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Adam leaned back against the bar, checking his watch again only to find he still had forty-five minutes to wait. Normally Blue finished her bartending shift shortly after Adam got out of his late-night job stocking shelves at the grocery, but today her coworker had called in sick and Blue’s manager asked her to stay an hour later. By the time Adam found out it didn’t seem worth it to go ahead without her, so he’d settled into a stool at the end of the bar to wait.
“Incoming,” Blue’s voice came near his good ear, and when he looked back at her she inclined her head.
A guy was coming up on Adam’s bad side, and if he hadn’t turned his head, he would’ve been out of Adam’s peripheral vision too. Based on the way the guy stalked up to the bar and the scowl etched onto his face as he threw himself onto the stool next to Adam, he was glad he’d had the warning and hadn’t been caught off guard by this person.
The guy said something to Blue that made her glance at Adam, but he didn’t catch what was said. He scratched his ear and Blue gave the slightest shake of her head before she walked away, indicating that it wasn’t something he was meant to respond to. Still, he turned around on his stool to face the bar, effectively putting the newcomer on his good side.
Blue came back with a beer and a glass of coke, placing the latter in front of Adam. He stiffened and opened his mouth to remind her that he didn’t need any handouts, but she cut him off.
“Courtesy of your new friend,” she said with a smirk.
Adam glanced at the guy, who was now chewing on the leather bands at his wrist. “Uh, thanks,” he said, pitching his voice to be heard over the music.
The guy dropped his arm back to the bar and leaned in to respond. “I need a favour,” he said.
Now Adam was wary. He raised his eyebrows, prompting the stranger to elaborate.
“My shitty ex just got here,” he huffed near Adam’s ear. “I’m hoping he won’t notice me at all, but if he does he’ll be a thousand times worse if he sees that I’m alone.”
All at once Adam realized how much of the guy’s behaviour was a front. He was clearly anxious as fuck and trying not to show it.
“Okay,” he said slowly, still leaning in to be heard. “What’s your name?”
“Ronan,” the guy answered.
“I'm Adam, and behind the bar is my friend Blue,” Adam said, gesturing.
“Your friend who?”
“Blue.”
“That's not a —” Ronan broke off and cursed colourfully.
“Lynch!” someone called, far closer than Adam expected. He flinched and quickly glanced up to see if Ronan had caught it, but he was too busy glaring at the person who had walked up behind Adam.
Adam turned around. The man who'd spoken, Ronan's ex presumably, looked like a skeleton. His cheeks were hollowed, eyes bloodshot, and as they lit on Adam a manic grin came across that gaunt face. “This your new boy toy? He doesn't look like your type,” he sneered.
“What, you mean because I’m not a burnt out loser like you?” Adam retorted before Ronan could answer.
“Ha! A feisty one,” Ronan’s ex said. “What are you drinking? Next round’s on me.” And before Adam could protest he reached past him and snatched his coke off the bar, lifting it to his face to sniff at it. “What the fuck, man, is there even any booze in this? Who comes to a bar to hang out and not drink?”
He set the drink back on the bartop and Adam reached out to take it back, but Ronan was faster, reaching past him to move it away. “Don’t touch that,” Ronan warned. “Knowing K, it’s probably drugged.”
Adam stiffened. He had been watching “K”s hands the whole time, but he wasn’t going to take his chances that he’d missed something. Instead, he took the opportunity for what it was and signaled Blue over.
“What’s up?” Blue asked, clearly wondering why she’d been pulled away from paying customers when Adam and Ronan’s drinks were both far from empty.
Adam leaned over the bar, pitching his voice lower in hopes that K wouldn’t hear. “Can you get security over here?” he asked. “I think that guy tried to drug my drink.”
Instantly Blue’s eyes were filled with fury, but she knew as well as Adam that confronting the guy themselves would only mean letting him get away. Getting the bouncers involved would ensure K was barred from the establishment, so in this case, Adam was willing to let someone else fight his battle. Blue disappeared from behind the bar and reappeared a few minutes later on the other side of it, coming up behind K with one of the bouncers at her back. Adam glanced back at Ronan and saw his shoulders slump a bit with relief as the bouncer dragged his ex out.
