GREYHOUND

chapter one.

"Jay, can you get me the vodka from the top shelf, middle. We have a picky customer." Nyla winks as her friend, Jaylina smiles and follows her request.

It's a loud and full night at The Shallot, the bar Nyla Rose and Jaylina Scovitch work at as bartenders. Nyla works part-time so she can study law but Jaylina works full-time and has been for almost 5 years. She's expecting a promotion soon.

"Shit, Nyla," Jaylina calls for her from across the bar as Nyla hands a drink to a loud and drunk customer, "Yeah?" Nyla responds turning to face her friend.
"Oh my god! How the hell-" she begins, letting an exasperated sigh slip from her lips.

Jaylina holds a bottle of vodka, the bottom completely smashed off.
"I have no clue! I picked it up from the back row and the bottom was just fucking gone!" She yells, throwing her hands in the air, holding on tightly to the bottle.

"Aye! Can we get some drinks, pretty lady?" An old man who sits at the bar asks, Nyla fakely smiles at him, "Just a minute, sir."
The man rolls his eyes, whispering something to his equally as old friends. One person stands out, though. It's a man, his black hair flipped and his hands tattooed, adjusting his tie.

He's wearing a suit way too formal for a downtown bar and his green eyes glint as they meet hers. He smirks and she tears away.

Back into reality, she stares at the half shattered bottle of vodka in Jaylina's hand, "Whatever, just throw it out. Marco will understand. I don't even see the guy who wanted it anymore."

Jaylina shrugs, "Aight. But if big man Marco gets pissed off, I'm not saving your ass." She points a finger at Nyla, her acrylic nail sharp in Nyla's face.

Jaylina tosses a section of her hair behind her, letting it fall down her back. Her long, relaxed hair is dyed purple and perfectly compliments her brown skin.

Nyla, however, has plain dirty blonde hair that stops at her waist.

She gets compliments on it's length but none of them understand how hard it is to take care of Nyla's hair and how many times she swore she would chop it off.

Nonetheless, it's been growing for years.
Nyla considers herself to be plain, nothing special.

Her brown eyes are lifeless and her thin, pale body could use some more curves.

But she loves herself and how she looks, she could care less about the opinions of others... especially the homeless men who insult her on the streets when she walks home.

Nyla rolls her eyes and turns her body to face the man who called out early, "Okay, what can I do for ya?" She asks, leaning against the bar.

The old man meet her eyes and narrows them, "Hm, surprise me." He said. Nyla got requests like this all the time and she hated them.

Like, how hard would it be to just say gold champagne on the rocks? It wouldn't be hard at all.

Nyla nodded, rolling her eyes when she turned her back to him. When she looked over her shoulder and the man was distracted by his friend, Nyla kneeled down.

She picked out a cheap champagne from the bottom shelf, one that you only ask for if you're not here to spend a lot... which most people are.

She grabs the bottle and turns back around, grabbing a chilled glass from the cooler. She glanced over to see the man was still distracted as she poured his drink.

When Nyla was done, she shoved the champagne bottle under the bar.

"Here, a nice champagne for our special guest." She smiled at him and winked as she got his attention.

"I don't think so," a deep voice said, a thick accent she couldn't pick out layered on it. When she met the eyes of the anonymous speaker, it was the young man from before.

Had he noticed what the drink was? She silently prayed he didn't.

"Russel, don't drink that shit." The man leaned over and grabbed the drink, pouring it across the bar. It spilled on Nyla's suede shoes and she practically jumped out of the way.

"Excuse me?" She scoffed, crossing her arms against her chest. She glared at him when their eyes met and he simply rolled his.

"If I'm not mistaken, you just gave my man Russel champagne from the bottom shelf... ouì?" He asked, and it suddenly became clear that his accent was one of the French type.

Nyla laughed lightly to herself, "Of course not. I would never unless it was asked for." She smiled the most innocent smile she could manage and he smirked at her, causing her expression to soften.

"Russel," the man tore away from Nyla's eyes and she released a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Let's go somewhere better." He said and the old man- Russel, nodded.

As they all stood up, Nyla added, "Hey! You'll pay for that, right?"

The man stopped and looked at her once again and she felt breathless. This young man was so intimidating that he had this dreadful effect on Nyla.

"Oh, I'm sure I will eventually, belle fille, qui que vous soyez." He winked at Nyla, and continued out the door. She sighed, listening in disappointment as the small bell above the door rang.

"What the hell did he even say? I'm gonna have to Google translate that shit." She sighed and walked over to Jaylina, who was shaking up a drink.

"Did you see that shit?" Nyla asked, pointing behind her from over her shoulder.

"Hell yeah I did, that was awkward, Nyla..  even for you." With a smirk, she finished the drink and Nyla scoffed, "Yeah, whatever."

"He was hot though." Jaylina winked at handed the drink to a woman at the bar.

"He was like, 60, that's nasty." Nyla scrunches her nose in disgust as Jaylina snorted, "No, dumbass, the hot guy with the tattooes."

"Oh, him? He was an ass, to be honest." Nyla rolled her eyes, placing her hands promptly on her hips. Assholes were the kinda guys she always ended up with, and the breakup never went smoothly.

"Oooh, sexy bad boy. I like him." She smirks, wiping her hands off on the skirt of her uniform.

"Ew, stop, please." Nyla put her hand out, "Anyway, I should get going. It's almost 12 in the morning and I need to finish some homework." She shrugged and crossed her arms against her chest. The girl barely got any sleep, but it was fit. She needed to make money and go to online school at the same time. It was a rough life to live but she knew it would soon be worth it.

"Okay, lawyer chick, I'll cover your shift." Jaylina smiled, leaning against the bar.

"Thank you, Jay!" Nyla hugged her and slid off her bowtie, "Love ya, goodnight!" She slipped under the gap in the bar as Jaylina yelled, "Love you too, loser! Have fun!"

And with that, Nyla was off to the locker room to change out of her stupid uniform.

"God, why does Marco have us dress like literal hookers." She complained to herself, tugging at the bottom of her thigh high skirt....

AUTHOR'S NOTE

~~~~~~~

Hey! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Greyhound- lots more to come, stay tuned!

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