More College!AU…
In which Austin is a bartender and Ally is the most interesting thing that's sat at his bar all night.
She was slightly unsteady on her feet. That might have (probably was) been from the three drinks she'd already had. She was a lightweight, and it was highly disappointing. She was supposed to be having a fun night out, and instead, she was practically babysitting Trish. Damn her Latina blood that made her drink like a fish. Trish was like a machine tonight, taking shots and pounding through cans of what smelled like roadkill to Ally. Ally herself had taken a shot, and then retreated back to her familiar hard ciders.
Her feet were killing her. Trish had convinced her to wear heels on far too humid of a night, and while she felt good about herself for the first 30 minutes, they had started to rub what felt like magnificent blisters. She was miserable and this close to getting Trish's boyfriend to carry her down the street, but she had some sense of self-preservation left. Which was the only reason she was currently letting them drag her into another seedy-looking bar.
She thanked her lucky stars that this bar wasn't too crowded. It may have been decorated with odd Catholic paraphernalia and blaring 80s music, but it was at least dark and had plenty of open seats. Trish had been pulled away by some equally drunk girl and was currently squealing something fierce. That wasn't doing any good, and Ally sighed as she dropped onto a stool at the bar. It was so nice to finally sit down.
"Can I get you something?" a voice asked her, and she looked up to see the single most attractive bartender she'd seen all night. Blonde hair, a tight button up shirt, and jeans that were working for him. She wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or just hormones, but she was fairly certain that she had never been so attracted to someone at first sight.
"Uh… I don't do this, ever. I've never been downtown," she said, gesturing around her. He was looking at her with an odd expression, and she realized that she hadn't answered his question. "I don't know what I want?"
He smirked, and leaned forward. "What do you like, usually?"
"Not beer. Ugh."
Laughing, he pulled out a glass. "Alright, something fruity, then?"
She nodded, and he started pouring liquids into the glass, finally presenting her with something blue and garnished with an orange slice. She took a sip, testing the taste before deciding it wasn't horribly offensive.
"You like it?" he questioned, and she grinned.
"You have really great hair." Not an answer, Ally, she scolded herself mentally. And nice job on making yourself seem like an idiot in front of the cute bartender.
Trish's boyfriend slipped onto the stool beside her, and stuck his hand out towards the blonde, slapping them together in some kind of complicated shake. Ally gave him the side eye, unsure of whether or not she liked what was going on.
"So, you're taking care of Ally here, huh, Austin?" Dez asked, clapping a hand on her shoulder. So his name was Austin…
"Trying to, at least," he quipped back, ducking into what Ally assumed was the cooler.
"You know each other?" she asked, taking another sip of her drink.
"Yeah," Dez replied. "We used to be roommates freshman year. That's the whole reason I found this bar in the first place. He found it one night, and dragged me along. It's where I met Trish."
Huh. So the place was crawling with romance.
"Where is Trish, by the way?" Ally asked, looking around for the mass of curls that usually signaled her friend's presence. She could not lose Trish in a strange new bar, no matter how cute the person behind the bar was.
He took a deep breath in the cooler, mind reeling as he went back over the past few minutes. The prettiest girl he had seen in a long time had walked into his bar and sat down, complimented his hair, and then was revealed to be friends with his former roommate. And her name was Ally.
He saw a lot of people every night, but none that had the same air about them as she did. She was quiet and seemed to project innocence. Certainly, she didn't belong out in a bar. She admitted that openly, and he found it oddly endearing.
Coming back out with beers in hand, he watched her as he restocked the bar. She was still working on that drink, talking to Dez, and looking mildly sleepy. Still, she was gorgeous; dark curls tumbling over her shoulder and her eyes wide. He reached under the bar and pulled out a glass, setting it in front of her. She turned to him, confused, until he pulled out the bar's secret menu item. That look in her eyes of delight, comfort, and sincere thankfulness was the most adorable thing he had ever seen.
