Weirdly enough, being reminded that I was a bartender and I had a duty to fulfill fortified me a bit. My legs no longer shook when I left the washroom.
"Alright." I stepped back behind the bar with an angry pep in my step. Lou raised an eyebrow as I walked all the way up to him and slammed my hand down on the countertop. I met his eyes with the harshest glare I could summon. "What the hell is a demon?"
His other eyebrow went up too. "You did say your supernatural knowledge was limited, but I never figured it was this bad."
"Assume I don't know anything." Which I really don't. With both my hands on the counter, I leaned forward. "What is your purpose? What are you? Why are you here?"
Lou crinkled his nose. His brows dropped back down. "First of all, have a mint." My eyes moved to the hand he'd raised, there was a mint held in between two fingers. I hadn't even seen him reach for one. "And second, all of those are some very deep answers I don't think you need to know the answer to yet. Or ever."
I frowned at him, shifted to the side and snatched it from his fingers with just my teeth. Lou watched me quietly as I bit into the white shell. The strong essence of mint released both onto my tongue and into the air.
A smirk formed on his face. I was so tired of that. "I must admit, that was kind of hot." He leaned forward, inches separated us as he licked his lips. "What else can that mouth do, Ryleigh?"
I hate the way he said my name. I hated the fact that I liked the way he said my name. "Currently, it can ask angrier questions." I hissed and paused mid-action as something crossed my mind. "Thanks for the mint, but this somehow better not be some crooked deal you've got me into."
Lou snickered and rolled his eyes as he picked up his glass. "What would make you say that?"
"Because I find you sleazy and I don't trust you."
"Well, you're right about the second one. But ouch. Sleazy? Really?" He exhaled softly and shrugged after a short pause where I maintained my suspicious glare. "What?" He snapped after a while. "Changed your mind about going home with me tonight?"
"No. No, I haven't. Shut up." I chewed my lip as he took a sip of his drink. My gut felt off. "Somehow, I don't believe you."
He sighed once again. "Normally, a great idea. But right now, more bothersome than anything." Placing the glass back on the counter, he purposefully met my eyes. He spoke slowly. "I. Did not. Force you. Into a deal. Over. A. Fucking. Mint."
I didn't let go of my lip. "You did something. I can feel it."
"You can... feel it..." He repeated dryly.
My cheek was starting to feel raw. I was going to get nowhere with him on those case. Something felt wrong, but I couldn't explain it. It might be in his best interest to deny it, I don't know. I don't know anything! I can't be too careful with him... or whatever is sitting in front of me.
"Thanks for letting me know." I replied equally as dryly as I pushed away from the counter. I took two long steps over to my bag. The zip growled in the silence as I yanked the bag open and my hand found a roll of mint within seconds. Lou watched me quietly as I walked back up to him. He didn't hold out his hand when I extended mine so I dropped one mint onto the counter in front of him. "That's one repaid, and..." Another mint plinked onto the counter. "That's for the interest, if there's any."
Lou whistled lowly, eyes on the white mints on the counter. "I must say, that's the fastest loan I've ever had repaid. And I've been alive a while." He glanced at my face before quickly adding– "Not that you have any as I have repeated several times."
So that confirms my suspicion about him being immortal. Or atleast about having a long lifespan. "How long have you been... uh, alive?" Does the term 'alive' even count for him?
"I don't even remember anymore." He picked up a mint and held it up to the light. It twisted in his fingers absentmindedly. "All I know is it's been a while."
"A rough estimate?"
Lou popped the mint into his mouth, cracked audibly through the sugar shell and chewed in thoughtful silence for a few minutes. "Can you really put a time on when humans developed beliefs?"
I frowned. "You're formed from a belief?"
"More or less. It's very complicated and none of your business." He reached out to pour himself another glass. "Technically, you're formed from a belief too..." My frowned deepened as he continued to explain. "You were probably formed from someone's strong belief of wanting a child, or needing to procreate, or just straight up unprotected sex. Humans have formed entire societies on a belief, killed millions on a belief, brainwashed millions into following a belief. Then why should it surprise you that you're also formed from one?"
"It's... It's not surprising as much as it is a revelation." I paused. "An interesting revelation."
"Well, then ask your mom why they had you." Lou met my eyes. "You'll find out."
I chuckled softly. My lower back rested on the stool. "That would be quite a feat. My mom is dead."
For the first time that night, I saw him pause. He read my face in silence for a few moments before replying. "My bad, then. But you don't seem to aggrieved about her death."
"I'm an orphan. I don't see the point of grieving for someone I never even knew."
