“No worries,” I said. My response was so sharp that I could taste the bitterness in my voice.
“Well, good,” he replied, softly. His eyes narrowed and softened as if he wanted to say something other than the actual words coming out of his mouth, but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “I’ll have a Shiner Bock. I have to be at work in fifteen minutes. There is a big tip involved if it arrives in less than a minute.”
I rolled my eyes after I turned my back to him. Drinking right before he leaves to go to work. Real nice, I thought to myself.
His beer arrived in less than a minute as requested. “Here you go. That’ll be six dollars.” My demeanor was strictly business-like, short and to the point.
He handed me a fifty-dollar bill. “Keep the change,” he purred into my ear, causing my knees to collapse a little.
The flood of butterflies swarming through my hips forced me to stumble, almost dropping my tray of drinks. He caught the tray without allowing a single drop to be wasted and steadied me simultaneously. Embarrassed, I quickly thanked him and scurried away, not looking back.
I nervously served the drinks I had on hand and disappeared into the ladies’ room. I couldn’t face him. I was so humiliated. Thoughts flooded my head, reliving the mortifying interaction. Looking in the mirror, I noticed my face was the color of a beetroot.
“How embarrassing. How could I have been so obvious,” I murmured to myself. Luckily, I was alone so no one heard my mental anguish. I patted my face with a cool, wet towel and touched up my makeup to cool down the redness of my cheeks. I looked like a clown in the cheek areas, but luckily enough, most patrons would be so drunk they wouldn’t notice. Plus, due to the dimness of the interior lights, details on my face would be harder to notice. “I’m good,” I said back to the reflection in the mirror.
“Are you okay?” Myra asked from the threshold.
“I’m fine.”
“I saw the guy is back. Do you want me to handle it?”
“No. He’s okay. No weirdness so far.”
“Okay. I’m going back to my tables so I’ll see you out there soon.”
After I finished in the powder room, I went back to check on Mr. Extremely Well Tipper. He was gone. I cleared off his table for the next group. The night was so busy it didn’t take but a few seconds to fill the empty tables as they became available.
I ran my collections of orders to Brad. “I need four pitchers, three Jack and Cokes, a spritzer, six flaming Dr. Peppers and five Buds.” I placed them on my tray as he handed me each drink.
Walking away, I noticed a new person with his back turned to me at the dish sink. Even from behind, he felt familiar. I felt an internal pull toward him. He was buff, tight. His ass was the most sublime ass in the perfect jeans making it look as if his jeans were airbrushed onto his incredibly, flawless body. I liked what I saw. I liked it a lot. Not that I would act on it. I didn’t date customers, and I most definitely refused to date co-workers. In this tiny town, that rules everyone out. I frowned at my thoughts. “Hey, who is that? The new bar back?”
“You guessed right,” Brad said.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll see you in a few minutes with my next round.” I turned around, heading toward the floor to deliver the orders.
“Hey, Ves,” Brad hollered, I stopped and turned to face him to see that he seemed uncomfortable, yet he was giggling, like a nervous giggle. “I don’t say this often. And I’ve never said it to you because you never give me a reason…” Brad paused and did a really horrible job of not laughing.
I looked at him. “What?” I was confused by his words, the smirk on his face, and the apparent giggling.
“Put your panties back on,” he said as the giggling led into booming laughter.
I gave him a playful eye, but I was embarrassed that my monstrous fascination for this stranger was so obvious. I felt my face go pale; my cheeks flush beet red again. I scampered off, too embarrassed to even try at a reply. Delivering the round of drinks on my tray, I grabbed more orders. I noticed the new employee bent over, clearing off a few of my tables. A night that busy, I was glad to have an extra bar back. I was more than glad, in fact. I was grateful to see some extra help around there. Joe was helping everyone out too. I don’t think we had ever been that busy.
“Oh, excuse me,” I said apologetically. I had accidentally bumped into the bar back, who was cleaning off the table behind me. The place was so packed with patrons, staff and furniture. I had a hard time not bumping into someone or something.
“No problem.”
I stopped. That voice. That seductive, deep voice was somehow too intimate. I turned around to see his face.
“Ves.” He had a satisfied, divine smile spread across his to-die-for face.
I gazed fixedly into his eyes with shock. I was not as pleased as he seemed to be. “You,” I managed to say much louder and more angrily than I was going for. Although I was going for loud and angry, I didn’t mean to come off that loud and angry. A few heads within hearing proximity turned to us. I didn’t care. I continued to yell. “It’s you. This was the work you had to be at in fifteen minutes!” I was surprised and livid at the same time.
I really did not expect him to degrade himself so much. He seemed like the
