Naomi and I moved with practiced ease as the night progressed. Dave jumped behind the bar now and then to help clear empty glasses when parties left so that we could help the newcomers. There was a steady flow of customers through the night. Regulars greeted the three of us as they came in. The night went by in a flash, and we were getting ready to close.
“Those fuckers only gave me a five-dollar tip.” Naomi shoved the bill in her back pocket.
I had just given Dexter and Rich fresh drinks, and I turned to look at my friend. “You’re kidding me? They were here for like three hours.”
“Yeah, their tab was almost $200. Fucking assholes.”
“No shit, seriously? God, that’s annoying.” I rolled my eyes and wiped the counter down before looking at Dex and Rich. “That’s last call. Do you guys want another before I close you out?”
Dexter sat his glass down and shook his head lightly. “That’s okay, Mar.”
I nodded and turned around to the computer to cash them out. The receipt printed and I set it between the guys. “No rush.” I smiled at Dexter. Rich was fixated on Naomi, as he normally was when he was here.
“We’ll hang out until you two leave, if that’s cool. This one clearly doesn’t want to leave anytime soon.” Dexter nodded over to Rich.
Chuckling, I set a couple of waters in front of each of them. “Sure thing. Once that group over there leaves, we just need to clean up, then we will be out. Dave will probably leave sooner if you two are going to stay with us.”
Once all the customers were gone, except for the guys, I let Dave know they were staying until we left. He thanked themfor hanging back with us and made sure we were comfortable with him heading home. When we begged him to head home, he finally relented. Dave was the best boss and the best thing to happen to Captain’s. But he also had a baby at home, and we knew his wife would appreciate him getting home a little earlier than she anticipated tonight.
“Thank you two. We won’t be much longer.” Naomi grabbed a broom, went out onto the floor, and began sweeping.
Rich stood immediately. “No, I’ll do it.” He grabbed the broom and dustpan from her and took over. Naomi just shrugged and walked away, meeting me back behind the bar.
“You know that man has it bad for you,” I said, nudging her with my shoulder.
Naomi huffed a laugh, “Oh, I know.” The slight smile that formed on her face said something that I couldn’t quite decode.
Rich swept and fixed the chairs at the bar. I had set a sanitized cloth on the far end of the bar to wipe it down a few moments ago. When I went to wipe down the bar, I noticed Dexter was already halfway done.
“Dex, you don’t have to do that.”
He stopped right in front of me and leveled his eyes with mine. The piercing green of his irises swirled with intensity. He dropped his head, and a few dark pieces of hair fell in his face before he looked up again, a giant smile gracing his face. “Let me help. Please.”
There was no way I could say no to that face. Throwing my hands up in submission, I turned my back to help clean up the back of the bar. Music still played loud over the speakers in the bar. Naomi leaned over to me. “What the fuck is going on there?” She eyed Dexter behind me.
I bit my lip and closed my eyes, taking a deep, steadying breath. “There’s something I need to tell you, but I can’t right now.” Turning, I looked at Dexter, who was diligently wipingdown the bartop. When I looked at Naomi, her eyes were wide, and her jaw had dropped. Slapping her shoulder, I grabbed her hand and pulled her to the stockroom with me. Standing among the boxes of liquor bottles and kegs, I looked up at my best friend and told her the secret I had been hiding for three months. “Don’t say a fucking word, Naomi, I swear to god.” She made a show of zipping her lips shut. “I can’t get into the details right now, but remember that party at Dex and Bunny’s a few months ago, the one you couldn’t go to?” She nodded, clearly remembering. “Long story short, I’ll fill you in on everything another time, but me, Dex, and Bunny hooked up.”
Naomi’s eyes went wide, and she just stared at me. Completely shocked.
“I know. I haven’t really seen or talked to either of them since then. This is the longest I’ve been around Dexter since, and I haven’t even seen Bunny. Which is kinda weird actually. So of course I’m overthinking everything. But, yeah.” I grabbed her hand to pull her back out to the main area of the bar where the guys were.
“Wait, wait,” she whispered. “You three didn’t talk about it after it happened?”
“Naomi, we were so drunk. I don’t think we even realized it was happening until it was actually happening.”
“Oh, shit.”
“Yeah. Now let’s go back out there before things look weird.”
When we emerged from the back, Dexter and Rich were standing to the side of the bar, drinking their waters and talking. Rich looked at us and asked if there was anything else they could do to help. The four of us finished the closing duties and got ready to leave.
We walked into the parking lot, going our separate ways to our cars. Dexter had parked next to my beat-up Honda. It really was on its last leg. I felt blessed every day when the car actuallystarted. Naomi honked as she pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. Sticking the key in the ignition, I said a silent prayer as I turned it. Nothing happened. “Oh for fucksake.” Trying again, nothing. “Please…” I kept turning the key as if a miracle would happen, but clearly the thing wasn’t going to start.
Dexter appeared at my door with a knock on the window. His smooth, deep voice was intoxicating. “Want a ride home?”
Sighing heavily, I looked up at him. “I think I just need a jump.”
“It’s late, Mar, just leave it here. I’ll bring you back tomorrow to jump it and get you a new battery or whatever it needs. Let me take you home.” He stepped back and opened the door wider for me. Grabbing my purse from the passenger seat, I locked the door and followed Dexter to his car.
