Chapter Text
Eliza was smitten by the new bartender, and her sisters takes every moment to tease her about it. In their own loving way, of course.
“Hey if you’re not gonna snatch him, I wouldn’t mind taking him for a spin,” Angelica jokes one night as she was helping Eliza with her hair. Eliza had answered by flicking some face powder in her face. “Mature,” she responds, the teasing smile never leaving her face. Peggy skips over, already made up and in her dress for the evening.
“Are we talking about Alex?” she asks cheerfully as she hops onto the counter. “No.” “Yes.” Her older sisters answer at the same time. “Yes, we are,” Angelica starts, “and about how Eliza doesn’t seem to wanna make a move on him,” she pokes Eliza gently on her cheek, “Even though she’s obviously, absolutely smitten by hiiim..” she teases in a sing-song voice.
“I’m not absolutely anything by him..” Eliza insists, despite the blush on her cheeks saying otherwise and her sisters looking entirely unconvinced. “And even if I was...it’s not like I can do anything about it. You know..because of dad’s rule?”
Peggy responds with an eyeroll, “Okay, the three of us know that rule is more of a strong preference than an iron-clad law…” she then shrugs, her voice cheeky, “And besides...the rule is technically the employees aren’t allowed to try and get in our pants..so there’s no rule about us not being able to make a move...see? Loophole that you’re free to abuse!” Peggy finishes her point with a bow, like she’d just given Eliza an amazing gift.
Eliza just rolls her eyes with a sigh. “It’s easy to think that way when you’re not the reason that rule was established in the first place…” She gets up from the makeup chair to check her reflection, trying to ignore her sisters’ concerned, sympathetic looks at the same time.
Angelica approaches her, sharing eye contact through the mirror, “Sweetie, what happened with James was not your fault, you should know that by now…” she says softly to her younger sister, “What he did was slimy and cruel, and he deserved to get his ass thrown out of here for it.” Eliza looks down, a little melancholy, but appreciative of the comforting hand of her sister’s resting on her shoulder. “All I’m saying, is that it’s been almost five years since then...don’t you think you deserve to move on and try again?”
Eliza just huffs out a small laugh as she looks at both her sisters, “And you think I should try again with the new bartender?” Angelica and Peggy just shrug, smiles on their faces. “Look, I appreciate what you guys are trying to do...kinda..but just because I think the new guy is, ahem, kinda cute..” she mutters out that part, “doesn’t mean that he in anyway has a mutual interest in me.” Peggy just lets out a snort. Ohhh if only her older sister had known the juicy gossip that John had shared with her only yesterday about his new co-bartender….
“Well, you’ll never know unless you talk to him..”
***
Eliza was sitting at one of the small tables in her classroom, doodling idly as her students took their afternoon nap. The quiet gives her a little time to think about what her sisters had told her...and about the new bartender at her father’s lounge. She couldn’t lie and say she wasn’t a little bit attracted to him...Alexander. He just has this certain air about him that she couldn’t help but feel drawn to. His dark eyes, always looking as though they’re full of fire and life in spite of the dark bags under his eyes. His tan skin, his long hair that she just wanted to run her fingers though, his cute goatee...and she could daydream for hours about his hands on her body, holding her, touching her..
She shakes the images out of her head. Not appropriate to think about with a room full of toddlers napping at her feet. She decides to return her focus to her doodling, only to flush bright pink when she realizes that she was doodling Alexander with small hearts around him.
“Ugh..get it together Schuyler,” she mutters to herself, running her fingers through her hair, “He’s your father’s employee, that automatically makes it a bad idea..” but even as she tries to talk herself out of her feelings, she can’t help but hear this small voice in the back of her head that sounds exactly like her little sister’s; telling her that she’s worrying too much, that she should take a chance, that how could she know it would end disastrously if she never even takes the time to really talk to the guy? Eliza just groans as she thumps her head on the table, trying to block out the voice. She couldn’t...she shouldn’t. How could she? After the mess that was her relationship with James, she had closed herself off to trying to form real relationships outside from the occasional hookup, and even those were few and far between. She just became afraid of getting hurt like that again, of becoming that vulnerable with another person again…
And yet...even though she had yet to really speak with him aside from the occasional “Hello” and “Goodbye,” Alexander seems to fill her with a certain warmth...a warmth that she hadn’t ever even felt when things were apparently going well with James.
The way his eyes seem to brighten when she came in for her performance days, how he always seems to pause what he was doing just to listen to her practice her set, how his cheers manage to carry over everyone else’s in the crowded audience as she was taking her bows...maybe she isn't ready for a real relationship just yet. However, that doesn't mean that there was any harm in at least getting to know him..
Eliza seems satisfied with her reasoning, her eyes glancing quickly to the clock. It is almost time to wake the students from their naps. Though from some of the soft chattering she could hear, quite a few of them had already taken liberty.
