“—Finn was behind the bar for like eight straight hours—”
“—Mark went to the store so many times I lost count—”
Finally, we both ran out of steam at the same moment and just sat there, grinning like idiots.
Priya took a sip of her coffee. “So it went well?”
“Well?” Mark snorted. “It went amazing.”
She smiled. “I’m happy for you guys. Seriously. This is incredible.”
“Itisincredible,” I agreed, then felt my brain shift into planning mode. “But we need to keep it going. Obviously, we have to do anotherHorny Rivalswatch party next Sunday, but what else? What games are during the week? What’s on Friday or Saturday night? We need more plans, more flyers, and a lot more vodka.”
Mark pulled out his phone, punched a few times, then said, “There’s a Lightning game Wednesday. Looks like a home game against the Hurricanes.”
“Wednesday watch party,” I said. “We could do drink specials, maybe a special menu item—”
“Rod could do something themed,” Mark added. “Hurricane sliders or something.”
“We can’t celebrate the enemy,” I said, scowling. “How about a new drink called ‘Pucker Up’? I could make it with something sour, like those rock candies that make your lips and tongues turn red.”
“Ooh, I like that,” Mark said. “We could rename French fries as ‘hockey sticks’ or something. Do you think Rod could do a chocolate lava cake shaped like a puck?”
“What about weekends?” Priya asked, getting into it. “You can’t rely on just sports, right? What else brings people in?”
“One of the bars down the street does trivia,” Mark said. “Gay trivia night could be fun.”
“Hmm. That’s almost as overdone as karaoke. We need new themes, new ideas,” I said, writing this down on a napkin because of course I didn’t have my notebook with me. “Maybe like . . . decades night? Eighties night, nineties night?”
“Drag bingo,” Priya offered. “That is always popular.”
“Is it?” I looked at her.
“There is a reasoneverygay bar does it. People love drag queens and they love bingo. Put them together and you have a guaranteed crowd.”
Mark was nodding enthusiastically. “We could do it monthly . . . on the first Saturday or something. Get a local queen to host.”
“I don’t know any drag queens,” I said.
“I bet Maya does,” Mark countered. “That girl knows everyone.”
“If the crowds keep coming, we’ll need more staff,” I said, my brain already calculating. “Jacks and I can’t handle the bar and the booths and high-tops.”
“So we hire another bartender, maybe a server to work the floor.” Mark was typing notes into his phone. “We can afford to expand the team.”
“Slowly,” I cautioned, holding up my index finger. “We hadonegood night. We need to make sure this is sustainable before we start hiring a bunch of people.”
“Oneamazingnight,” Mark corrected. “And yes, we should hire slowly, but we should at least start looking.”
Priya watched us with amusement. “You two are already planning world domination.”
“Not world domination,” I said. “Just Ybor domination. Maybe a Seminole Heights takeover, if we’re lucky.”
“Tampa domination,” Mark said. “Fuck it. We’re gonna take over the whole Bay Area! Look out St. Pete; we’re comin’ for ya.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. Mark was outrageous. “Dream big or go home.”
As we continued brainstorming, I filled my napkin with notes. Mark continued typing into his phone as Priya threw out ideas that were surprisingly good for someone who claimed to “not know anything about running a bar.”
