Last Friday Night (ManxMan)

Chapter 13

With next month's shift schedule finalized and uploaded, Cassie left the backroom to see how the bar was doing. Most things were normal, like the young woman from down the street sipping solitary drinks in a corner booth or the old man complaining to May, one of the new bartenders, about 'kids these days.' What stood out to her was River glued to one spot of the bar. He wasn't sweeping around, socializing with the locals, or working the crowds. The odd behavior was suddenly explained when she saw his little friend—Hunter?—sitting in front of her boss.

He looked like a jock, his strong shoulders matched a strong jaw softened only by his bright, attractive smile. For once, he wasn't wearing that uptight suit and only had on a button up and slacks today. Cassie heard the tail end of an okay joke and watched River laugh way too hard at it, the simp. Three weeks of no appearance and suddenly he was in Adonis again, smiling like nothing was amiss.

In Cassie's world, everything had been perfectly fine in his absence. It was nice to have her boss fully focused and not need to give him and his special customer a bubble of privacy. Of course, she was positive that River would disagree.

She stood unmoving as he left to go to the kitchen and returned with a plate of fries. River smiled warmly as his friend dug in and scanning the scene, Cassie noticed two more plates just like it, stacked on top of each other. So River had been serving Hunter plate after plate but still looked so peppy to bring him more.

Her boss was always doting when it came to Hunter, everyone who worked in Adonis knew it, but she'd never seen it to this degree. Maybe distance really did make the hoes thirstier, or something along those lines.

As if on cue, River turned and caught sight of an aimless Cassie. It wasn't a crime to not have something to do at every given moment, but Cassie had a feeling that not looking busy tonight had been a mistake.

"Hey Cassie," River called, a politician's smile carrying him over to her side. "If you're not busy, can you cover the bar? My friend hasn't been here in a while so I wanted to hang out with him."

Could Cassie have reminded him of boundaries, professionalism, or company image to get him to keep working? Sure. But the begging look on the older man's face disturbed her more than pimple-popping compilations ever did so she folded like a lawn chair.

"Fine. But I'm not bringing him food like you were. He's gonna have to wait for a regular waiter like everybody else."

River mouthed a long thank you, pulling the towel off of his shoulder and into her hand before returning to Hunter's side.

—————

Hunter was finishing his third order of fries and dusting the crumbs off his fingers when a new drink came. Hunter stared at the glass, confused as to who ordered it until River brought it to his lips. Even the way he sipped the drink was effortless, his throat bobbing up and down gently to swallow the liquid.

"You're drinking on the job?" Hunter asked with an upturned brow.

"Nope, Cassie's covering the bar. Thought we should celebrate your return after a long absence."

River raised his glass in a silent cheer before taking another swig, but Hunter was still trying to make sense of his words. Or rather, the intention behind them. It sounded like a good thing, celebrating his return, but River's mouth was tight as he said the words, eyes carrying a certain anger Hunter was not used to seeing.

"So what did you do during your time away? It must have been pretty important."

"No, I was just working," Hunter shrugged, catching a slight tick in his friend's jaw.