"Maybe you should." She pauses for a second before speaking again, "Isaac won't stop coming into my room and bugging me and Chloe."
Seriously? This is what she calls me for. I thought something may have happened with the way she was calling me. Take a breath. Nothing good will come out of losing my shit on her. "Can you please put your brother on the phone?"
She yells his name and I hold the phone away from my ear. Less than a minute later, he says "Hello?"
"Please leave the girls alone."
"She really called to snitch on me?" I can hear his sigh over the phone and I know he is going to retaliate at some point. I'm not going to worry about that now.
"It doesn't matter." A headache is forming and it's not from the music, or lack of sleep. Parenting two kids is hard as hell. Doing it while single and working insane hours adds to the stress. "Just leave them alone. Go hang out with Grandpa or something."
"No teenager wants to hang out with their grandpa on a Friday night." My dad says something in the background, but I can't hear him. "I'll leave them alone."
"Thank you." When I'm sure he's not going to say anything else, I ask him to put his sister back on the phone. "Abby, I love you and if there's an actual emergency I'll be on my way. But please figure out how to settle these issues, or take it to Grandpa. He's the one at home."
"But—"
"No buts," I sigh, "just steer clear of your brother and listen to Grandpa. I'll see you in the morning."
"Okay. Love you and be careful coming home."
"Love you, too." I hang up before she adds some other grievance against her brother.
There's a knock on the door before Carlos pokes his head inside. "Sorry to ask you to cut your break short, but the crowd is picking up out there. We need all hands on-deck."
"No worries, I'm done." I set my phone back on the shelf and make my way toward the door.
"Is everything okay?"
"Teenagers." That's all I can think to say. I know he doesn't have kids, and his girlfriend's son is still pretty young, but he's in for a rude awakening.
3
Eric
The crowd tonight is wild.There's a new band playing on the regular since Lisa's boyfriend is off touring with Crooked Halo. This new band plays a slightly harder and brings in folks that can be a little rambunctious.
My eyes track Joan as she exits the hall and takes her place behind the bar. A small part of me is still annoyed because she thinks I'm jealous.
Okay, I may be a tiny bit jealous. I'll never admit it, though. She needed to be warned, though. That guy started coming in here a few weeks ago, and has made it a point to hit on all the women on my team.
He's polite, but it's the way he talks to them and how he leans over the bar to get as close as he can that creeps me out.
I may be persistent in my date requests of Joan, but I don't think I make her feel uncomfortable. At least, I hope I don't. And if I do, I want her to tell me. Because that shit is not cool. I never want to make anyone feel that way.
That guy in particular is definitely bad news, though. Lisa goes out of her way to keep from serving him, and she gets along with everyone. This is the first time he's come on a weekend, and I don't want him taking advantage of Joan's kindness. Not if I can help it.
More and more people filter through the door, and I know it's going to be a long night.
A lady slides her way between two people and leans over the bar. She seems to be around the same age as Joan, but I suck at being able to tell anyone's age. Her lowcut shirt exposes the tops of her breasts, and I do my best to keep my focus on her eyes. "Hey handsome, can I get a vodka tonic?"
Before Joan caught my interest, I totally would have flirted right back. But I don't want her to think I'm a fuck boy. At least, not anymore. "Sure thing. I'll have it right up."
The vodka is on the other side of the bar and I have to walk past Joan to get to it. Maybe she didn’t see the interaction between me and the customer. Not that I did anything wrong, but still.
My steps are quick as I make my way behind her to grab the bottle of vodka. I’m not even past her before she catches my eye and smirks. "You should probably watch out for that one. I know the look of a cougar going in for the kill."
"It’s not like that." And how would she know? I wasn’t under the impression she was dating. If she is, why won’t she give me the time of day. I do my best to ignore the dig, and grab the bottle a couple of feet from where she’s standing.
