I hesitated a moment. I was the bartender, he was the bartended. Wasn’t he supposed to talk, and I listen? “I moved here a little while ago.”
“Oh, where from?”
“Uh—”Fuck don’t hesitate. “Comerva.” I spat out the only other town name I could remember, one I had heard an earlier customer drone about to Theo extensively.
“Conirva?” He raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
“Right.” I nodded my head. “Sorry, long shift.”
He raised his cup in a friendly “cheers to that” gesture. “What made you choose to move all the way over here? That’s quite the distance.” The front door chimed.
“I moved in with a friend,” I answered absent-mindedly, turning my head to the sound.
“That’s great. It’s nice to move somewhere with a place already lined up.” A large bubble in his forearm’s plasma popped just under his skin as he drummed his fingers on the stein.
“Muddy Roseus on the rocks.” The female Quadmos who had just entered called back to me, already dumping her coins on the counter loudly.
“You got it?” Cassius asked with a raised brow.
“Yeah, I got it,” I smiled politely. This was an easy one. “Thank you.”
“Hey, what’s your name?” He lifted slightly from his seat to ask as I turned to prepare the next order.
“Faeryn.”
“See you around, Faeryn.” He gulped down the last of his drink and excused himself as I got back to work. I was vaguely aware of a Lychan and Arielna discussing the “cute new guy”as he took his exit.
The industrial wall clock was approaching 38:00, signaling that any moment Graysen would be here to walk me home. Theo joined me again up front, helping me tend to the patrons who were nowsufficientlylost in their evening. He made it just in time for the first instance of poor conductamongst the crowd. I was in over my head addressing the drunk and disorderly, and very grateful when he passed me to settle the growing dispute between two men over an unbothered Arielna woman. I couldn’t hear what he said at their booth, but I noticed a strange mix of intensity and congeniality in Theo’s expression. After some words, one of the men stood up and excused himself from the building. The other received a firm pat on the back from Theo before he walked away, his expression falling dull once the patrons could no longer see his face.
The door flung open, the sound of its impact with the concrete wall muffling the tone of the bell. A female Thornian trotted forward and waved with a sharply toothed smile and clawed hand. She slid behind the bar and tied the apron she had come in with around her waist.
“Sorry I’m late, Theo,” she apologized in a squeaky voice, fumbling with the red ribbons behind her back.
“It’s okay, Stella,” he said, sliding a round of four drinks across the bar with each available hand. “We had it under control.”
Her face turned to me with a beaming smile and a winsome bounce of her shoulders. She took my hand in her claws. “I’m Stella, it’s nice to meet you.” Her fangs were too petite and pearly white to be intimidating. For a creature covered in spikes, horns, and talons, she seemed to be the most harmless individual I’d met so far. She had the style of an off-brand pinup, translated into the materials and patterns that were common in this world. Her dark bangs were rolled with the rest of her hair wrapped up in a bandana. Her black and yellow dress tied behind her neck and flared out at the bottom to reveal a pair of suede kitten heels. She donned bright red lipstick and had bold, black wings painted on the corners of her eyes.
“Faeryn.” I smiled back at her, momentarily considering how bumpy her claws were compared to Graysen’s.
“You’re good to go home now, Faeryn,” Theo stated. “You’ve had a long day. Good work.”
“Is it okay if I hang around until Graysen gets here? I don’t know my way home yet.” I was pretty sure I could follow the route if I tried—it was basically a straight shot—but I’d rather walk with Graysen.
“Of course, but you don’t have to work anymore. Have a rest on a stool so nobody bothers you.”
“Are you sure? I’m happy to keep helping.” With the energy of the room becoming increasingly chaotic, I felt guilty leaving them to fend for themselves. It occurred to me that although I had been working the “busy” shift, Stella had come in for the “high maintenance” one.
“Stella is my best bartender for the late-night crowd.” Theo looked at her with an approving grin. “We’ve got it. You rest up.”
Stella was already making rounds with the more impaired patrons. She got in their faces with a glowing smile and checked in on their needs, always providing a glass of water as she did. Nobody flirted with her the way they did me, and I couldn’t help but feel it was out of an earned respect. She had the air of a good nurse tending the sick and confused. Reflecting on how she and Theo both took to this so naturally, I wondered if Graysen was equally gifted. One thing was for sure—this was not my calling. But it was a job, and that would be enough for now.
A familiar hand wrapped over my shoulder, and I instinctively grabbed its warm fingers.Finally, Graysen is here. He gripped me with a comforting squeeze and leaned overmy curved back in a surprisingly intimate pose for a public appearance. Hell, for aworkappearance.
“Did you take good care of my girl?” he inquired to Theo over my shoulder.
My girl. The words were like a shock to my chest, stopping and restarting my heart with a sudden rapidness. I wanted to feel affronted. I wanted to walk outside with him and demand he consult me before assigning any type of dynamic to us in public. But why argue with him when down the line, I wanted a future where I could behis girl?
“She held her own just fine.” Theo gave a double thumbs up while his lower arms shook a drink. “We’re excited to have her on the team.” Stella flashed a cheerful gleam our way, as if to affirm her agreement with the sentiment.Is she ever not smiling?
