(Violet's Pov)
I looked to the side a bit as I messed with my wedding ring a bit. I was currently sitting at the bar drinking my whiskey and I take a breath.
"Something bothering ya?" I hear and looked to the bartender and I wave my hand a bit.
"Nah nothing is bothering me." I tell her.
"Usually when someone comes to a bar and they drink and not talk there has to be a lot on their mind." She says and I mess with my ring a bit.
"Marriage problems?" She asked and I stopped messing with my ring and I grabbed my whiskey and took a drink.
"No none." I tell her and she leaned on the counter and I look to her.
"You sure?" She asked and I nod a bit and then took another drink and she poured some for me.
"This is on me." She says and I look to her a bit and I sighed as I leaned back a bit and then look to the bartender.
"… Have you ever thought you made the biggest mistake in your life?" I asked her and she looked to me a bit and then she takes a breath.
"Hard hitter of a question… I suppose so." She says.
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Well… depends on the situation." She says and I think a bit.
"Well… I married my best friend and uh… it was good for three years but… things have been… going downhill." I tell her.
"Well, I don't see how it's the biggest mistake of your life, just a mistake that can be fixed." She says and I shake my head a bit.
"I tried… I tried talking with them, I tried to get us into counseling, couples therapy, everything but they… they don't want to try." I tried to explain.
"Well… seems like they aren't willing to fix the relationship, and if they aren't there is no need to stay with them." She says and I take a drink from the glass.
"But I love them." I tell her and she looked to me.
"Well, whoever they are they don't seem to love you back if they weren't or aren't willing to work with you on your relationship." She says and I look at her a bit.
"Ain't that right." I mutter and I took a drink and she pours me another drink and I make sure she puts it on the tab. I sit and talk with the bartender a bit and she was so nice to talk to. I pay the tab and leave some money as a tip for her as well. I head to my house and I set my keys in the bowl by the door. I look to see Minerva on the couch on her phone and I look back to my wedding ring and then to her.
"Hey Minnie." I say as I come up and give her a kiss on the cheek.
"You smell like whiskey." She mutters and I look to her a bit.
"I mean I uh… I was at a bar so." I tried to say.
"Well, stop drinking at that bar." She says and I sighed a bit.
"So, um… there is a opening in Dr. Christa." I say.
"We don't need therapy." She says and I moved away a bit but she grabbed my face gently and I look to her and she kissed my cheek.
"Look, we should go to this one club tomorrow, better than a bar." She says and I nod a bit.
"Uh sure, I'm still off from work." I tell her and she nods.
"Great, I'll text the others." She says and I nod and watch as she goes on her phone and I head up to the room and I look to the bed a bit and sighed as I go and change my clothes for the night. I head on down to the living room and I take a seat on the couch and I look over to Minerva as she was still on her phone. I turned the TV on and I watched whatever was on.
"Hey Vi, is it ok if I use the card to get some thing for the house?" Minerva asked and I look to her.
"Sure, what are you getting?" I asked.
"Well… it's for a small party." She says and I look to her.
"Party?" I asked.
"Yeah just a few friends from work is all." She says and I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Oh, uh sure, just don't go overboard please." I tell her.
"I won't, I promise." She says and I nod as she gets up and kisses my cheek and I smile a bit and nod. I grabbed my wallet and hand her the card and then she heads to the room and I rubbed the back of my neck and looked back to the TV. A few weeks would pass and I was back at the bar and kept messing with my wedding ring.
"Hey back again, been a few weeks." I hear and look to the bartender and I sit up a bit.
"Oh, uh yeah been busy with work." I tell her.
"How's the love life going?" She asked as she poured some Whiskey for me and I look to her.
"It's going." I tell her and take a drink and I look to her and she looked to me.
"I never got your name." She says and I chuckled.
"It's Violet." I tell her and then to my ring.
"I'm Clementine." She says and I smiled and looked to her.
"So, how have you been?" She asked and I looked to the side a bit and then looked to her a bit.
"Oh uh… fine just fine." I tell her and she looked to me.
"How have you been?" I asked her.
"Fine as well." She says and I take a drink.
