I don’t doubt it for a second.
‘You don’t think it’s going to be an issue that I’ve never been in a bar and have no idea how to make anything more complicated than an Arnold Palmer?’
Alice scoffs as I pour out two glasses of water from the jug in the middle of the table.
‘Details, details. I’ll train you up in no time, we’ll have you slinging bottles and dancing on the bar by the end of your first shift. Except don’t dance on the bar, that’s how Evelyn Chong broke her ankle at last year’s Christmas bop and it really shit on the vibe. Also, what’s an Arnold Palmer?’
Bartender. Hmm. I poke at my lunch and try to picture myself behind the bar, mixing cocktails and pouring beers. Nope, can’t do it. A different image of me crouched in a corner, sobbing,while angry students scream in my general direction? Super easy to conjure up.
I’m trying to work out how to sit down without flashing my underwear to the entire room when Jenna strolls over, slinging her tray down next to Alice’s and clambering over the bench. This is why everyone is wearing pants. This is why I will be wearing pants from now on. RIP cute skirt, we hardly knew you.
Alice and I watch intently as Jenna takes a huge bite out of her lasagne then makes a face.
‘I thought it would be different,’ she says, pushing it away and opening a bag of chips instead. ‘How’s your day going so far?’
‘All good,’ Alice replies for both of us, and I nod to agree. ‘You are officially looking at Members’ hottest new bartending duo, as long as Mia passes her trial shift tonight, which she will.’
I turn to her with alarm.
‘The trial is tonight? Alice, I literally just got here.’
‘Perfect time to start then. Six p.m. on the dot. I’ll knock for you at five, we can get ready together.’
Everything inside me wants to come up with an excuse to turn this down, only … I do need the job and isn’t this whole year supposed to be about stepping out of my comfort zone? It’s not like I’m making an atomic bomb, it’s just serving drinks. Alice will be there to help. Unless I totally mess up and embarrass her and she never wants to speak to me again.
‘We’ll all come down and support you,’ Jenna promises and I feel slightly better. ‘Do you know how to make kamikazes?’
‘Should I?’
‘What about a Woo Woo?’
‘What about a what now?’
‘Ignore her,’ Alice instructs as Jenna sticks her fork into her bestfriend’s lunch. ‘If you can open a bottle and pull a pint, you can work at Members.’
It doesn’t seem like the right time to tell her I don’t know what pulling a pint means or that the last time I opened a bottle, a Mexican Coke from the taqueria in downtown Valley Springs, I somehow broke the neck and almost sliced off my thumb. What are the chances of that happening again?
‘Knew I’d find you reprobates here.’
Michael’s voice carries across the hall and I’m just about to take my first bite of shepherd’s pie when I realize he isn’t alone. Right behind him are Bryn and Oliver.
‘Missed the Pedigree Chum that much, did you?’
He sits on my left, Bryn on my right, leaving Oliver to take the last open seat across the table, next to Alice. He doesn’t have a tray, just a wrapped sandwich I didn’t even see on the line. He’s wearing the same leather blazer as yesterday with a worn-looking band shirt underneath, and when he looks up at me from underneath his dark blond wavy hair, I almost fall off the bench. My mouth dries up, my hands turn clammy and every clever thing in my brain goes to mush. What were we talking about? Where am I? What’s my name? I’m so pathetic, I could cry.
‘Not as much as you, apparently.’ Jenna eyeballs the double portion on Michael’s plate. ‘Rancid.’
‘I’m a growing boy. And some of us already had football practice this morning, I’m replacing all the calories Mia’s friend made me burn off. Please tell him goalies don’t need to be able to sprint faster than your average cheetah, my job is to stand there and look pretty.’
‘Aren’t you supposed to block goals?’ Bryn asks helpfully.
‘Only if the back line is shit enough to let the other team makeit that far in the first place, and Mia’s mate will likely skin them alive if that happens. He’s the most competitive human being I’ve ever met, and I’ve been to the pub quiz with Jenna.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with wanting to win,’ she replies, sharp as a knife. ‘And who are you talking about, Mia’s friend?’
‘We’ve got an American on the team. Ethan Taylor.’
The sound of his name makes me clench my fists so tight my short nails cut into the tender flesh of my palms. Our last conversation has been playing on my mind and not in a good way. He looked so angry. No, he looked hurt. I wasn’t expecting it.
