Absolut Style

Chapter 5

" What was that?"

"What was what?" I smile at him waiting for that smug reply.

"Absolute Style? Are you making fun of me?" he smirks although he is worried that I am in fact making fun of him. Oh this is so precious!

"No, I wouldn't dream of it. I was just stating the obvious. Absolut vodka by the hands of none other than Mr. Styles" I explain as I put my hair behind my ear.

"You are beautiful you know that?" he says out of the blue leaning in a bit closer to me. He is behind the bar and I am opposite him standing supporting my body on one elbow on the cold surface.

"You too!" I reply instantly without giving it much thought. He is beautiful after all and he knows it. It's only fair that I reciprocate the compliment.

"But don't think for a minute that looks is everything" I continue to explain. "Actually looks are a lot of trouble ..."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that people think you are just a pretty face and nothing more." I say and I can tell that he is intrigued.

"Care to elaborate?" he shouts as the music makes it difficult for us to talk.

"Maybe some other time" I say as I gesture that the music is extremely loud and he nods.

I let him serve the customers that have accumulated around the bar, mostly females I might add, as I look in the crowd to spot Ed. And there he is dancing with a blond in the middle of the dance floor, his hands on her hips a bit awkwardly; he is in deep hound mode, he is just about to sniff her. Oh dear Lord have mercy.

I head back to the side bar this time and I am lucky enough to have found a stool when I feel someone pat me on the shoulder. I turn around and I see a woman in her mid thirties perhaps looking down at me in an arrogant way.

"Harry doesn't like girls" she says straight up and I furrow my brows wondering where that came from.

"Harry? Harry the bartender?" I ask not really registering what this woman wants from me.

"Don't play dumb. You know exactly who I mean" she is getting angrier by the second but I have dealt with too much shit in my life to put up with her.

"Oh so he is gay...really? He didn't seem gay to me " I tell her faking ignorance.

"Maybe he is by then?" I continue mocking her.

"He is definitely not into little girls" she states her look weighing me.

"So it's good to know that he is not a pedophile" I dislike her tone so much I would rather listen to nails scratching a blackboard than listening to her.

"You are a smart ass aren't you?" she raises her brow and flips her long bleached hair back while her red nails fix her tiny silver dress. She is sexy with a killer body, I have to give her that.

"Yeah, I get that a lot" I tell her being amused by her irritation.

"Wait a minute...your voice sounds familiar" I say as the pumping music doesn't help at all but it's like this bell ringing inside my head. Ding ding ding and we have a winner.

"Oh sweetheart I almost didn't recognize you" I say clapping my hands.

"You know me?" she asks surprised.

"Can you just say Harder Harry, Harder Harry...just to make sure?" I tell her with a huge grin and I continue relentlessly as I remembered her voice from when I went to the toilet on Ed's birthday and heard her going at it with Harry. I cringe at the thought of it but since she is willing to wind me up then so am I.

"What?" she glares at me.

"Oh excuse me the echo of the toilet made your voice deeper" she is fuming by now and she takes her drink ready to spill it on me but I grip her hand hard.

"You are messing with the wrong girl. I'm not after Harry. So don't get your knickers in a twist" I tell her as my nails are digging in her wrist until I finally let her go.

"Besides when you need to warn others about your man then he is not your man" I say and leave her there wondering what the fuck just happened. I hate it when things like this destroy my mood. I mean if I ever caught my boyfriend cheating I would never tell the other girl off unless she was my friend of course. But if she was a stranger I would never confront her. It's your man you should confront, it's your boyfriend you should be having trouble with, but then again that's just me.

I leave her there still like a mountain and walk back to the dance floor to tell Ed I'm leaving. If he wishes to stay then I will just say goodnight but I am definitely leaving as we have enough photos for our article and I am a bit bored. I look around but Ed is nowhere to be seen. Damn it Ed, where the hell are you? I walk around the club and I still can't find him anywhere. I decide to wait a bit at the end of the main bar until he emerges when Sylvia comes up to me with a drink in her hand offering it to me.

"I see one of Harry's women got to you" she tells me and hands me the drink.

"On the house" she gives me a knowing look and a nod and I thank her sipping on the reddish liquid which doesn't taste bad.

"Yeah, but she is barking at the wrong tree" I comment sarcastically not wanting to give value to my previous encounter.

"Are you sure about that?" she gestures for me to look to the left and I see Harry staring at me from the other side of the bar and as soon as he realizes I caught him staring he lifts his drink and mouths cheers. I lift my drink but look at him for just a brief second. I know he is friends with Sylvia, they do kiss every night when they bartend together so I deliver the message loud and clear.

"Harry is just an acquaintance, a friend at its best, she is truly barking at the wrong tree Sylvia" Ed or no Ed I am leaving. This is getting ridiculous. What? Harry snapped his fingers and I am not on my knees yet and the world fucking stopped? It's not how the game is played people.

Again I look around but I can't seem to spot gingerhead anywhere. So I decide to thank Harry alone and leave. I will text Ed and I will meet him tomorrow at work anyway. I move towards the tall young man and his apparent fan club who are squealing around him as he juggles some bottles around obviously impressing them as they all applaud and flip their hair right and left. The minute he gets a glimpse of me I stop and wave goodnight shouting a big "Thank you" and I turn to leave. I don't want to bother him anymore but I also don't want to look ungrateful and impolite. I only manage to take a few steps before I am stopped by someone grabbing my arm.

I feel something ice cold running down my back.

She fucking didn't!