Drunk New Yorker

Chapter 2

I slowly took a drag from the cigarette that a drunk guy gave to me. While taking smokes from drunk guys is usually a big no no, I knew this one. Every two weeks or so he would come in, get hammered, bitch about how his wife was a horrible women, then he would call an Uber to go home. Or maybe he was going to his mistress's house. I don't particularly care either way.

"Rylie, bartenders aren't supposed to smoke behind the bar," Veronica said as she began wiping the bar down.

"Shut the fuck up, Veronica," I said taking after I took another drag."I saw you smoking a hour ago." Veronica just rolled her eyes and went back to cleaning. This is just one of the many reasons that I cannot stand this woman, that and the fact that she is terrible in bed.

I finished my smoke rather quickly and stepped out into the alley to stamp out my cigarette. While I had the chance I took a deep breath of air. The air in the bar smelled like smoke and alcohol, and all that secondhand smoke I've breathed in probably has increased my chance of lung cancer tenfold. I probably won't live long enough for that though.

3 Quickly I stepped back into the bar before Veronica started complaining. I went back behind the bar and started to clean the drink glasses.

After fifteen minutes of cleaning and no new customers I decided to try and talk to somebody. Since I would rather tear out my pubic hairs one by one then talk to Veronica, I decided to chat with one of the customers.

Two people were on their first (and probably their last) date, another two people were arguing over who actually won the pool game, another chick in jeans was at the bar looking over some papers, and the musician was finishing up her set.

Since the couple probably wouldn't appreciate me barging in and ruining their date more, I couldn't talk to them. The two men playing pool didn't seem to be in a good mood, and I have broken up way too many bar fights this month. So it was either the musician or the chick at the bar. After thinking about it for a second I decided on the chick. What a great way to make friends.

I walked towards the lady and I could see dozens of papers surrounding her. Whatever she was reading up on seemed to have absorbed her completely, so she didn't notice when I walked up to her.

"Hi, you want a drink?" I said to her, popping her out of her bubble.

"Can I just have some water, please?" she asked me, looking back at her papers. I nodded and grabbed a small water cup and filled it up.

"Refills are three bucks." I said handing it back to her.

"Seriously?" she said to me raising an eyebrow, looking at the tiny cup that I gave her. I shrugged my shoulders and started to look back at her drink. What can I say Dave, the owner, likes money.

I looked at one of her papers and I saw that they were printed out apartment listings, no doubt that was also the reason she was constantly looking at her phone. Wait, think Rylie, if she is looking at apartment listings then she needs an apartment, and maybe, just maybe, she doesn't have a roommate. This random chick at a bar could be the answer to all my problems!

"So where are you looking?" I asked her, gesturing towards the papers.

"Somewhere in Manhattan hopefully, my last roommate got married and her and her husband moved out of the city to start a family," she said to me without looking up from her papers. I was a tad surprised by all the unneeded information she gave me, but it helped. She didn't have a roommate and I am a person who could be a roommate.

"Nice, you have a roommate yet?" I asked her. I was crossing my fingers and my toes that I wasn't just getting my hopes up.

"Why are you asking?" She said to me. I then realized that I was some random person at a bar, asking a person I just met, multiple questions about her living situations. No doubt that seemed a little odd.

"I'm looking for a new place to live," I said to her, casually not mentioning the fact that I was being evicted from my current apartment. Before the girl could respond though the musician finished up her song and walked over to me.

"One beer, please," she asked me. She pulled out her ID before I even had to ask. Thank god she was being easy about it, some people flat out refuse to give me their ID and then don't understand why I can't serve them. I glanced at it and saw that her name was Jade Fitzsimmons, nice name.

I went to grab a beer and I heard her start talking to the girl, who I realized I forgot to ask the name of, about the apartment listings.

"I'm about to move into a new apartment as well, unfortunately, the girl I was supposed to room with pulled out at the final second." Jade said to her.

"Oh that's a shame," she said.

"Any chance you don't have a place yet?" Jade asked her. It was obvious that she was hoping she could get Jessie to be her roommate.

"Well I was talking to, sorry what's your name?" The chick asked me.

"Rylie Barbieri." I said to her putting out my hand. She took it and replied "Jessie Anderson."

"Anyway, I was talking to Rylie about possibly being roommates already." Jessie said to Jade.

"That's fine, I really need a roommate, and three people can fit into the apartment I'm sure."

"Well what's the apartment?" I asked her.

Jade pulled out her phone and started to look up the apartment listing. When she pulled it up she showed that it was a two bedroom apartment. The rent was three thousand four hundred dollars.

"Wait why is it so cheap?" I said. Most two bedrooms in Manhattan were at least five hundred dollars more.

"You know that murder that was in the news last month? Alejandro Garcia?" Jade said. Me and Jessie both nodded. His murder was in the news constantly for the month. Apparently he was an artist and they found a bunch of his artworks, now some of them are going to be in an art museum. "Well he was killed in his friend's apartment while he was visiting him."

That was not quite what I was expecting truth be told. Jessie mouth was open, showing me that she also did not expect that either. "Well, at least it makes sense." Jessie said in a high pitched voice, her attempt at lightening the mood.

Jessie, Jade, and I talked for a bit longer about the apartment before we exchanged numbers so we could meet later. Luckily my shift was over at 1 am, so I left the bar hopeful for once in my life. For the first time ever talking to a random chick at a bar actually helped me.

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