Her grin had faded with the familiar feeling of being watched. Without even having to look up she knew who it was. William Lawson was a regular patron of the bar and she loathed every single second he was there. Continually flirting with her and generally making her feel uncomfortable, she had had words with him more than once, but nothing had deterred him. Not even Kelly threatening to head-butt him. His smiles were creepy to go along with his personality. At a first glance, he was good looking. Clean shaven with smooth skin and hair that looked silky and well cared for without giving the impression that he was gay. It was his eyes that had made her think twice about responding to his flirty words. There was just something about them that made her want to back away and never return. Not to mention-

"Alright sweet cheeks." The Northern voice that bought her from her thoughts didn't just interrupt her, but made her jump, causing the knife in her hand to miss the lemon in front of her altogether and slice her finger instead. A slight hiss left her mouth as the juice entered the cut. Quickly, she grabbed a clean cloth from the shelf under the bar and wrapped it around her finger. "You alright there love?"

"Mmmhm." She mumbled and looked up at the owner of the voice. She did a double take however when she realised it was not a face she had seen here before, but she recognised him none the less. Looks wise, he wouldn't have been her first choice, but that didn't mean he was unattractive; Hazel eyes that just sparkled with trouble, dark brown hair and a face that currently looked genuinely concerned, she had seen him somewhere before. But just couldn't place where.

"You don't look it." He added. The two girls beside him watched with disinterest, seemingly more concerned about getting a drink than the welfare of her finger. "Maybe you should go run it under a tap?" He suggested.

"I'll go do that." But his grin told her he hadn't caught her sarcastic tone. "Matt." She called to the other bar man across the room. "Take over for me will you?"

"Again?" He questioned her. When he only received a nod, he sighed. "Go on then." She rolled her eyes as she entered the toilets. It wasn't as if it was her fault. She had told the owner of the place in her interview she wasn't good with knives, yet he had insisted that she would be fine. It hadn't taken her long to slice her palm, had taken even less time for it to happen again. She was getting better, really, she was, but it was when wankers like that snuck up on her and scared the shit out of her that she slipped and hurt herself.

Carefully, she ran her finger under the tap, washing the blood and the stinging away, looking over her reflection with a critical eye. Strawberry blonde hair was falling out of the lose bun she had tied it up in that morning, the eyeliner she wore making her blue eyes all the brighter had faded a little, causing the freckles under her eyes she so detested to become more noticeable. She would have touched it up a little if it wasn't for the fact that she had left the cosmetic at home. Her lips appeared dry and she made a mental note to put more moisturiser on them so she wouldn't end up biting them. The lip piercing that she hadn't used in some time was still noticeable, but only if you looked very closely. She quickly looked back down at her finger so she wouldn't start picking out all the little details she had noticed over the years, (The chicken pox scar that rested just beneath her nose was a particular annoyance to her) and scolded herself for glancing up in the first place.

She was nothing special, always had been, always would be. It was a fact she wasn't particularly bothered with, but sometimes she felt it would be nice for someone that she wasn't related to to call her beautiful. Why the patrons of the bar flirted with her was a complete mystery to her.

The bleeding had turned into only a drop or two escaping from the tiny wound and she was fairly certain she had used up all the blue plasters from the first aid box kept in the back room, not that there had been many to begin with, so was thankful that she had bought her own from home.

As she exited the toilets and made her way to the back room, she spotted her friends entering the bar, Kelly looking a little gloomy, Simon and Alisha holding hands and looking loved up as usual these days and Curtis, his usual bored expression covering his face as he looked around for her. When he eventually spotted her, he nodded in greeting and took his place behind the bar, continuing a conversation she couldn't hear.

Briefly, she hoped Curtis would notice the drops of crimson liquid she had probably left on the counter before serving anyone, if Matt hadn't already seen and cleared them. But her thoughts quickly turned to whereabouts in her bag she had placed the plasters as she found it sitting on the floor beneath her denim jacket.

