Chapter 6 – What is it with this town?
Beck's POV
At ten to six on Friday evening I make my way down the stairs, following all the noise that's emanating from the pub. As promised to Alex, I'm ready to start my first shift behind the bar.
I've spent most of the day in bed, as I didn't manage to get any sleep during the night, but now I'm fresh and ready to stand behind the bar for the next few hours. I've worked in a pub before, a couple of times actually, so I'm fairly clued in on how it all works.
I managed to get all my clothes washed yesterday, I'm happy to announce, and I've also been able to shower and brush my teeth properly. So far this deal is really working out in my favour and I've decided to push all thoughts of going back to the cave to the back of my mind for now.
"Hey," Alex greets when she sees me walk through the door, turning to face me slightly as she continues to pull a pint into the glass she's holding. She looks tired, definitely not as energetic as she was yesterday, but I decide not to comment. It's not my place to pry.
"Hey, where do you want me?" I ask, moving to stand beside her and leaning my forearms on the bar.
"You, my friend, are on empty glass duty," she informs me, nodding towards the tables at the front of the pub that have a bunch of glasses left on them.
"Wonderful," I reply sarcastically.
She laughs at my lack of enthusiasm and gives the waiting customer their drink before turning back to me, also handing me an empty tray to collect the glasses on from under the bar.
"I've already done it once tonight, it's your turn," she explains with a shrug.
"Fair enough," I agree, taking the tray from her and glancing back at the tables.
"You can take the glasses through there," she says, pointing towards a door that I assume leads to the kitchen. "Bruce is on washing duty tonight until nine."
"Bruce?" I ask.
"Our cook," she elaborates.
"Oh, okay," I reply with a nod, making my way over to clean the tables and, with that, starting my first shift at 'The Red Lion'.
For the next three hours, after Alex gives me a quick run-through of the place, things go pretty smoothly. Alex and I stand behind the bar, serving people when needed and passing on food orders to the cook, whilst Bruce cooks and cleans in the kitchen.
Bruce is a pretty cool guy, looking to be somewhere in his late thirties with brown hair and a beard. He's easy to get along with, joking around with Alex and me whenever we cross paths. According to Alex he's been working here for about ten years now, give or take a few months, so he's easily Jenny's longest employee.
"What about you?" I ask as I stand behind the bar, waiting for the next customer to come along as we watch Bruce leave for the night. "How long have you been working here?"
"About a year and a half," she answers, leaning her elbows against the bar and throwing the towel she just used to mop up a spill over her shoulder.
"Huh," I say, trying to work it out in my head to make conversation. "So that makes you... twenty?" I guess.
"Close. I'm nineteen," she corrects. "What about you?"
"Twenty-one," I reply, glancing over at the door as a new customer arrives. It's a girl, looking no older than Alex, with dark brown hair and wearing a bright smile as she walks over to us.
"You're an idiot," Alex says, an amused smile curving her lips as the girl comes to a stop in front of us.
"What," the girl asks, taking a seat on a stool as she looks at Alex. "Isn't a girl allowed to visit her best friend at work anymore?"
"Depends on whether said girl is willing to fork over some cash for a drink. We're not running a free shelter for idiots here, you know," Alex replies, holding her hand out to the other girl and raising an eyebrow.
"Firstly," the girl announces, digging into her bag for some money and handing it over, "that's fucking rude and, secondly, you going to introduce me to your new friend here?"
Smooth, real smooth.
I try and keep the smirk off of my face as I watch this exchange with silent interest.
"Nah," Alex answers with a small shrug, walking off to get her friend a drink without even needing to ask what she wants.
"Fine," the dark-haired girl in front of me calls after Alex's retreating form. "Guess I'll have to do it myself." She then turns back to look at me, holding out her hand for me to shake. "Hi, I'm Darcy."
"Beck," I reply, unable to keep a straight face as I shake her hand.
"Nice meeting you, Beck," she says with another bright smile.
"Likewise," I reply as Alex comes back, drink in hand.
"You see, this is why we're friends," Darcy informs Alex, a joking grin on her face as she takes a sip of the mixed fruit cider. "It's all about the alcohol."
"Really? Here I was thinking it's because I used to let you cheat off my papers in school," Alex says with a laugh.
"Yeah, well, that too," Darcy agrees with a shrug as she glances behind her at tonight's bunch of customers, causing Alex to roll her eyes.
"I'm gonna trade you in for a new best friend," Alex tells her.
