Don't Ever Smile
"Okay, so we have some ground rules if you want to work around here. Pay attention, I'm not going to repeat myself: one, don't smile at the customers-"
"Don't… smile?" Holly blinked.
"Two, don't interrupt me." Gail shot her a glare. Holly nodded quickly, clamping her lips together. "Yes, don't smile. Ever. The minute you seem the slightest bit nice you become an easy mark and it's not going to be pretty. We're dealing with the worst sort of animal here: drunken college boys. You take orders, you serve drinks, you clean tables. You don't ever, ever smile. Got me?"
"Got you."
"Three, don't bring your boyfriends to the bar."
"I don't have a boyfriend."
"And I don't care a lick. Just keep your drama out the door. The minute I start hearing violins, you're out."
"No violins, got it."
"I don't give a rat's ass if you're a struggling artist, a runaway orphan or a poor, poor attention-starved country girl in search of true love. This is not Coyote Ugly. You come in, you do your job and you don't screw up."
"Fair enough. I can do that."
Gail snorted, eyeing the brunette up and down. "That remains to be seen."
It all went well enough until near the end of Holly's shift, when a pushy customer took her nice demeanor as an invitation.
"So, when do you get off tonight?" The drunken young man leered at her. "I could help you there."
"Late," Holly answered firmly, turning to walk off when he grabbed her wrist.
"Oh, come on, no need to play hard to get."
"I'm not playing at anything, please let me go," she asked as politely as she could, trying to pull her wrist away, but his grip was tight. The bar was nearly empty and she didn't see Gail anywhere.
He laughed at her attempt, pulling her close. His breath smelled strongly of cheap beer and Holly's stomach churned. "I could show you a good time, gorgeous. You won't regret it."
"I'm not interested, let me go!" Holly struggled to break his hold, all pretense at calm politeness gone. She just wanted to get as far from him as she could.
"Give me your number and I will," he bargained, leaning towards her face.
"I'll give you a number, jackass: 9-1-1, which is what I'll be calling if you don't let her go right now."
Gail's voice behind them surprised him enough to slacken his grip and Holly didn't waste the opportunity to free herself. He lunged at her to try to recover his prize, but Gail was faster and cut him off with a kick at the knees. Being already pretty drunk didn't help his coordination any and he went sprawling to the floor.
"Ow, bitch! I'll get you for this."
"I'd like to see you try," Gail snorted, watching as he struggled to get back to his feet. "Get out before I call the police, loverboy. My brother is a cop and I'm sure he'd love to meet you."
That apparently gave the drunken man pause. He glared at Gail, then at Holly, who had been pulled behind the blonde. "Fine, whatever. Fucking dykes."
Holly tensed, but Gail didn't bat an eyelash. "Yes, because I'm sure it's every heterosexual woman's dream to be sexually harassed by drunken morons."
"Fuck you."
"In your dreams, bozo!" Gail called after him, not taking her eyes off the jackass until he was out of the bar.
Holly let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you for that."
Gail turned towards her, eyes shining with concern. She eyed the wrist Holly cradled to her chest. "Are you hurt?"
"Just a little bruise, I think. I'll be fine."
"You sure?"
"Yes," Holly said earnestly. "Thank you."
"No problem. Couldn't let you be assaulted in my uncle's bar, could I? Bad for business."
There was a pause as they collected their thoughts.
"You smiled, didn't you?"
Tumblr prompt: AU where cynical Gail is set to train Holly on her first day at a new job.
