Chapter Ten
Riley
It was another busy Friday night at work. I was starting to wonder if I should get some of the other staff members to switch with me so that I didn’t do the busy nights, but I knew the boss wouldn’t be happy. He was the one that gave out the shifts, and he didn’t really appreciate other people getting involved in it. Also, it seemed silly to turn down the busy nights since I always made more money on those days than any of my other shifts. And as much as I hated it when the place was busy, it did help to make the night go faster. Sometimes I felt like I had no time to breathe. Tonight, there was a gentle flow people coming and going: busy, but not as busy as it had been the week before.
I stood on the side with Paisley while we took a quick break. It was the first time we were really getting the chance to catch up.
“How was your night off yesterday?” she asked. “There was something happening down the road here, so the pub felt like a weekend night. You would’ve hated it.”
I chuckled. “Sounds awful. I actually went to another pub.”
“What? To work?”
“Oh no. Definitely not. Actually, Silas had a gig, so I went to hear him. I was super curious to see if he was any good. Thankfully he was brilliant. It would’ve been awkward if he sucked and I had to pretend like he was actually good. I was worried about that.”
“Oh yeah? So, he sings well then?”
“Incredible. I couldn’t believe how good he was.”
“You sound smitten.”
I blushed despite myself. “Smitten? Oh no. Definitely not. You know I’m not looking for anyone right now either. He’s a nice guy, and a great roommate but that’s about it. I have a feeling we’ll become good friends though. We get along well.”
“Oh yeah? So you wouldn’t mind if I flirted with him then?”
I laughed. “You haven’t even met him yet. Why would you want to flirt with him?”
“Because he’s going to be a big rock star, of course. I better get in there before someone else does.”
“Country star. He sings country music.”
“He does? That’s unusual. Even better. I like that. And I’d like to frolic in the hay with him.”
I rolled my eyes and told her that she was crazy, but as I walked off, I wondered why I felt so uncomfortable at the thought of her flirting with him. It wasn’t that I liked him. I mean, I hardly knew the guy. But I almost felt like he was mine and not hers. She had all the guys hanging all over her at the pub. Silas was my friend. Then I shook my head at how pathetic I sounded, even to myself. This wasn’t a schoolyard. We weren’t teenagers. We could all be friends. And anyway, I wasn’t sure that he would be her type. I was sure she wouldn’t go for him.
The rest of the night went by in a blur. I didn’t mind the night as much as usual. As I worked, I kept thinking about my new goal of working toward becoming an illustrator and writer. I already had a story planned out in my head, and I was excited to get started. On my next day off, I was going to formulate a plan and come up with a deadline. I always worked best when I was working toward a due date. I couldn’t wait to get started. I had to stop thinking that it wasn’t possible and try to be more like Silas. He went after his goals even though it wasn’t easy, and I should be doing the same. I didn’t want to one day look back on my life and see that I didn’t even try. And what was the point in having a dream if I didn’t actively pursue it? I felt inspired and excited. A few people even picked up on it, including my boss who had come in for a few hours that night. He told me that I should always look this happy when I worked and that a positive attitude would get me more tips. Usually, this sort of talk would’ve annoyed me, but tonight I didn’t care as much.
I was so lost in thought and ideas that I almost didn’t notice Silas walking toward me. At first, I thought that it was just someone that looked like him, but as he got nearer and grinned at me, I knew it was him. What was Silas doing at my work?
“Silas? Everything okay?” I asked as I had a sudden fear that something was wrong at the house. Although, he was smiling, so I assumed everything was fine.
“Hey, Riley. I thought I’d pop in and say hello. I wanted to come and see this bar in action. You were right; it’s so busy here.”
I chuckled as I looked around. “This isn’t busy. It’s dwindled down a lot since we opened. This is amazing right now. I like it when the bar is like this.”
He laughed. “If only I could get half this crowd to watch me sing. I hope you don’t mind me coming over. I had nothing to do so figured I’d pop in and say hi. Get a beer while I was at it.”
“Of course I don’t mind. It’s a free bar. In fact, let me get you a beer. On the house.”
“Are you allowed to do that?” he asked.
“Not really. But it made me sound cool, didn’t it?”
“So cool,” he said and handed me a note anyway. “But you were cool before that.”
I laughed and grabbed him a beer. “I wish I could join you. I would kill for a beer right now. Oh, here comes Paisley. Let me introduce the two of you.”
