I check my cell one last time, realizing I don’t have a charger for it. Thankfully, it was still charged to about fifty percent, so I put it into airplane mode for the night before finally falling to sleep.
I wake by eight the next morning, stretching as soon as I wake up from the lumpy mattress. I drag myself out of bed and into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee to help wake myself up. As I wait for the coffee to brew, I lean against the kitchen counter and stare out the window.
“You’re up early.” My mom’s raspy voice startles me out of my daydream.
“Yeah,” I say, pulling a cup out of the cabinet and filling it up with the hot coffee, then adding a little bit of milk. I take the first drink, savoring the taste and warmth of it. “I’m going to hit the ground running, so to speak, today. Apply for any and all jobs I can find and go get my stuff from the apartment. I didn’t bring anything with me yesterday. Do you think you could give me a ride over to my car this morning?”
“Sure, let me take a shower and we can leave.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I tell her before she disappears around the corner and into the bathroom. I hear the shower turn on and I settle in at the small two-person kitchen table to finish my coffee and eat a bagel from the bag on the counter.
I finish my quick breakfast and make my way back into my room, where I change into a pair of shorts I found in the drawer last night and my top from yesterday. My first stop will be my old apartment to pack up my things, and then I’ll start driving around to places to find a new job.
“Ready?” my mom says, sticking her head into the doorway.
“Yep,” I say, jumping up and sliding my shoes on. I grab my purse and sling it over my shoulder as I follow her out to her car.
“Where am I dropping you off at?” she asks, buckling her seat belt before backing out of the parking spot.
“Tiffany’s place.” Tiffany is my best friend, who I went out with last night. I drove to her place after I left Chris and my apartment, and she ended up driving us to the bar.
“How is she doing?” Mom asks as she turns out onto the main road.
“Good, the wedding is quickly approaching.”
“About damn time they get married,” Mom comments.
“She wasn’t in any rush,” I say on a laugh. Tiffany has been my best friend since elementary school, and one of the only people in this world who knows just how shitty a childhood I had. She knows all my deepest secrets and fears. She’s my ride-or-die, the sister I never had. I’d be lost or dead if it wasn’t for her. And she’s finally marrying her high school sweetheart, Colton, this summer.
We pull into her driveway and Mom drops me off. “Thanks for the ride, I’ll see you later.”
“I’m working tonight, so I’ll be home late,” she tells me.
“Then I’ll see you when I see you.” I give her a smile before I shut the car door, then walk over to my car. I’m not even going to bother knocking, since both Tiffany and Colton are at work right now.
I start my car and immediately plug my cell into the cigarette lighter charger. By keeping it in airplane mode last night, that helped save my battery overnight, but I’m going to need it later when I start applying for jobs. I turn on my service and ignore the incoming texts. I only have one thing on my mind right now.
Ashley: I’m headed to the apartment to get my things, please don’t be there when I arrive. I won’t touch your shit, so you don’t have to worry about that. I’ll also be stopping by the leasing office and taking my name off the lease. Don’t fight me on it. If you get called by them to verify you’re okay with this, I expect you to agree to it. It’s the least you can do after fucking that chick in our apartment.
With my text to Chris sent, I pull out of Tiffany’s place and drive the few miles over to my old apartment. Thankfully, when I pull in, I don’t see his car in the parking lot. He should be at work at this time of day, but I obviously don’t know his schedule as well as I thought I did.
I head inside and go straight for the kitchen cabinet, pulling out a few trash bags. I mostly just have clothes and toiletries to pack up, so trash bags it is.
I make quick work of packing up my clothes and then head into the bathroom. Since I want to get out and apply for jobs as soon as possible, I jump in the shower and change into some black pants and a nice top. I actually take the time to blow dry and style my hair, rather than pull it back into my normal ponytail. After applying a little makeup—just a bit of mascara, concealer, and some lip gloss—I toss the remaining things into one last bag and then start hauling them to my car. All the furniture belonged to Chris, or things we bought cheap from thrift stores over the last few months we lived together.
I head for the mall, knowing a large number of stores and restaurants are located in that area. As much as I’d love to go back to school and finish my degree, I just can’t afford to do that right now. It’s been my dream to become a counselor and work with women and kids, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
A few hours later, I’ve accomplished what I set out to do and applied for as many jobs as I possibly could. I saw a sign while I was in the mall, advertising a temp agency, so I snapped a picture of their information and plan to look at their website, so I can sign up with them to be considered for jobs they are tasked to fill.
Hopefully, something will pan out, sooner rather than later.
3
Nick
“Hey, bro,” Kaiden calls out to me when I walk into the office above the bar.
“Mornin’.” I take a pull from the to-go cup of coffee in my hand. “Ready to take inventory?” I ask him as I drop into the seat across the desk from him. His eyes are glued to the computer screen as he looks over the numbers from the last couple of days.
“Things are up this week,” he tells me, looking away from the screen.
“That’s great. I’ve definitely noticed an uptick in customers lately. Our new marketing campaign must be working well.”
