Daisy sat down on the stool and rested her elbows on the bar with a sigh. Behind her one of the local bands droned on playing yet another cover of yet another country song she had heard a thousand times.
The bartender glanced her way and she nodded. Without a word he reached under the bar for a bottle of cheap beer and popped the top off before he slid it to her. She raised it to her thin lips and took a healthy swallow and let the foul brew rush through her.
Drinking had been a part of her life since high school. Just another activity to pass the time with friends on the weekends and although her friends had moved away for college or careers she still enjoyed the harsh after taste of cheap beer.
Maybe it was because she had never been able to afford anything else but cheap beer seemed like the only elixir capable of helping her forget the mundane drudgery around her.
Not that she noticed it much. She had never been the brightest bulb but she wasn't stupid either. She was smart enough to realize living with a controlling ex-quarterback with a short temper and jealousy issues would get her nowhere quick except the hospital. She wouldn't be like her mamma, no sir.
She had left Mike a year ago and never looked back only occasionally missing him. When she did it was the physical stuff she missed. Like how he would stand behind her as she brushed her teeth in the morning and nibble on her ear as the shaft of his cock nestled between her ass cheeks. The sex had been great but everything else had been a drag.
She drank her beer and ordered another as she tallied up the cash in her purse. It wasn't much, just forty two dollars and a penny caked in dirt at the bottom of her purse.
Mike had warned her that would happen. He had told her she'd never last without him to take care of her. Who would cook for her or pay the bills on time, who would stop her from blowing her paychecks on jewlery and clothes.
She did not recall her response that night, only that it had angered him and whatever name he had called her afterwards had been the straw that broke the camel's back.
So what if she was a lousy cook or put off paying the cable bill. She was twenty three years old there was plenty of time to buckle down later. She was fine on her own. Broke and jobless but other than that she was fine.
Daisy slouched as the day's events crept back into her mind and ruined her pep talk. The one time her car broke down and made her late to work the state inspectors just happened to be at the nursing home and her boss just happened to be on time and sober. She tilted her beer back and swallowed another gulp.
If she really thought about it she knew it wasn't just the one time. In the two years she had worked for the Duggarville Nursing Home she had been late three times a month at the least. There was always an excuse of course. Her car wouldn't start, her dog got hit by the mail truck, even though she'd never owned one and was allergic to them, or her land lord held her up. Schedules had always rubbed her the wrong way.
She wanted to be like her father. Free from the men in ties telling her to leave break early or writing her up for smoking behind the dumpsters. She wanted the freedom to come and go as she pleased and to make her own money on her own terms. Not that there were many options to do that in a place like Duggarville, Florida.
It was a small town of five hundred people, most of them spread out across the Florida countryside and every year the opportunities for the little guy seemed to get scarcer and scarcer. Sure it was great if you were born to one of the wealthy family's who had settled the town way back when Florida was under Spanish rule but she didn't have that kind of luck.
She had the kind of luck that left her with forty two dollars in her purse and now that she was on her third beer there was only thirty three dollars. Pretty soon she wouldn't even be able to afford three dollar beer.
Daisy turned around on her bar stool determined not to let her problems get the best of her. She hadn't come to the bar to sulk. She had driven her beat up yellow Honda home from work and showered the dirt and sweat of the humid morning away then rummaged through her closet until she found a few options for a night out.
She chose a red halter top that showed off her midriff and her favorite pair of cut off jean shorts with a pair of red underwear. She thought the ensemble made her look like Jessica Simpson from the Dukes of Hazard movies only with a little smaller breasts and she loved it.
With her clothes picked out she jammed her feet into a pair of brown high heel ankle boots and went out the door. From her apartment on the outskirts of town it was only a twenty minute drive to her favorite bar but she made it in fifteen.
Castro's Pub was just a large single room shack made out of corrugated metal with room for a few tables between the bar and stage but it was her favorite place in town to frequent.
At the back of the room an open door led outside to a dock that stretched out over the water. As a teenager it had been so magical to sit out there drinking with friends and marveling at how good their fake I.D.'s had turned out. The sky had seemed more peaceful and bright then. Now it just seemed dense and dark.
The band switched to a classic rock song full of electric guitar and lyrics that encouraged them all to pound back shots and have a good time. Several people gathered around the stage to revel in the music while other's like her hung back and drank whatever ailed them into oblivion.
A flicker of movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she glanced over at a tall man in a red t-shirt and jeans waving at her.
She vaguely recalled flashes of high school parties and a trembling hand up her shirt but there had been plenty of guys like that and plenty others who had gotten farther with her. It would take more than pawing at her breasts for her to remember his name.
"Daisy," The man hollered. "Hey Daisy is that you?".
She turned at the sound of her name and nodded. "Yeah its me," She said smiling wide and polite like her mother had taught her to.
The man pushed through the crowd and leaned against the bar. He was her age with a five o'clock shadow and dark green eyes. His hair was pulled back in a ponytail and his thin handsome features made smiling at him even easier.
"Hey you," He said. "long time no see."
"Oh yeah. Time really has flown," She said. "say, when was the last time we saw each other?".
The man grinned and said. "You don't remember me do you?"
"Sorry I'm not very good with faces," She said. "not even one as handsome as yours."
He laughed and flashed her a smile that sent chills down her spine.
"Dylan Hostler, we fooled around at Pete Grouse's graduation bonfire," He said. "I was heavier back then."
She remembered the bonfire, remembered taking Pete Grouse in the bathroom of his parent's home, his thick cock filling her with warmth. The shiver ran down her spine again but she just smiled and focused on Dylan.
"Now I remember you," She said. "you offered me a beer and asked if we could make out."
"Yeah you were charitable to me," Dylan said. "helped me get some respect from the guys. Even though you threw up on my shoes later and disappeared on me."
She didn't bother to tell him she left to fuck the host of the bonfire or that she didn't remember much of their make out session. She just smiled and said "Well I'm sorry about your shoes".
"It was worth it," He said. "I got to make out with my crush and cop a feel, best night of my teenage life".
They both laughed and she let her cheeks blush a little the way her mother had taught her. Men loved it when a woman pretended to be flustered by their praise.
"I was really you're crush?" She said.
"Oh yeah, mine and thirty other guys," He said. "you looked like a cheerleader, partied like a guy and then if the rumors were true you uh". He trailed off and sipped his beer. "So what are you doing now?" He said.
Daisy laughed and said "Wait a second you can't just put that out there and move on. What did you hear?"
"Oh you know just locker room talk," He said.
"Like what?"
Dylan laughed and took a hearty sip of beer. "Mitch Jones said you could suck cock like a porn star, a few others did to". He raised his hands and shrugged. "There I said it, secrets out."