Paisley raised her eyebrows when she saw me. She obviously thought I was just speaking to a customer and didn’t know it was Silas. I could see she was surprised because I didn’t often stop to talk to the customers for a long period of time.
“Paisley, this is Silas, my roommate.”
She grinned broadly. “Oh, I’m glad you came over. I finally get to meet the great country singer.”
Silas chuckled. “I wouldn’t exactly say that. But it’s nice to meet you. Riley has told me all about you. It’s cool that you guys get to work together.”
“Yeah, I love having her here. Although, we don’t get to talk nearly as much as I would like. Especially when the boss is here. He’s not big on the staff interacting. Thankfully, it’s the end of the night so we can get away with it more now,” she said.
“And the boss isn’t here. I saw him leave,” I said.
Paisley grinned. “Even better. Uh oh, looks like you’re being called, Riley,” she said and pointed to a group of guys on the other side of the room.
I groaned. They were a fun group of guys, but they had called me over to them a million times that night. The one guy kept asking for my number, and I kept saying no.
“Oh, not them again. Okay, I better go. I’ll be back,” I said and walked over to the guys.
They were in a jolly mood, and the moment I walked over, they smiled at me.
“You’re the most beautiful girl I have ever met,” one of the guys said. He was tall, with a mop of blond hair. He kept touching his hair as if he knew it was his best feature. Which, to be fair, it was. I told him that he should be in a shampoo advertisement and he’d been infatuated with me since.
“No, I’m not. But thank you.”
“Maybe you’ll see me around in some of those shampoo commercials soon,” he said and grinned.
The guy next to him groaned. “Is that your way of flirting with her? Because that is so cringe-worthy.” Then he looked at me with an apologetic smile. “Come on, why don’t you just give him your number? Put him out of his misery.”
“I’m sorry. I really am not looking to date right now. I’m not saying that because I don’t like him; I’m saying that because it’s the truth. Let me get you guys another round of drinks. We’re going to close soon so you might as well get some drinks in before we do.”
I hurried off to the bar and stacked some beers onto a tray for them. As I did so, I looked over to see what Silas was doing and sighed when I saw that he was still talking to Paisley. I’d told her that I wasn’t interested in him and she was now flirting shamelessly with him. She was practically sitting on his lap she was so close to him. I saw her lean in and whisper something to him, and I felt annoyed when I saw him laugh at whatever it was that she had said. Paisley was a very hard person to ignore. She was absolutely gorgeous, and she knew how to play to her strengths. She had no problem with showing some skin and batting her eyelashes to get her way. She was a good person and a great friend, and up until that moment, I had never been jealous of her. I wasn’t even sure why I felt so much jealousy now. It wasn’t like Silas and I were anything other than roommates. I was sure that he had no interest in me, anyway. Maybe I should feel happy that my best friend and my roommate were getting along so well. Wouldn’t it be great if the two of them got together because of me? I took one final look at them and shook my head. No, it wouldn’t be great. I wasn’t sure why, but I really didn’t want them to get together. I sighed and forced myself to look away. Instead, I took the beers over to the guys.
“Thank you. One more time, then I promise you I’ll leave it. Can I get your number? I am not just saying this because I’m drunk. I’m saying this because you are lovely. And I would love to take you out.”
I smiled at the boy with the fine-looking hair. I almost said yes to him, just to make myself feel better. Just to show Silas that I could get a guy if I wanted to. Just to prove to Paisley that I was not interested in Silas. But I wasn’t interested in the boy, no matter how nice his hair was, and I didn’t want to go out with a guy just to prove a point. I shook my head. “I’m honestly very flattered, but I’m going to have to turn you down. But thank you.”
I quickly left and attended to another group that wanted drinks. When I looked back at the guys, I saw that they were talking to another girl. The guy with the blond hair had his arm over her shoulder and was smiling at her in the same way that he had smiled at me. Just as I had thought; I was nothing special to him. I was just a challenge. Just then Paisley walked past carrying a tray of drinks. As she saw me, she grinned. “I know you said he was gorgeous but I had no idea he was that gorgeous.”
I turned to look at Silas sitting alone drinking his beer. He looked contemplative, and I wondered what he was thinking. Was he thinking about Paisley? I wouldn’t be surprised, and I couldn’t blame him. Paisley was stunning, and she was an excellent flirter. Who wouldn’t like her? I smiled despite myself. He really was beautiful.