Deserve [H.S.]

Chapter 1

BEGINNING

As the group of men near him let out yet another boisterous round of laughs, Harry wondered why he was even there in the first place; just as he did every time he subjected himself to this dingy bar on the other side of town.

Why did he keep coming back here even though it was quite possibly one of the worst bars he had ever been to? The beer was shitty, the spirits were even shittier, the service was shitty (mostly due to the bartenders openly flirting with any woman that came close to the bar), and it always smelled like stale cigarettes and overwhelming body odor. Not to mention, the customers that frequented the bar were not the most pleasant citizens in the world. The majority of the patrons consisted of middle aged men who had nothing better to do on a Thursday night besides looking to get blind drunk and, if they were miraculously lucky, laid.

Harry tore his gaze from the rowdy men and looked back down at his nearly empty bottle of beer. He didn't even care what the brand was anymore, all the beer tasted shitty from this place. His rings clinked against the bottle as he swirled the liquid inside of it. He wore a lot of rings, as if that made up for his lackluster outfits.

Tonight, for example, was simply a pair of faded black jeans and a black hoodie that had some random design on the front. His hoodie strings were tied in a bow at the neckline and his feet were covered in black vans. Nothing too showy, easy to blend in to the crowd. That was his thought process when he got dressed everyday. Although his rings were show-y, he figured his bland clothing would detract enough attention away from him for them not to matter.

The truth was that Harry somewhat fit into the category of a frequent customer to the grimy bar. No, he was not a middle aged man. No, he did not go there to get blind drunk. No, he certainly did not go there to get laid. He only fit into the category because he also had nothing better to do on a Thursday night other than go to the bar.

Hell, he usually had nothing better to do on any night except Saturday nights. He worked on Saturday nights. All the other days of the week, he worked during the day time and had the night off to himself. He didn't necessarily have any friends to hang out with, so he filled his spare time coming to this far less than ideal bar. Harry supposed it was because he felt it was where he belonged. He felt that someone like him was meant to spend their time around other shitty people in a shitty bar in a shitty part of town.

He simply took another sip of his beer and let his eyes roam around the rest of the bar. It was small, but somehow packed for a Thursday night. The bar top had seating in a half rectangle shape, with the two edges being just long enough to have four bar stools along them and the main bar top long enough to fit about fifteen bar stools. The bar top spread across nearly the entire expanse of the building's wall, only just about leaving room for the four bar stools on either side. Harry was sitting on one of those four bar stools, practically in the corner of the bar. He always chose to sit there, as it gave him a good view of the rest of the patrons.

Harry liked to people-watch, in the least creepy sense of the action. His job required him to read a person's body language in order to determine what their next move was. People-watching at a dingy bar provided some sort of training for him. He'd watch the patrons, observe their body language, and try to accurately predict what emotion or action they were about to express. It was better than nothing, he supposed.

Tonight, however, although he wouldn't admit it, he was people-watching for a different reason. His eyes naturally flitted over to the petite, hypnotizing being across the bar.

On the other side of the room sat a woman, very small in stature, having a drink with her friends. She was no taller than five feet tall, and she was also wondering why she was at this shitty bar. Her best friend/roommate simply told her to get ready as soon as she walked in the door after a day at work. Because of the last minute plan, she didn't really put too much effort into her outfit and she felt as though it was obvious.