He was about to shoot when he looked up instead.Our eyes met and my stomach fluttered. I could sense his feelings at the moment; amixture of arousalandsomething I couldn’t put my finger on.Hesmiled before going back to the game.
“Who is that?”Friend number one asked.“I saw her get Melissa off your ass just now. It’s about time someone did.”
I leaned against the bar, watching them intently. There were no customers at the moment so I may as well eavesdrop.
“That’s my bind,”Dennis hesitated before adding,“Emy.”He took a shot and the balls scattered, sending two solids into two separate holes.
“That’s your bind?”Friend two asked.
“I think I’ve seen her around town before,”Friend one said.“Some car honked and she started yelling and kicked a tire before her friend grabbed her and they ran away.”
Dennis laughed.“Sounds about right.That must’ve been her cousin. They’re always together.”
“Must be fun.”
Dennis only smirked. He took another turn at the pool table and hit a ball in. Friend two glanced up and I pretended to clean a nonexistent spill on the counter.
“That’syour bind?”Friend two repeated.
“Yes,”Dennis sounded a little annoyed,“she’smy bind.”
“You lucky fuck.”
“That’s an understatement,”Friend one mumbled.”I thought you were exaggerating. Guess not.”He took a shot and missed. “Didn’t you say she’s really playful? She seems…”
“Not playful,” Friend two said. “Are you sure she’s as sweet as you said?”
Rude. I didn’t appreciate being judged so hard.
Dennis studied his friends and leaned against the wall as friend two took a shot.“It depends if you’re on her good side,” he said.“If she likes you, she’s adorable. If she hates you, she might try to kill you.”
The description made me laugh. Suddenly all eyes turned to me.Whoopsie.I smiled and waved, making friend one turn red and friend two stare like a deer in headlights. Dennis was the only one who didn’t seem to care I’d overheard.He walked around the table to take another shot, leaving me with no view and nothing to be nosy about.
I pouted and went back to work, falling into a groove alongside Sean while a line gradually formed. Eventually we went to break and left Nate to hold down the fort. When we returned, lots of people were in the bar but none were actively ordering drinks.
“Perfect timing. I’m off.” Nate gathered his tips and went to clock out. “Bye,guys.”
“See you later,”I said as he passed. And then I spotted Johnny arriving to replace Nate. He didn’t seem to notice me yet, so I went to Ari while it was stilldead.“Johnny’s here,”I complained, flopping atop the bar.
“Shhh, I think they’re talking about you,”she whispered.“I’m pretending to text but I’ve been listening to their convo.” Her eyes subtly flicked toward two men several feet to the left.
“Ooh, fun,” I whispered back. I tuned in to hear one of them bring Johnny into the conversation.
“You missed it,”theguy was saying,“our new coworker went off on Melissa.”
“Who did?”Johnny asked.
“I think her name is Mina.”The guy nodded toward me—I could see it from my peripheral while I pretended to be preoccupied with Ari.
“Here you go, sweetie. Have a good night.”
I jumped slightly as some guy slid a twentytoward me.“Thank you,”I called after him, then placed the tip with my growing stash.
“Hey, new girl!”Johnnyshouted.“Come over here.”
“Yeah?”I strode over with no smile on my face. I didn’t appreciate beingreferred to as‘new girl’ or shouted at.Especially when I was already super close.
“You’re Mina?”
