“Brewskis was fun, but it was also like working out of the DMZ,” I said.
“So does that make us South or North Korea?”
I laughed.
“Do I really need to answer that?”
“Well, come to think of it,” Phoenix said. “The analogy may be more like if South Korea suddenly got evil. I’m just... I don’t know, Japan? Over here, chilling away from all the stupid bullshit.”
Phoenix was just being ridiculous. I tipped my drink back as if I needed to get drunker, and before I knew it, the two of us were bantering and even mildly flirting.
I kept myself from flirting as much as I could have. I was still a bartender at my job, and I needed to make sure that what I was walking into was something I actually wanted to be a part of. There was no guarantee that going down this road would lead to anything happy or fun.
But for now, it was fun. It was a good way to start my night, and it was a fun continuation of what had happened last time we had hung out. Plus, it was good to be talking to him in private instead of with his buddies nearby.
“But yeah,” I said as a conversation about people wanting to be a bartender wound down. “Most people think it would be really fun to own a bar or to be a bartender. Guys think they’ll get girls all the time, and girls think they’ll get all these tips if they show some cleavage. And maybe they will. But when they realize how much work is involved? When they realize how they lose their social lives because the times they have freedom is when everyone else is working? It’s funny how all these people who were gung-ho about it minutes before suddenly fail.”
“I can imagine,” Phoenix said. “Well. Speaking of things that most guys will fail at…”
Uh oh…
“Let me ask you something bold,” he said. “Are you single?”
I knew it!
“You are right, most guys would fail at asking me that,” I said. “And yes, I am single.”
“Well, while I’m on a roll, let me ask you another question that most guys would never have the guts to ask you. Can I ask you out?”
I did… I did not know that was coming.
But…
I drummed my hands on the table and stared down Phoenix, albeit with a smile that probably already gave away my answer. I wanted to believe that this look would make Phoenix sweat a little bit, but honestly, I was so impressed with how direct he was—even by biker standards—that I couldn’t help but smile at him.
“You know, most of the time, even the guys who do ask me that don’t succeed,” I said. “But that’s most of the time.”
I again let silence settle in for a bit, just to see if I could make Phoenix flinch. He wasn’t.
“But that’s because they’re not you.”
I turned around, found some credit card receipt paper, and wrote my number down on it.
“Whatever you want to do with it for yourself,” I said. “Don’t share that with anyone else. I’m not trying to date the Gray Reapers club.”
“Oh, trust me, you don’t have to worry about that,” Phoenix said. “I’d sooner return to the Black Reapers than do that. But anyway, you’ll hear from me.”
He then slammed thirty dollars on the table, standing up as he finished his beer with his other hand.
“I came here to do what I wanted.”
“Which was?”
He walked to the front door and put his hand on it.
“Have something good happen today.”
Before I could so much as say another word, Phoenix disappeared into the night, my number in his hand and any potential future we might have had in his control.
