Summer Bender

by Jennifer Lucia

  “Hey girl,” Hannah said breathlessly from behind me. “Sorry I’m late, I got caught up watching this super gross video online of a pimple popping. There was so much pus, and an ungodly amount of blood.” She gave me a quick hug as I grimaced, looking down at my drink and setting it aside, no longer very interested in my pulpy tomato drink. “Ooh, that makes me want a sunny-side up egg with toast.”

  “You’re ridiculous,” I half-laughed, half-groaned as she grinned. Our hostess told us our table was ready, and we walked to the adjacent sun room.

  We sat at our table and ordered mimosas. As soon as the server left to grab our drinks, Hannah leaned forward and said, “Okay, spill. So what was Mr. Hard-Ass like outside of work? Did he demand that you drop and give him twenty push-ups for slacking off at the beach or something?”

  I rolled my eyes. “He acted like a regular person who has just run into a new employee that he met yesterday. A bit reserved, but polite. We don’t really know each other, obviously.” I thought about last night when I’d gotten to know him really well in my fantasies, and I felt a blush creep on. This didn’t escape Hannah’s notice.

  “Oh my god, you slut!” she hissed, lowering her voice as our server dropped off our drinks and asked if we needed more time to look over the menu. Hannah ordered eggs and toast, and I got French toast. As soon as the server was out of earshot, Hannah said, “Spill!”

  “What on Earth are you talking about?” I asked innocently.

  “Oh please. Don’t act like I don't know what it means when you blush like that. I’ve been your best friend for seven years, I know exactly what you look like when you’re involved with someone- or at least interested in them. Plus, you were way too excited about seeing him run shirtless today.”

  Damn. She had a point. “We only met yesterday. That’s not enough time to gauge whether I even like a person, let alone whether or not I’m romantically interested in them.”

  She rolled her eyes so far back I was shocked they didn’t get stuck in the back of her head. “Well, in any case, Logan was most definitely checking you out last night. I know the look a man gets when he’s interested in a woman.”

  “Yeah, that’s because that look is always directed at you,” I said.

  Hannah shrugged. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I notice when a man is giving that look to someone. You need to have more confidence in yourself, doofus. You’re gorgeous. Men check you out all the time, but you’re too far into your own head and insecurities to notice.”

  I stared at her blankly. “You’re joking, right?”

  Hannah looked at me in disbelief. “You’re deluded. And I won’t let you sit here and call yourself a plain Jane when you’re really beautiful.” My eyes welled up with tears at her earnestness.

  Our food arrived just then, interrupting what was sure to end with “I love you, you’re beautiful” and “No, I love you, you’re beautiful!” and lots of tipsy hugging and possibly inconsolable tears. Yeah, this has happened to us before, and I’d prefer to be able to keep going to Zag’s for brunch without the side-eyed judgment of the staff.

  “Let’s just eat, stop talking about whether or not our brand new boss is interested in me,” I said, shoveling French toast into my mouth. Hannah opened her mouth to protest, but I shook my head and raised my glass. “Cheers!”

  Hannah sighed and halfheartedly said, “Cheers.” I knew Hannah though, and once she got an idea into her head, she ran with it. This definitely wasn’t the last I was going to hear about this.

  CHAPTER THREE

  I spent all morning Sunday vegging out with Luke and watching television on the couch, eating too many cookies and drinking too much coffee. I wasn’t completely unproductive-I did carve out a half hour to brainstorm a little bit for my book, and put some great ideas to paper. I was pretty proud of that, even if it seemed small.

  By the time my shift came around Sunday night, I was pretty relaxed, feeling accomplished, and just generally in a good mood. I was also secretly hoping that a certain hot boss would stop in to the bar so I could ogle him. Nothing creepy about that.

  I was disappointed when I got to work and the only other person there was Linda, who left as soon as I got there. Since Sunday nights were always pretty slow, I was the only bartender scheduled to work that night. After two hours, I had one customer sitting at the bar, the only one I’d had all night. I’d never seen this guy in here before- he most likely wasn’t a local. He was short and squat, with sandy hair and black eyes, and he had a Bluetooth earpiece attached to his ear. He had looked like a businessman.

