Closing Time

3

But I knew what he was. My heart wasn't racing in my chest because I found him hot. It's because I found him terrifying and I was scared for my life. My hand tightened on the countertop. I wanted to leave. I wanted to run. But he would catch me before I even made the first move. He was ridiculously fast. He'd even moved me inside before I realised it.

His eyes flickered over my face, and then to the side, behind me. I heard a click. The sound landed heavily in my gut. That was the door lock. There was another click, a quieter one I recognised as the light switches. The lights flickered. I winced as it hurt my eyes, my head turned away for a moment... only to turn back again and find he was gone.

Relief passed through me, I let out a harsh breath I didn't know I held. My legs felt weak again. I was slightly light-headed. That definitely wasn't a dream. He definitely wasn't a dream. But why had he come here? Just to t-

"I'll take my usual."

I jumped as I heard the voice and twisted back around to the front of the bar. He was in the same place as yesterday, hands steepled together in front of him and a pleasant smile on his face as he watched me expectantly. I bumped into the back of my bar. The glass bottles rattled musically behind me.

"Y-you're still here." I unwittingly blurted out.

"Yes. I am." He paused. "And I'm waiting for my drink."

"A... drink..." My brain was still out of town. I was speaking like I didn't know what a drink was.

"Yes. A drink." He sighed impatiently. "Scotch. Neat. Like yesterday."

He wanted a drink? That's it? "So, you're... not going to kill me?"

He scoffed. "If I did that, who would serve me my drink?"

I could feel my heart slow down. "But you could just serve yourself." I gestured towards the door. "You could just enter whenever you want, doing what you did, and serve yourself."

"If I wanted to serve myself, and drink by myself, I would do it at home." He gave me a dry look. "So, am I going to get a drink or not?"

I frowned at him. I'd heard that several times by now. It meant...

"You're lonely." I blurted out. My body relaxed almost involuntarily in surprise.

He rolled his eyes. "No. I'm not 'lonely'. I just want a drink."

"You would drink at home if that was true." I threw his words back at him as I peeled myself away from the shelves. "You're lonely. You-You want company when you drink." I paused. "That's why you were flirting yesterday too."

"I'm not lonely, Ryleigh. I just want a drink. And am I going to get one now or not?" He had started to sound annoyed. I could feel the sense of tightness in my chest start to return.

"Th-The bar is closed. I'm supposed to go home." I'm really pushing my luck here.

"Yeah, but you're here. So give me a drink."

"I... I..." I opened my mouth to speak, only to stutter as he narrowed his eyes at me. The lights went slightly dim. "I... Three scotch. Neat, right?"

"Yes." He growled out. The lights returned to their full brightness.

I turned to side, picking up the bottle of scotch to serve him. I paused as I reached for the glasses, turning at him as I spoke. "Are you going to pay?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

This was dangerous, but if I had to work overtime for him, I wasn't going to work for free. "Are you going to pay?" I repeated slowly as I met his dark eyes. "You didn't pay yesterday."