"Why are you looking away from me?" The simple question she gives felt like a judgment day question for me. With the judge staring sharp at me, I slowly turned my eyes on her.
"Well, some customers aren't comfortable for being stared at when they are drinking". Years of working here managed to provide me an appropriate and professional answer for her question.
"I am not one of them" she quickly cut in as fast as I finish my word.
"Talk with me, anything! Really! " She is very assertive with her demand.
A woman with an open minded personality like her definitely has a lot of suitor lining up. But it seems her personality might be a double edged sword and scares off those guys. So avoid possible sensitive nerves and goes to the safe route.
"How is your day?" And I screwed up so badly for the starter.
"Great, I just aced my grade in the college and felt like spoiling myself a little and guess what I found this place from my little adventure here" she managed to turn the stale question into something rather interesting. A relieve for me that she is not blowing up again for that dull question before.
"What is your major miss?" I asked her out of curiosity.
"Art, that kind of stuff that relates with drawing and painting" the woman smiled again as she takes another sip of the alcohol in her hand.
An amazing sight can be seen in front of me, a beautiful woman gulping down the brown colored liquid as if it is water.
"You sure know how to hold you liquor miss"
"That's passed down from my pops, he is always had a booze in his hand. You know what? He drinks alcohol instead of water!" she exclaimed in a cheery tone followed by a light laughter.
"You can have a showdown with him then!" I followed up with a suggestion.
"I can't..." she paused for a moment." He passed away years ago".
And just like that I stepped on a major landmine.
"I am sorry".
"Never mind about that, it was a long time ago! How about you and me have drinking competition here?"
Her thought and emotion can't be predicted, it moves freely around like the wind. That's what I thought and her suggestion is a really bad idea for me. Because I can't handle alcohol, pretty ironic for a bartender that serves liquor on daily basis.
"I'll pass on that miss, I can't handle any booze" the reply to her demand seems pretty hard to believe that it is coming from a bartender.
"Is that a joke?" the happy-go-lucky woman asked again as she struggles to stifle a laughter coming out.
"You don't need to become a horse first to become the jockey right?"
A burst of loud laughter filled the pub as she was unable to hold her laughter any longer. It was not a problem either for her to laugh out loud, considering there are only two people here.
"You are really a big riot, you know! But that make some senses too" she spurts out a remark before resuming her laugh again.
The two of us spends these free times with jokes and random chatters that I can hardly remember whatever the topic was. The night passed away fast without us knowing the time. Before the old man clock told us how late it is. It was already 01.00 A.M when she left. I offered to accompany her home, she just refused with a boastful exclaims that she would be fine. I didn't force my will further given her hardy nature and the response she might give. Not until her figure was gone at the alley down the street, I realized that her name still remains a mystery to me and so was mine for her. But I am sure that she would come again tomorrow or any time in the future.
Her presence made me remember someone in my past. A person that I would rather not remembered. This nostalgic feeling can't be described by a mere word from my limited vocabulary. Long after her departure I still stood there wondering about how to deal about this. Only the cold wind of the night made me realized how long I have been standing there. As the night gets colder I decided to call it a day and retire back to the house
