A Proper Send-Off

Part 1

"How're things, Jim? Need a fresh one?"

"Still working on it," the older man replied. "How're things with Zack or Kevin or whoever it is you're dating these days?"

The pretty bartender frowned. "Over. And I'm the better for it."

"True." He nodded sagely. "He didn't seem up to the task,"

"Ugh, I need a man," she said in exasperation. "I mean, look at me." The bartender stepped back from the bar, waving her hand over her torso. "How is it that none of the guys I date are able to take this on?"

Sarah grimaced a little. The woman was straight. Of course she was. Sarah's troubles returned to her in full and she turned her attention to her drinks, gulping the cool, bitter beer down.

"It's because you date young fellas," the man answered. "Raised on tofu and video games instead of red meat and national service,"

"Mmm, so I need an older man, is what you're telling me?" the bartender said flirtatiously as she leaned towards her patron. "Think Gladys could share you for a night?"

"Kiddo, she'd tear your arms off," Jim chuckled mournfully.

"Poo." She pouted before turning towards Sarah. "How about you? Know any good, available men that you don't want yourself?"

"I legitimately don't." Sarah knocked back her shot of whiskey.

"Figures," the bartender moaned. "Such is my lot, I suppose. An instrument such as myself and no Hendrix or Page to make it sing."

Sarah smiled weakly as she ordered another round. The rest of the afternoon went much in the same way. Sarah drank quickly and copiously as the bartender and her other customer talked and flirted. When the bartender flirted with him, he'd beg off and when he propositioned her she'd giggle and call him a "dirty ol' perv."

It seemed to Sarah like a well-practiced routine. Sarah was in no mood for it though. She wanted to drink. She wanted to forget Audrey and the Army and her life. As the evening went on, she even managed to do a halfway decent job of it. The bar remained nearly as empty through closing. Sarah and Jim stayed and every now and then another person would come in for a drink or two.

The night drew to a close and Sarah got up, her head spinning slightly. She'd been drinking solidly for hours and she'd come very close to forgetting every relevant detail of her life.

The bartender noticed Sarah's movements and walked towards her. "Done for the night?"

Sarah nodded. She was drunk, but she knew that anything she said would have made her sound ridiculous. Even knowing the girl was straight and man-crazy didn't make Sarah any less self-conscious about looking stupid in front of her. Sarah just reached behind her for her wallet as the bartender put a bill in front of her.

Sarah grasped the small piece of paper and flipped it up and immediately saw there'd been a mistake. She'd only been charged five dollars for what Sarah guessed to be at least a dozen beers and just as many shots.

"You undercharged me," Sarah blurted, trying to keep her composure.

"No I didn't," the bartender said confidently as she wiped down another spot of the bar.

"But I was drinking all night," Sarah drunkenly protested,

"And that right there is the military price for doing so in O'Flaherty's," the redhead said with a wink as she turned her head back to Sarah.

Sarah shook her head. She hadn't mentioned what she did all day or to anyone. She wasn't wearing a buzz cut or any military paraphernalia either, her sandy blonde hair was just tied behind her in a tight ponytail and she was in jeans and a sweatshirt.

"Don't be ridiculous, I can pay my bar tab," Sarah kept protesting,

The beautiful girl shrugged. "It's bar policy, nothing I can do. Especially not this time of year."

Sarah had to struggle to figure out what the last part of the sentence meant for a second before remembering that Veterans Day was a few days away. It actually fell on the day Sarah was shipping out. Sarah had remembered thinking that it would be apropos that her last night with Audrey would have fallen on the holiday.

The thought brought Sarah back to her problems for a second and she glumly nodded, reluctantly accepting the bar's patriotic policy.

Steeling herself, Sarah straightened herself up and allowed the redheaded bartender to catch her eye once more. She'd stolen glances all through the day but this time she took a long, lingering stare as the woman went about the business of running the bar.

Sarah didn't know if she was trying to make sure the woman was real or was just storing up a mental image for a masturbatory session or some mixture of the two. Either way, the two women's eyes caught. Sarah nervously turned her head as she was caught, the bartender just smiled to herself.

"Well, I'm off," Sarah said nervously, realizing the ridiculousness of announcing her departure to a bar of strangers.

"Have enough for a cab?" the bartender asked.

Sarah nodded.

"And you're definitely not driving?" she inquired sternly

Sarah shook her head. The bartender looked her over for a second with a probing eye, as if she could tell if Sarah was lying just by giving her the once over. Apparently satisfied, the bartender gave her a smile and a wink. "Alright then, have a good one."

The next morning, Sarah found herself in the same spot at the same time. Her hangover had worn off and her desire to drink away her day had returned powerfully. When she woke, she'd briefly considered doing what she could to find a gay bar, maybe try to pick a woman up, but the truth was that even if Sarah were the type to hit the gay bar scene, the possibility of running into Audrey made her want to throw up. So she'd caught another cab to O'Flaherty's early in the afternoon. Sarah didn't know if the same bartender would be there but she figured it was a win-win situation for her regardless. If it was a new bartender, Sarah could sit in the quiet bar and drink. If it was the same girl, Sarah could spend another day admiring the most sexually appealing example of the female form she'd ever laid eyes on. Pulling open the door, Sarah was pretty sure which of the two options she'd prefer.

To her pleasure, nothing seemed to have changed from the day before. The same older gentleman was on his stool at one end of the bar, the same trivia show was on the TV he was watching and, sitting on the bar with her back towards the door, was a girl that Sarah could instantly recognize as the same one who'd served her the day before. It was just that spectacular an ass.