"Are you serious right now?!" she exclaimed as he poured her a glass full of Goldfish. She threw a few in her mouth appreciatively.
"Dead serious. It's a house secret, but we're known for our Goldfish as a snack."
She was even prettier when she was smiling. Geez. She could have the whole carton of Goldfish if she'd keep smiling at him like that.
He stared at her for a few seconds longer before having to attend to another customer. He kept an eye on her as he poured drinks and passed over beers. She was something else.
Thank god his shift was ending soon, because he couldn't stand not being able to get to know her more.
Blue wasn't usually her flavor of choice, but it wasn't so bad tonight. And it paired pretty well with the Goldfish.
Talking with a drunk Trish wasn't exactly the most exciting thing she had ever done, but she was admittedly distracted. Once she had managed to find Trish again, pulling her away from a crowd of girls who were too loud for 11:30pm, she was trying to use her as a human shield against the cute blonde bartender. Granted, this meant sacrificing a lot of her Goldfish to the girl, but it was something she was willing to work with in order to not look like an actual goldfish with her mouth hanging open and staring.
It was working, too, she thought, until Trish called her on it.
"I take you out at the end of the semester, and what do you manage to do, Ally? You manage to find a man."
She thumped her head on the bar, groaning. "Is it that obvious, Trish?"
"Ally. It would be less obvious to get a sign that says 'Austin the Bartender Fan Club' and hold it than the staring you're doing right now."
She blushed as Dez nodded from beside her. All she could do was finish her drink and pop the remaining Goldfish into her mouth.
"You off, man?" Dez asked, looking behind her.
Her stomach dropped, her face flushed, and her eyes widened as she turned around to come face to chest with a certain tight button up.
"Yep," he said as she continued to stare at his chest.
She was clearly continuing to make a fantastic impression on the cute bartender. Actual goldfish, Ally Dawson.
He sat down and signaled to his coworker to bring him a drink. Ally slid back onto her stool, slightly unsure of what to do with him beside her. But Trish was giving her a Look and Dez was smirking, so she turned to him and asked the first question that popped into her head.
"So, do you go to school here?"
"And so that's how I ended up covered in cake two minutes before I started my presentation," she laughed.
It was almost 2 in the morning, and his coworkers were announcing last call. He shook his head, and slowly started to take in his surroundings again, rather than getting lost in the girl in front of him. It had been easy to do. She was pretty, and funny, and smart, and incredibly easy to talk to.
"Last call?"
She looked around, and shook her head.
"No thanks. Apparently, I've lost my friends, so I'm going to need to be able to drive myself home."
He hoped that it was his fault that they had left. Checking his phone, he found a text from Dez confirming it.
"Can I walk you to your car?"
She nodded, and bent down to slip off her heels.
"Sorry if this is weird to you, but my feet are killing me, and if I'm walking, I'm not wearing these things anymore."
Laughing, he bent down slightly, hands braced on his knees. She gave him a look of confusion before he explained.
"Do you really think I'm going to let you walk around barefoot downtown? Don't be crazy. Hop on."
She barely weighed a thing, and he gave himself a mental high five for coming up with a way to hold her, even if it wasn't conventional. She directed him from her perch on his back toward her car, and when they finally reached the tiny Nissan, he deposited her on the trunk.
"You know, you are an extraordinarily tiny person."
"So I've been told."
"Have I told you that I'm glad you were in my bar tonight?"
Her blush gave her away. He grinned. Their connection wasn't all in his head, then.
"I guess I'm kind of glad Trish brought me in."
He stepped closer to her.
"You guess?"
He was dangerously close to making his move. Her eyes flicked down to his lips, and he took the chance.
Her hands made their way to his hair, and he thought for a moment it might be love. Ally was a damn good kisser, and he was giving her everything he had. They broke momentarily, breathing heavily, before she whispered the magic words to him.
"Let's not be alone tonight."