  “How’s your beer?” I ventured, bored enough to try to start a conversation.

  He looked up from his cell phone. “It’s great, thanks.”

  I gave him a small smile to encourage him to speak more. He bit. “So, what’s your name?”

  “I’m Jamie, you?” I extended my hand over the bar and he shook it briskly.

  “John. I’m here for the weekend on business from Cincinnati.” Nailed it.

  “Must be nice business if it means you get to do it at a beach,” I teased. He nodded and smiled. I nodded back, not sure of what to say. John was the next one to speak.

  “So, Jamie, what do you really want to do when you grow up?” he asked. He pointed at his beer casually to indicate he wanted another one.

  I cringed as I turned to the beer tap. I hated when people asked me this. It was always said with good intentions, but it inevitably wound up sounding patronizing and elitist. What do you really want to do once you’ve decided to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and quit being be a servant?

  I leaned over the bar, placing his beer in front of him. “When I grow up? I’m 26, I’d say that I’m pretty grown.”

  He waved his hands playfully. “Oh, you know what I mean. When you get a real job, what do you want to do?”

  I tilted my head quizzically, pretending not to know what he meant. “I have a real job, one that pays real bills and buys me real food and clothing.”

  That patronizing smile was still plastered on his face. “You don’t have any goals, or aspirations? Nothing you want to do with your life? I just hate to see a young person waste their potential.”

  I felt the blood rushing in my ears, and I was seeing red now. “Listen. I do want to do something with my life other than be a bartender, but this is just where I’m at right now, and complete strangers have no right to sit here and judge how I make a living. Plenty of people make their living tending bar, and there is nothing wrong with that.” I leaned over the bar to poke my finger into his chest.

  “Look, mister. I don’t think you realize this with your head so far up your ass, but it’s incredibly rude and condescending for you to come into my place of work and make me feel like crap about what I do, you supercilious prick.”

  “Nothing?” he prompted.

  I snapped back to reality and pasted a sweet smile on my face, hoping my fury wasn’t shining through quite so obviously. “Oh, you know. This or that. I’m still figuring out what I want to do.”

  “That’s a shame, sweetheart.” He smiled kindly at me as I turned my back to him and headed to the other end of the bar to cool off.

  “That was painful to watch,” came a voice from the corner, making me jump. I turned to see Logan standing by the service well. He was looking over at John and frowning.

  I exhaled loudly and shrugged my shoulders. Of course my new boss had caught that interaction. I didn’t say anything, hoping he wouldn’t press the issue.

  Logan looked at me contemplatively, searching my face. “You showed a lot of restraint there. That was impressive.”

  I raised my eyebrows, pleased with the praise. “Well, that’s the job. I’m pretty skilled at hiding my emotions. If I had told that guy how I really feel, I might not even have a job anymore.”

  Logan tilted his head in acknowledgment. “Yeah, you’re right.” He pursed his lips. “Like I said, you showed restraint, but you were still too snarky. Try to rein
that in when things like that happen in the future.” My face fell, my smile dashed. Logan continued on, oblivious to my disappointment. “But you shouldn’t feel bad that you’re ‘just’ a bartender. That was crappy of that guy to keep pushing you.”

  I shrugged again, trying for indifference. “That’s the thing. I’m not ‘just’ a bartender, which, by the way, is completely offensive, and there wouldn’t be anything wrong with it if I were ‘just’ a bartender.” I winced at how harsh my words came out, but didn’t back down.

  Logan raised his hands defensively. “I know, I know. I’m a bar owner, remember? I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing this for a living.”

  “I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bite your head off. My anger is really aimed at that guy. It’s not like I can actually say it to him,” I said, gesturing towards John, who was now chatting away on his Bluetooth earpiece, unaware of the ire he’d raised in me. Logan nodded knowingly.

  “I have a degree,” I blurted out. I wasn’t sure why I felt the need to make Logan understand, but I wanted him to be impressed by me. “In English Lit. I’m a writer.”

