few people remained in the office, but none of them acknowledged her departure.

In the ten months working for the estate agent, Parker and Price, Bree had failed to befriend any of her colleagues. From the start, she had been alienated, and her outspoken personality had done her no favours in trying to win anyone over. There was nothing she would be able to do about the situation: they had worked to get where they were; she had not.

It didn't bother her too much. She wasn't there to make friends. She wasn't even really there for the cash: money wasn't an issue for Bree and it likely wouldn't be for a while, but the job gave her something to do, a way to get her out of the house while she tried to figure out what she wanted to do. Property wasn't her dream. It never had been, and it likely never would be, but an opportunity had come at the right time. She would have been a fool to turn it down.

It began to rain as soon as she stepped out of the door, and she harrumphed as she pulled up her hood and instead of turning left towards her car, she turned right. Her office was just on the outskirts of the main town centre, a fifteen minute walk from Raven, and she knew that Nick would be there. Though his schedule shifted and changed every now and then, she had bumped into Maddie that morning. Nick would be in for a twelve hour shift, one in the afternoon until one in the morning.

Now was an ideal time: the lunch crowds had moved out and the after-work groups tended to show up after six. For the next couple of hours, it would be as quiet as it would ever get. Bree tied her coat tightly around her waist and pulled up the hood, chin tucked into her chest as she hurried across the town.

It would've made more sense to drive. It was only when she got to the bar that she realised that, elbowing her way through the door and shaking off the rain. A few regulars were dotted around, groups and pairs of older men drinking pints between sparse conversation. Nick stood behind the bar, ringing up a middle aged man at the till. Bree sidled over to him, taking the stool opposite her friend, and she waited.

Nick checked his watch. "Did you come straight from work?"

She nodded. "Gaia's out until six and I don't really fancy hanging around at home for two hours. I figured you might get a little lonely with the four o'clock lull." She looked around the place and Nick followed her gaze, nodding to himself.

"You could say it's quiet." He met Bree's eye and smiled. "Want a drink?"

She gave him a look of vague disgust, eyebrows pulled together. "I may enjoy my alcohol, but I don't think I've reached the point of alcoholism yet. I'd like to think you'd stop me if I ever asked for a drink at four."

Nick lifted a shoulder in a loose shrug. "I don't know," he said. "You might've had a shit day at work. Did you have a shit day at work?"

She stretched out her legs before crossing them, perched on the stool with her elbows on the counter. "I had a perfectly ordinary day," she said. "One of my four viewings was postponed and I spent the rest of the time answering emails." She gave him an over the top grin. "Perfection."

Nick chuckled and after establishing that no-one would be needing him any time soon, he joined Bree on her side of the bar. As acting manager while his boss was off sick, he found himself bending the rules when it was quiet. Of every Raven employee, he had worked there the longest by at least two years: most of the staff respected him more than the actual manager.