A few days later I'm perched on the bar again, laptop in my lap and an empty bar. I was beginning to become alright with working the day shifts, it gave me all night to do nothing and it was easy. There were a lot less tips involved, but hey you give a little and take a little right? My day consisted of a very few customers, who were always regulars, a little clean up and the rest either watching whatever was on TV or sitting on my computer and stealing the wifi from the dance studio next door.
"Hey sweet pea." Jon calls, swinging open the front door and walking in. I'd apparently earned the nick name 'sweet pea' in the past week, I don't really recall him every calling me by my first name. He perches himself on a stool right next to me, seemingly interested in whatever I was doing on the computer.
"Hey Jon." I murmur, reaching behind the bar and handing him a beer.
"How about a shot?" He asks, with a devious glint in his eye.
"Of what?" I ask back, glancing at him.
"Fireball whiskey." He replies, wagging his eyebrows. With a sigh I set the laptop down and slip behind the bar, reaching for the whiskey. "Two, you're having one with me." He states. I don't reply, only pour the shots and hand one to him. "Do ya trust me?" He smirks.
"Not even a little." I reply back with the same look.
"Ah, sweet pea you're breakin' my heart." He laughs, pulling me out from behind the bar by my wrist. I was beginning to learn that Jon didn't really ask for anything, he just kinda 'pulls' you into it. "Open up." He instructs.
"You first." I scoff.
"Alright." He agrees, tilting his head back and opening his mouth. I roll my eyes but pour the shot down his throat, sliding the glass back on the counter. "Your turn." He grins. With yet another roll of my eyes I tilt my own head back and open my mouth, waiting for that awesome warmth that is a fireball. His fingers gently tangle in my hair, holding me there as he pours the shot into my mouth, "Like a champ." He laughs, releasing me.
"I work at a bar, I can shoot whiskey with the best of them." I shoot at him, hoisting myself onto the stool next to him. "You're in here early tonight." i comment, glancing at the clock, it was only 3:30 in the afternoon.
"Funny thing..." He starts, taking a pull off the beer. "I actually have no fuckin' life." He chuckles.
"Join the club." I tell him.
"You're always doing something." He rebuts with a scoff.
"Yeah. Like working." I say. "I wake up, clean up horse shit, work with horses, go shower, come here, work with all you rowdy assholes, go home, sleep." I ramble.
"You're different, ya know that?" He murmurs, studying the beer bottle on the counter and picking at one of the paper edges.
"I'm sorry?" I ask him, furrowing my brows. He looks at me, like actually looks at me for once and is about to answer when Colby and Kelly interrupt.
"What's goin' on guys?" Colby says, walking into the bar with Kelly.
"Hey love." Kelly smiles, hugging me. "Will you make me something that I can't taste the alcohol in?" She asks.
"Of course." I laugh, sliding off the stool. Jon huffs, clearly annoyed as I hand Colby a beer.
"What crawled up your ass and died?" Colby asks him, giving him a look. "Thank you doll." He grins at me, taking the beer. I mix up a glass of strawberry and whipped cream vodka and add a little coke to it before handing it to Kelly.
"Nothin' man, I'm good." Jon shrugs, glancing up at me. I grin at him and shrug, taking the top off another beer and setting it in front of him. "How about another shot?" He asks me.
"Of?"
"How about Jag bombs?" He suggests.
"You're taking shots?" Kelly questions, "You swore off shots last year." She says confused.
"Ya did?" Jon asks.
"It's nothing." I tell him, "And yes I did, but it was just us here so I didn't think it'd hurt anything." I shrug at Kelly. "Plus I don't think anyone is going to fuck with me with Jon here."
"It's more than nothing, and hell no I'd break fuckin' necks." Jon states, looking at me seriously. "So... Did you get so wasted you forgot where you parked the car? Passed out on the sidewalk? Threw up on your friends shoes? Took a "hot" guy home and felt like killing yourself the next morning? I've done that a few times, only chicks ya know." He guesses.
