First Day Jitters #2
Ari stayed in the booth playing on her phone while Dennis pretended not to eavesdrop on my training, until eventually Mateo arrived to play pool with him and Ari moved to the bar for a drink.
Surprisingly, none of them had teased or distracted me so far.
Maybe I was doing better than they’d expected.
“Looks like you have another customer.” Sean nodded toward the door. It was Benji. I briefly wondered how Sean knew that I knew him, but then I decided he must’ve seen us talking outside one day. “I’ll let you handle this on your own. Let me know if you need help.”
I nodded as he left to help Nate with the two remaining customers, one of them being Ari. Just as he’d predicted, Benji headed straight for me.
“Hey girly.” Benji sat in front of me.
“Hey manly.” I smiled. “I’ve never seen you inside before. This is new.”
“Because I never realized you work here.”
“I just started! It’s my first day.”
“Which means I have reason to come inside now.” Benji contemplated for a second before leaning forward. “I was wondering, would you like to go out sometime?”
“Like on a date?”
“Yeah, on a date.”
“Uh…” I glanced at the pool tables, my eyes reflexively going to Dennis.
“I get it. You’re taken.” Benji’s voice was glum.
“No,” I quickly turned back to him, “not at all.”
“It’s okay.” He slid from the stool and stood. “I’m not surprised. I should’ve known you’d get snatched up if I took too long.”
“I’m not,” I protested. But it was too late—he’d noticed, Sean had noticed, Ari had noticed. She was giggling loud enough to even catch Nate’s attention.
“Let me know if you ever free up, okay? I’d love a chance for a date with you.”
“…okay…” I watched as he left the bar. Well, that was embarrassing.
“So,” Dennis appeared, taking the abandoned seat, “what was that?”
“What was what?” I grimaced. Play dumb. That always solves everything.
“Why don’t you wanna go on a date with him?”
“No reason. I don’t feel like it.” I shrugged as Dennis smirked. “I gotta go. I think Sean needs me.”
“No, I don’t.” Sean and Ari were both watching us, him grinning while she positively beamed.
“I need to learn how to make an old fashioned.”
“No, you don’t. You made one a few minutes ago,” Sean said. Ari turned away to hide how hard she was laughing.
“I just said I don’t wanna go out with him ‘cause,” I hesitated, then stopped talking because I couldn’t think of anything.
“‘Cause why?” Dennis asked. “Enlighten us, because I could’ve sworn you looked at me when he asked.”
I stared at him, trying to think of a comeback, but my brain wouldn’t work fast enough. “Fuck you all. I’m going on another break.” I spun and walked away.
“You wanna go that way.” Nate pointed in the opposite direction of where I was headed.
I followed his instructions, spinning again to walk past all the people I was mad at. “Fuck you all. Not you, Nate. I’m going on another break,” I said it with more conviction since I was going the right way now.
Dennis laughed and slid off the stool to rejoin Mateo.
I briefly wondered if Mateo had heard too, but that question was answered when he glanced up from the girl he was flirting with.
Surprisingly, it was the same one as last time.
He caught my eye with a knowing smile. Great. He’d heard everything.
“Why are you still here?”
“Fuck you, I’m leaving!” I glared at Ari and went in back once and for all. I plopped on the couch, grateful to be away from everyone’s teasing. A few minutes of phone scrolling passed before the sound of footsteps came.
“Hey.”
I looked up as Nate walked in. “Hi. Are you on break, too?”
“Yeah. It’s dead, so I figured Sean can handle things for a while. How are you liking your first day?” He sat on the couch, leaving a decent amount of space between us.
“I like it. It’s been fun. Minus Ari teasing and Dennis being nosy. But aside from them, everything has been great. Sean’s a really good teacher.”
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but are you and Dennis…?” Nate’s question veered off.
“Are we what?”
“You know.” He paused as I shook my head. I didn’t know. I had no clue what he was trying to ask. “Dating. Are you guys together?”
“What? No.” My nose scrunched at the horrible question.
“I don’t date people. I mean, I do go on occasional dates, but only one per person and only if I’m getting something out of it.
I don’t actually date people. You know what I mean?
” He seemed confused. But before he could answer, I started screaming.
“What?” He bolted upright.
“Knife! Knife, I need a knife!” I leapt up, patting my pockets for a knife. I spotted one and snatched it up, then threw it across the room. I didn’t wait to see if it got the monster and sprinted for the door, where I smacked into Sean. He caught me in the doorway while I tried to squeeze past.
“What happened?” Dennis was beside him.
“You killed it,” Nate’s astonished voice came from behind me. “I don’t know how you did that, but it worked.”
“Spider?” Dennis guessed.
