Page 17 of Monster Mansion

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked with a sassy step back.

“It’s a compliment. Trust me,” he said with a straight face as he handed my license back to me. “Have a good night.”

“Thanks,” I responded as I politely slipped past him into the bar.

Despite the smokers congregating on the sidewalk out front, the entire inside felt like it was bogged down in smoke. The space was poorly lit, and the only sources of light came from the vintage stained glass pendant lights that were crookedly hung over each pool table and above the center of the u-shaped bar. My presence didn’t at all disturb the Friday night bustle, and it was obvious right away that this was likely the only spot withinseveralmiles to drink, shoot pool, and unwind after a long week.

Making my way to the bar felt like I was constantly cutting between people idling with nowhere else to go, and I made several apologies on my quest for a mixed drink. Finally, I broke free of the crowd and was dumped out right in front of the bar. I managed to sneak a spot against the wall that had been overlooked by the group of folks directly next to it. Before anyone could realize the mistake they’d made, I snatched the beat-up barstool, swung my purse around to my lap, and made myself comfortable.

Being a college student from a college town, I was familiar enough with bar etiquette, so I waited patiently as I watched the two people behind the bar seem to move in fast-forward to pour everyone a drink who had been there before me. It appeared my choices were one choice of each type of liquor and several options for domestic beer. Straightforward—just the way I liked them.

“Hey, hey, hey, sweetheart, what’s your fancy?” the bartender asked once I was next in the queue. When I got a closer look at him, I realized how handsome he really was. Truthfully, I hadn’t expected to see anybody I was so instantly attracted to, but I wasn’t at all mad about it. He wore a loose-fitting black tee and had a pine tree tattooed down one forearm. His face was boyishly handsome, and a mess of brown hair stuck out playfully under a beanie with the bar’s name embroidered across the front.

“Hi,” I said with my best flirtatious smile as I corrected my posture to show off my figure. “I would love a tequila and soda with an extra lime.”

“Tequila, eh?” he asked with a sideways smile. “I love a girl who drinks tequila.”

He made my drink right in front of me since I happened to be sitting right in front of the bar’s second ice-well, and we made the standard bartender-patron small talk. I quickly learned Tallpine was his hometown, and he also went to school out of state. We both happened to be in journalism programs, and his name was Jake. It was obvious that the immediate attraction was mutual, and I was loving every second of it. I hoped in some weird BFF sort of way that Blair could tell that I was scoring big-time before I could find a moment to text her.

After he slid my drink in front of me, he followed it up by pouring two extra shots.

He raised one of the shot glasses, and I matched his motion. “May our coffins be made of one-hundred-year-old oak, and may we plant the trees tomorrow.” We toasted and swallowed, and I did my best to hide the burn. Jake bit down on a slice of lime and offered me one as well before quickly shaking his head and turning to me. “Holler if you need anything else, sweets. I’m Jake and I’llpersonallymake sure you’re taken care of.”

He was flirting. Hard. I smiled and nodded and watched him with hungry eyes for a moment as he went about his job and helped his coworker take care of the building line of people. My phone lit up in my lap and caught my attention.

hows ur night?meet a cute boy yet?Blair texted. Maybe I was right about the unspoken BFF telepathy.

maybe yes maybe no,I shot back. Being coy came naturally to me, but I knew Blair would see straight through it.

omggg i knew u would. be safe!!! txt me when u get home.

The best part about Blair was that even though she was a spoiled party girl on the surface, she was genuinely one of the most caring people I’d ever met. If I didn’t text her when I got home, she was the type of friend who would stay up and wait to confirm my safety and blow up my phone with a thousand texts and phone calls if she thought it had been too long since she’d heard from me. I’d been on the receiving end of her concern on more than one occasion and now had a built-in habit: when I went home after a night out, I would text Blair the second I walked in the door. It had been ingrained in my DNA to do so.

I continued to sip on tequila throughout the night, matched with a glass of water to keep my wits about me. As much as I wanted to let loose and have fun, I also had to make sure both me and the Volkswagen made it back to the mansion in one piece, so tequila-sodaanda glass of water it was. Jake made many excuses to come talk to me between patrons, and his efforts were beyond endearing. He even brought me a small plate of french fries from the kitchen free of charge because he said, “the fresh ones were the best.”

“Guess who has two thumbs and is allowed to clock out early?” Jake asked just after midnight. The place had died down exponentially as the older crowd vacated the premises, and the younger crowd was fewer and further between.

“This guy,” he finished, pointing at himself with both thumbs. “I’ve just got to finish up some side work and closing stuff, then I can get out of here.” I didn’t care how dumb the joke was. At that moment, I was a sucker for bad jokes.

“Oh, yeah?” I asked as I tucked a length of black hair behind my ear. “Any big plans after this?”

“Well, that depends,” he mused as he polished a stack of glasses without taking his eyes off me. “There’s this girl. Her name’s Logan. She’s got long black hair, great taste in music, and the face of an angel. I just don’t know how to properly ask if she’d wanna hang out.”

He was smooth, I had to admit. I wasn’t used to being hit on soobviously, so I decided to play along with the bit.

“Hold on,” I said as I raised my hand in a “wait a minute” gesture. “Let me ask her.” Unsure what to do next, I spun my seat around one time until I was facing Jake once again and leaned over to him with my elbows on the bar. “Well, she said she doesn’t have any plans after this, so you’re totally welcome to inquire.”

Jake chuckled at my participation, and I hoped I was doing enough to charm him the same way he had successfully charmed me. The rest of the bar had begun to settle down, and I was happy we no longer had to yell over the other patrons to hear one another.

“In that case,” he started, “you wanna find something else to get into after this? We can hang around here too, if you want. There’s not much else in the way of nightlife, but I don’t want you to feel like youhaveto come back to my place.”

“I don’t feel like Ihaveto come back to your place,” I said as I crossed my arms and batted my eyelashes. “You can come back to mine. I’ve got plenty of space.”

“Oh, yeah!” Jake said with a snap of his fingers. “I forgot you mentioned you’re house-sitting for the month. Where do they have you holed up?”

Here was the moment of truth I was concerned about. We had been getting along so well. It really would be a shame to toss it out the window the moment I mentioned that I was the girl they had babysitting the Missing People and Maybe Monsters Manor.

“Oh, I’m maybe ten minutes up the road in this gorgeous old mansion set back in the woods,” I said, deciding it was better to play dumb to the mansion’s reputation than immediately go in defensively.

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