"Yeah? You do that," Darcy replies, going to take another sip from her glass as her eyes land on a particularly rowdy group of guys sat in the far right corner. "Shit," she then says suddenly, her glass still halfway to her mouth, before she quickly turns back around to face Alex and I.
"Yeah," Alex says, her eyes drifting over to the group as well. "He's been here for an hour."
"And you didn't think to tell me? Girl, I'm gonna be trading you in now. Officially the worst best friend ever," Darcy accuses with a slight frown.
"Come on, he probably won't even notice..." Alex trails off, looking back at Darcy. "He's seen you."
"You're fucking with me," Darcy says, clearly not believing Alex.
I briefly look over at the group as well, assuming that they're talking about the blonde guy who's currently rising from his seat with his eyes all but glued to the back of Darcy's head.
"No, I'm really not," Alex denies, shaking her head and glancing back at the guy.
"Shit," Darcy hisses, her eyes widening slightly. "Can I run?"
"He's coming over," Alex says in response, causing Darcy to groan and roll her eyes in annoyance.
"Of course he fucking is," she mutters.
As the guy saunters over I take the time to study him, immediately coming to realise that he's an arrogant shit that thinks the sun shines out of his ass. He doesn't even have to say anything and I already know it, he's just got one of those kinds of faces... the kind of face that you only need to look at for a few seconds before wanting to punch.
"Hey, Darce," the guy says, leaning an arm against the bar next to her and turning to face her.
"Mitchell," she replies, her tone curt as she stares straight ahead, not even bothering a glance at him.
It bothers him, the fact that she won't look at him, I can immediately tell it bothers him by the way his jaw clenches slightly.
"Come on, babe," he sighs, his voice exasperated as he rolls his eyes.
"Don't 'babe' me, I ain't a fucking pig," Darcy snaps, still not turning her head.
Irritation flashes in Mitchell's eyes and, this time when he speaks, his voice is much less pleasant.
"That's fucking debatable," he mutters, loud enough for Alex and I to overhear and making my impulse to knock him out grow even higher.
"Hey," Alex snaps, immediately rising to her friend's defence. "Why don't you just fuck off, Mitch. You'd be doing this town a favour."
The asswipe instantly turns his eyes on Alex and my back stiffens automatically, not liking the look he gives her one bit.
"That's not what your friend here used to think, is it Darce?" he asks, nudging her shoulder but she doesn't respond. Instead, she looks down at her fingers as they curve around her drink, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment as my hunch that these two used to sleep together is confirmed. "No, you used to fucking love having me around, the main word there being fucking."
Smarmy bastard.
"Yeah?" I speak up, my voice becoming menacing as I cross my arms and stare him down. "I hate to break it to you, mate, but it seems like she's moved on. I suggest you do the same."
"Fuck you," he snarls, trying to intimidate me with a glare but all I do is snort a sarcastic laugh.
It's going to take a lot more than a glare from this arrogant git to intimidate me.
"No, thanks," I reply, shrugging slightly. "Sorry, man, but I really don't swing that way. We've already concluded that Darcy's ruled herself out so I guess that just leaves Alex, here."
"Huh?" the girl in question asks, glancing at me with a raised eyebrow.
"You up for it?" I ask, nodding towards the blonde prick.
"Fuck no!" she replies instantly, shaking her head for emphasis.
"Yeah, I didn't think so," I reply, looking back at him with a challenging glare. "Looks like you're going to have to get your kicks elsewhere mate, you ain't getting shit from us."
"Yeah, Mitchell," Darcy says, finding her voice again and turning to glare at him. "Why don't you go find Heather? I bet she'd be all too happy to assist."
Something flashes in his eyes when he locks gazes with Darcy but it disappears as quickly as it arrives. With one final glare at the three of us, he storms out of the bar, slamming the door shut behind him and gaining the attention of his friends still sitting in the corner.
Fucking idiot.
"Sorry, Darce. It's been a year, now. I really thought he was growing up and moving on," Alex sighs, frowning at the door where dear Mitchell has just departed from.
"It's okay, Al, I thought so too," Darcy reassures her with a sigh of her own, her good mood clearly soured after that little run-in. "He's been avoiding me for months, now."
"So what's changed?" Alex asks, frowning slightly in confusion.
"I don't know," Darcy mumbles with a small shrug, but I don't even need to know the girl to see that she's not being completely truthful. Alex sees it too.
"Something happened," she states, not needing to make it a question.
"Nothing happened," Darcy denies.
"Something definitely happened."
"Okay! So maybe something happened," Darcy admits with a sigh before frowning. "Maybe I was in Pete's shop at the same time as him yesterday and saw him flirting with Mia. And maybe, just maybe, I kind of sort of threw an apple at the back of his head. Maybe."
