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Fiona was usually the one who got the attention, so it was fun to see her actually feeling flustered over a guy. It was cute to see how dazed she got every time we went to the bar and Gus was there, so I didn’t mind sitting with her. She was right. The busy week ahead was the problem of my future self. That day I wanted to relax and have some fun with my best friend. So that was what I was going to do.
That night she and I walked in and headed for the same seats we usually got on the side of the curved bar. They kept us from having our backs to the rest of the bar and let Fiona enjoy watching Gus while we could also see everything else that was happening. As we sat down, it struck me as funny how much time we were spending at the bar now that we had graduated from college.
I had never been much for going out to bars and drinking when I was in my undergraduate studies. I was too busy studying or participating with the extracurricular clubs. When Fiona and I did go out occasionally, I tended to spend most of the time just watching the people around me, then headed home early.
Now I was years out of college, grown with a career in front of me, and it seemed I was starting to make up for lost time when it came to going out. Maybe it was mainly because of Fiona and her fixation on Gus, but I was still having fun with it.
It didn’t hurt that there was plenty of eye candy at the bar that Saturday night. With so much riding on the busy week ahead of me, I didn’t want to fog my brain at all, so I decided not to drink any alcohol that night. Instead, I ordered a soda and a few appetizers and settled in with Fiona to just relax and watch the people around us enjoying their night out.
“Where did Gus go?” Fiona asked. “I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“You mean you haven’t had him cornered over here so you can try to have a conversation with him?”
She shot a glare in my direction and continued looking around. A few seconds later, the door to the kitchen behind the bar opened and the bartender walked back out. Fiona quickly wiped away the curious, concerned expression from her face and resumed her flirty look. But Gus didn’t come over to us. Instead, I watched him make his way over to the opposite side of the bar and two men who had just walked up and sat down.
Gus greeted them, and as one of the other bartenders stepped aside, I got a full look at one of the men. It took me a second to realize I was really seeing what I thought I was. It was Alex King, the man Mr. Proctor introduced me to during lunch the day before. He somehow looked even better perched there on the barstool next to a man who had to be his brother, grinning at Gus as they talked.
He must have felt me staring at him because he looked up and caught my eye. That was one of those decision-making moments in my life. I could have tried to play it off like I didn’t see him and was looking at something else. I could have immediately turned to Fiona and acted like she had been trying to point something out to me. Or I could be an adult and own the fact that I was taking in every gorgeous bit of him.
I decided to opt for the latter. This definitely wasn’t the right time, and I was beyond not in the right place in my life to even consider dating anyone, but that didn’t mean I was suddenly devoid of my biology. He was attractive as hell, and I wasn’t going to avoid looking at him just because my ex messed me up for a while.
Gus handed Alex a longneck of beer, and he raised it to me in a toast, lifting his eyebrow as he did. A hot, tingling blush rushed across my cheeks, and I returned his gesture with my glass of soda. Beside me, I felt Fiona lean closer. When I looked over at her, she was looking between Alex and me, a questioning expression in her eyes.
On the other side of the bar, Alex said something to the man beside him, then climbed down off his stool and started toward me.
“Who is that?” Fiona asked. “And why is he coming this way?”
“That’s Alex King. He used to be a student of Mr. Proctor, the man I’m replacing at the high school. Alex used to help him before I came along. He’s basically a computer whiz,” I told her in a hurried, hushed stream of words.