"None of the above. Back off Jon." I warn him, not wanting to get into that subject. He raises his eyebrows, and for a minute I thought he may retaliate but he lets it slide. "What are you guys up to?" I ask Kelly and Colby.
"We're on our way to the zoo." Kelly smiles. She could double as a 5 year old sometimes.
"You're off soon, you want to come?" Colby asks.
"Oh, yeah I'm not feeling very third wheelish tonight." I chuckle, shaking my head 'no'.
"Please, you're never the third wheel and you know it." Colby scoffs not amused with my answer.
"I'll go with you." Jon suggests, "If you want." He adds, pushing some of the hair out of his face. Kelly gives him a sideways glance and Colby shrugs.
"Problem solved." Colby states, looking at me expectantly.
"Come on, it'll be fun." Kelly agrees.
"Alright." I finally cave.
"You can get out of here Annabelle, not like we're crawling with customers." Johnny says, hearing our conversation from the back.
"Clock out, lets go!" Kelly exclaims excited.
**At the Zoo**
"Don't lie, you didn't really want to come here." I murmur to Jon as we followed along behind Colby and Kelly to the entrance.
"Because my life is so busy." He remarks, rolling his eyes.
"So where should we go first?" Kelly asks, mostly to Colby.
"Should we just do a big circle?" Colby suggests, studying the map Kelly had handed to him. He turns it side to side, trying to read it but it only makes Kelly and I laugh. "Shut it you two." He warns us with a grin.
"Jon and I are going to the aquarium." I tell them.
"Oh yeah?" Jon asks, smirking at me.
"Yes." I inform him, "We'll catch up with you." I say, pulling one of his signature moves and dragging him along behind me.
"Tell me about the whole swearing off shots thing." He asks, looking down at me as we walked.
"Tell about how I'm different." I rebut, opening the door to go into the aquarium.
"You first."
"I don't think so." I chuckle.
"I went first last time." He states, reminding me of the shot I poured down his throat earlier today. I only sigh, not really wanting to talk about it. "Come on, I won't laugh. Promise." He smiles.
"I went out for my birthday last year with Joe, Colby, Kelly and a few of our girlfriends." I start out, shuffling along the hallway and glancing at the fish. "I was hammered, yes. But I'm a 'always know what I'm doing' drunk, just sometimes I don't care. Anyway some guy thought he was a hot shot or something and while I was in the bathroom he tried to rape me." I spit out, pursing my lips. "I was drunk enough to not have a very decent reaction time, and one of the security guards ended up pulling him off me... But not before I got a couple good licks in." I state.
"Someone tried to rape you?" He asks between gritted teeth. I didn't really acknowledge that it was making him angry, to lost in my own memory to see it.
"Yeah, one of the CZW guys actually. Brain damage I think is his ring name." I shrug. "Anyway, Joe beat the tar out of him, I threw my guts up the rest of the night and passed out in Colby's spare room." I tell him, pulling myself out of my own head to look up at him. He was deep red, and his eyes had changed from that usual softness I see to angry. "Jon?" I whisper, putting my hand on his arm.
"So you don't drink the hard stuff anymore?" He finally says, taking a deep breath.
"Yep." I nod. "You're turn." I tell him.
"I only meant that you're a breed of woman I've never dealt with before." He shrugs. "You're confusing." He adds.
"Nah, pretty sure that I'm pretty simple." I smile.
"Not to me." He chuckles. "You're one of those respectable women, that I'm not interested in figuring out. Than you came along, and suddenly it's a puzzle I want to piece together... And good god almighty, what the fuck is that?" He exclaims, pointing to a huge blue fish that was lying on the bottom of the tank.
"It's a Goonch Catfish." I tell him grinning. "They're only found in Indian rivers. Legend has it that there's a killer Goonch somewhere in India, dragging fisherman to their death. He's pretty big though, probably 5 feet of sexy alien." I smile admiring him. I always had a thing for crazy looking fish.