Wound safely covered and cleaned, Elsie made her way back to the bar with her smile firmly back in place. "Hey." Four pairs of eyes turned to look at her.

"Again?" Curtis asked by way of greeting, indicating with his head to her hand.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yes Curtis. Again. It's nice to see you too." By this point she was standing next to him behind the bar. "Believe it or not, this time it wasn't my fault. That guy over there made me jump." She pointed a finger at the guy who was now sitting at a table with the two girls he had arrived with. "Kelly you look miserable." She opted to change the subject altogether before she received a lesson in safety with knives from Simon. "Interview not go well?"

"Those plans I drew up?" Elsie nodded for the girl to continue, instantly remembering the designs Kelly had shown her as she had drawn them. "The prick didn't believe I'd drawn 'em. Thought I'd stolen 'em." The new power Kelly had been given had so far caused more trouble than it was worth. Given the way Kelly talked and dressed, a small part of Elsie couldn't really blame the man for thinking that way, but the rest of her believed the wanker hadn't truly given Kelly a chance. She had seen first hand just how great of a 'Fockin' Rocket Scientist' Kelly really was. For her to be judged by the way she looked, well, in a word it sucked. She scolded herself for being so hypocritical. She had done the same thing on their very first day of Community Service; taken one look at the girl and listed her as a Chav, a bad person. She was proved wrong however when she saw the caring nature the girl had for the people around her. "Fockin' wanker." Kelly spit out. "I thought maybe I could get some glasses."

"To make you look intelligent?" Elsie guessed picking up a tea towel and wrapping the bloodied knife up in it.

"Yeah. Wot d'ya think?" Elsie stood up straight and ran her eyes over Kelly a few times.

"Well, you could let your hair down, get rid of the hoop earrings, lose most of your makeup, take your jewellery off, buy some smarter clothes, change the way you speak and you should be fine."

"So, basically change everythin' about me?" The disgusted look now covering her face allowed everyone to know just what she thought of that idea.

"Basically." She paused for a moment as if in thought. "Or you could just stay as the same Kelly we know and not actually work as a Rocket Scientist. If the guy doesn't want to hire you it's his loss, not yours. If my Gran were here, she'd say something like: 'some things weren't meant to be.'" Which would be followed by a long ramble about some guy she didn't get to shag in the 60's, but Elsie didn't feel the need to say that part out loud. "I'll be back, I'm just gonna go wash this." With a quick look at the counter before her to check if she had got blood anywhere, she walked back to the back room, and set about cleaning the blade. She rolled her eyes when she felt as if she was being watched and knowing exactly who it was without having to turn around to look.

"Has anyone heard from Nathan?" Kelly questioned now, as Elsie stepped back behind the bar. She felt a pang of sadness at the mention of his name. She missed him. More than she could say. For a while, she hadn't been able to stand him. But apparently he hadn't been happy with that. The more she tried to avoid him, the more he appeared in her personal space, irritating her to the point of annoyance. Eventually, the two had become friends, and the urge to punch him grown smaller and smaller. There had been times when he had been able to cheer her up, and other times when he completely disgusted her. But, she was not the only one to feel that way about him. Curtis had always made his opinion of the Irish twat known. She was just thankful that he was alive.

At Kelly's words, she smirked a little, hiding it behind her hand as she leant her elbow on the counter. She had known about the other girls crush, had known about Nathan's crush, would continually roll her eyes whenever the pair bantered or argued with each other, secretly wishing the pair would just give in and fuck each other.

"He's still in Vegas with Marnie and Nathan Jr." Simon answered as he sat back down. Elsie smiled at the mention of Nathan Jr. She had fallen for that baby. As soon as he had been cleaned of gunk. "They want us all to go over for the wedding." Upon first meeting Marnie, Elsie had been unsure of her. Heavily pregnant and not knowing who the father was and already sleeping with Nathan. It seemed that neither of them could keep it in their pants. But she had got to know the girl before they had departed for Vegas, and had actually rather liked her. She had her dippy moments, but still.