Alright then, focus on teaching now, and think about how to break the ice with Alex later.
***
Turns out the opportunity would present itself later on that evening. Between one of her student’s parents running a little late to pick them up, and the train having multiple delays, she was running incredibly late herself for warm ups with her sisters. She had pretty much thrown the doors of the lounge wide open as she bolted in, startling quite a few of the staff, who were in the process of getting things all set for opening that evening. She was running breathlessly past the bar when the voice that kept appearing in her daydreams spoke up.
“Wait, Eliza?!” Alex calls after her as she passed him, which made her stop quickly in her tracks. She turned to face him, and saw he was wearing a bit of a soft, amused smile on his face. “Hey..huff..Alex..” she gets out, completely out of breath from running all the way from the subway, “What’s up?” He huffs out a sympathetic sound before pointing at a spot on her cheek.
“I think you have..what is that..fingerpaint?” He squints his eyes to look at the smudge on her cheek. Eliza pulls up the mirror on her phone, and sure enough, there is a noticeable splotch of blue finger paint right there on her cheek. She feels her cheeks flush as she puts her phone away, only to look up in surprise as Alex holds out a slightly dampened cloth to her. “Oh, um, thank you..” she mumbles out shyly as she steps forward to take it from him. Their fingers brush slightly together as she pulls the cloth out of his hand, and she feels her heart give a pleasant thump at the brief contact between them. The two stand in an awkward silence for a moment as Eliza wipes the paint of her cheek. “So..” Alex pipes up after the extended silence, “I’m guessing it was finger painting day at school today?” Eliza responds with a small tilt of her head, “Oh, right, John told me that you were a preschool teacher...I don’t just happen to randomly /know/ that, cuz that’d be a little weird...kinda like how I must be coming off now..” Alex flushes slightly as his rant trails off, smiling sheepishly at Eliza.
But all Eliza can do is smile as she tries to keep her soft laughter at bay. She decides to throw him a bone. “Well, we do finger painting almost every day...this day just turned out to be a little messier..” She gestures to her cheek, “..than usual.” Alex seems to relax visibly as Eliza talks to him, his smile becoming a little assured. Eliza quickly realizes that the two are just standing there, smiling like dorks, and that she they must look ridiculous. She hands back the cloth as she notices quite a few bottles on the counter along with a shaker and cups. “Still practicing drink recipes?” she asks as she tries to determine what he’s trying to make. John had told them that Alex was picking up on the standard cocktails relatively well; classics like Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Margaritas and regular Martinis, but he was still struggling, to the frustration of some of their customers and Alex’s himself, with some of the more extravagant drinks.
Alex groans, answering her question. “I swear, drinking these mixes are sure as hell a lot easier than making them. A customer kept sending back their Sour Melon Skittle because it ‘tasted like overly sour crap’” He says in quotations, “And goddammit I am going to get it right so if they come back tonight, they can shove their complaints up their ass..” Alex then remembers who he’s talking to, and the blush returns on his cheek, “Sorry..that wasn’t exactly professional, was it?” Eliza, however, just looks like she’s trying to keep her laughter bitten back.
“Trust me, I understand,” she responds, leaning her arms on the counter, “When I was still in school, I’d work the bar part time, so I get how aggravating some of the customers can get.” She then grabs some of the bottles on the counter, the ones needed to make the drink he mentioned. She leans over the counter to grab a highball glass, fills it with ice, then proceeds to measure out what was needed then pouring them into the glass, gives it a stir and hands it to a rather awed looking Alex, “Try that.” He takes the drink from her hand and gives it a small sip, and his face lights up as he looks back at her. Eliza just gives him a small shrug, “It’s the sour raspberry liqueur you need to be careful with; too much and you end up looking like the kid on the warhead packaging.” Alex gives a sound of understanding as he gave the drink one more sip before setting it aside.
“Well if all your drinks are as good as that, then you must’ve been a big hit behind the bar.” Eliza just rolls her eyes, “Hey I’m serious, you make great drinks plus you’re absolutely gorgeous-” He stops right there. Bad, bad idea. “So, um, would you mind writing down how you make it? Just so I remember for the future?” Eliza gets out of her brief daze to respond.
“Oh! Yeah, sure..” she mutters out as she grabs one of the napkins and a pen. As she finishes writing down her recipe, she looks at the napkin for a moment, debating if she wanted to add anything else...She’s broken out of her daze when she hears Peggy calling for her from the stage, looking a little annoyed at her dallying, yet a little smile on her cheeks as she sees who she’s standing near. Deciding to take a chance, she jots down one more thing before sliding it back towards Alex. She makes her way back to the stage before she’s able to see him pick it up and read her extra note.
In case you’re interested in some more of my drink tutorials… with her number listed right next to it.
If she happens to hear a little whoop coming from the bar, well, she would take that as a positive sign that he’d be taking her up on that offer.