  “Wow, that’s impressive. Have I read any of your work?” Logan asked.

  I laughed softly. “I doubt it. I haven’t written anything yet.”

  “Oh,” Logan said. “Well, you’ll get there.” He patted my hand kindly. I ignored the condescension of this gesture.

  “Uh, thanks,” I said. A thrill shot through me at physical contact from Logan Mays, but I didn’t want to feel thrilled when he was condescending to me. I withdrew my hand, rubbing it gently. “Let’s drop this subject, I’m getting bummed out. So what are you doing here tonight? I thought you weren’t coming in until tomorrow night.”

  “Well, I thought I'd drop in since I wasn’t really doing anything at my hotel,” Logan said, looking around the bar. “I need to get a head start on organizing things in the back office. Have you been in there? That office looks like a nuclear wasteland.” He shook his head sadly as I laughed.

  “Yeah, organization isn’t exactly Joe’s strong point. He’s a bit of a pack rat, and not a very neat one at that.”

  Logan chuckled. He started towards the back office, then stopped.

  “Oh, hey. My best friend Dylan might be dropping in tonight to check the place out. Come grab me if he shows up.” Oh, I’d like to grab you, alright. “Okay?”

  I nodded, hoping the lust on my face wasn’t too blatant. Logan disappeared around the corner, heading towards the disaster area that was the bar office. I turned back towards Business John, who was making a “check” signal in the air with his fingers. I cashed him out, then settled in against the cooler, waiting for someone to walk through the door and keep me company.

  An hour and no customers later, I was thoroughly bored. My boredom was broken when Hannah breezed through the door with her briefcase and a big grin in tow. “I’m here to drink whiskey, grade papers, and hang out with you. I got bored doing this at home alone and sober.” She winked at me. I frowned slightly.

  “Aren’t you going to lose some subjectivity by getting tipsy and grading papers?” I asked, concerned for her middle school students’ grades.

  “Nah,” she said. “These are true or false video quizzes. I made them watch a video about the animal kingdom and write true or false for the statements. Besides, I cheated a little by making every statement false except for the last question.”

  I stared at her in amazement, chuckling. “You are evil.”

  “Yeah, but it makes sure they’re paying attention to the video while I’m doing other work. Get me a shot of whiskey and a beer, please- you know what I like,” Hannah said, settling in at the very end of the bar, as far away from any potential customers as possible. I rolled my eyes and grabbed her drinks, then sat down on the cooler across from her.

  “You know, you roll your eyes way too much. It’s unbecoming in a lady,” Hannah said in a posh British accent. I stuck my tongue out in response and rolled my eyes to the back of my head. She laughed.

  “Need help?” I asked, desperately bored enough that even grading papers sounded appealing right now.

  “Sure,” she said, sliding half the stack towards me and handing me a pen. “Just remember, only the last answer is true, everything else should be false.”

  We sat in silence grading papers, and only looked up when the front door swung open. A tall guy wearing black rimmed glasses and a short-sleeved button-down sidled up to the other end of the bar, looking around for a bartender. I groaned and pushed up off the edge of the bar, irrationally annoyed at having to do actual work.

  “How’s it going?” I greeted the newcomer.

  “Hey, going well,” he replied with an easy smile. “I’m actually looking for my friend who just bought this place, Logan. He told me he’d be here tonight.”

  Ah, so this was Dylan. I examined him more closely. He was pretty good-looking, in a nerdy kind of way. Behind those black-rimmed glasses were chocolate brown eyes, framed by long dark lashes. His blond hair was longish on top and shorter at the sides, though he needed a trim. His smile came with a pair of killer dimples.

  I glanced over at Hannah, who was looking back over at us with obvious interest. Dylan followed my eyes over to Hannah. His smile froze and his eyes widened slightly. I rolled my eyes. I’d witnessed this reaction to Hannah many times.

  “Yeah, I’ll go get him.”

