Waves Of Passion

“Are you kidding me? This is the one bar with the most amazing DJ on the West Coast. Why would we want to go anywhere else while here we can have all the drinks we want at half price?” Eliza asked.

“Or smile at a cute guy and get drinks for free.”

“Well,” Celia started as she grabbed a bottle of tequila and two shot glasses. “We might as well begin right now.” She handed one glass to Eliza and smiled. “Bottoms up!”

“Bottoms up!” Eliza said before she downed the tequila shot. “Wow!” she said squeezing her eyes shut. “That burned a little more than usual.”

“Top shelf stuff,” Celia said as she looked around making sure no one heard her. “The boss’ stuff. Rey Sol Anejo.”

“You are going to get us fired,” Eliza said laughing.

“What? Those shots are like thirty bucks each. He will not notice that the proceeds from the bottle are sixty bucks short.”

“He will if this isn’t your first time and something tells me that this isn’t.”

Celia rolled her eyes.

“Hey,” she said snapping her fingers. “Miss Lifeguard, don’t go all crazy on me now just because you got a new job.”

Eliza smiled as she looked at Celia.

“So, did you get to see your crush?”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Eliza asked.

“A tall dark and handsome tanned gentleman with abs of steel by the name of Justin Frank.”

Eliza smiled and felt her cheeks flush as she grabbed a dish towel and began drying some glasses.

“I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about,” she said and Celia forced out a laugh.

“Oh, please. Everyone knows that Justin Frank is Wave Tide’s poster child and considering that he is your wildest crush, it is a little suspect that you would choose that particular company to be aligned with. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I just think you are attacking me right now and I do not appreciate it,” Eliza said in a mock annoyed voice making Celia smile.

“A customer just sat down. Go out there and see to him, stranger,” Celia said as she smiled at Eliza who shook her head. She walked over to the other side of the counter and looked at the customer who had a baseball cap pulled all the way down, hiding most of his facial features. But even then, she could not help think that he looked somehow familiar.

“What will it be?” she asked him.

“Bourbon. Neat,” the man said. It was a familiar voice. She was not sure where she’d heard it before but she knew that she knew it. The same way that she thought the little part of his face he let her see looked familiar. He pulled his cap off and ran his fingers through his hair. She looked up at the customer and sighed loudly.

“Sh*t,” she thought as she looked at him.

“Is that any way to greet an old friend?” he asked and she rolled her eyes.

“Given a choice I would love to dump a bucket of sh*t on your head but hey, this is my place of work. I have to kind of restrain myself,” she said in a tone that screamed condescension. “What are you doing here?” 

“Hey baby,” the man said smiling. “It’s been a long time.”

“Clearly not long enough,” she thought as she looked at him. 

“What are you doing here, Allan?” she asked. “I mean, how did you even find me? Or have you become a stalker now?” 

“One, stalking is a weak man’s game. And two, you are not a very hard person to find.” He smiled at her. “Besides, it is not like you were hiding or anything,” he said.

“Well, I don’t really have any reason to hide. Now, do I?” she asked as she poured him a bourbon. “Because if I do, maybe I should talk to the police. Or maybe MediaTakeOut. Pick your favorite.” Allan laughed even though she could not see anything funny about him being there. “So, I ask again,” she started as she pushed the bourbon glass towards him. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

He took the glass and smiled at her before downing the contents of her glass. She was looking right into his gray eyes. The same eyes that she had once allowed herself to get lost in. There was no getting lost in his eyes this time. All he had for her was…nothing.

Nothing at all.

Not even resentment.

“Refill?” he asked and she poured him another glass of bourbon.

“So are you going to make me ask again or are you going to just come out with it?” she asked.

“I came out here for you,” he finally said after what seemed like forever.

“For me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow over the other. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that I haven’t given up on us.”

Eliza rolled her eyes.

“Dear Lord,” she said under her breath. “Allan, you are a big part of why I moved out of Philly. Not just because you are a pain in the ass but also because I needed a fresh start.”

“So you came to hide out here?” Allan asked and Eliza shrugged.

“Who said I’m hiding? I didn’t even bother to change my phone number or name. I was not trying to hide from you.”

He pushed his glass towards her and she poured him another drink

“Why don’t you just take the bottle? It’ll be a whole lot cheaper,” she said and he laughed.

“You still have the same sense of humor.”

“Well, I wasn’t trying to be humorous. I was just trying to save you some money.”

He looked at her for a long time as he circled his finger on the glass rim.

“I miss you,” he said in a soft voice. “I really, really miss you.”

She rolled her eyes and was about to say something but he didn’t let her. He reached across the counter and took her hand in his.

“I miss everything about you,” he said again and she pulled her arm away. She was looking right into his eyes when he downed the contents of his glass and then placed the glass down. She had placed the bottle of bourbon on the counter and she had every intention of telling him to hand her the full price of the bottle so that she could walk away. Instead he placed a hundred dollar bill on the counter and gave her a wink.