What the fuck?
"You threw an apple at his head?" Alex asks, her eyes widening with amusement at her friend's confession.
"Yeah," Darcy confirms before taking a sip of her cider. "It bloody hit him as well. Who'd have thought it? In PE at school I could barely throw a rounders ball but yesterday that apple hit him square on target."
This is fucking legendary.
"Why didn't you tell me over the phone last night?" Alex asks, a small giggle escaping her as she tries to hold in her amusement.
"I don't know, didn't think it was important?" Darcy replies, raising her eyebrow at Alex slightly to convey some message that is completely lost on me.
"Whatever," Alex replies, rolling her eyes before getting back to the topic at hand. "At least tell me that Pete filmed it."
"No; he did make me pay for the stupid apple, though," Darcy grumbles, draining what's left of her drink.
This time, Alex doesn't even bother to hold in her laugh and, to be honest, I can't blame her.
"You're crazy," she tells her best friend, shaking her head slightly.
"Yeah, maybe I am," Darcy agrees with a small shrug. "Still doesn't explain why he has to be such an ass. I mean, I'm the one who's supposed to be angry, right?"
"Right," Alex says with a nod, leaning her hip against the bar.
I decide to stay out of it, seeing as it's none of my business and I have no idea what's going on. If I were to take a wild guess, though, I'd say that the guy is still into Darcy. I saw the look he gave her just before he left, it was the exact same look Justin used to give Lucy when I first met him, the 'I like you but you hate me so I'm going to keep making you hate me until you realise I like you' look. As I've already said, this Mitchell guy is a fucking idiot.
As I leave the girls to carry on their conversation, a woman from one of the tables by the door stands up and comes over for a refill. After serving her, she goes to sit back down and I make my way back over to Alex and Darcy.
"Hey," Alex says, holing out a tray to me. "It's your turn."
"You're such a little liar," I tell her as I roll my eyes and take the tray, earning a smirk from her as we both know that I did the empty glasses last time.
It doesn't take very long to go around the place collecting all the empty and abandoned glasses, although now that Bruce has gone home it means that Alex and I are going to have to split the rest of washing up duty tonight which might take a while.
After depositing the empty glasses into the kitchen, I make my way back to the bar only to find that another person has been added to our trio. It's another guy, this one a redhead, who looks to be in his early twenties.
"You really don't have to wait, Finn, I promise I'll be fine," I overhear Alex saying as I move to stand back behind the bar. "Besides, Beck's here."
What am I being dragged into now?
"Who?" the guy, Finn, asks, and I can't help but notice the way he frowns slightly at the mention of my name.
"Him," Darcy replies, pointing to me as I come to a stop a little bit further down the bar.
"Who's he?" Finn asks, still not looking too happy.
"I'm Beck," I reply, rolling my eyes slightly and noticing the amused smile that appears on both Alex and Darcy's faces.
"What's he doing here?" Finn asks, turning back to Alex and directing the question to her as if I never even spoke.
Okay then...
"He works here," she replies with a shrug.
"Since when?" he asks, his frown deepening.
"Since now," Darcy replies in exasperation. "Stop being so weird, Finn."
"I'm not being weird," he denies.
Yeah you are, dude, I think to him whilst ignoring the temptation to roll my eyes again.
What is it with this town?
"I'll be fine, Finn, really," Alex says, apparently moving back to the original topic of conversation. "You don't need to wait around."
Finn stays silent for a few more seconds and just stares at me, clearly not trusting me in the slightest. Not that I can blame him, really. I tend to have this reaction from people when they first meet me, guys especially, so it's no surprise that this guy is no different.
"Fine, whatever," he eventually replies, giving Alex one final look and a small smile before turning on his heel and exiting the pub.
"What the hell just happened?" I can't help but ask.
"He wants to marry her," Darcy says for a means of explanation.
"He doesn't want to marry me," Alex corrects, rolling her eyes and her friend. "He wants to date me, there's a difference."
"No, in the short term he wants to date. In the long term he wants to marry you," Darcy argues with an evil grin.
"Shut up," is all Alex replies, shaking her head at her friend.
"I'll even put a bet on him already having the honeymoon planned out. Then afterwards he'll want to stay here, forever, with you working at this place, forever, so that he can walk you home every day, forever," Darcy laughs.
"You're hilarious," Alex says flatly.
"It's true and you know it," Darcy says with a shrug.
"Whatever," Alex mutters, sighing slightly.