"Yeah, I'll go. If that prick pays for my flights and my hotel." Curtis pointed a different knife at Simon to emphasis this.

"Mine too." Elsie added moving out of the way for Matt to move behind her.

"Elsie those guys at the table over there left this for you." She held her hand out to him and took what he was offering. A tip and a note with a mobile phone number. She quickly tore up the note and threw it in the bin.

"He's going to use his power to cheat money out of the casino." Simon distracted her.

"You don't need to be able to see into the future to know that that is gonna end badly." Alisha spoke aloud what everyone was thinking. "The baby's really cute though." She now spoke mainly to Elsie who agreed with a confident nod of her head.

"I think she's gettin' all broody mate. Better knock her up." The mildly panicked look that flitted across Simon's face made Elsie wish she had her camera with her. To hide her smile, she turned to put the tip in the till.

"Garçon" The voice from earlier appeared behind her. But no one answered.

"Curtis he's talking to you." Elsie informed him with a gentle hand on his arm as her other hand fiddled with the lose change in the tray, hoping to look busy.

"Oh finally someone who speaks French." She looked over her shoulder at him and flashed him a smile, closing the till as she did so. "Sorry about your hand sweetheart. You alright now?" Elsie turned her whole body round to face him now. She studied his face for a moment to see if he was joking around. But the genuine concern she had spotted earlier was back. His question seemed authentic.

"It's fine thanks."

"Did you get all the lemon out? I bet that stung a bit." A nervous laugh left his mouth.

"Yeah. But don't worry. That wasn't the first time, I'm sure it won't be the last." Apparently satisfied with her answer he turned his focus back to Curtis.

"You're not a fan of the French? No. Fair enough. I don't like the cunts either." Elsie snorted at his honesty, receiving strange looks from her friends and a wink from the stranger. "Can I have three pints of lager, please?" He continued as if he had never been interrupted and slipped some money across the counter.

As Curtis turned, The guy looked at Elsie and shook his head, clearly unimpressed with the service, though wether he was being serious or not was a different matter entirely. She smiled and looked away, noticing that Alisha had become uncomfortable. She was about to ask what was wrong when William caught her eye. He smirked and tipped his drink to her. Her lip curled in disgust and she snapped her gaze back to Kelly when a hand was waved in front of her.

"Earth to Elsie."

"What?" Her mood had dropped considerably now, and her tone matched.

"We're goin'. See you later?"

"Mmmhm." Elsie mumbled and nodded, averting her gaze to the bar completely. She was grateful when no one asked her what was wrong, if they really were as smart as they seemed, they would have noticed.

"I'll text you, yeah?"

"Ok."

"You alright?" Curtis asked her as he poured the drinks., the other three on the other side of the bar disappearing out of the door. "You know, you just have to say the word and Kelly can do some serious damage. Me too." She smiled and looked up at him now.

"Thanks. Maybe one day I'll hold you to that." Now, as the tall guy entered the toilets, she moved away to clean some tables, the words Curtis spoke floating through her mind was disturbed when she heard the groaning. She thought better about knocking to see if he was okay and carried on with the tables, collecting dirty glasses and empty bottles as she went.

It couldn't have been five minutes later that Elsie walked back to the bar, hands full with glasses and bottles, tea towel thrown over her shoulder, when one of the girls who had arrived with the tall guy entered the room again. A soft and somewhat dreamy expression painted her face. But that quickly dropped when she spotted the pretty brunette having a snog with the guy.

Elsie took a moment to study the blonde. Shoulder length hair that looked as if it needed to be dyed again that she wore with an asymmetrical fringe that didn't quite look right on her. If a smile were to cover her face, she would have been rather pretty. Instead an angry look that seemed permanent was her expression of choice, as it had been at the bar earlier.

A frown overtook the curious look on Elsie's face as the girl started to pant heavily.

