She batted her eyelashes at me, puffing out her pouty lips, which did absolutely nothing for me. My eyes inadvertently drifted across the bar to where my neighbor sat, cuddling the man she was on a date with.
Not that I cared. I wasn’t sure why I was even looking at her, other than the fact that it somehow struck me as odd how different these women were. My neighbor wore makeup, but nothing as drastic as the plastic blowup doll in front of me.
And that’s when I realized I was still ensnared in her grip. “You want to let go of my hand?” I snapped.
“Ooh, feisty. I like that in a man.”
Giving a lopsided grin, I leaned on the bar. “Well, you can see exactly how feisty I can be when I call the cops and tell them to get down here to drag out the drunken woman hitting on me.”
She didn’t seem to understand me at first, but the longer I stared at her, letting the smile wash from my face as I replaced it with my most menacing glare, she finally seemed to get the picture.
“Asshole,” she muttered, walking away with her drink.
Chuckling to myself, I rang up the drink and moved on to the next customer. The night flew by with little room for me to take a piss, let alone grab something to eat. But that was fine by me. It was nice to clear my head for the night and not worry about what the hell my next step was.
Even if I did have to deal with the worst screeching that anyone could claim was singing. I’d seen my neighbor get up on the stage a few times, but I ignored her, blocking out the sound of her voice by taking crates of glasses to the back or grabbing more alcohol.
The kitchen was just as busy, with several waitresses bustling about with no time to chat, which was more than fine by me. Only a few people seemed even mildly interested in me, which made the night go smoother.
“Hey, Tennessee!” my neighbor called out, drunkenly stumbling over to the bar. “Got any more of those cocktails for me?”
The smile plastered on her face amused me. For once, she wasn’t just happy. She was drunk-happy, and I found that mildly entertaining.
“Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
“Ha! Have you seen Sawyer?” she whispered-hissed, holding her hand up against her mouth to block God-knows-who from hearing her. “He’s finally loosening up. Gotta keep ‘em comin’ until he forgets all about that skank.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You took him out to forget about another woman?”
She nodded, her head swiveling in a circular pattern. “A girl has got to do what a…girl has got to do,” she said slowly, enunciating each word. Then she grinned, happy she got it right.
“One more drink, but then you’re done.”
“Aww, don’t be a party pooper! I need at least two more before I can get up there again,” she said, jerking her thumb over her shoulder.
“Haven’t you done enough already?”
She shook her head quickly from side to side. “It’s Saturday night!”
“I’m aware.”
“Time for drinking and fun and dancing and drinking!”
“You don’t say,” I deadpanned.
Pouting her lips, it was nothing like the woman from earlier tonight. In fact, I’d almost go so far as to say she looked adorable doing it. Almost.
“Tennessee, just two more?”
I knew I was going to regret this. After all, she was already way too drunk to drive. She probably knew someone who would give her a lift. Hell, she knew everyone in this town.
“One.”
“Three,” she countered.
“One.”
“Three!”
