Just a boy in a bar {bws}

1

It was Friday night, and I was pretty drunk.

It was my best friend Amelia's birthday, so the girls (Amelia, Ruby, Fearne and I) were out in Manchester, where we all shared a flat together. We'd lived together since the first year of uni and all stayed here when we finished, taking on various jobs as post-grads. I was an events manager at a live music venue, Amelia worked in marketing, Ruby was a barmaid and Fearne worked for a local charity. Tonight, for Amelia's 23rd, we had been dancing and drinking for several hours and things were starting to get a little messy. Naturally, this didn't mean we were going to stop - in fact, the night was just getting interesting.

"Bella, you lose!" Amelia cried, straightening the tiara that was balanced precariously on her blonde hair. It was a tradition in our friendship group that when it was your birthday, you were the birthday princess and therefore wore the birthday tiara all day and all night.

"Your round, Bella!" grinned Ruby, giving me a gentle shove towards the bar. I finished my shot - being the slowest drinking it was what had sealed my fate as the loser - then started to weave my way through the crowd to the bar.

The bar we were in was busy and loud; a live band were playing covers of contemporary and classic pop songs, with people dancing on the floor and on benches and tables enthusiastically. I sang along loudly as I reached the bar and waited to be served. It took quite a while, but eventually I ordered four cocktails and handed over my money. Throughout this all, i was grinning: the last couple of weeks had been pretty awful for me, but I was finally out with my girls having the best time.

"Fearne!" I shouted. "Fearne, come help me with drinks!"

Finally hearing me, Fearne was jostled towards the bar and picked up two of the drinks, then started back towards Amelia and Ruby, who were now screaming along to the jazzy cover of Uptown Funk that was currently being played. Just as I turned to follow her, however, the boy stood beside me was suddenly knocked into me. The drinks shoved against my body and spilled over my sparkly blue dress.

"Oh, typical!" I sighed, putting the glasses back down and starting to wipe myself dry. I glared at the boy who had barged into me, but he had his back to me and was in some sort of argument with another guy. I shoved the guy closest in the back and he turned round.

"Oi, dickhead, look at me!" I shouted, indicating my soaking dress. The boy, who was tall and skinny and stunk of beer, leered at me.

"I'm looking... and I'm liking what I see..."

He reached out and tried to put his arm around me but I shoved him again, and the boy he had previously been arguing with - the one who had pushed him into me - grabbed him by the shoulder.

"What's your problem?" the other guy asked. I couldn't held admiring his bravery, since the guy who's sweaty arm was draped across my shoulder was about a foot taller than him. However, the smaller guy looked incensed. "Don't start touching girls unless they wanna be touched!"

"You need to back off, you little prick," the tall guy slurred, stumbling slightly so that more of his weight pressed against me and forced my hip to collide with the bar.

"No," I said, "YOU need to back off!" Again, I shoved him and he disturbed the group of girls next to him, who shot him dirty looks. "Get your dirty sweaty hands off me, and when you're going away from me - far, far away, and hopefully forever - try not to ruin any other girls' outfits or nights!"

I gave him one last elbow to the side and he finally removed his arm from my shoulder.

"Whatever - you're ugly anyway!" he scoffed, immediately shoving someone beside him out of the way to be swallowed by the crowd. I watched him go with narrowed eyes, sighed, and turned back to the bar to buy two more cocktails. Suddenly I felt a lot more sober, and all my problems from the past few weeks came flooding back to me. Just what on Earth was wrong with the male gender?!

I waited patiently for the bartender, not too keen to get back to the girls whilst my mood was in this lull. Eventually he served me, and I was getting my purse out to pay when someone else held out a debit card.

"I'll get these. Two rum and cokes as well, please, mate."

I looked to my left: it was the shorter guy, the one who had pushed that prick into me. Now that I looked at him, I noticed he was actually a little taller than me, and the unruly curly hair on top of his head made him look a little taller still. This was brown, as were his eyes, which were peering at me in a friendly yet cautious way.

"It's the least I can do, since I pushed that wanker into you," he added, glancing down at the stain on my dress. I looked at it too, then smiled up at the boy.

"It wasn't your fault," I shrugged. "I mean, I didn't even hear what made you shove him, but I can almost guarantee he was at fault."

The boy smiled at me, then thanked the bartender for the drinks.

"He kept pushing into my sister," the boy said. "She kept asking him to stop, politely as well, but unfortunately some boys get a drink in them and think they own all the space around them - and all the girls. He put his dirty slobbery arms around her so I gave him a shove, and then he did the same to you and it annoyed me again. Sorry, I guess it's not really my place."

"Don't get me wrong, I can look after myself," I replied, shouting a little over the blaring music, "But more boys should be willing to call out other boys on their bullshit. So, thanks. And thanks for the drinks."

"Like I said, it's the least I could do," he smiled. "I'm Bradley, by the way." 

"Nice to meet you. I'm - "

"Bella!"

Amelia, Ruby and Fearne appeared beside me, two of them cradling empty glasses but Fearne without. I handed her the cocktail and sipped my own.

"What's going on?" asked Amelia. Then, she looked at Bradley and announced, "I'm the birthday princess." She adjusted her tiara to demonstrate.

He grinned, "Many happy returns, and apologies for keeping your friend. Bella, is it? I was trying to be a chivalrous gentleman, but ended up knocking a Pornstar Martini or two down her front - hence the delay."

"It's not the first time she's had a porn star down her front," smirked Ruby, and Bradley grinned.

"Story of my life, you know how it is," I said, rolling my eyes. He gave a chuckle at this.

"Come on, Bella," Fearne said, seizing my arm. "Lets go sort your dress out."

The two of us downed the last of our cocktails and she started leading us towards the toilets, Amelia and Ruby in our wake. As we weaves through the crowd, I turned back to Bradley and mouthed "Thanks!" My green eyes met his warm brown ones, then the dancing and movement of the bar enveloped him, and he was gone.