  Dylan nodded, his gaze still firmly attached to my beautiful friend at the end of the bar, who was currently licking the lip of her beer bottle suggestively. He gulped, she smirked, and I could’ve sworn my eyes were going to get stuck behind my brain.

  “Why don’t you go down there and say hi? She doesn’t bite.” Dylan jerked his gaze back to me and his glasses slid down his nose.

  “No! No. I’ll be fine here. Just tell Logan I’m here to say hello, please,” he mumbled.

  That’s too bad. Dylan may be good-looking, but Hannah would never go for a guy who didn’t even have the confidence to say hello to her. I dismissed the idea of setting them up as I walked down the hallway and knocked on the office door.

  “Come in,” came Logan’s muffled voice.

  I peered around the door. Logan was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the office, surrounded by files with labels dating back to the mid-nineties. I quirked an eyebrow at his exasperated expression and tried hard not to laugh.

  “This is never going to get done,” he said forlornly. “It’s unbelievable that Joe kept this place afloat for so long with no sort of financial organization.”

  I nodded my head sympathetically. I didn’t envy all the paperwork that Logan was in for, but it wasn’t like I was going to volunteer to help either. I’m not a masochist. “Um, your friend Dylan is here. He’s waiting for you at the bar.”

  Logan nodded and stood, papers falling off his lap and scattering. He waved his arm at them dismissively. “I’ll get that later. Let’s go,” he said. I reached for the door handle, and felt his hand on my lower back as he ushered me out of the cramped office. I tried to ignore the shiver of pleasure his touch sent through me, but before I could stop it, I let out a soft “oh.”

  Logan pulled his hand back as if burned. I looked back at him over my shoulder, and my cheeks reddened. His mouth was set in a thin line, and his hands were now firmly at his sides. I bit my bottom lip and grabbed the door handle, walking back to the bar briskly and giving us some space.

  It’s hard not to bump into people in that office, I rationalized. Totally unintentional, he didn’t do that to turn you on. Although he had done so, in a major way. The spot on my back where he’d touched me was tingling as if burned. I rubbed it gently, then glanced over at Logan to see if he’d seen that. Judging by the way he looked away quickly, he had. I made a beeline for Hannah, who was still grading quizzes at the end of the bar while sipping a beer. She glanced up, took one look at my face, and her eyes bugged out with curiosity.

  “Why are your cheeks so
red?” she whispered, lowering her voice so Logan and Dylan couldn’t hear. “Oh my god. Tell me you didn’t just hook up with the boss in the back office. You were gone for a while.”

  “No!” I said, forcefully enough that both Logan and Dylan looked over at us. I smiled weakly, waved, and they turned back to each other. “No, nothing like that. I just went to tell him his friend is here, and as we were leaving, he touched my back.”

  Hannah’s face fell. “He touched your back,” she said flatly. “That’s it?”

  I looked at her as if she were crazy. “Yeah, what were you expecting, for us to bang up against the desk in the middle of the workday when we’ve known each other for one day?”

  “I mean, it’s not like that’s unheard of at the Virginia Beach oceanfront. Male bartenders do it all the time with tourists,” she said dismissively. “Why not you? Fly that freak flag, girl!”

  “You’re insane, you know that?” I hissed, shushing her. “One, the subject in question is currently standing fifteen feet from us. Two, he is our boss and I’m not some random tourist. Three, you know how I feel about jumping right into relationships.”

  “Who said anything about relationships?” Hannah asked with a shrug.

  “Even if I were into that, which I’m not,”- I ignored Hannah’s eye roll- “you are being entirely too dismissive of him being our boss, and the tiny detail of Logan not being at all interested in me. Not to mention my self-imposed sex sabbatical.”

  “Jamie, you need to start seeing people again. I think it’s time,” Hannah said. Seeing my dark expression, she changed the subject. “Speaking of sex, tell me more about that guy down at the end. He’s hot! What’s his name?”

  “That is Logan’s friend Dylan. He is cute, but he seems shy. Probably not your type.”

  “Male is my type,” Hannah said flatly. I laughed. She was right.