Β©
2023 PennameWombat
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This is one of my submissions in celebration of the
Literotica 25th Anniversary Challenge
.
Surprise visitors and an impromptu celebration lead to revelations and fun.
Tags: Literotica 25th Anniversary, Creampie, Mates, MF, Mind Control, Public Sex, Romantic, Shapeshifter, Straight Sex, Vaginal sex
*****
Scotland's Finest
It was, for a Wednesday night at Paddy's, not a bad crowd. No special time of year, that transition from summer to fall in a place where the border was never clear and holidays were in the past and future.
The mood wasn't frivolous. But it wasn't morose. Which is what I wanted. If I wanted morose, I'd hit the Tugboat. Where light itself went to die.
I sat at the bar and smiled at Zoya as she took my empty plate away, their fish and chips as usual top-rate. I was never sure if there was... something there, but the idea of hitting on a cute, sexy bartender always struck me as so cringe. Of course she was friendly. She was a professional, she'd sling beers and I'd never seen her stuck on a cocktail, no matter the obscurity. I'd seen her keep a bar full of drinkers hydrated and happy; I'd seen her talk down belligerent drunks who'd had one too many. I'd seen her keep her composure when assholes loudly proclaimed "you'd get such better tips if you wore a miniskirt for climbing that ladder back there!"
I didn't want to be That Guy, but the miniskirt comment had become a running joke between us, but she would look damn fine in one. I'd never seen her, or the others, in anything but black slacks and a matching button-down shirt to which Zoya added the traditional bartender's clip-on paisley bowtie. To that, add suspenders in various primary colors, tonight's red, which ran nicely outside of and drew a bit of attention to, her breasts. They weren't all that large, but she had a slim, athletic figure so were excellent highlights. It wasn't like she was totally immune to showing off just a bit, but she kept it subtle. Mostly.
I picked up my beer and sipped. The rotating taps were on Belhaven this week, and my Robert Burns Brown was down to the last quarter and it'd be Decision Time. Zoya had, as usual, noticed it but a call from her only help in the front, Janelle, who was handling the floor, meant her expression made clear she'd be expecting an answer. Another Burns, despite the calendar being nowhere near his night? Switch to their Twisted Thistle for a bit more punch? Or push into the darkness that'd engulfed the city, held at bay by streetlights and the occasional neon sign?
I scanned the multiple shelves of bottles at the back of the bar space, liquids of many colors contained in the bottles that rested there, although the varied browns of whiskies and whiskeys and rums were heavily represented, a couple of verdant bottles I knew to be examples of the Green Fairy itself and best avoided, liqueurs of varied colors and clear spirits. The ladder, the target of drunken focus, with its rollers at the base and connected to a railing at the top, rested a few feet to my left.
I knew the owner took "top shelf liquor" literally, so the higher you went, the more rarified the spirits became. I'd never gone above the second shelf, nor had any acquaintances when I'd been in a group.
We weren't a missed paycheck away from being cast from our garrets, but none of us had the extra to simply splurge and we lacked any recent or even distant events calling for asking Zoya to do more than her tiptoes. Miniskirt or not.
Beyond the ladder, Janelle and Zoya were in discussion at the far end of the bar. I was alone, past the bar, a handful of couples occupied a few of the booths along the windows. In the open dining space near them, a quartet of guys sat at one table and a trio of women at another, nearer to the little 'stage' in the corner that occasionally hosted a lone musician or the odd pair but was empty tonight. In my second to last year before hitting thirty, I guessed I was the youngest patron there, my best guess put Zoya close to me and Janelle easily the youngest, but that likely contributed to the sedate nature of the crowd.
I drained my beer and set the empty on its coaster as Janelle and Zoya parted, the server smiled at me as she strode past on the way into the kitchen area. I knew her friendliness was purely professional, I'd happened to sit next to her girlfriend one evening at this very bar. She'd been hazily familiar, and it'd turned out we both played in the city-wide co-ed soccer league and our teams had met on a few occasions, them usually being in different divisions meant that'd been rare, but as the league wasn't all that large so even rare opponents tended to be familiar. The strangest moment had been when the girlfriend had told me, as we both watched Zoya juggle multiple drunks on a busy night, "me and Janelle both had a run at that one, both shot down. Wrong team." She'd had a wistful tone, I'd simply nodded.
Zoya caught my eyes and raised an eyebrow, with that slight head tilt and smile she always used.
"C'mon, boy, quit wasting my time and make a decision," her mouth didn't say, but that eyebrow did. But I had the feeling it wasn't ONLY a question.
"A pint of Twisted Thistle," I said as she collected my empty glass, "what's up with over there?"
I flicked my eyes toward the far end of the bar. She chuckled.
"Glad you decided to stick around, keep me from getting bored. Those three old women over there," she said as she grabbed a fresh pint glass and held it under the target tap, "the blonde declared they should get stuck into a round of absinthe and Janelle tried to talk them out of it."
"Oh, shi...," she grinned as I cut off the word, a grin that indicated she agreed, but my brain didn't quite let go of her opening sentence while I spoke, "do they know what that stuff will do?"
I looked over their table, wine glasses in hands or on it, as they spoke and laughed. They were certainly older than either of us, but still likely had most of their forties ahead of them.
"From what Janelle said, no. She also has no clue how to serve it, they asked her, said they heard there's a special way. Anyway, she told me I have to deal with 'em."
"Sugar cube, water, whole show, they think they mean."
She gave me a crooked smile. "You know far too much about absinthe. You must secretly be an artist. And French."
"Oui, madamoiselle," I grinned and shrugged as she topped off my fresh pint. She'd just set a fresh coaster on the bar and had the glass halfway to its target spot when she looked toward the entrance door we heard open.