“It sure is. I’ve tweaked some of the ads just a little bit over the weeks, and think we’ve finally got one converting really well. Offering up that coupon was a genius idea,” Kaiden tells me.
Kaiden hands me a clipboard with column after column of inventory items. “Shall we?” he says, standing up and heading downstairs into our stockroom. When we first renovated, we made sure it had plenty of space and was well-organized. It takes us about two hours to inventory everything between the stockroom and the kitchen, then to get our order in for the week.
After opening, there was a learning curve for a few months before we got a good system down on how to order correctly, so we didn’t over or under order, especially when it came to the food aspect of the bar. Liquor and beer last a little longer than food items do, but once we got in a groove, things started running a whole lot easier.
“Have you given any more thought to hiring another bartender?” I ask Kaiden, once we’ve submitted the orders to our distributors.
“I have, and after running the numbers, I think we can finally afford one. It’ll be nice to have one more on staff and will allow the two of us to take an extra night off each week, which I think we’ve both earned.”
“That sure will be nice,” I agree. Working six to seven days a week for the last five years has been stressful at times. If either one of us wants to take time off, the other is left to cover.
“If you’re good with it, I’ll get something posted stating we’re hiring, and start the process. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do some interviews as early as next week and get someone in here within the next couple of weeks for training.”
“Sounds good to me. Just let me know when you set up the interviews and I’ll make sure to clear my schedule.”
I head back downstairs to the bar to start our opening procedures. We don’t open up for another two hours, but that time will fly by before we know it. Before I start pulling down chairs, I head into the kitchen and find one of our cooks, Ryan.
“Hey,
man,” he greets as I walk through the swinging doors.
“Hey, Ryan, can I get a cheeseburger and fries?” I ask, after bumping his fist with my own.
“Sure can, I’ll bring it out once it’s ready. I’ve got to turn on the fryer still, so give me a little bit.”
“Thanks, I’ll be getting things ready for opening,” I tell him before heading back out into the bar area. I start by taking all the chairs down that have been up on the tables, then make my way behind the bar to look over what all needs to be restocked for the night ahead of us. With it being Friday night, we’ll be pretty busy all night long.
“One cheeseburger with fries,” Ryan says, setting the plate down on the bar in front of me.
My stomach picks that moment to grumble really loud, pulling a laugh from my lips. “Thanks, guess I was hungry,” I tell him before I take a huge bite of the burger. The flavor hits my tongue and I about melt in my spot. Ryan is a fantastic cook; one we are damn lucky to have on our staff. “I didn’t know a burger could taste so amazing,” I add, by way of a compliment.
“Glad you approve,” he says on a laugh as he turns and walks back to his domain in the kitchen. I quickly scarf down my food, then place the plate in a bussing tub under the bar, and get back to my opening tasks. Once the ice bins are both full and I’ve got all the garnish tubs filled, I switch to stocking the liquor bottles, pulling out new ones for the bottles that are almost empty and that we tend to go through each night.
With it being Friday night, we typically get busy early and stay that way until closing time on the weekends.
“Hey, Nick,” Katie greets me as she comes in the back door. “Need any help getting things ready?”
“Hey,” I say, waving from across the bar. “I’ve got everything done, for the most part. Feel free to head on upstairs and see Kaiden if you’d like. I’ll get the doors opened here in a little bit.”
“Sounds good. Sorry I wasn’t here earlier. My appointment was late getting started as my doctor was running late,” she tells me.
“Everything okay?” I ask, concern lacing my voice.
“Oh, yeah. Just my annual exam. My doc got called out to a delivery at the hospital, so her afternoon appointments were just pushed back.”
“Ah, gotcha.” I wipe the bar top down one last time before it’s opening time.
“I’ll be right back. Holler if you need me sooner,” she says, taking the stairs two at a time up to the office, where Kaiden is probably still sitting doing paperwork.
Since the day we decided to open this business together, we’ve split as many of the tasks as we can down the middle. He’s better at the computer and money shit and I’m better at the actual bar-related things. He keeps the money coming and I keep the booze flowing. While he does get behind the bar plenty, and knows how to make anything a customer orders, if he could choose between being behind the bar versus the computer crunching numbers, paying the bills, or ordering supplies, he’d choose the latter first every time.
I head over and flip the open sign and unlock the doors, then head back behind the bar to wait for the first rush of customers. We open at four p.m. during the week and at noon on the weekends, to take advantage of the customers looking to grab a burger and beer, and watch their favorite sports team playing on one of our many TV screens.
The first wave of customers started rolling in shortly after we open and don’t stop coming in until well after midnight. Before I know it, I’m ringing the bell, calling out last call for the night. I’m exhausted by the time I’m ready to leave at almost three a.m.
I make it home and head straight for my bedroom, stripping out of my clothes and taking a quick shower to wash the stench of alcohol, sweat, and bar food from my skin. Thankfully, we have an opening crew that will be in tomorrow to open the bar up. I’m not due to show up until six tomorrow night, to work the closing shift all over again.
I dry off and slip on a pair of boxer briefs, then head out to my kitchen to grab a glass of water and flip through my mail that came today. Nothing but junk and a few bills that are all automatically paid, so nothing I have to worry about. I’m dead on my feet, so once I finish my glass of water, I set the glass on the counter and head back into my room, crashing hard as soon as my head hits the pillow.
