"What can I get for you?" I asked the customer who had taken a seat in front of me.
The snarl on his face gave me a pause because what in the hell did I do to him? The only thing he did was stare at me as if I had pissed him off or something. I hadn't met this man a day in my life, and the look he gave me creeped me out.
I didn't have all night for this man to just stare at me like he had a problem. When he didn't say anything, I waved him off and moved on to another customer. I hated it when a customer acted like they didn't know what they wanted.
Another bartender helped him. He ordered a drink but kept staring at me. He made me feel uncomfortable, but I tried my best to ignore him. If he kept it up, I'd talk to my boss to see if he could be removed.
Suddenly, a feeling hit me in the gut and had me turning my head toward the bar's entrance. Jamari walked in and went to his usual seat. Since I had nothing to say to him, I planned to ignore him. I couldn't let him think he could play with my heart or in my face. It made me sad to know that I did all I could to make something work with someone, yet they couldn't see what was in front of them. Why couldn't he trust me enough to know that I was there for him and his siblings, too? I was the one left hurt.
The server who took his order came to me.
"Hey, Chy. Are you taking the dude who sits in front of the bar his usual?"
If it were any other day, I'd jump for joy to do it, but I wouldn't today. "No. You can take it to him." I gave her a smile before I busied myself wiping down the bar.
When she left, I tried not to look in the direction of Jamari, but my eyes had a mind of their own as they studied him. He frowned when he saw who had brought him the drink. He lifted his head, and our eyes collided. I thought for sure he'd come over and talk to me, but he didn't. Again, I was let down.
Trevon came in and took a seat in front of me. I smiled brightly at him.
"Hmm. You're late," I stated.
He shook his head with a smirk. "Work, lil' mama. Wassup? You already know what I want."
I nodded and fixed his drink. In the middle of my doing so, Jamari came and took a seat at the bar. He had surprised the hell out of me with that one. I busied myself, trying to act like I didn't see him. It didn't help since I had been aware of him since I first laid eyes on him. The bartender who worked with me went up to him. As always, he ignored her, but I felt his eyes on me. I didn't know what he wanted from me, but I couldn't be a person he picked up and dropped whenever he wanted to. I had never allowed that to happen before, and it wasn't about to happen now.
"Are you going to act like you don't see me?" Jamari asked.
Again, I ignored him. If he had wanted to talk, he could've picked up the phone and answered my calls and texts. Now I wanted to be the one to act like he didn't exist.
By the time it was time for me to get off, I was tired. Jamari had returned to his seat after he saw I wasn't about to talk to him. Good. Nobody told him to come speak to me in the first place, not after what he did. It had me wondering what excuse he had this time.
As I walked to my car, I removed my keys, not paying attention to my surroundings. I bumped into someone and dropped my keys on the ground.
"Damn it," I mumbled and backed away from the person. "Excuse me. Sorry."
When I saw who it was, I quickly backed up. I didn't give a damn about the keys. He could keep the keys and the car if he wanted. It was the creepy man from the bar who kept staring at me.
"About time I got you alone," he stated.
"You'd better stay the hell away from me," I growled through clenched teeth. I didn't know who the hell he thought he was, but he had me fucked up.
My heartbeat raced as I stared wide-eyed at this man, not knowing what to do. In a split second, I did the one smart thing I could do: try to make a run for it. Before I could, he grabbed me. I screamed, and with all my might, I tried fighting him off me.
"Get off me!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Where the hell was everyone, and why had nobody come to my rescue yet? Tears streamed down my face.
"Why are you fighting me? I just want to talk to you," the man insisted, pulling me closer to him.
"Get your hands off me!" I shouted until my throat felt raw.
He dug his fingernails into my skin. I winced, trying to get my arms out of the death grip he had on them.
Where was Jamari? He usually wasn't too far behind me. I didn't see him when I left the bar. Did he leave already?
"You're so fucking pretty. Every time I come into the bar, I just want to kiss you, run my fingers through your long hair, and rub my body against yours." He ground his body against me, sending a nauseous feeling through my gut. It felt like I wanted to vomit. If I didn't get the hell away from this man, there was no telling what would happen to me.
I jerked until I was out of his arms, falling to the ground and wincing. Just as I was backing up, I bumped into someone else. My night couldn't get any worse.Why was this even happening to me? What did I do to the universe to have someone wanting to attack me?