"So, you got anyone you like?" I asked her and she looked to me.
"Oh yes I am dating a nice guy." She says and I nod a bit.
"Lucky guy." I mutter and take a drink.
"Your husband that bad?" She asked and I look to her.
"Oh uh… wife." I tell her and she looked to me a bit. I felt like she was about to judge me for being with a woman.
"Oh interesting, well tell me about her." She says and I look to her a bit and I tell her about Minerva. How we got together and how we ended up married. I take another drink of the whiskey and looked back to Clementine.
"Sorry for talking a lot." I tell her.
"Hey it's a bartender's job to listen." She tells me and I look to her a bit then to my glass.
"Well, your boss might be mad that I'm interrupting their worker." I say and then take a drink.
"I own the bar so no need to worry." She says.
"Shit you own this place?" I asked and she laughed and nods.
"Yeah, I do… not the best place but it's something." She says and I nod at this.
"Honestly I like places like this." I tell her.
"Oh? Why is that?" She asked and I finished my drink and look to her.
"Nice and quiet, reminds me of the bars my dad and grandpa took me to when I was a kid." I tell her.
"They brought you into a bar?" She asked.
"Oh yeah kids were allowed just not to sit at the bar, they had easter parties and such, I'm pretty damn good at pool." I tell her.
"Were they good memories?" She asked and I nod.
"Yeah, hell my grandpa took me to the old VFW bar, got to hear a lot of stories… on time I saw a bar fight." I say and she looked to me and I chuckled.
"Are you being honest with me?" She asked and I nodded.
"Yeah, but that was with my dad, he started them but honestly all the other times it was nice and quiet, and I liked it… guess you can say I grew up in a bar." I tell her.
"It must have been a lot." She says and I shrugged.
"Not really, my first job was at a bar." I tell her and she looked to me.
"You know how to mix drinks?" She asked and I looked around and saw the place was empty and I look to her.
"Is it ok if I come over?" I asked and she nods and I come over to the other side of the bar and grabbed a few ingredients. I roll my sleeves up and get to work as I mixed drinks.
"Now I learned this at the VFW." I say as I grabbed a glass and put the mixer cup on and shook it then threw it in the air and it did a few flips and I catch it behind my back and she claps and I shake the ingredients more. I then pour the drink into a glass and hand it to her. She takes a drink and smiles.
"Oh, wow this is good." She says and I smiled a bit.
"Thanks." I say and she finished the drink and I nod at this.
"Got anything else?" She asked and I nod as I make some more drinks for her. She was impressed and I look to her a bit.
"Hey uh, if you want… maybe you could work here?" She asked and I look to her a bit as I take a drink.
"Really?" I asked.
"Sure, you know your stuff, plus I think the entertainment would be great." She says and I think a bit and sigh.
"I uh… I can't I-."
"I can pay really well." She says and I rubbed the back of my neck a bit.
"Just think on it ok?" She asked and I nod at this. I pay my tab and she looked to me as I give her a tip and she nods and I head on back home. I see a few cars in the driveway and I rubbed the back of my neck as I go inside my house and I look to see all these people in my house.
"Oh and- Hey Violet you're back." Minerva says and I look to her and I smiled a bit.
"Yeah, sorry if I'm interrupting." I say and wave to her co-workers who wave back.
"Oh no not at all, come have a drink." Minerva says.
"I already had a drink or two, I also have to get up early for work." I tell her.
"You sure?" She asked and I look to the drinks a bit and I clear my throat.
"One more drink wouldn't hurt." I say to her and she smiled and kissed my cheek and I go with her and have more than one more drink. I wake up and se that I'm laying on my couch and I have a huge headache. I rubbed my head a bit and then I hear my phone go off and I groaned as I answer it.
"Hmm hello?" I answer.
"Violet you're two hours late." I hear and I quickly get up and rubbed my head a bit.
"Oh, fuck I uh… I'll be there I just-."
"Don't even bother, you've been late five times already." I hear.
"Wait just I will be there-."
