Dandelion - H.S. AU

Chapter 3

The bartender mixed the drink quickly behind the counter, adding nothing but whiskey and black coffee to the clear, crystal pint glass. "Here you are ma'am." He said quickly before rushing over to the opposite end of the extremely crowded bar. She stared at the concoction in front of her for a second, swirling it around slightly and then putting the cup up to her nose for a sniff. Immediately released face scrunched at the putrid mix of bitter coffee beans and hard liquor. Defeatedly she placed her glass back down and looked back up at the bartender, her eyes following the back of his head as he asked someone for their order. Floating back into her wild blur of thoughts, she quickly started to fall back into a daze, staring hopelessly in the direction of the bartender while thoughts of her grandfather littered her mind.

She hadn't even noticed how long she'd been staring into space until the bartender walked away from the person to go fix their drink. As soon as his body was removed from her sight line her eyes fell directly to a pair of shining eyes, the color of lily pads and meadows and all of the beautiful things that filled the natural world.

She stared into those eyes unconsciously for a few seconds, immediately forgetting all of her problems as she became entranced by the stranger, no not even the stranger, just the eyes. She hadn't even began to explore the rest of the strangers face, but she was sure that with eyes like those, the other features could not possibly be disappointing. It felt as though she'd known those eyes her whole life. Something comfortably familiar but also extremely enticing his inside them, and she stared into them as if she was trying to uncover every single thing they'd ever seen.

After what felt like minutes of staring straight into the hauntingly beautiful eyes, she was quickly snapped back into reality when a dancing couple stumbled into the back of her barstool. " 'Scuse us!" they yelled quickly in apology before continuously spinning around the small floor, hand in hand. She turned back towards the holder of the set of eyes and saw they were still focused on her. Soft blush the color of strawberries crept up her cheeks as she suddenly became extremely embarrassed over her intense glaring match with the stranger across the bar. She returned her focus back to the dark liquid occupying the glass in front of her before pinching her nose between her index finger and thumb and quickly swallowing it all in one gulp. Bitter, spicy liquid burned down her throat and made her eyes water slightly. She coughed roughly and slowly set the glass back to its previous place on the counter. Hopefully the effects of the drink would be better than the taste, because the flavor resembled a mix of mud and fire, but she needed the liquid courage.

Rubbing the tears out of the sides of her pupils she saw the stranger across the bar laughing...at her. He tossed his head back and let out a soft chuckle, but not before grabbing his bottle and mimicking her feeble attempt to soften the rancid taste of her drink by plugging her nose. He let out a soft cough, the same as hers, before bursting back into cackles and looking up at her. She pretended not to be amused for a moment, simply turning away and looking out towards the window of the building, but she couldn't help biting her lip to stifle the giggle building in her chest, and smirk slightly before glancing back in his direction.

But suddenly, the stranger was no longer in his chair. Not a trace of him left in its wake. Maybe she had imagined the whole encounter, she wouldn't put it past her extremely over active imagination. She frowned slightly at the thought, but not until she saw him slip into the stool directly to her right. "You took that swig like a real champ, ma'am." he said sweetly, giving her a kind smile. She couldn't help the darkening of the blush on her cheeks as they encountered.

He was an extremely attractive man, possibly the best looking one she'd ever seen. His shorter, chocolate brown hair was tousled in soft curls on top of his head. He had a strong jawline, tanned skin and a slightly thinner build. A toothpick was wedged between round, raspberry-pink stained lips and his perfectly white teeth, accompanied by a beautiful smile that could stop the spinning world of it had to. She was becoming slightly overwhelmed by the sudden attention of the gorgeous stranger, but she tried her best not to let it affect the way she interacted with him.