Entangled and Locked Out

2. A night out

The party is over, everyone has left. Eli helped clean up earlier, and her mom, dad, and little brother are all going to sleep. She knocks on Junior's door and hears him tell her to come in. She walks in and he's sitting on his bed looking up at her, waiting for her to speak.

"Hey, Junior, so I'm going out, and I need you to cover for me, just in case", she says, not even bothering to ask.

"Yeah okay", he replies, and she's about to leave when her brother asks. "Where do you even go? I mean all of your friends left for college, what do you do? Are you dating someone?"

"No, I am not dating someone, even if I was, that would be none of your business. I just go out. Now, go to sleep", Eli orders and turns off the lights.

She leaves the room and walks past her parents in their bedroom, she sees the light coming from the bottom of the door, so she tries her best to be silent. They seem to be focused on some vase her mom is bidding on, so they didn't notice. As quietly as possible Eli grabs her shoes, jacket, and bag, and sneaks out of the house. She can't use the car, because her mom and dad will hear it, so she unlocks her bike and sets off.

. . .

Eli arrives at the building, it's a bit old, but inside it's cozy. She locks up her bike and walks inside. The bar appears in front of her, and she takes a seat. The bartender is drying some glasses and doesn't see Eli approaching yet.

"Hello, Samuel", Eli says to the bartender, who simply glances at her and exhales. He's wearing a hoodie as usual, and his hair is ruffled.

"Hello again, Eli. Is this going to be a nightly thing from now on? Remember, I won't serve you alcohol", says Sam, putting away the clean glasses. He flips the dish towel over his well-built shoulder and asks, "so what can I get you, that is non-alcoholic? A soda? Or maybe some fries?"

"I'll just have some water", she says. While Sam is getting Eli her water, she pulls a book out of her bag. Sam steps over and gives her the bottle.

"I'm gonna go back to working and you can go back to your book. I promise I won't interrupt you", he asks her with a concerned look in his eyes, just like any other night. Eli nods even though she wishes he would stop her reading and talk to her all night instead.

"I'm gonna be fine, thanks", she smiles, and as soon as he leaves her side, she begins to read. So this is what she does at night. She goes out to her regular bar and reads, to keep herself from getting lonely. She never did this in high-school, because she would always text her friends at night or even have a sleepover. Sam would sometimes text her, but mostly to ask if she had gotten home safely.

In the beginning, she felt a bit pathetic every time she would step a foot into this place, but she did it anyway because her fear of loneliness trumps everything else. Now she walks in here to be closer to Sam. He's twenty-two and works in a bar that his uncle owns, but he's a cool guy. He lets Eli hang out there even though she's not legally allowed to drink. They do the occasional flirting, but never anything serious, which Eli sort of wishes it could be. She doesn't feel ashamed anymore for going here, because whenever she steps inside the bar and sees Sam, she feels a fluttering in her stomach, that only intensifies when the bartender finally notices her. Sometimes Eli thinks that he might feel the same way, like when she looks up from her book and sees him looking at her and then instead of looking away, smiles at her or when he puts off serving a customer to make some joke only the two of them would understand.

Eli thinks back to the time she first met him. It was at the end of summer vacation, she had just been driven home by Sophie's parents after they had dropped Sophie off at her college dorm. She was the last of her friends to have moved to her dorm. Eli was miserable and was craving to be around people, who wouldn't grill her about her own college plans. She decided not to go home, so instead, she stepped up onto her bike once again and just drove. She stopped by a bar and debated with herself if she should go in or not. She thought that since it was Saturday, there would be many people and she could just get lost in the crowd. But when she stepped inside, there were maybe like half a dozen people and only two of them were female. She began to feel herself become self-conscious, but she walked up to the bar anyway. She sat down, and a very attractive bartender walked over and asked Eli for her ID. She caught herself looking at him for a moment too long, but he looked so good that night, who could blame her. He had this dark mysteriousness over him and had a serious but sweet look on this face. She was mesmerized by his soft curls and Eli couldn't look away. She shook herself out of the trance and answered.