4
Ashley
“Hey, Mom.”
“How was your night?” she asks, finally waking up after her late night at work.
“Good, just stayed home and got all my things unpacked and put away. How was work?”
“Busy. Lots of calls last night,” she says as she pours a cup of coffee. She’s been a dispatcher for almost twenty years now, and has worked the third shift for the last eight or so.
“Helps the night go by fast,” I muse, drinking my second cup of coffee.
“Sure does,” she confirms. “Got any plans for today?”
“Yeah,” I say, blowing out a breath. “Tiff’s birthday is Monday, so we’re celebrating tonight.”
“What are you girls doing to celebrate?”
“Dinner and hitting up a few bars is the last thing I heard. We’ve got a big group going.”
“Sounds like fun, be safe.”
“Always,” I state. “Do you work tonight?”
“Yep, next three nights.” She takes a seat on the couch and props her feet up on the coffee table. “Any luck with the job search yesterday?”
“Hopefully. I applied at a handful of places around and in the mall. Right now, I’d be happy with pretty much any job. I was also going to apply with a temp agency that had an advertisement at the mall,” I tell her, remembering I snapped a picture of their sign. “I need to look at their website from a computer, so had to wait to do so until I was home, and I forgot about it.”
I grab my laptop from the end table next to me. It takes it a good five minutes to fully load since it’s so old and slow, but it still works for the few things I need a computer for, so I’m in no rush to replace it.
“An office job with normal hours would be nice,” she says.
“Maybe. I’m so used to working evenings and serving that I’m not sure I’ll like an office job long-term, but like I said earlier, I just need a job. I can’t afford not to have an income coming in.”
“I’m sure something will come along next week.”
“I sure hope so.” I know I’ve got a little cushion in my account, but I’d rather not drain my savings account down to nothing. So, after tonight, no more going out until I’m back on my feet. No unnecessary spending, no stops at Starbucks or fast food. Tonight is my last hurrah until I can land a job and have a few paychecks under my belt.
“Happy birthday!” I call out as I walk into Tiffany and Colton’s house.
“Thank you!” Tiffany squeals from the top of the stairs.
“Are you ready for tonight?” I ask as I climb the stairs and then wrap her in a hug.
“Sure am!” she exclaims. “Are you ready?”
“I was born ready,” I joke.
“We’re going to have so much fun!” The doorbell rings and she yells, “Come in!”
In walk three girls I’ve only met once before, who all work with Tiffany. “Hey, girls!” Tiffany exclaims when she sees who has arrived. “I know y’all have met once before, but just in case you don’t remember, Ashley, this is Holly, Nikki, and Zara. Ladies, this is my best friend, my ride-or-die, Ashley.”
“Nice to see y’all again,” I say as they come up the stairs.
“You too,” they all chime in, smiling.
“I’ve got some snacks and shots ready for us in the kitchen. Figured we could get the party started before we even leave the house,” Tiffany tells everyone.
“Sounds good to me,” Holly says as we all make our way into the kitchen.
Nikki picks up a Jell-O shot. “These look awesome.”
“I love me some Jell-O shots, so figured I’d make us up some to pre-party with.”
“Is anyone else coming tonight?” Z
ara asks.
“Not for the entire night. My sister-in-law, Danielle, is going to meet us at the restaurant for dinner and maybe hit up one bar. It all just depends on what time it is when we’re finished with dinner.”
“If we’re ready to head toward dinner, I can get our Uber ordered and on its way,” I offer, pulling my phone out a little while later. The Jell-O shots are starting to take effect, and I’m feeling a nice buzz beginning.
“I’m ready,” Tiffany states. “You girls ready?”
“We’re ready,” they all confirm, and I get the Uber app pulled up and our ride ordered.
“We’ve got about ten minutes before our car arrives, so down another shot, use the ladies’ room, and let’s get this party on the road.” I pick up a shot glass and hold it up for everyone to do the same. “A quick toast before we really get this party started. Happy birthday, Tiffany. May your twenty-sixth year be the most amazing year you’ve ever had! Cheers, ladies.”
“Cheers!” everyone exclaims, as we all clink glasses before downing our shots.
Dinner passes by in a blur of great food and even better conversation. We had dinner at Tiffany’s favorite place, a sushi and teppanyaki restaurant. The food was fantastic, as it always is here.
“Shall we head to the first bar on our stop?” Nikki asks, as we all finish up paying our bills with the waitress.
“Sounds good to me,” Tiffany confirms.
“Good, because I’ve got the Uber ordered, and the driver will be here in just a couple of minutes,” Nikki tells us, so we head up to the front doors and wait outside for the guy to pull up.
“The first stop on our tour is Tootsie’s!” Nikki announces as we drive down the highway.
“Yes!” Tiffany calls out. The stops planned for tonight have been kept a secret from the birthday girl. Each of us picked a place to stop at for a little while tonight while we celebrate her birthday.
Drunk Girl Page 2
