Chapter 3: The Bartender
"Did you get his invitation too?" exclaimed Barbara Walker, slamming her beer on the table. Her brown eyes ablaze. "The bastard has balls."
Cecilia drained her tankard of beer, feeling as irritated as Barbara looked. She didn't expect to have this conversation with her when Barbara invited her out for drinks. She thought Barbara wanted to rant about work or needed to talk after a difficult day.
"We should go," decided Barbara. "I bet he just sent it as a courtesy. He knows we won't go because of what happened between us." She leaned into her propped up arm, pressing her chin to the top of her hand. "I'm serious, we should go. See if he's as astute and distinguished as he pretends to be. I wouldn't mind ruining his day or even his life after what he did to us."
Barbara was as close to a true friend as Cecilia would ever have. They had come into each other's lives under terrible circumstances after having discovered that the man that they had been seeing was playing them and that realization had made them rage. She and Barbara had come together and shared in their sorrows (drank to them until they had been piss drunk and crying over the lovely memories they had had with him until they had started to see a pattern, which had driven them into destroying some of his property). They had been in love with the same man and he had betrayed them. Although, it had been his wife, Emma, they had felt sorry for the most despite their hurt feelings.
The bastard in question had invited them to his son's christening next month and Barbara was right in saying it was a courtesy. Without their knowledge, they had both at some early interval in their relationship with this cheating bastard of a man been introduced to his wife, Emma—a lovely, stupid woman—as colleagues, later his cousins (again, without their knowing), and despite Emma's ignorance when it came to her husband's affairs, she had a good memory. Cecilia had the misfortune of running into her often. It had happened recently at the grocery store.
"Emma chased me down two days ago, asked me if I received the invitation in the post," said Cecilia, earning an exasperated look from her tall, blond friend. "Do you know what she told me? That she hopes I can bring Cousin Barb, too."
"No!" she exclaimed. "She did not!"
"What do you expect? That woman is an angel."
"Ugh! I want to go! I want to go to that christening so badly!"
Cecilia raised her empty tankard when the bartender glimpsed at her table. He inclined his head, understanding that she wanting a refill and picked up a jug to fill from the tap. He beckoned one of the girls waiting tables and handed her a new beer, directing her to Cecilia's table.
"We should go," continued Barbara. "We should show up looking hot and with hot dates, too!"
The youthful servant dropped off her beer and took the empty tankard away, smiling at Barbara with a tranquil smile to ask if she wanted another drink. Barbara asked for another bottle of vodka. A whole battle. The emphasis on the order distressed the girl, but she went to pick one up with a tight smile.
"She is judging us, I can sense it," whispered Barbara, eyeing the girl with disdain. "How old do you think she is? She's probably commenting on our age. Do you think we look old?"
"I am twenty-three, I don't look old," she remarked, "Worry about yourself."
Barbara gasped. "You're terrible!"
The girl returned to drop off a tall bottle of vodka and a martini glass with two olives swimming in the clear liquid.
"We didn't order this," said Cecilia.
She smiled, holding the round tray flat against her stomach. "The bartender prepared it for you. He said it's on the house."
Cecilia and Barbara exchanged wide-eyed looks as the girl walked away.
"You should go home with him," Barbara whispered, leaning across the table. "He's gorgeous!"
Cecilia eyed the bartender with interest. He was lean and gorgeous in a navy blue button down with his sleeves folded up to his elbows. His brown shoulder-length hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail, his eyes were a sharp blue color, his jaw was strong, squared, and his mouth was beautifully sculpted.
She caught his eye and raised the martini glass in thanks, offering him a charming smile as she took a sip.
"You don't even need to work for it," added Barbara, holding a cupped hand over her mouth to shield it from view. "Sheesh, I would do him in a second."
"Don't you have a boyfriend?" asked Cecilia.
"I have an acquaintance."
The martini was awful, but a free drink was a free drink, so she drank it down. She enjoyed the olives, though.