Darcy sticks around for a little while longer before announcing that she needs to head home. By this point it's coming up to ten, which means we only have an hour left before it's time to close up.
When the last call is finally announced, the bar becomes quite busy again with people trying to get one more drink into the night before they have to go home.
"Your turn," I say, handing her the empty tray to go and collect the glasses.
"Yeah, yeah, okay," she sighs dramatically, flashing me a small grin before setting off to do her job.
Thankfully the rest of the night goes without any more unexpected visitors and, when Alex finally closes and locks the front door, I'm happy that my first night behind the bar went by fairly smoothly.
"You know, I think you'd make a good bouncer as well as a good barman," she says as she walks back towards me and leans on the bar opposite me.
"Yeah?" I ask with a smirk, using a rag to wipe down the bar.
"Yeah, it didn't take a lot for you to get Mitchell running for his mommy," she laughs. "I've never seen anyone intimidate him quite like that before."
"What's the deal with him, anyway?" I ask, deciding to get to know this town and it's people a little better if I'm going to be staying here for a while.
"Well, he and Darcy went out for, like, six months at the beginning of last year. They were getting pretty serious, you know? Then, one night, he goes to a party and gets rats assed," she explains with a shrug, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out where this is going. "He got caught shagging Heather Martin and, of course, Darcy found out."
"Ah," I say, wincing slightly at that.
What a prick.
"Yeah," she sighs.
"Why'd she even go for him in the first place?" I ask. "I mean, I've only met her once but she clearly can do better."
"You don't get it," Alex says, shaking her head slightly. "He's Mitchell Greene. He can get girls to fall at his feet with a single smile and he sure as hell knows it."
"You talking from experience there?" I ask her.
"God, no. He's really not my type," she says with a shrug and a small laugh. "He's just that guy, you know? And Darcy fell hard. It doesn't really make much sense. I mean, he's a complete ass."
"Guys like that always are," I say, reminded once again of Justin bloody Detroit.
I mean, don't get me wrong, he makes Lucy happy which is all I've ever really wanted to see. He doesn't deserve her, though, not really. He and Mitchell would get on well, I reckon.
"Yeah, well... yeah," she agrees with a sigh, getting lost in her thoughts for a second before snapping back into reality. "Right, we're almost done here. You wipe the tables and I'll wash the glasses?"
"Sounds like a plan," I agree before setting to work.
It doesn't take long and, in no time at all, the two of us are back at the bar with everything finished for the night.
"Right, well, thanks for your help tonight," Alex says as we make our way into the back, me heading for the stairs and her heading for the back door after she's locked everything up. "You weren't too shabby for your first night here."
"No problem," I reply, pointing up to the ceiling. "Thanks for the place to stay."
"Yeah, don't mention it," she says, waving it off with a small smile. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"That you will," I agree as I make a start up the stairs. "Goodnight, Blondie," I then call over my shoulder.
"Goodnight, Beck," she replies before I hear the door quietly shutting behind her.
Well, tonight was... interesting.
(Hey guys! So here's chapter 6... FINALLY. I know this took a lot longer than any of us expected to update but I've been really busy lately so haven't had much time to write this past week. I'm not really sure what to make of this chapter, it feels like it might be a bit choppy in places and I'm sorry for that. I'm also sorry for any and all mistakes within this chapter, I've quickly gone through and corrected a few but I've probably missed some.
So, what do you guys make of this chapter? How are we liking the characters so far? What do you think is going to happen next? I'd really love to hear what you're all thinking :) If you liked the chapter and think it's worth it then go ahead and leave a Vote/Comment/Add/Follow, thanks!
Okay... so in other news. I got my results and I ACTUALLY PASSED!!! :O I was so shocked that I legit cried on results day :') So, yeah, this means that I'm officially going to Uni in September to study Creative Writing/Psychology :D I'm also moving into halls next month because the Uni is a fair few hours away from where I live now and I am pretty sure I'm going to die :') I'm super scared about it all whilst being super excited at the same time, haha. I guess I'm telling you all this because for the next few months my updates might be a bit all over the place so I apologise in advance for that but I'm going to have a lot on my plate. I'm going to have to meet new people which I suck at and get used to a brand new place and it's going to be crazy :') I promise I'll try and write and update when I get the chance to, though :)
Were any of you waiting for results too? If so I hope you all did great! :D
I'm not sure when chapter 7 will be going up because my friend's all got into their Uni's as well so we're all going to be hanging out loads before we have to part ways, which is going to be super sad :( So, yeah, thanks for the patience that you're going to need :') Thanks for reading this chapter and, until next time, byee!)