Page 5 of Rebound With Me
“It’s called an Adios Motherfucker.”
My hand immediately goes to my mouth to cover up an explosive laugh.
He raises his glass. “Bottoms up.”
“Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.” I clink glasses with him and take a sip from the two slim black straws. For a blue drink with at least six forms of alcohol in it, it tastes pretty innocuous. He watches me the whole time, removing the straws from his glass and drinking directly from it.
“Not bad, right?”
“Wow. Not too girly, not too fruity. Just the right amount of edge. Well done.”
“I aim to please.”
“I’ll bet you do.”Did I just say that out loud?!
He licks his lips and places his glass down on the table, resting his elbow on the edge and leaning languidly into it as he shifts his body towards mine. “I bet you do too.”
“Hah. Couple more of these and I might.”
“Oh I think one of these will be quite enough. Take your time. Enjoy it.”
“I will.” My lips find the tips of the straws again and I take my time and enjoy it while he studies me. Suddenly, I’m feeling self-conscious. I clear my throat. “So you used to work here?”
“Yeah. Few years back. Like, six years ago now, actually, when it first opened.”
“You a bartender somewhere else now?”
“Naw, I just worked here and some catering jobs. It was fun, but not really my calling.”
“What is your calling?”
He takes another sip of his Adios Motherfucker then drags his thumb back and forth under his lip. “Well, I guess you could say I’ve had a lot of callings. I was a bucket drummer, when I was still in high school.”
“No way.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Like in the subway?”
“Sometimes, sometimes around Union Square, occasionally Times Square, but street performers can be pretty territorial.”
“How’d you get into bucket drumming?”
“I knew a guy who was doing it and it looked cool. He showed me how it was done. We made a shit ton of money, you’d be surprised.”
I would not be surprised. If I saw him banging on anything I would drop all my cash in a jar in front of him.
“I was a handyman for a while, a house painter, a property manager, a DJ.”
“Like at parties?”
“Yeah, parties, raves. Then I became a salesman.”
Oh God, I bet he was a good salesman. “What did you sell?”
“Well first, I knew a guy who made a lot of money selling women’s shoes at Barneys.”
My jaw drops. “You sold women’s shoes at Barneys.”
