Lost And Bought

Chapter 1~ Charlotte

Another day, another girl crying over a lost boyfriend. Another beer, another guy getting smashed with his 'bros'. Another day, and I still feel lonely.

"Charli!" I'm snapped out of my daydreaming by Joe's loud call from the storage room. It's almost time for last call and people are continuing to file out by the second. I shift my gaze from the girl in the pink dress, who just went through a breakup, to see Joe staring at me with an annoyed look on his face.

"Charli!" he calls again and then heads back into the closet.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Joe and I have been working together for 4 years, only 2 as a real bartender, and as such I feel I have a little wiggle room with my sass. As I reach the storage room I see him trying to balance a box of mini umbrellas and a box of straws. The umbrellas are about to fall when I quickly grab hold of the box. "Woah, you know you can always make two trips Joe." I laugh as I place the box down.

He places his own box down and lets out a sigh of relief. "I want to leave as soon as everyone's gone."

"Well, that might be awhile. It's Thursday and it's packed" I gesture to the hundreds of people in the bar outside. I originally got my bartending license to make some extra money and because I thought it would be cool, but I ended up getting really good at it, finding a steady, well paying job, and here I am. The bar was always busy and if I tried, I could usually get some pretty good tips from the customers. The corporate men who walked through here liked showing off with big tips and it meant that I made good money in something I loved, so who was I to complain?

Joe looked around at all the drunks and partiers that constantly plagued this place, "Ugh, you're right. Kelly is going to kill me!"

I tried to hide my laugh as I imagined the 5 month pregnant Kelly yelling at poor, tired Joe. "People do still have work tomorrow. They will start clearing out soon and TJ and Emma are perfectly capable of helping me out for the rest of the night. Go home to your wife and I'll close up. No worries."

"Charli, I can't ask you to do that I was just complaining out loud."

"You're not asking, I'm telling. I've done it before Joe. Help us out for another half hour and then scoot." I smiled reassuringly trying to convince him to go. Joe always helped me out and friends are supposed to do favors with no expectations.

He looked at me for a moment before relenting and sighed, "Fine, I'll go. Thanks Charlotte."

I smiled when he said my name. I always preferred full names to nicknames, but at the bar I let Charli slide. When Joe said Charlotte, he always did it on purpose as a term of endearment.

I called TJ to help him with the rest of the boxes and continued manning the bar with Emma.

The night continued and more people began to leave, but around 10:40 there were still a few stragglers including a man who had been at the bar with a beer for an hour.

I made my way over to him after instructing Emma to start cutting people off. "We're going to start closing soon, sir."

He took a huge swig of the Corona beer and finished it before looking up at me. His eyes were cold and empty and I got an unpleasant chill when he smirked. "Sir. That's nice." His voice made me uneasy and I took a step back to get TJ. I smiled politely not knowing what to say and walked over to TJ. Joe always had the men handle the troublesome customers and although it was slightly sexist, in this situation I wanted no part in handling that guy. Eventually everyone left, including the man, and it was just the three of us closing up. TJ teased Emma as they cleaned up the bar and I cleaned the glasses. Of all of my co-workers TJ and Emma were by far the cutest. I didn't know when one of them would be brave enough to confess their feelings, but I was looking forward to it. We had finished cleaning up, and I told TJ to drive Emma home while I locked up. He was used to me doing this by now and left with Emma.

"See you Sunday Charli!" Emma called before the door closed behind them.

 I finished locking up and grabbed my bag, jacket and phone, ready to call a taxi. Tuesday's and Thursday's I didn't get the car and while I could afford my own, I was saving for a down payment on a house. I walked outside to wait for the car and put my phone to my ear to make it look like I was talking. Nothing ever happened around where I lived, but this area was more city like, hence the successful bar, and I was just being cautious.

The early March wind made the night a little cold. A shiver ran up my spine and all of a sudden I got the strange feeling that I was being watched. At first I did nothing, but I did start talking into my phone like I was deep in conversation. Then I heard footsteps and before I knew it my phone was knocked out of my hand and I was being grabbed.

"Get off!" Instinct kicked in and I screamed and kicked at whatever had knocked my phone out of my hand until an arm went around my waist and a hand clasped over my mouth. That's when I knew I was really in danger. I kicked harder and fought, but it was no use. I started being dragged into the alley next to the bar and I started thinking the worst, but before anything else happened a sharp pain started in my head from something hitting me. I flailed uselessly as my eyes began to close and the last thing I remembered was the feeling of blood dripping on my head, and the smell of Corona beer.