"Don't even bother, just come here get your stuff and I'll give you your last paycheck." I hear and the line goes dead and I lay back on the couch and I groaned. I open my eyes and I get up and grabbed some medicine and my keys and wallet. I get on my bike and ride on down to the shop and grabbed my things. I think a bit and head back home and place my box in the garage and I rubbed my face a bit and then looked to the side and tap my fingers on the bench a bit and then head t the bar. Once there I see the bar is opened and I head inside and look to the bar and I see Clementine and I go and take a seat.
"Woah two days in a row? Something bad must have happened." Clementine says and I look to her and she hands me a glass of whiskey.
"Uh… you still offering that job?" I asked.
"Did something happen at your old job?" She asked.
"Lost my job." I mutter and then take a drink.
"Well fuck." She says and I nod and sighed.
"Yeah, drank more and woke up late." I tell her.
"Oh, not a good selling point on getting a job here." She says and I look to her.
"I swear I wouldn't be late I just…" I stopped and rubbed the back of my neck a bit.
"I was joking you know." She says and I look to her a bit and she looked to me.
"But please don't be late, and do a good job." She says and I nod.
"Yeah, definitely." I tell her.
"Alright, you can start tomorrow night." She says and I smile a bit and chuckled.
"Thanks." I say and she nods.
"And this drink is on the house, no if, ands, or buts about it." She says and I nod in thanks.
"Thanks… I'm sorry." I tell her.
"For what?" She asked and I shrugged.
"Being a bother, I suppose." I tell her.
"A bother? Oh no trust me you're the liveliest person here." She says and I nod at this. I rubbed my neck and got another drink. Clementine gets some papers for me to look over and I sign them. Then someone comes into the bar.
"Hey Clem how's the bar?" I hear and look over to see.
"Louis hey." I say and he looked to me.
"Well shit if it isn't Violet, been a long time." He says and takes a seat next to me.
"Yeah, fuck it's been eight years." I say to him.
"Yeah, oh sorry I didn't make it to the wedding, how are things with Minerva?" He asked and I shrugged and messed with my wedding ring.
"Going ok, just a bump in the road but we're working on it." I tell him.
"Damn, well hope things work out." He says and I nod at this. Clementine then comes over to us.
"Hey babe." Louis says and I look to him and then Clem a bit.
"Hey Lou, how have you been?" Clem asked.
"Been good, I got the promotion at dads' company, maybe we could spruce up this place?" He asked her.
"No, it's fine, I like how this bar is." Clem says.
"I mean maybe we can do a few things to get more customers, that wouldn't hurt." Louis says and I take a drink.
"Sure, but nothing to fancy, it's not a club." She tells him.
"Of course." He says.
"So how long have you two been together?" I asked.
"A year now." He says and I nod a bit at this.
"Nice." I say and take a drink.
"Everything ok?" Louis asked.
"Yeah, everything is fine." I tell him.
"You sure?" He asked and I nodded. Him and Clem talk for a bit and then Louis leaves and I look back to Clem.
"So how did you two meet?" I asked her.
"Get this, I was just starting out this place and he comes in with a few of his friends, and let's just say he ended up with alcohol thrown in his face and a few choice words… he comes back the next day and apologized." She says and I lean my head into my hand and look to her a bit.
"True romance." I chuckled and she smiled at this.
"Well, he's been a bit… pushy on me about making this place a club setting." She tells me and I look to her a bit.
"He's just making sure to look out for you." I tell her.
"Yeah, but I like how this place is, and you seem to like it." She says and I nod a bit at this.
"Again, I like the quiet… but maybe having a karaoke wouldn't hurt." I joke and she laughed.
"Actually, that wouldn't be a bad idea." She says and I look to her a bit and then look to the whiskey and take a drink.
"But again, I still like the quiet." I chuckled and she smiled.
"So, is there no uniform or?" I asked.
"Closed toe slick resistant shoes, and black jeans, that's all." She says and I nod and finished my drink and leave her a tip.
"I said-."
"It's a tip." I tell her and she nods.
"Thanks." She says and I nod and I head on out. I get to the house and I see Minerva as she comes out the room.
"Heading to work?" I asked and she nods.
