Blue Daisy's way

“Rebecca, by the way.” The bartender spoke, holding out her hand. Jim shook it, feeling the softness of her skin against his coarse hand.

“Jim, nice to meet you.” For a short moment they shared a look, a familiar one, as if the two of them had known each other a while longer than they actually had. “So, how does someone like you end up working in a shitty place like this? Not trouble with the husband, I hope?” Rebecca smiled and motioned as if ready to respond, but was suddenly pulled away from their conversation by a heckling customer, hanging half-drunk over the bar, screaming for another drink. With a frustrated grimace Rebecca hurried her way over to him, putting her hands in her sides. Jim looked over at her, letting his eyes fall on her waist and the curve of her hips, as the bartender spoke to the drunken patron.

“I think you’ve had enough buddy, time to call it a night.” The man was practically drooling over himself, but seemed to vehemently disagree with Rebecca.

“F-fuck you, bitch! Do your job and give me another!” He waved a fist of cash in her face, chucking what might’ve surmounted to five dollars in singles at Rebecca. Her face, remained calm, though Jim could read in her eyes that she did not appreciate the man’s choice of words.

“That’s it, get out before I have you dragged out.” The man scoffed, looking around him as if hoping to find somebody else on his side. Every other person busied themselves with drinking, dancing or pretending not to hear what was going on. Jim had already began to slowly climb off of his barstool, keeping his eyes locked on the stumbling man. He was tall, a few inches taller than even he was, but he stood stooped and floated around on his feet as if he could not find his bearing on the bar’s hardwood floors. Just as Rebecca began to motion towards the door, the man suddenly lunged at her, his hand aiming directly for her neck. In a split second Jim held the man’s wrist in his hand, pulled it behind his back and pulled his elbow up towards his shoulder. The man wailed, struggling against the tight grip Jim held on him, but totally hopeless in his attempt to escape. With large steps Jim pushed him to the exit, pushing open the doors with the man’s face and flinging him across the pavement, to watch him roll clumsily on to his side.

“Do not come back in” was all the Jim said, his eyes darkened and dangerous. Whilst rubbing his sore arm, the man sat up slowly and tried to come up with a rebuttal. But after he had seen the look in Jim’s eyes, he decided against it, instead struggling back up to his feet and stumbling away into the night.

———

It was a quarter to midnight, The Blue Daisy was beginning to empty out. A few people still sat at the booths, one of whom was fast asleep. The band had picked a booth across from the bar and sat toasting to another successful performance. Jim was the only person left at the bar. If Rebecca hadn’t requested for him to stay a little while longer, he would’ve gone home an hour ago. Jim watched as Rebecca cleaned up behind the bar, watched the way her long legs carried her, the way she kept pushing a strand of dark hair behind her ear, almost instinctively. She was beautiful, Jim thought, though he felt as if that could be the beer talking. For the last hour or so Rebecca had been drinking along with him, she had said she had no taste for beers and instead drank old fashioned’s. For whatever reason Jim liked that about her. He liked the way she smiled easily and how she seemed to answer honestly, every question he had for her. Rebecca was an open book and had been regaling him with stories the whole time Jim had spent at the bar.

“Gentleman, the bar is closing, we appreciate your patronage and hope to see you again soon.” Rebecca wiped down the tap and threw the rag she’d been using in the sink. The people still scattered across the bar slowly rose to their feet and began making their goodbyes. It took a few minutes before they’d all streamed out of the doors. Jim too stood up, fiddling in his back pocket for his wallet. “Wait, could you stay a little longer?” Rebecca placed her hand on his arm and Jim suddenly felt a warm glow rush over him.

“Sure” he mumbled, sitting back down.

“Thank you” she smiled, walking from behind to bar to take a seat next to him. “You’re not driving home are you? Because you’re in no state to.”

“No, I’m staying in the motel across the street, I’m quite a ways away from home right now.” Jim scratched the back of his head, wondering if he even still had a home to come back to. “What about you, I don’t think you aught to be driving either?”

Rebecca folded her hands in her lap, crossing one long leg over the other and looked Jim up and down slowly. “You’re probably right, hadn’t thought of that to be honest. And here I was hoping I could ask you to walk me to my car…” Her eyes seemed to be studying him, taking their time to glide past every part of his body.

“I could walk you to the motel if you like, or call you a cab? I don’t mind waiting until it gets here.”

Rebecca leaned over, resting a hand on his knee. “Such a gentleman, who would ever want to get rid of you?” Jim could only shrug his shoulders, in awe of the way Rebecca inched closer towards him. “It’s gonna take at least an hour for a cab to show up all the way out here, I don’t want to keep you waiting for that long…”

A feeling began surging through Jim’s body that he hadn’t felt for a long time. At first it surprised him, almost scared him, but slowly he adjusted to it and began craving more. “I’ll take you to the motel then, I’m sure they’ll have another room available. The place doesn’t seem too busy.”

Rebecca smiled and shook her head. Her hand rubbing up and down on his knee. Her cat-like eyes caught hold of him once more and Jim watched as they glistened with desire. “It’s been a long time since you’ve done any of this, hasn’t it?” Jim looked at her questioningly, to which she quickly responded. “Don’t worry big guy, it’s been a while for me too.” Rebecca climbed off the barstool and took Jim’s hand in hers, inviting him to stand up too. When he did Jim looked down at her, the top of her head narrowly reached his chest. “I’ve been giving you hints, Jim, if you hadn’t noticed. Please don’t embarrass me by making me spell it out…”

Rebecca pouted jokingly, keeping hold of his hand. All at once Jim began to realize what she meant, and in a hurry he looked for the right words to say. “Rebecca, would you like to go back to my motel room with me?”