Page 3 of Wasted Memories
She let out a little shriek and kissed my cheek. “You’re the best friend a girl could ever ask for.”
I took a large gulp of my drink, finishing it off. “That’s what they keep telling me.”
“Watch my drink while I use the ladies’ room?”
I nodded as she got up to head for the restroom.
Playing with the stem of my empty glass, I set my elbow back on the bar, blowing out a long breath of air between my lips.
Feeling like I had eyes on me, I turned around to look for Jett. He was still playing pool, running his hand over his clean-shaven jaw, thinking hard about his next move.
I saw that their glasses were nearly empty so I asked Craig, the owner of D Bar and only bartender on shift right now, for another round of beers. Luke and Jett were too into their game to notice when I walked over with the drinks, but Brendt mouthed “thank you” from the opposite side of the pool table when he saw me setting them down. Giving him a small smile, I turned and walked back to the bar, ordering two more for me and Stella.
“You a waitress who drinks on the job?” A voice that reminded me of smooth, rich whisky asked from a few seats down.
I slowly looked up from my freshly poured beer, my hands cupping the bottom of my glass on the counter. Turning my head to my right, my eyes landed on the man who had no right looking the way he did.
“I’m sorry?” I asked, running my fingers along the cool glass of my beer.
“You’re drinking, but you just brought beers over to those guys,” he clarified.
I noticed he hadn’t ordered a drink yet, but I also realized the bartender hadn’t asked him for his order, either.
“I know them. And no, I don’t work here.” I went to turn back to my beer when he grunted.
“Sorry?” I asked again. I wasn’t sure who shit in his cheerios, but I wasn’t going to let him have some opinion of me when he had no idea who I was.
“Nothin’ to be sorry about, darling.” He waved down the bartender, who continued to wipe down the same glass he’d been cleaning for about five minutes now.
Not looking up from the glass, Craig said, “If you’re looking for a more touristy bar, go down a few blocks. Probably more your cup of tea.”
“Not a tourist.” The grunting not-so-cowboy man tossed a few dollars on the bar. “I’ll have a beer.”
Craig glanced up at him for a moment before turning his attention back on the glass he was still wiping down. “Sure look like a tourist. Ain’t never seen you around.”
“You’re right. I just moved here. I’d like a beer,” he repeated, sounding annoyed he had to ask again.
Craig moved to the tap handle, filling the glass in his hand with beer. Once it was full with more head than any beer I’d seen him pour before, he set it down a bit too hard so that some would slosh out in front of the man. I let out a quiet snort as Stella returned from the restroom.
“Did I miss anything?” she asked as she sat back down on the stool.
“Your new man sure knows how to make a first impression,” I mumbled.
“Baby!” I turned to see Jett grinning from ear to ear while Luke and Brendt rolled their eyes. “You won’t believe who won.”
Stella and I got up from the bar, taking our belongings with us. Their game of pool being over typically meant that we were either going to call it a night early, or drink a shit ton more and find our way home at some point in the night.
This was a pattern with the three of them. The game would be over and they’d be ready to leave, or they’d want to play five more rounds and end up shitfaced. It all depended on how long of a week they’d had.
“I’ll answer that for her. It sounds like Jett won, and now Luke and Brendt are butthurt,” Stella said, flipping her pin-straight blonde hair over her shoulder when she saw Brendt watching her. She loved teasing him, but that’s all it would ever be. She didn’t date brunettes, they were just eye candy to her. If Stella ever had a man on her arm, it was usually a tall, dirty blonde, which made me wonder why she’d never been into Luke. Though, she’d made a strict “no dating the boys” rule to herself after seeing how injudicious they could be after a few drinks.
“We would’ve had him, but Luke here is a bad shot after one and a half beers.” Brendt jokingly hit Luke in the forearm with the tip of his cue, grinning.
“I’m the bad shot? You missed every opportunity you had to smoke Jett’s ass.” Luke finished off what was left of his beer and checked the time on his phone. “I should get going anyway, got work in the morning.”
“Why would you work on a Saturday? You guys just got back this morning,” I asked, standing beside Stella with my jacket in my arms.
Jett put the cues back on the wall and came over to me, standing directly in front of me. The smell of alcohol filled my nose as he set his hands on my hips. “We’ve got a lot of jobs going at the moment. Construction never stops, you know?”