"Different, and weird." Jon says, throwing an arm around my shoulder. "Wait a second, how big would a killer have to be?" He questions.
"I don't know, like 8 to 10 feet probably." I answer, "In his mouth, rows of sharp ass fucking teeth." I say, "Predatory catfish."
"How the hell do you know so much?" He chuckles.
"College. Filled my head with useless crap." I state.
"What would you have done if you didn't come here today?" He asks curiously.
"I'd have took you home with me." I reply without missing a beat.
"Shit. Why did I suggest we come here again?" He laughs.
"Tough shit cookie." I smirk. "Better luck next time." I tell him.
"Next time eh?" He smiles.
"If you even want a next time." I shrug.
"Different breed." He grins, twirling some of my hair between his fingers. "Come to the show tomorrow night." He half asks half suggests.
"Why?" I whine not really wanting to go.
"Because I'm wrestling and I want you to be there." He replies simply, "Good luck charm." He adds, pointing to his cheek.
"I'm sure you would win regardless of my presence there." I chuckle.
"Just say you'll come." He sighs, giving me a slightly annoyed look.
"I'll come." I tell him.
"Why couldn't you have just said that the first time we met?" He asks, cocking his head at me.
"Because you were an asshole the first time we met." I reply. "You're still an asshole, just as big of one." I smirk at him.
"It's in my nature." He explains.
"Clearly." I laugh.
"You could come out to ringside with me." He winks.
"I think I'll take my chances in the back, I've seen how reckless you are." I tell him.
"I'd never hurt ya." He says softly.
"Yeah, intentionally." I add.
"Not even." He smiles. "You're not even looking' at the fish anymore." He accuses me. We'd covered the whole under water viewing area and the only thing I'd really paid any mind to was that Goonch Catfish.
"Nothing I haven't seen already." I shrug.
"Good. Then humor me, lets go see the monkeys." He grins.
"To the monkeys." I agree. "Freak." I add with a smile.
"You're just jealous." He tells me.
"Oh totally." I nod, "I wish I could let my freak flag fly as high as yours." I tell him.
"That was mean." He pouts.
"I'm sorry." I say, grabbing his chin and kissing his cheek and making him laugh.
"So what if I wanted to ride a horse, would you take me to the stable?" He asks.
"I'd call your bullshit, I don't believe that." I laugh.
"Yeah alright, maybe not." He agrees, "But it'd be fun to watch you ride." He shrugs.
**Mean while, on the other side of the zoo**
"Does Annabelle like Jon?" Colby asks Kelly as they walk along the side of the alligator enclosure. He'd bought some hotdogs and was watching Kelly toss them over the side of the dock.
"Why?" She grins at him.
"I don't know..." He starts, "I think he like legit likes her." He says.
"What's that supposed me mean? He hasn't liked other girls?" She laughs, tossing the last of the hotdog into the water.
"Jon has a history with women." He tells her, earning a look that basically said 'please, go on'. "He's usually rude and disrespectful. Mean. Joe and I have watched him throw some of those CZW girls around like rag dolls. He's a fuck them and leave them kinda guy." Colby shrugs.
"And you think he likes her because...?" She digs. Colby now had her full attention, she'd be damned if anyone tried to throw around her best friend.
"Because he tries being nice around her." He shrugs in response. "Looks at her different... Like when he looks at her he doesn't see anything else that's happening. Seriously, watch him when we meet up with them again." He says, "It's just weird, never seen him act like this before."
"Well, to answer you question I think she's taking to him." She tells him, "I don't know that I'd go as far as to say she likes him yet, but I think she's getting there. And we both know Annabelle well enough to know she's not going to let a guy with bad intentions into her life." She chuckles.
"Jon is pretty charming if he needs to be." Colby argues, "Then again I've also never seen him interested in a girl for more than 32 hours." He shrugs.
"Lets stop talking about them, and go see the tigers." Kelly smiles. She'd talk to her friend about this later.