Divorce

iii

When you're strange

Faces come out of the rain

Y/N didn't dislike her job as a waitress in the bar. She actually liked it quite a bit. What she disliked were weekend night shifts and men that came in there to just get blackout drunk. She didn't like drunk men in general, but at work it was way worse because she couldn't just get away easily. They were an absolute pain in her opinion. Women were as well when they were drunk, now that she thought about it. But at least they were generally easy to move and fight off when they were drunk. Men just seemed to start weighing twice as much when they were drunk for no apparent reason.

They also tended to be twice as aggressive and twice as inappropriate. It was a real pain in the ass to work at a bar when there were lots of them around, which usually happened on Friday and Saturday nights. Thus her hatred for those shifts. When everything was normal the job was perfectly fine. It could be stressful, yes, but it could also be fun and sometimes the tips were absolutely amazing. And on normal evenings most people didn't get too badly drunk.

Tonight seemed to be an exception. She was manning the bar and there were two guys that were sitting at the bar and that had been ordering drinks non-stop for about two hours and were gulping them all down, as if those were the last drinks they'd ever get. She knew that they were definitely trying to get drunk. One of them looked somewhat familiar for some reason... actually, they both did. They came here from time to time to get drinks, but she had never seen them getting this bad this quickly. She just hoped that they knew their limits and when to stop drinking.

But as the hours passed, she found that they didn't know. The blond one seemed to be holding his drink slightly better than the dark-haired one, but he also was trying much less and much more slowly. It wasn't really any of Y/N's business anyway. She figured she'd be fine if she just stuck to other tables and other people. Maybe one of her colleagues would sort them out, because she really didn't want to do that. Those two had never caused trouble before, but some people changed a lot when they got drunk. So she wasn't going to risk getting involved here. She just kept an eye on them, trying to make sure they weren't in an argumentative mood.

But as it got later and later and she was one of the two last people to be left to close up the bar she realised that those two would actually be her problem to deal with. Y/N cursed her luck a million times over in her head, but then she noticed that the tall blond one was leaving. It wasn't ideal, but at least now there was only one drunk guy to deal with. It would be annoying still, but more manageable than two grown men that thought they had to stay for ten more drinks. Plus, the black-haired dude didn't look like he was going to argue much. Y/N wasn't sure whether he'd be able to actually make his way out of the bar, but that was a different issue.

Unfortunately, her coworker decided that it was her turn to deal with him when they were about to close up and that meant she'd have to somehow move this man out of the bar. She had no idea how to best go about it, if she was honest, but she knew that she had to try her best if she wanted to get home on time (she never got home on time anyway, but that was an issue for another day and for her trade union to sort out). She glanced down at the man that had dozed off with his head on the counter. Y/N sighed and put the glass she was polishing down. This wasn't going to be fun.

"Hey. Hey, man." she said to him. No reaction. Of course not. This guy was completely passed out. Whatever he had been talking about with his friend all night, it must have been pretty bad.

"Sir? Sorry, Sir, we're about to close, you'll have to leave." she told him a little louder. Still no reaction. Y/N rolled her eyes and gently shook his shoulder. She could hear her workmate snickering behind her. Of course. If it had been her that had to get this guy out of the bar, Y/N would have laughed too. Shaking him didn't really help either, all she got was a low grumble.

"SIR!" Y/N shouted at him, shaking him vigorously now, not really caring whether she was being polite or not. She was tired, she had been working all day, she just wanted to go home. And the only thing standing between her and her bed was this guy who had too much to drink.

"What... what is going on?" she heard him saying in a slurred voice. He slowly lifted his head and looked at his surroundings in utter confusion. Anyone who would have seen him would have thought that he had been kidnapped and just woke up or something. Y/N took a deep breath.

"Sir, we're closing the bar. I'm afraid I'll have to kick you out." she said to him. He gave her an annoyed look.

"Kick me out? But I wasn't even doing anything!"

"I know, Sir, but we're closing."

"Okay, then just leave me here. I'll be fine."

"No, we can't just leave you here. You'll have to get out, so we can close up. Do you have a way to get home?" Y/N wanted to know. She hated this. This guy wasn't being difficult on purpose, but he was just so damn drunk that he couldn't really help it. He had no idea what was going on around him. Hell, he was probably still half asleep. Y/N's ex-boyfriend used to be like that when he got drunk and passed out somewhere and it was kind of adorable, but also annoying when it wasn't their own couch.

"I guess I'll have to walk or something. Or I could just stay here..." the dark-haired man slurred with a big grin.

"Would you like me to call you a taxi?" Y/N suggested. She wondered whether he'd even remember where the hell he lived.

"Taxi? Sure, I guess... Just leave me alone and let me go back to sleep." he told her and rested his head on the counter again. Y/N rolled her eyes. This wasn't going to be fun. How the hell would she get him into a taxi?

"Sir, you'll have to tell me where you live, so I can tell the driver." she replied. He just grumbled something unintelligible. Y/N's workmate couldn't help but laugh at her misfortune. One day, Y/N was going to strangle her. Not today, not tomorrow, but one day. One day when she'd least expect it...

"Girlie, I'll call that taxi and you try your best to get anything out of him or you'll just have to get him to your own home." her workmate said and took out her phone. Y/N raised her eyebrows.

"You really think I'd take a random drunk guy back home? I mean, I am kind of a slut, but even I have standards." she answered. Her workmate just shrugged, as she ordered a taxi to the bar.

"I mean, look at him. I wouldn't say no to him, to be honest." she just said, before turning away to talk to the person at the other end of the phone. Y/N glanced down at the passed out guy. She was kind of right, this dude looked pretty good - broad shoulders, lean, kind of a rugged-looking face...

"Dude. Dude, you're gonna have to tell me where you live or I'll have to take you back to my own home and neither of us wants that. I think." she tried once more, but she didn't get much of a reaction.

"Whatever, just let me sleep..." she heard him muttering in an annoyed tone of voice. Y/N sighed. Well, at least she'd get a free taxi ride out of this, because if anyone was paying for it, it would be that guy. And who knew, maybe he was actually a nice guy when he wasn't drunk. (Well, he was fairly nice now, but he wasn't much of a talker, so it was hard to tell what kind of person he was.)

"Taxi will be there in a few minutes. Did you get anything out of him?" Y/N's workmate said, as she walked back up to her.

"No. Not really. I guess I am taking him back home. No other choice." Y/N mumbled, rubbing her temples. Why was every night shift such a fucking mess?