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Like most Saturday nights, I was behind the bar, serving drinks to late night customers and counting down the minutes until my shift was over. I looked at the clock and sighed, still another sixty-five to go. Tonight’s crowd was rowdier than usual. A bunch of people had just walked in talking loudly, from the looks of it, a bachelor’s party. At least those often tipped pretty well.
I made my way down my half of the bar stopping at everyone with an empty glass, asking if I could get them another. A rum and coke, margarita, sex on the beach, and a round of shots later, I found myself in front of the prettiest person I had seen all night. They were wearing a black button down shirt under a green vest and had several small hoops and a dragon cuff on their ear. Their dark hair was pulled to one side, showing an undercut buzzed into the bottom layers.
They looked up from their phone when I stopped in front of them. “And what can I get you tonight?” I leaned slightly towards them on the bar.
“A virgin bloody mary please,” they replied in a smooth tone before bringing their attention back to whatever was on their screen.
I grabbed a glass and started mixing their drink, the movements and mixture a second nature by now. I slid the glass across the bar to them with a napkin when I was finished. They glanced at me again with a smile as one hand left their phone to pick up the tall glass. Wrapped around the inside of their wrist, I could see a song quote tattooed on their arm; the lyrics ‘I Grew A Flower That Can’t Be Bloomed In A Dream That Can’t Come True.’
“Do you have a bias in BTS?” I asked after they had taken a sip of their drink, “Or a favorite song?”
Their eyes flicked to their tattoo and then back to me. “Yoongi.” They stared over my shoulder for a moment, “I couldn’t choose a favorite song.”
“That’s cool, I’m the same way,” I replied. “We’ve got the same bias too,” I smiled, “though, it was Hoseok at first, but now it’s both of them.“
Someone a few seats down the bar called for my attention and I turned to help them. A few minutes later when I was done serving them, I glanced back up the bar at the person I had been talking to. But before I could go back over to them, I was waylaid by another customer asking for a drink. My eyes found the clock again; it read 12:48. Forty-two minutes before I could be out of here.
I finally made it back over and noticed that they had hardly touched their drink. “Is there anything wrong with the drink?” I questioned, gesturing to the bloody mary I had mixed for them.
They pulled the glass closer to themselves, “No, I just don’t drink much and was trying something new.” They shook their head, “It’s better than some of the other things I’ve tried.”
I nodded, “I get that. Some drinks are definitely an acquired taste.” After thinking about it for a moment “I can make you something else if you like, on me?”
“Don’t worry about it,” they said, putting down their phone and taking a sip of the drink in front of them.
“So, what brought you here, if not for the drinks?” I asked, curious. There were plenty of people who came to the bar and sat alone for a while with nothing but their devices for company, but normally, they would drown their sorrows in glass after glass of alcohol until we cut them off.
“It’s my brother’s birthday party,” they nodded to a loud group of people at the other end of the bar, “this wasn’t in the original plans, but his friends wanted to bring him here after dinner.” They laughed, “It’s better than a strip club at least, so I can’t complain too much.”
“Yeah, that’s for sure,” I inclined my head in agreement, “Bars aren’t really my scene, but this pays well enough and is flexible around my college schedule, so I’m sticking with it for now.” I saw someone hailing me for a drink, “I’ll be right back.” I glanced at the clock again as I walked, 1:12; I was almost free.
“Have you seen Yoongi’s new video that just dropped?” I asked curiously when I got back over to them. It was a behind the scenes video for his latest MV.
“No, not yet,” a piece of hair fell in front of their eyes as they shook their head, “how about you?”
“I haven’t watched it yet either. I wanted to wait until I could watch without interruption so I can fully appreciate him sword dancing” I said while smiling and thinking of the thumbnail clip I had seen. My roommate asked me to stay out for a few hours, so I was going to go to the library for a bit before going back to my room, because I don’t want to catch any part of that. “I won’t have a chance to watch it on a big screen tonight, so I’ll probably watch it in the morning.”
They looked down for a moment, contemplating something before they asked “you could come back to my place and we can watch it together, if you’d like? What time do you get off work?”
“I’m done in about ten minutes,” I smiled, “I might take you up on that offer.” I looked over at the other side of the bar where the party was happening, “will your brother mind if you leave before he does?”
“My brother won’t mind a bit if I'm leaving with someone, if you catch my drift.”
I frowned, “I’m afraid that if that’s where this is leading, I’m going to have to decline.” I was not interested in any amorous relations, especially not with someone I had just met.
Their eyes widened, “Oh, that’s not what I meant at all! I saw your black ring and the ace pin on your collar. And besides, I’m ace too.”
I relaxed a bit, and for the first time, noticed a ring similar to mine on their right middle finger. “Wow, what are the odds?” I laughed.
“About one in a hundred, I would guess.” They reached across the bar, hand outstretched, “I’m Alex, and I’d still very much like to watch that video together if you’d like?”
I smiled and shook their hand, “Charlie, and I’d love to.”
– – – –
“This is so much better than ‘Netflix and chilling’,” I was sitting curled up at one end of the couch and Alex was at the other. We both had slices of cake that I had pilfered from the bar before we left and Yoongi’s video was queued up on the TV in front of us. “Thanks for letting me crash here tonight and share your space.”
“It’s no problem, us Aces need to stick together,” they laughed and hit play. And we settled in for the start of what would hopefully become a long friendship.