"Interesting. How did you find out about her then?"
"My mother apparently died during childbirth so I ended up in a long series of foster homes till I was kicked out of the system at 18."
"Don't know your father then?"
I grimaced as he brought up that inevitable question. "He's... there."
"Alive and kicking?"
"Unfortunately." Lou raised an eyebrow. I shrugged sheepishly. "I regret finding out who he is."
"Well, that's not new." Lou leaned back to stretch his arms above his head leisurely. I yawned tiredly as well. He noticed. "Long day?"
"Very." I threw him an annoyed look. "I haven't slept since you left yesterday."
Lou laughed as he somehow found that amusing. "That's a shame. I thought I was finally growing on you."
He kind of was. My heart no longer tried to leave my chest in fear around him. "Shut up and leave already. I want to go home."
"Stellar service at this place." Lou chuckled as he raised the glass to his lips.
The exhaustion was really getting to me after a long day of being wired up. Now that I'd finally relaxed a bit around him, I felt sleepy. It might also be the loss of water from throwing up. He stayed for a bit longer to talk about mundane stuff. And avoided wading onto heavy topics like my father and his existence. He paid his bill in full, with a nice tip when he left. I waved him off like I would with any regular as I emptied the tip jar. It took another five minutes to clean up and close up the place for good before I left.
I passed out the moment my head hit the pillow. My sleep was deep, a dreamless one that didn't break with my alarm but with my ringtone forcing me up. Dottie was calling me. I was late.
I didn't even bother changing. A quick trip to the bathroom to freshen up and I was out the door, on my way to the restaurant. Dottie threw me a worried look as I barged through the door to find my lunch regulars lined up at the bar and waiting.
"Thank you for waiting!" I spoke up cheerily before their grumbles could reach my ear. It took a minute to calm them down before I started my shift. I rushed around with drinks and apologies. Any later and I would have missed my biggest tipping rush, but the fact that I was late to serve my regulars didn't make them very generous either. A tired sigh escaped me as I looked at the tip jar. I'd rather it stayed empty, atleast then I wouldn't feel so bad.
"Don't beat yourself up. Everyone has their bad days." Dottie reached over the counter to pat my shoulder.
"Yeah, but this is very bad. I haven't had a day like this in a while."
"Don't vorry about it." Sasha poked his head through the small window beside the kitchen doors. He gave a me a huge grin, waving his spatula at me. "I'll make you something good to eet."
I gave him a genuine smile. My stomach growled. "Great. I have a huge appetite today."
Sasha's grin widened. This was always good news for him. "That's great news!" I stand corrected.
I laughed and turned away from him to serve the remainder of my lunch hour customers. Today was good. Today could actually be pretty amazing. I wasn't even that worried about Lou tonight.
Surprisingly enough, I was a bit excited. After a good night's sleep and an entire day to think it over, I realised this was actually quite interesting. He was actually quite interesting. I wanted to know more about him, his world and everything he'd ever seen or been through. If he really is as old as he said he says he is. Lou has a lot to tell me, and I have a lot to listen to. I've not had something like this in my life for quite a while.
The bell jingled, and the new, exciting part of my life walked through the door. He smiled amicably at me, just like a normal regular as he strolled up to the bar. Some residual fear crawled into my stomach as he sat down.
"Evening, Ryleigh. Nice night out."
"I wouldn't know. Haven't had a chance to step out yet." I replied easily as I filled his first glass for tonight.
"Such a shame. Maybe we could check it out together when you're leaving."
I rolled my eyes as I walked over to him. "Here's your drink. And no, I still don't sleep with my customers."
Lou chuckled as he placed a finger on the rim of the glass, dark eyes glinted with promise. "Rules are meant to be broken."
I ignored him and moved around to service the remaining customers. I had no way to get rid of him. He probably had several ways to get rid of me. This is a hard bargain considering I'm don't paid for overtime, but at least he tips well. It will be hard to convince the owner to pay me for the extra hours that technically don't exist to the outside world.
He came back the next day, and the day after that. For an entire week since the day he walked into my bar, he showed up and told me something new. And for each day since then, I started to find myself looking forward to his arrival. I had lowered my guard around him, almost beginning to treat him like a friend in some regard. But I still held myself back. I didn't understand yet what might set him off. And for as long as he's coming to my bar, I'd rather not see that other side of him.
Lou's snickers broke me out of my thoughts. I turned to look at him as he spoke to the empty glass in front of him. "Do you know today marks a whole week of me coming to this bar?"
"Where does the time fly?" I replied dryly. My hand already stretched out for the bottle of scotch. "I was just thinking about that actually."