"Yep, I'll be back late." She says and I look to her and nod.
"Everything ok?" She asked.
"I uh… yeah everything is fine." I tell her.
"You sure?" She asked and I nod at this.
"Yeah uh… I'm working nights tomorrow." I tell her.
"Oh? They allow that?" She asked and I nod.
"Yeah, they do." I lied and she nods.
"Ok, well guess we will have days to spend together." She says and I nod at this.
"Yeah heh, anyway I'll see you later." I say and she kissed my cheek and left. I rubbed the back of my neck and I go and take a seat on the couch and tried to get any sleep I could. when my first shift started, I was in the back with Clementine as she told me where everything was and I made a mental note of it. It wasn't long till I was making some drinks for a few girls and I did a few tricks for them making them clap and I chuckled as I poured the drinks.
"You having fun?" Clem asked and I nod at this.
"Yeah, it's really fun." I tell her and another girl asked for a drink and I start working on it.
"Hey Clem who's the new girl?" I hear.
"That would be Violet." Clem says and I hand the girl her drink and she smiled at me and I smile back.
"Well, she's making this place very lively." I hear and I head to the back and get a few new bottles.
-Six Months Later-
I was currently working at the bar, and doing a few bottle tricks for some customers and I they clapped and I smile at them as I hand them their drinks. I look over to Clem as she was talking to a few of the regulars and I get another order and I get to work on it. It wasn't long till the shift ended and I look over to Clem as she tried to toss the bottle and she ended up missing and I grabbed the bottle before it fell to the ground.
"Takes some time to do the grab from behind trick." I tell her and she nods.
"You make it seem so easy though." She says and I chuckled at this.
"Yeah, but it took me months to get this down." I say and show her how to do it. She tries and I grabbed the bottle quickly and she laughed a bit as I helped her more. I end up placing my hand on her shoulder and I look to her as she looked to m.
"Oh, uh sorry." I say and move my hand away and place it in my pocket.
"Oh no it's fine." She says and I nod and clean the bar top.
"So tomorrow you don't need to come in." She says and I look to her.
"Oh? Something come up?" I asked.
"Oh, I just close the shop on that time." She says and I look to her.
"Is it personal if I ask why?" I asked her.
"Just to visit my dad, it's his birthday tomorrow." She says and I nod at this.
"Alright." I say and finished cleaning up the bar and I look to Clem as she was looking at her phone a bit.
"Everything good?" I asked.
"Yeah, everything is fine." She says and I look to her a bit and think then went behind the counter and placed my hands on her shoulders and then take her to one of her seats and I get behind the bar and she looked to me. I look to her and she looked to me and I smile as I grabbed a bottle and I poured her a drink and she looked to me and smiled.
"Come on, it's a bartender's job to listen… so talk." I tell her and she looked to me.
"Louis wanted to take me on a date tomorrow but… I told him I was spending it with my dad." She says and I look to her.
"Does he know?" I asked.
"I mean yes, he did say he would like to go tomorrow night." She says and I hand her the drink and she looked to it.
"To fancy?" I asked.
"No just… never been on this side of the bar." She says and takes a drink.
"Well sometimes it's best to get others to listen when you have problems." I tell her and she finished the drink.
"Seems like it." She says and I look to her a bit.
"Look, just tell Louis you want to spend more time with your dad, he should be very understanding of that." I tell her.
"Honestly I blew off a few dates with him." She says.
"Ouch, how many?" I asked.
"…. Ten." She says.
"Oh, damn that's a lot." I say and she nods.
"Yeah… can I have another?" She asked and I nod as I make her another drink. No tricks just making her a drink.
"So, uh… how are things going with Minerva?" She asked and I mess with my ring a bit and look to her then to my ring a bit.
"Uh… we're working on things." I tell her.
"Mind explaining?" She asked and I rubbed my hands together.
"She is… asking for a divorce." I tell her and I look to her.
"What why?" She asked and I shrugged a bit and messed with my ring again.
"I uh… well… she thinks I'm cheating on her." I tell her.
"How? Wait hold on." She tries to say and I stop her.
