The Dealers

Chapter 17 - Lena

Walking into the club, I spotted Jacob behind the bar but he wasn't in work clothes and instead had on what I liked to call his fancy jeans—the least ripped up pair he owned—and a black, collared shirt. Jacob seemed to be in a good mood as he joked with a tall, slender blonde guy behind the bar

"There you are!" Jacob smiled at me as I walked over and sat at the bar. Instantly, he could tell something was wrong.

"What happened?" He asked as he scanned the room for whom I assumed was Noah.

I just shook my head since the new blonde bartender was staring awkwardly at us.

"Uh, Lena," Jacob changed the subject until we could be alone, "this is Max. He's the new bartender."

I held out my hand to Max and tried to smile as convincingly as I could, "it's nice to officially meet you. I work behind the bar, too."

"Yeah, I saw you around my first few shifts," Max nodded with a charming smile.

"Okay, back to work." Jacob shooed Max away.

Max returned to the bar where he would be bartending alone for the first time.

"Give me a sec." Jacob whispered into my ear as he disappeared back behind the bar. After 5 minutes, Jacob returned to me holding a small cooler.

"What?" I asked with confusion but he didn't clarify, he just held his empty hand out for me to take.

Taking his hand and standing, I followed Jacob around the bar. Going through the door that led to the storage room and his tiny office, he took me through the back door and we found ourselves at the familiar loading dock.

The sun had already set but, there was a beautiful pink tint to the skyline still as Jacob gestured for me to have a seat. Like we had the other day, we sat down and let our feet dangle from the height of the loading dock.

"What are we doing?" I asked Jacob as I wrinkled my nose at him.

"Something is wrong." Jacob said matter-of-factly as he pulled the small cooler over to us.

Lifting the lid, I couldn't see what was inside from where I sat. Waiting patiently, Jacob fiddled with the contents before pulling out a chilled shot glass and handing it to me.

Full to the rim of what smelled like vodka, Jacob lifted his own shot glass and raised a toast, "to new beginnings."

Wanting nothing more than to numb myself with the liquor in my hand, I chugged my shot in one swoop and gestured for Jacob to make me another.

Laughing at me, he returned to his mini-bar set up in the cooler and poured me another one. He also reached in and cracked us two bottles of beer.

I didn't wait for another toast before I slugged back my shot and chased it down with beer. The liquor was starting to kick in and Jacob gave me more time to just sit there in the near silence and not have to think or speak. Instead of asking me a million question, he just sat there beside me.

Finally though, I could see the expression on his face as he looked over to me and raised an eyebrow.

"Noah left." I said bluntly as I finished my beer and looked ahead.

Jacob didn't say anything and instead, he cracked me another beer and replaced the empty bottle in my hand.

I was sad that Noah left but a part of me believed him when he told me he would be back in a few days. However, a part of me felt naive for believing that. At what point did I become a cliche?

Small town girl gets swept off of her feet by a traveler just passing through. The story always ended the same: he left and she got her heart broken.