Blue leaned in to Adam’s good ear to tell him, “Noah told me he could handle the rest of my shift alone so I could make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m fine,” Adam said, frowning. “I didn’t even drink any of the coke after he touched it, Ronan stopped me.”
“Well, I wanted to go home anyway,” Blue said. “Let’s get out of here.”
Adam didn’t want to leave Ronan alone now, but he couldn’t think of a good excuse to stay. He did the next best thing, turning away from Blue and back to Ronan again. “I think we’re gonna get out of here,” he said. “Can I walk you home? Just in case your ex is hanging around nearby.”
“I drove here,” Ronan said.
“Oh,” Adam said. It felt like a rejection. That was fine, he was glad Ronan had a way home. “Well, I guess we’ll—”
“But I could give you a ride home,” Ronan broke in. He coughed, and it was hard to tell in the low light of the bar but Adam thought he saw the tips of his ears go pink. “You and your girlfriend, I mean,” he amended.
Adam grinned. “Blue’s not my girlfriend,” he told Ronan, “but we’d love a ride home.”
Ronan left his beer unfinished on the bar and together they followed Blue out into the night. Once they were outside where the music wasn’t so loud, Adam made introductions. “Ronan, this is my friend Blue,” he said.
Ronan started to say something that sounded like “That’s not a real name” but Adam cut him off.
“Blue, this is Ronan. He’s giving us a ride home,” he told her.
Blue’s eyebrows shot up and she gave Adam a look , but all she said was, “Charmed.”
Ronan clicked his keys as they walked into the parking lot and an expensive BMW lit up. Adam suppressed a groan. Of course the cute guy from the bar who seemed into him would be way out of his league, he didn’t know why he had expected anything different. Still, he decided to indulge in pretending for a few more minutes that this could be his life. Ronan would see where he lived soon enough anyway, no need to shatter the illusion early.
They dropped Blue off first and then it was just the two of them. The car was quiet aside from Adam’s occasional instruction and the low electronica playing in the background.
“Thanks,” Ronan said after a few minutes, “for getting Kavinsky kicked out.”
“It’s no problem,” Adam said. “People like him need to realise there are consequences for their actions.”
“Yeah,” Ronan agreed. “I just got tired of bothering once I realized he would just pay off the owner of any place that barred him, and get let back in. But I appreciate the thought.”
“Not that place,” Adam told him, smiling to himself. “The owner is very proud, and stands by her principles. He won’t be getting back in there for at least a year, maybe ever. So,” he hedged, “if you’re looking for a place to hang out where he’s not around, you could come back.”
Too late, Adam remembered that he was supposed to be giving directions. “Shit, we just passed it,” he said. “Can you pull over here?”
Ronan was already making a U-turn though. Adam instructed him to turn into the parking lot of St. Agnes and Ronan laughed out loud. Adam scowled, he should have known better than to expect any other reaction. As he fumbled for his seatbelt, Ronan said, “You’ve gotta be kidding.”
“Fuck off,” Adam said, and Ronan’s gaze shot over to him as if he was surprised, as if this was an unreasonable reaction. “Not everyone gets to just be born with money, okay?”
“Shit, Adam, that’s not—” Ronan broke off. “That’s not what I was laughing about, man, I swear,” he said, eyes wide.
Adam paused, hand on the door handle. He found himself wanting to believe Ronan. “What, then?” he asked defensively.
“I go to church here,” Ronan said, chuckling again now. “I’m here every Sunday.”
“Oh,” Adam said. His hand fell back into his lap. “Every Sunday?” he asked.
“Haven’t missed one yet,” Ronan told him. Adam tried to wrap his head around this new information, and found it wasn’t as hard as he would have expected. Somehow this made sense.
“Well, if you wanted to come up and say hi afterwards tomorrow,” Adam said, “that would be nice.”
“Sure,” Ronan agreed.
Just before he turned to leave, Adam gave into his impulses. He leaned in and kissed Ronan on the cheek, and was rewarded with the sight of his ears going pink once again.
“See you tomorrow, then,” Adam said.
“Yeah,” Ronan said, somewhat dazedly. “Tomorrow.”