"That reminds me, Joe told me he saw a State Alchemist leave your apartment last week," Barbara began, seizing control of her attention. She grinned teasingly. "I thought you were against dating people in the military, let alone alchemists. You hate them all, don't you?"
"I considered moving west in search of more men, but felt it would be much more expensive to quit my job and travel than it would be to expand my horizons," Cecilia explained. She should have asked Roy to be sneaky about leaving her house. She didn't need her building talking about how she's been shacking up with a State Alchemist, especially after her slander campaign gave her quite a reputation.
She made a personal note to strangle Joe from across the hall for parting with this information—to Barbara of all people, who would never let her live it down.
"So, was he worth it?"
"Ugh, he was terrible," she complained, recognizing the glint in her friend's eye. The one thing she learned growing up traveling was not to trust other women with knowledge of the men that knew how to work a girl over good because one of them would eventually be curious enough to see how truthful the details were. It wasn't that she didn't trust Barbara, but they had a terrible record of falling for the same type of men. Barbara wouldn't betray her that way either, it wasn't in her nature. Honestly, she wasn't sure why she was actually lying to her about her encounter with Roy. It wasn't as if they were exclusive and she definitely didn't have feelings for him. "I could see him thrusting but I felt nothing."
God, she felt everything!
Barbara snorted. "Those are the worst!"
"Tell me about it, I slept with him twice. It was like I just couldn't believe how bad he was the first time we did it." She grimaced for effect and leaned over to continue in a whisper. "He's not even good with his mouth." Who was she kidding, though? Roy was fantastic with his mouth. Remembering his head between her thighs, his eyes full of lust on hers, and his warm tongue outlining every inch of her made a hot drop of arousal spread quick along her lower abdomen. "He basically just slobbered all over me. It was disgusting."
Someone at the bar entrance sneezed, drawing her attention and she followed Roy Mustang to his seat at the bar. He wore an overcoat that did well to cover his military uniform. Speak of the devil.
Barbara was too busy laughing to catch her staring.
"Ms. Walker?" the bartender called. Barbara looked up at him, perked up. "There's a Mr. Fig on the phone for you."
All laughter abandoned Barbara's face, replaced by quiet rage. "How did that fucker find me? Excuse me, Cee."
Cecilia finished her tankard of beer and took her empty martini glass to the bar, finding an excuse to sit there. The gorgeous bartender came up to meet her as Barbara cursed into the phone's receiver at her acquaintance, Cornelius Fig, and offered her a lopsided smile capable of melting any idiot's heart. She pretended not to notice Roy sitting two seats to her left.
She pushed the empty martini glass across the counter, feeling eyes on her. "Thank you for the drink," she lied, all charm. "It was delicious."
"How? How did you get this number, you stalker? How?" demanded Barbara in the background.
"Should I buy you another drink?" the bartender asked. "Another beer?"
Roy scoffed.
Cecilia glared at him. She caught him eyeing her from his periphery as he drank the contents of his shot glass in one go. He reached for the bottle sitting near him and poured himself another.
"You're better off conserving what alcohol you have left in this bar," suggested Roy. "She'll drink all of it if you're too generous."
"Shut up, Mustang!"
Was it just her or was he cock blocking her?
"Not a problem," said the bartender, touching her hand and smiling. The brief contact snapped his attention back to him and she stared into his eyes. They were beautiful. She was drunk. "She can have all the drinks she wants. They're on me, sweetheart."
Yup. She was drunk.
"Suit yourself."
Roy went back to ignoring the rest of the bar.
"My shift ends in about a minute," the bartender said, leaning in to whisper in her ear. His fingers caressed the line of her jaw. "I have more drinks at home."
"You have to be kidding me," Roy muttered into his glass, shaking his head. The comment directed at her.
"Fuck you, Mustang." Turning to the stunned bartender with a sweet smile, she asked, "I'll wait outside."
"I'll be right out."