After a second, Elsie blinked, but the girl was gone. Matt was over filling a glass, the song, which had been a particular favourite of her Gran's, had skipped forward a few lines, and Curtis was still standing next to the guy who had finally stopped playing tonsil tennis with the brunette next to him to draw breath. Only, there was now a broken bottle in Curtis's hand, and a trickle of blood running down the guys neck.

"Oh my God." Elsie quickly grabbed another clean tea towel and marched over to the table.

"This man's just bottled me!" Everyone turned to see what was going on, a silence that was only filled by the music settled over the room.

Curtis held the remains of the glass closer to his face, studying it and not quite believing what he was seeing. "I didn't do anything to you!"

"Me face!" His voice bordered on hysterical. "Am I still...am I still... am I still gorgeous?"

Elsie took the moment to step around Curtis and with the balled up tea towel, held it against they guys head.

"What the fuck-" His voice hysterical once more, he tried turning his head round to see what was happening, but Elsie held his chin so he was facing forward. He relaxed slightly. Apparently he had seen who it was. "Oh it's you."

"Yep. Just me." She replied, hesitantly moving the towel an inch to see the damage.

"So come on then. What's the 'arm? Will it leave a scar?" His voice dropped to a panicked whisper. "Will I get brain damage?" Elsie shook her head.

"I'm pretty sure it's just a cut. Doesn't look like it needs stitching."

"Oh that's a shame, girls love a good scar." She rolled her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time and looked back at Curtis. He was busy staring at the glass again. As if he felt her gaze, he looked up and the two shared a confused and worried expression. Curtis had no reason to bottle this guy. Unless he had become extremely pissed for the whole public affection thing moments before and quite frankly she wouldn't have blamed him. But even for Curtis, bottling someone was extreme, and it was just something he would never do unless it was to save someone's life.

"Are you alright?" Elsie quietly asked him as the guy before her continued to babble on. "You're not hurt are you?" He merely shook his head. "Get back behind the bar, I'll clean this up."

It took him a moment to respond, the shock of finding himself holding the evidence of an assault had obviously bothered him, as it would anyone that was not guilty. "You sure?"

Elsie nodded. "Yeah, go have a drink or something." Curtis nodded hesitantly, and with the stares of everyone following him, he made his way over to the toilets. The chatter of people started up again when he had vanished, amazing Elsie that no one was calling the Police.

"I don't think this is something you can run under the tap." The guy spoke again with another nervous laugh, gaining her attention. His voice had lost the hysterical tone, but it had been replaced with a hint of worry.

"No." Elsie agreed. "But I can clean you up if you like? There's a first aid box in the back room." His eyes lit up with mischief and a suggestive smirk appeared. "And before you suggest anything, the answer is no."

"How'd you know I wasn't going to say 'that was a brilliant idea'? Or better yet say something even more clever?" She raised an eyebrow at him and his shoulders slumped. "Yeah alright then. Which way to the back room?"

"Hold this." She took his hand and placed it on top of the towel. "Follow me. Your girlfriend can come too but I think it would be better if she went to splash her face a little." The pair looked to the brunette who had gone pale. The girl in question nodded and waited for the guy to stand before rushing off to the loos.

For what felt like the fiftieth time but was probably only the third, Elsie swatted the guys hand away from where he had placed it on her hip. He was currently seated in the only chair in the entire building, with her standing in front of him, cleaning his neck with one hand and holding the towel to his head with the other.

"I don't know why you can't clean your own neck." She stated as she threw some bloodied wipes away into the bin.

"There's no mirror in 'ere. How do you expect me to see what to clean without one?" She, again, smacked his hand away when it landed on her waist and moved over to the sink to pick up the compact mirror that had been left there, forgotten on one of the tables days ago after a disaster date. She held it out to him, only for it to be eyed with a disgusted sneer. "How do you expect me to see what I'm doin' with that, that's tiny!"

"For fuck's sake." She muttered to herself slipping the mirror into the back pocket of her jeans. "And will you stop touching my hip?!" She swatted the tattooed hand away.

