Chapter 5 So You Had a Bad Day #2
Oh yeah, she hates me. Thanks a lot, Jamie.
“Great! Connor here is already an expert at pouring beers.” Meg winked at me. “Why don’t you show her while I go grab a few bottles from storage. When I get back, I’ll show you how to make basic cocktails for all you can drink.”
Sarah pursed her lips, her face red as hell, but she stayed quiet.
Meg rushed around the bar and out of sight.
Rubbing the back of my neck, I sighed. “Why don’t you come over here, and I’ll show you the ropes.”
She took her sweet time walking around the bar, and even when she was in front of the drafts, she kept a few feet between us.
Shaking my head, I picked up a glass and held it out to her, but she kept her eyes trained on the handles. The way she ignored me was something to behold. She almost had me believing I was invisible.
This isn’t how it’s supposed to go.
“Here,” I said, setting the glass on the bar next to her.
She jumped and let out a cute little squeak. Covering her heart with her hand, she glared at me. “Don’t sneak up on people!”
I pushed the glass closer and said, “I didn’t. You were spacing out in front of the taps, so I figured you wanted to give them a try.” She just looked at me, so I picked it up and held it out to her.
“Whatever,” she mumbled, taking the glass and turning to the taps. Pulling the handle, she filled the glass with eighty percent foam.
“Having a rough day?” I asked, gently taking the glass and pouring out her failed attempt. Placing the glass at an angle, I waited until her clear blue eyes were watching, then poured a beer with the appropriate amount of foam.
“Don’t,” she said, her gaze falling to the floor.
I set the beer down and turned to Sarah, utterly confused. “Don’t what? What am I missing?”
“You don’t have to make small talk. I’m embarrassed enough about last night.”
I frowned, wanting to ask her what she had to be embarrassed about.
Was she embarrassed of hooking up with me?
“About last night, I—”
She held up her hand and closed her eyes. “Seriously, let’s just focus on learning how to do this whole bartender thing.” When her eyes opened, she gave me a pitiful smile. “Hopefully by then, this hangover will be gone.”
“You’re hungover?” My frown deepened, and I dragged my teeth over my upper lip.
How drunk was she when she came all over my thigh and said yes to coming home with me?
She rubbed her temples. “Oh, yeah.” Pausing, she looked me over, almost as if she were checking me out. “I made some choices last night.”
Shaking my head, I picked up the beer and took a drink. I was pretty fucking confused. Sarah clearly hated me, but still stared like she wouldn’t mind fucking me. And why did it upset me that she hated me? We were strangers, but for some reason, I cared about what she thought about me.
Meg came back and, over the next few hours, trained us.
She was flirty, tactfully ignoring the awkward tension between Sarah and me.
For her part, Sarah was bubbly and chatty with the customers, but absolute shit at bartending.
I don’t know if it was because she was using all her cognitive ability to ignore my very existence or because she wasn’t much of a drinker, but I spent most of my night repouring beers and replacing messed-up drinks.
Occasionally, Sarah and I would reach for the same glass, our hands brushing, sending a jolt of awareness through me.
I’d mumble an apology, and then she’d go back to pretending I didn’t exist, while I covertly watched her heart-shaped ass as she bent down to get garnishes out of the fridge.
It was pathetic, but she didn’t notice, or maybe she didn’t care.
When my shift was finally over, I opened the door to the stairs leading to my apartment, drooling at the thought of the frozen pizza and bed waiting inside. I had one foot over the threshold when Meg yelled for me to wait.
“Hey! I just got cut.”
I let go of the door, not wanting her to misinterpret it as an invitation to come up. “Nice.” I shoved my hands in my pockets, waiting for her to say what she was after.
“So, would you walk me home? I wasn’t expecting to get off now, and Reggie isn’t off for another couple of hours. We usually walk together.”
Internally, I screamed no. I was exhausted and tired of dodging Meg’s interest. She was friendly and cute, but I wasn’t interested in starting something up with a coworker.
Unless that coworker is . . . never mind.
But then I thought about the dead body at the job site that morning and said, “Sure.”
A huge smile broke out on her face, and I politely returned it with a much smaller one.
“Where are we going?” I gestured toward campus, and she looped her arm through mine, her nails grazing my bicep, making my skin break out in goosebumps. With how ticklish I was, I fought the urge to jerk away, to put some distance between us.