The bartender left her for a second to beckon an older woman waiting on a table on the other side of the bar.
Cecilia stomped on Roy's foot, making him spit out his alcohol in shock.
"What are you doing?" he snapped. "That hurt!"
She grabbed him by his coat's collar. "No, what are you doing?"
"Cecilia, you're drunk," he pointed out. "You shouldn't be running off with a stranger in your state."
"Shut up," she hissed. "I am not drunk and he is not a stranger—"
"What's his name then?"
"None of your business!"
"You'll regret it Cecilia."
She flipped him the bird and stormed out of the bar. She even managed to make a gesture at Barbara that she was leaving. Nobody asked for Roy's stupid opinions.
Ugh! Her blood boiled.
How could she let him get her so angry? Go home with a stranger? Three weeks ago, he had been that stranger! He had no right to intervene with her sex life outside him. They were not exclusive.
He was good in bed, but so had many others that had come before him and she would do to him as she did to them. Cut them loose after the fourth encounter. Continuing after that had proved troublesome.
Barbara poked her head out the door. "Cee! Are you leaving already?"
Cecilia nodded. "I hope you don't mind. I'll call you tomorrow."
"That's a shame," she said, pouting. "There's this gorgeous man at the bar."
The only attractive man left in that bar was Roy, so she was aware that Barbara meant him. With a put-together smile, she said, "Go get him. Forget Corny."
Barbara's confidence skyrocketed. "I will," she said, starting to leave. She stopped. "Don't forget to call me."
The two women blew each other kisses. Barbara reentered the bar like a lion on the prowl. She hoped Barbara could cock block any future encounters she would have with Roy. Once she received confirmation that her friend bagged him the following morning, she would want nothing to do with him.
The bartender exited, apologizing for his tardiness, and draped his coat over her shoulders. "What was up with that guy back there? He an ex-boyfriend?"
Cecilia laughed. "He wishes."
"Well, my place is right up the street."
Cecilia followed him to his house. Once there, he offered her chilled rose wine. She hated it, but she drank it, determined not to ruin the mood.
She realized belatedly that she didn't want to sleep with this man. She didn't feel desire well up in the pit of her stomach as he drove his cock into her. His kisses were sloppy and he sounded like a jackass braying as he came. She found herself thinking about how terrible it was that she barely enjoyed it, and when she came to realize that they were still in the middle of sex, she devoted her time in reaching an orgasm by rubbing her own clit because obviously nobody ever taught this novice how to pleasure a woman.
He pulled out to ejaculate on her stomach long before she climaxed. Prior to it, she had faked her own orgasm, knowing that today was simply not her day.
He dropped onto his side beside her with a proud, satisfied smile. She excused herself to his bathroom to clean up.
Cecilia returned to his room to find him sleeping, snoring loudly. She used that opportunity to redress, pick up her purse and shoes, and leave his house unnoticed.
She took a shortcut home and made a note not to revisit that bar again. The streets were empty, barely lit by the streetlights that she followed to her apartment complex. Her skin was covered in goose bumps when she reached it and she walked into the brown lobby as if she were the spirit haunting it.
Cecilia entered her apartment, securing the door behind her. She walked to her bedroom, took a nightgown from her dresser, and entered the bathroom. She took a hot bath and lingered in the water, staring down at her reflection in its rippled, soapy surface. She resisted the urge to cry. Took it and swallowed it down. There wouldn't be enough tears in her to make the moment pass any quicker.
Her heart ached as she listened to the drip of the faucet.
She hated her stupid apartment for being too big—too empty. She hated the emptiness in her, so weighty despite it being a void so large it could have drowned her in her tub if she ever allowed it.
Cecilia splashed water on her face and sighed. She rose, dried herself off, and slipped into her nightgown.
She dropped onto her bed, curling up on her side, and closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be an early day.
xl: Har har. Thank you for reading.
Special thank yous to animexxfreakx and WhoisMissa for reviewing!