"But I'm dizzy, and you're the only thing keepin' me from falling off chair." She stopped all together and sent him a pointed look. "What?" He seemed genuinely befuddled.

"Are you actually dizzy?" The pair stared at each other for a moment.

"If I say yes, can I put my hand on your waist?"

"No."

"Alright then, I'm not."

"But that probably won't deter you anyway." Elsie mumbled as she picked up more wipes.

"I could sue you know." It seemed as if he was talking to himself now. "I could get rich- what you shakin' your head for?" She hadn't realised she was doing it until he questioned her.

"You couldn't sue. And even if you did, you would not get rich from this place." She set about gently wiping off the blood from his head, hoping the wound wouldn't start bleeding all over again.

"And why is that?" He sounded cocky, confident and by God she wanted to wipe that smirk of his face.

"You have seen this place? It's practically a dump. The only reason people come here is because it's the nearest one to them. They don't have to get in a car and drive. It's walking distance."

"And for the pretty barmaids." She thought she heard him mumble but opted to ignore him.

"And you won't sue, because there is no evidence."

"He was holdin' that glass in his 'and, you saw 'im with it. Everyone saw 'im with it."

"But did anyone actually see him do it?" His silence was answer enough.

"Maybe...Maybe I won't sue." She nodded along. "This place, it's...it's practically a dump." She nodded again, as if those thoughts were all his and threw the remaining wipes away.

"You're all done." He stood slowly, groaning with the effort, stretched and turned to her.

"It's not goin ' to leave a scar is it?" He actually sounded somewhat disappointed.

She chuckled as she leant against the doorframe. "No." His shoulders sagged. "That's, to you apparently, the bad news."

"So what's the good news?" He walked over to her and stood in front of her, leant against the other side of the doorframe and crossed his arms. The upper half of his body leaning forwards so he could look her in the eye.

"You could get a shag out of this." She ever so slightly indicated with her head over to the table where the pretty brunette was sitting again, waiting not so patiently with another drink before her. The impish smile he sent her showed he agreed and walked away back to the table.

With another shake of her head, she put away the first aid kit, washed her hands and took her place behind the bar again. Curtis had not returned but had left a note for her on the counter to tell her he had gone for a break. She threw it in the bin and jumped again when the tall guy stood in front of the bar again.

"Sorry...sorry. I didn't catch your name?" She thought about replying with: 'That's because I didn't give it to you.' But the pretty brunette was waiting at the door for him and was probably listening with a keen ear to their conversation. The sentence she was tempted to say would more than likely be construed as flirting. That was the last thing she wanted.

"It's Elsie." She informed him with a smile. From the corner of her eye, she noticed William stiffen in his seat, but she didn't bother looking at him directly.

"Thank you."

It was rare for her to receive a word of thanks in this place. So his words caught her off guard, causing her mind to go blank. Her face probably held an expression of stupidity. "For what?" She managed to ask.

"Cleanin' me up." He explained, fidgeting as if he was unsure of himself.

"Oh. It's no problem." He hovered as if he wanted to say something else but she got there before him. "Go on, fuck off." But she smiled at him to let him know she didn't mean it harshly. With one last nod to her, he left. His arm around the shoulders of the pretty brunette and the flirty smirk firmly back in place as they exited.

"Was he ok?" For the third time that evening, Elsie jumped. But this time, it was Curtis talking to her.

"Yeah. No damage. Are you alright?" She turned back to face him now and watched as he inched closer to her.

"I texted everyone." His voice was low in her ear, trying to be as quiet as possible. "Meeting them tomorrow morning. What happened earlier...it had to be some power bullshit." He was taking a risk talking about this when they were in hearing range of everyone else.

"Agreed. But let's just get today over with." He nodded and allowed her to move away from him to serve the next customer. But her mind was only half on the job. She was rummaging through her memories trying to remember where she had seen the tall guy before.