I walked into the pub through the side door. It was just how I remembered it. The sun shone through the front glass doors, to splay rays across the dusty wooden floorboards. My friends were already waiting for me at a table. They'd chosen a great spot, right next to the window, we could feel the warm winter sun through the window panes, yet still all fit comfortably around one table. I hugged most of my friends tight – I had not seen some of them for 8 months! Not all of them were 'huggers' though, I do admit my friend group is a bunch of socially awkward misfits, and I LOVED them for it.
I was glad to be home. I had been on a study semester abroad and managed to get in some traveling either side of the university semester. But nothing matched my home and my friends and my pub. I call it my pub because when not just one or two but the majority of the bar staff remember your drink order, I think you deserve to have some claim over it as yours. I couldn't help smiling as I watched my friends laughing and catching up with each other. I know a few of their relationships had fizzled out since I left, probably more so due to laziness than any incompatibility.
A few of the boys were keen to buy me drinks – not for any sinister purposes! Only because they knew I had a few stories to share – stories that would only come out of Drunk Annie's mouth, not Sober Annie's! I sipped on my cider, cupping the cool pint glass in my warm hands. I looked up over my glass towards the serving area and I felt myself melt into a mess. There she was laughing along with the bar guy, as they served up some shots for some middle-aged men having a 'boys night'. I definitely missed her, nothing matched my bar girl.
I couldn't believe after 8 months, she could still make me feel this way. The last time I saw her (my going away party) I got unbelievably drunk just so that I could tell her she was pretty. Despite it being very awkward, she was surprisingly very flattered. I, however, was very embarrassed and avoided her for the rest of the night. I watched her curiously as her fringe hung neatly above her eyebrows and down the side to cup her face, the rest was pulled back in a bun – I assumed as part of the work dress code. This time her hair was coloured jet back, I remembered before I went away she used to change it all the time – she made any cut or colour look good, too! I had been watching her lips as she laughed, my imagination getting carried away, when I realised she'd stopped laughing and her eyes were on me.
I looked into her eyes, I saw a flicker of recognition in her eyes and she smiled at me, I gave a quick smile in return, my face burning with embarrassment. I stared down into my cider, holding it tightly in both hands to stop myself from trembling. I knew she was still going to be working here, my friends had been giving me updates (more like – they'd been teasing me about her) but I forgot that I might actually have to see her. Noticing my uncomfortable-ness, a few of my friends started giving me shit, encouraging me to go talk to her. Just as one friend asked me very loudly how I could have the courage to initiate a threesome, yet not be able to talk to bar girl, bar girl approached the table with two serves of chips. My face flushed badly, I was so embarrassed but she gave no hint of overhearing what was said, at least not until she was walking away. I'm not sure if it was my imagination but as she turned to go back to the bar, she raised a questioning eyebrow in my direction, a faint smile on her lips.
I tried to focus on my friends; I had many stories to share and many stories to listen to. It was 8 months' worth of catching up, after all. But no matter how much I tried, my eyes kept wandering back towards the bar, towards bar girl. I'm not sure why I found her so attractive, my friends all agreed she was cute but she really got me going. When I saw her reaching up for higher bottles, her black work skirt pulled tight across her buttocks – her very firm buttocks, my mouth was drooling. Eventually a few friends noticed my wandering eyes and began urging me again to talk to her.
My cider was beginning to get to my head and I was feeling more relaxed and confident. My semester abroad had somewhat changed me, I became more confident, especially in the sexual area. The more my friends urged me and poked fun at me, the more I'd gaze in bar girl's direction – sometimes holding her gaze when our eyes met. That her eyes managed to find me on more than one occasion had me feeling quite hopeful. It was after a few friends left and there was just three of us left, that I finally had to venture up to the bar to buy a round (to be fair, I was given a lot of free cider). I deliberately timed my walk to the bar to make sure that I was served by her, not bar guy – although don't get me wrong Jack is awesome, we are even on a first name basis – but my intentions were beyond getting a drink.
I walked up in front of bar girl and placed my purse on the counter. She looked up at me and smiled.
'Hey you, how are you going?'
'Yeah, good... really good. How have you been?'
She looked at me and smiled, giving a half shrug.
She asked for my order and I ordered three pints of cider.
As she began to pump the cider into the glass, she glanced up at me to find me watching her, she quickly looked back down at what she was doing, her cheeks blushing.
'So how was your trip then? You went away, right?' she asked me, not daring to look up.
I was pleased she remembered because the time I told her she was pretty, I drunkenly added that I only could muster up the courage because I was leaving the country for a while!
I told her a few stories from my trip and I made her laugh, I loved making her laugh. We chatted a while longer, even after she'd finished pouring the drinks but another customer came and Dan was nowhere to be seen, so she had to move along. As I went to skilfully balance the three drinks in my hands she casually added,
'I'm Kate, by the way', she said.
I hurried off with the pints, trying to hide my smile. My mates hounded me for 'details' when I sat down – not that there was much to tell. I wasn't sure if I was pleased or burdened by the new information I had been given, I was happy that she offered me her name without asking but now I had more details to add to my already very vivid imagination.