Just a story I wrote up while suffering from a massive writers block on my regular projects. Love the movie. Love Jeremy Renner. But I do not own or have any rights to "The Town" I'm just using it for inspiration and entertainment!
Reviews are as always appreciated as well as the fact that you clicked on this story to begin with.
The bar was small, cramped not cozy, and filled with the haze of cheap cigarette smoke. Van Morrison poured from the jukebox, while the afternoon regulars nursed their bottles of beer. Jessi found herself swaying along to the music as she cracked tops off three bottles of Bud Light for the retirees that had just claimed their stools at the end of the bar. They all smiled as she set the bottles down and braced her arms on her edge of the bar, "What kinda trouble are y'all gettin' into today?"
"Oh nothin' too crazy. How about yourself sweetheart?"
"You boys know me, I'm a good girl. I don't get myself into trouble." She threw them an over exaggerated wink.
Podraic, the most talkative of the three clutched at his heart and slapped an arthritic hand on the bar, "Oh darlin, be careful with those devil's green eyes of yours! You'll give an old man a heart attack!" The group laughed so he continued, "It's bad enough to come in here and listen to ya talk with that accent but girl, you're gonna send one of us to the grave, probably ole Michael over here." He slapped the man next to him roughly on the back causing him to choke on his laughter.
"Hey now! Y'all got no place to be harpin' on me for my accent. Y'know I've only been here a few days, if you hurt my feelings I might have to pick up and runaway somewhere else."
"No don't want that! Pod shut your mouth you're scarin' away the pretty thing."
Jessi smiled, "Why thank you very much Tom." The men all shifted to pull out their money and Jessi took it, all except Tom's, "Not you, you drink on me tonight hun." She laughed as the shenanigans really broke out among the three of them, "Let that be a lesson boys," She raised her voice so most of the other patrons could hear her too, "You treat me nice…" She took a few steps back, green eyes flitting to each of their faces, an evil smirk raised the corner of her mouth, "and I'll return the favor."
The jukebox was drowned out with whistles, cheers and laughter. Jessi couldn't help but smile to herself as she hit the till button to stick the cash in the drawer. "You're getting a lot of these boys hopes up there sweetheart." Jessi looked over her shoulder towards the voice. She had only been working for Danny about a week but she was starting to recognize a lot of faces, this one was new. "Better be careful."
She bumped the till closed and leaned back against the counter, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Most the guys I've seen so far ain't nothin' to be scared of." She sized him up, or at least tried. She couldn't seem to get past the blue eyes, almost grey, and the way his head tilted slightly while he watched her.
"Most huh? What about the rest?" He propped his elbows on the bar and laced his fingers together.
"I'm not scared of a whole lot." She pushed off the counter and came up to the bar right in front of him, "What're ya drinkin' tonight?" She kept her eyes on his face while his wandered, eventually his attention returned.
"Just a beer, I ain't picky." She stepped over to open one of the coolers and she could see him in the mirror, leaning over slightly to watch her. "What are you afraid of?"
Jessi pulled the church key out of her pocket as she walked back towards her newest customer, "Goin' to the dentist, drivin' through south Dallas and engagement rings." She popped the top on his beer and slid it the short distance between them, twirling the bottle opener in her fingers.
When he smiled she involuntarily shifted her stance, sliding the church key back into the pocket of her jeans just for something to do. His smile was crooked, toothy and she couldn't label it for sure but there was another adjective for it, she would think of it eventually. "How much I owe ya?"
"Three bucks."
His eyes shot up to hers and he tilted his head to the other side, "Three dollars? What the hell, that old geezer gets his for free but not me?" He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out the three dollars, tossing them on the bar.
It was Jessi's turn for an evil smirk, "Treat me right and you can drink for free too." Without another word, she grabbed the cash and turned and grabbed a mug off the rack and started filling it for the next guy down the bar. She didn't see him watch her for a second before he scrubbed a hand through his short hair and headed back to grab a table. When she did look back at his spot at the bar he wasn't there.
"Hey Texas, how's it goin'?"
She turned to see her boss, Danny, walking around to behind the bar. "It's goin' good Sir."
"Told ya, sweetheart, you don't gotta call me sir." The middle-aged man laughed, "Findin' your way around it looks like."
"Yes Sir." She set the mug down in front of the day drinker who stared at it longingly, "Most bars are pretty much identical on this side of the counter."
"Funny how that works, huh?" They both laughed, "Well why don't you go ahead and restock before the real crowd gets here, I'll watch the bar."
"Sounds good." When she walked back out from the cooler the bar was indeed much busier. She walked up next to Danny, "Where do you need me boss?"
"You mind goin' and grabbin' empties. Runnin' low on glasses." He didn't look up from the pint of Guiness he was pouring.
She didn't answer just went to work. She slid a tray out from under the counter and started her trip around the tables grabbing bottles and glasses nobody was using, flirting and chatting as she went, taking a few orders and promising to be back quick. The second to last table she stopped at had the blue-eyed man sitting with his back to the wall and his eyes landed on her long before she reached them. "You boys ready for a few more?"
The three of them looked up at her and smiled, the big one nodding. "Yeah, and how about a couple shots?"
"Think I can do that," She grabbed their bottles, rearranging the way she held the tray against her hip so she could hold the empty bottles in the hand that had been balancing the tray. "Anything in particular or are y'all gonna let me decide?" She let her left eyelid dip into another wink and she smiled, ignoring the way the plastic tray was digging into her hip and wrist.
"As long as it's whiskey?"
"That I can certainly do." She turned to leave but the one from before called out.
"Hey sweetheart, what's your name?" He was leaned back in his chair, sitting cockeyed with one arm hung over the chairs back. His head tilted to the left, causing him to look at her out the corner of his eye.
She turned around to face them and thought about answering. "Tell ya what, leave a good tip and I'll tell ya."
Once she had finally made her way back to their table with their drinks she found a hundred-dollar bill folded in half on the table. She looked at them each in turn, smiling when the young, skinny one blushed, as she set their beer and shots down. "Jessi." She grabbed the hundred without looking at it and went back to work behind the bar.
All night she would catch him looking at her occasionally. Between the small groups stories and outbursts of laughter. When they got up to leave Jessi walked up behind Danny, "Hey Danny, those three at the table by the door. Who's the one there, the shorter one?"
Danny looked to her then to the three men headed out the door, "Oh that's Jimmy Coughlin. He casuin' ya problems?" He looked back to her, concerned.
"No! No, no, he just gave me a hell of a tip earlier." She pulled out the hundred-dollar bill she had shoved in her pocket. "Didn't strike me as the kinda guy to have that kinda cash y'know."
Her boss chuckled, "Texas, you're gonna see a lot of guys that look like they never worked a real job in their life, and a lot of them are gonna be throwin' around cash like that." He shrugged and gave her a sympathetic smile, "Welcome to Charlestown."