As we passed the Welkum’s big window, I caught Sarah watching us.
Her expression was more sad than anything as some guy chatted her up from the other side of the bar.
For a split second, I considered going in there and acting as a human shield against the assholes who thought she owed them her time.
I lifted my hand in a subtle wave, and she returned the gesture before disappearing down the bar.
“This way. I live behind Bobson.” Meg dragged me along, oblivious to my discomfort, which was pretty on theme for the night.
I let out a breath, trying my damnedest to hide my annoyance. It would be another half hour, at least, before I was home and eating in bed. “Cut through campus?”
“Yep.”
We made it out of downtown with very little chatter. For a brief second, I thought she was finally picking up my general mood, but Meg proved not to be that observant.
“I’m so relieved you’re the new bartender. I was worried we’d get someone I didn’t click with, ya know?”
I nodded, not exactly sure how we’d clicked when she’d done all the talking and I’d been pretty monosyllabic. But maybe that’s what she looked for in a friend—a mute mannequin.
“So, what’s your major?”
A loud laugh fell from my mouth before I could stop it. The first personal question she asked me, and it was about my major.
Her face scrunched up, a confused smile still lingering. “What’s funny?”
Just thinking about another girl.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
“Okay?” Meg didn’t look any less confused, which made sense. I was being weird.
“I’m a business major with plans to get an MBA. What about you?”
“Painting.”
I glanced down, noticing the flecks of white paint on her dark jeans. “An artist, cool.”
Under the soft glow of the streetlamps, I could see her blush.
“Yeah. I’m hoping to create enough buzz that I can launch my own site and sell prints and stuff.
You know, become a brand. I have a pretty decent social media following, so it’s just a matter of growing my reach.
” Her words came out in an excited rush, but her gaze stayed on the sidewalk.
“I’m not going to pretend like I understand any of that, but it’s cool you have a goal you’re passionate about.”
She grinned at me, cuddling into my arm. Her cookie scent teased my stomach, and it growled, begging to be fed.
“I like talking to you.” She looked up at me from under her thick black lashes, and I knew we were about to blow right past the possibility of an easy friendship.
It was time to be blunt.
“Same. It’s nice when I meet cool people I can be friends with.”
She pulled away slowly, dropping my arm. “Friends.”
“Yeah. It might sound stupid to you, but I’ve spent the last seven years working so hard that I only have a handful of close friends.
Now that I’m starting school so late, new friends are worth their weight in gold.
” I watched her carefully, hoping she would accept my offer of friendship and not jeopardize our very new working relationship.
Meg kept her focus ahead of us, her dark eyebrows pulled together until she gave herself a little nod and smiled at me. “I’d be happy to be your friend, Connor.”
I beamed at her, genuinely happy she understood. “Great.”
She stopped in front of a house with all the lights on and a couch on the porch. “This is me. Thanks for walking me home. I hate walking in the dark alone.”
“No problem. Happy to do it. I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Yep, and prepare yourself. Tuesday is dollar Pbrs and karaoke night.”
I started walking backwards with my hands up. “Consider me warned. Have a good night.”
She waved, and I turned around to make the trek back to my apartment.
Cutting through the quad, I felt my new life set in.
I’d done it. I was in college. Not only that, but my brother was too. The McCormick boys were moving up in the world, and I was just five years away from making my dreams come true.
Students passed me, smiling and laughing, some even smiling at me.
I’d been on campus with my uncle’s construction crew doing renovations of the residence halls, but when you’re there on the job, it’s like the students don’t really see you.
I imagined that’s how it was for the staff and students who work jobs around campus—working separated you from the privilege of being a student.
But no more.
Walking past the Welkum, my joy dimmed.
Sarah.
Maybe I’d watched too many romcoms with my mom, but when I first saw her, I thought, “This is it.” I didn’t know what this was, only that she was something special.
I’d been so comfortable talking to her that I’d let myself act like I was living in my very own movie.
When she dragged me around the Barn, I knew I was a lucky son of a bitch.
But of course, Jamie had ruined what promised to be the best night of my life.
Okay, that was dramatic, but I couldn’t help how I felt.
Lying in bed that night, it wasn’t worries about my mom, or Jamie, or all the bills we had to pay that kept me awake. It was a pair of big blue eyes judging me and finding me wanting.