"Is that so?" He shook his head as I tilted the bottle. "It seemed like you were trying to make a hole in my head with how hard you were staring at me."
"If only I was Superman." I got off my stool. He was done here for tonight.
"A shot of vodka to celebrate this occasion, barkeep."
I laughed softly at that, my back still towards him. "Barkeep? Man, you really are old."
"Old and drunk... ish."
I replaced the bottle of scotch, and pulled out a new bottle of vodka to pour out a shot. Lou smiled at me. His finger rested on the rim of the shot glass I slid towards him. "Drink with me, Ryleigh."
"I don't drink, Lou." I picked up my water bottle on the way to get his scotch glass. "But I'll take a shot."
"Of water?" He sounded almost disgusted.
"Yes. That's what sober people do." I came to a stop in front of him again.
He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Cheers, Ryleigh."
"Cheers, Lou." I tapped the mouth of my bottle against the glass and threw my head back as if it really was a shot. Old habits die hard.
We both slammed our respective 'shot glasses' onto the table at the same time. Lou grinned at me as he pushed away from the table. I collected his glasses and the cash he placed down on the counter. "Ah... good day, good drink." He groaned as he stretched easily. I couldn't help but admire his lithe body. "See you tomorrow, Ryleigh."
"I'm not coming tomorrow." I replied easily. I kept the glasses in the sink as I walked over to the register.
Lou snickered, the bell on the door jingled as he pulled it open. "Sure. We'll see about that."
I looked up in time to see a spark in his eye. He clearly didn't believe me. "Lou, I'm really not..." And he was gone. He doesn't even walk away. He just vanishes.
I sighed to myself as I emptied the tip jar. It was my day off tomorrow, I'm not making an exception for him. If he doesn't believe me, that's on him. After all that's happened, I need a day to myself.
I woke up the next day in no hurry. It was almost afternoon. There was a habitual tug in my gut to head to work, but it subsided as I reminded my body about my day off. It was a day to get some errands out of the way- groceries, laundry, cleaning. Headed out to enjoyed a nice lunch in an outdoor cafe, roamed around the park, got back home and settled down to watch a movie.
I didn't really start feeling uneasy till I looked up and noticed that it was eleven. Exactly an hour to closing time.
I had told him I'm not coming today. He didn't seem to believe me and that's his fault. The restaurant would have been closed up by ten today as well so he'll see it from across the street.
Shaking my head, I tried to get back to the movie as I snuggled deeper into my blanket. But the unease didn't leave me. Instead, it grew stronger as it ticked closer to the halfway mark for the hour. I found my eyes on the clock more than the movie. A chill crawl down my back as it finally hit half past eleven- the time Lou normally turned up. The urge to head to the bar got stronger.
I started to pace the room in an attempt to calm myself down. I had told him. I had told him? Yeah, I definitely told him... or I was pretty sure I'd mentioned not coming in today. I do get day offs, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Twelve hour shifts six days a week isn't a joke. I-I...
I need to sleep. Fretting over something like this is pointless. If he turned up, that's on him, not me. I'll apologize... actually, I don't need to apologise. He keeps me behind after my shift for a drink and a chat. He should be grateful I haven't quit yet from the stress of dealing with a supernatural being like him.
I forced myself into bed in an attempt to ignore the bad feeling, hoping it would go away as I resumed the movie. But I couldn't seem to focus on the movie anymore so I tried to sleep... Tried being the operative word.
Sleep also seemed to evade me, along with the sense of peace I'd been missing ever since it struck eleven. It took lot of tossing and turning before I passed out... only to wake up unrested the next day. The weather outside was nice so the walk to the restaurant woke me up. Dottie smiled at me as I walked in.
Her eyes flickered to the clock as she walked over to me. "You're early today. Is it that time of the month already?"
"Yup." I shrugged my backpack off as I walked past her. "It's inventory time."
"Already finished mine up." I heard Sasha's booming voice echo out of the kitchen.
"You come here at 6 AM!" I shouted back irritatedly. I hated doing inventory. What a tedious job, but an important one to keep my regulars happy.
Running a hand through my hair, I turned to head towards the storeroom. The keys hung right beside the door. I raised a hand to my nose, expecting dust as I stepped in but nothing rose up. It seemed like Dottie had cleaned up in here just recently.
Pulling down the clipboard, I started to note down the alcohol we needed to restock from the list on my phone. About five minutes in, I felt a presence behind me.
A cool breath on the back of my neck sent chills through my body. Dottie wasn't that tall. Who-
"Good morning, Ryleigh. Nice weather out there today."