“I’m not going back in there. I need to leave the scene of the crime. That was terrifying.” I pushed past him and Sean to leave the room.
“That’s fine,” Sean said. “Your break’s over, anyway.”
“I almost fucking died!”
“You’re so dramatic.” Dennis chuckled as they followed.
“Was that you screaming?” Ari looked up from her phone as we approached.
“Yes. A spider tried to kill me.”
“Your arachnophobia is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Don’t judge me. I almost died.” I crossed my arms as Dennis laughed and hopped over the bar. “Did he come from way over there to check on me?” I asked Ari, watching as he rejoined Mateo at the furthest pool table.
“Yeah. He came out of nowhere. It scared the living shit out of me.”
“Huh.” I bit my lip as he took a shot. It smacked another ball and both went into the hole. He said something to Mateo before walking around the table to line up another shot.
“How are you doing?” An older man caught my attention, smiling as he sat down. My view of Dennis was blocked. “Is this your first day?”
“How’d you know?”
“I would’ve remembered a young lady as beautiful as yourself.”
“Aw, thank you,” I said. He wasn’t being creepy or hitting on me at all, just really friendly. He seemed sweet. A cute old grandpa.
“Of course. Are there any drinks you’ve been dying to make but haven’t had a chance to yet?”
I tilted my head, thinking through the day’s drinks. Meds-adjustment brain was making it difficult, but eventually one came to mind. “I haven’t made a tequila sunrise yet. Those always look fun to make.”
“Then get me one of those,” he said cheerfully.
“Coming right up.” I set to work on his drink, taking extra care to make it perfect since he was so sweet. Once it was finished, I placed it near his hands. “Hopefully it’s yummy.”
He stirred it and took a sip, then nodded. “Delicious. You’re a natural. So tell me,” his eyes crinkled as he smiled, “is one of those a wedding ring?”
I laughed and shook my head. “Nope. No wedding ring.” I glanced at the array of silver rings across my fingers. Oddly enough for his question, my only finger without one was the official ring finger. “I just love wearing rings. I’m never getting married.”
“That’s too bad,” he said. “Whoever got to marry you would be a lucky man.”
“You’re sweet. But I don’t like anyone enough to marry them.” My eyes accidentally strayed to Dennis again, who smiled at the pool table but didn’t look up. He shot perfectly, hitting three balls into the same hole.
“Is that your boyfriend?” The man asked.
“What? No.” I snapped out of it and stopped staring. “I don’t know him,” I stammered. Ari cackled from the man’s other side. “I mean, I know him. We’re friends. I like him a lot. But not like that! He’s fun… and yeah… I’m gonna stop… stop talking now.” I stopped as the man started laughing, too.
“I’ll take your word for it. But he’s a lucky man.” He picked up the tequila sunrise and pulled out a large bill, placing it in my hand. “You have a good night, okay? Keep the change.” He gave a friendly wink and walked away.
I groaned and dropped my head on the counter. Could this possibly get any worse?
“Hey, Vixen—”
“No.” I straightened up to see Dennis looking up from his game with Mateo, smirking that impossibly sexy smirk. “I’m leaving. I wanna go on my lunch now.” I turned to do just that, but Sean was already there, leaning against the bar in my way.
“Nope. No lunch today, we have a short shift. You can’t keep dipping out every time you accidentally profess your love for Dennis.”
Ari snorted with laughter at how flustered I was getting. “Is someone finally taming you?” she teased. “You’ve been so good since you moved here.”
“Has she?” Dennis arrived to sit beside her, his pool stick abandoned for a drink. “This is good?”
“Compared to her usual antics, yeah,” Ari said, adjusting her glasses. “This is the tamest she’s ever been.”
“Interesting,” Dennis said.
“What’s next, boss man?” I ignored him and faced Sean, hoping they’d both go away if we seemed busy. Mateo, too. He’d come to join and still had that knowing smile from before.
“We can practice for a while,” Sean said. “Is there anything you don’t know how to make?”
“No,” Ari answered for me.
“Uh,” I thought about it for a few seconds, “no. Not that I can think of.”
Sean grinned and crossed his arms, relaxing against the bar. “This is the easiest training I’ve ever done. Actually, what time is it? I think we’re off. I’ll let Richard know we’re heading out.”
“I’m here.” Richard emerged from the back as if on cue. “I heard you had a splendid first shift, Emy. It’s our bar’s tradition for the new hire to take a shot at the end of their first shift. Would you do the honors?” He smiled as I eagerly nodded.
“Emy, you shouldn’t drink,” Ari whispered. “I don’t think you’re back to normal yet.” She sighed when I waved off her concern.