"It's fine, I told her I wasn't and she's been… adamant that I've been cheating on her… but it's fine." I tell her.
"And yet you still wear your wedding ring?" She asked and I look to Clem a bit and I sighed.
"It's… It's hard to uh… not wear it." I tell her.
"Oh?" She asked and I nod.
"I mean we've been together for five almost six years… and I just… I can't get rid of it." I tell her.
"Well, she's dumb." She mutters and I chuckled a bit.
"She's… she has her moments, she wasn't all that bad, she worries a lot… I bet in a few weeks she'll be back to normal." I tell her.
"You are willing to wait for her…. Has she ever waited for you?" She asked.
"She has, I mean she was there for me when I needed her." I tell her.
"But you've been having problems." She says and I nod and mess with my ring again.
"Yeah, but hey it could make or break this marriage, I'm just… a patient person is all." I tell her.
"Too patient if you ask me." She mutters and I pour her a drink.
"It's the life I lived that made me this way." I tell her.
"How bad was your life?" She asked and I chuckled.
"I'm supposed to listen to you, not the other way around." I tell her.
"Oh right, old habits die hard." She says and I nod at this.
"Fair enough… it wasn't all that bad, I had a roof over my head, a mom that worked, grandparents who love me." I list off and look to her.
"It's just how they did things, my mom was constantly working, my dad though he was drinking a lot it was hard for him to get a job and I understood I wasn't going to get a lot of things… so I would do some little jobs here and there, this little old lady would give me five dollars to pick the weeds from her yard, and the old man across from my trailer would give me another five if I mowed his lawn." I say and remember those times.
"They helped us when they could, even when the little old lady could only give me two dollars, I told her it was fine and she didn't need to give me even a dollar… I enjoyed helping her and the other elderly neighbors because…. I'd like for people to help my grandparents." I tell her.
"You are very kind." She says and I nod.
"I've done some bad things though… I once stole some candy at a convenient store… I ended up feeling bad about it and I went and gave the cashier money and just ran out the store scared." I tell her and she giggled a bit.
"I'm sorry, but… that is a little funny." She says and I chuckled at this.
"It is." I say and smiled at Clem.
"…Well, I'll just clean this stuff up, you can head on home." She says and I look to her a bit.
"I got it I made the mess." I say as I begin cleaning and she helped me. Once done I head over to my bike and I look at her as she gets to her car.
"Hey if… it isn't too much to ask but… if you aren't busy this weekend… mind coming over I have some new drink ideas." She says and I nod.
"Sure, meet here?" I asked and she nods.
"Yeah of course, store is closed this weekend anyway." She says and I nod at this and wave to her as she leaves. I start up my bike and head on home and I see Minerva's car in the driveway and I smiled as I get off my bike and head inside. I see Minerva in the kitchen as she had just made some dinner and I go over to her and I hugged her from behind.
"Hey." She says quietly and I nod a bit at this and just held her.
"Everything ok?" She asked and I nod a bit.
"Just wanted a hug?" She asked and I nod again. She was finishing up dinner but I didn't feel hungry and so I just went and grabbed some juice in the fridge and took a drink.
"What are you doing tomorrow?" She asked and I look to her as she sets two plates on the table and I take a seat after getting her a drink as well.
"Nothing, I'm off tomorrow, but this weekend I'll be at work." I tell her.
"Oh well since you are off, I know you'd want to sleep in, but… if you want before you head into work there is this bar I want to take you to." She says and I look to her as I took my drink.
"Don't worry it's not a club in anyway, but maybe we might have some fun? We could play pool like we use to." She says and I think a bit and I nod.
"Sure, that sounds like fun… I'm guessing your friends will be there?" I asked her.
"Well just Sarah, but she's also friends with the bar owner." She says and I nod.
"I didn't know you two were friends." I say and ate some of my food.
"Well, I got to talk to her, she's just introverted, but get her talking about books and she's talking up a storm, actually she suggested a few that sound interesting." She tells me and I nod at this and smile. At least she was making new friends that are a little tame, unlike the others.
"Alright, sounds like fun." I tell her and she nods. We then went to bed and I just pass out right then and there.
