Close to closing

It's about a half an hour to closing time and I'm distracted from whats going on because Im looking at the business card Sofie had handed me from her yoga pants. It's probably the dozenth time I've found myself looking at it.

I don't hear the door to the office open but I do hear it close, looking up I see Jess standing in front of me. I watch as she runs her hands up, pulling her red hair in a pony tail, the light from the office catching her engagement ring as she stretches an elastic hair tie out and over a fist full of hair. She is wearing grey sweats and a hoodie, bare faced and a bit disheveled. I've never seen her put this little effort into her appearance, she even has a pair of crooked glasses on her face. Holly's referenced this look in the past, she calls it her fiancé's "Not intending to impress" look.

"Jess! I thought you took Holly home for the night."

"Yeah, I did but I felt kind of bad about leaving you hear to close up and do the books alone so I thought I'd come back and help you out with it. Plus Holly is passed the fuck out, so I got a little bored."

"Well you're either a good business partner or you don't trust me. So lets have you do the books and I'll go close up" I say kiddingly, but also allowing her to avoid seeing people if she wants.

Hopping up from the desk to let her take control of figures for the evening, "I love what you're wearing by the way."

"Fuck off!" Jess says as she brushes past me to the seat. "What's that you got in your hand by the way?"

"Oh, nothing" I answer before pushing Sofie's card back into my pocket and start heading for the door, "I'm going to go sweep the floor and start showing everyone the exits. I'll be back here to help you finish up."

"Great! Just have the tills brought to me and we should be able to get done pretty quickly." Jess says with her face already into the computer screen.

"Oh hey, Jess." I say to get her attention. "Thanks for coming back to do this. Thats very cool of you, I really appreciate it."

She flips me off, confirming that the dynamic between us didn't magically change just because we became business partners.

The lights in the loft start to come up, the music is interrupted with an announcement of last call and people start making their way to the exits. Bars start shutting down and the staff starts mopping the floors. I start making my way back to the back office when I feel a slap on my ass. I turn around to see a drunk Yui, face warm and a little red, hair a little wilder than it probably was at the start of her evening. She is wearing a very tight micro dress that I feel like I've seen before and the moment we lock eyes she wraps her arms around me and gives me a deep long kiss. I can taste the rum on her tongue but I'm thrilled to see her.

"Honey have you been here the whole time? You should have come say hi" I ask once the kiss breaks.

"No no, but we meant to get here sooner, are we too late?" Yui asks me as she wobbles a little in her heels.

"We are closing up but it's never too late for you. Who are you here with?"

"Becky. I've been showing miss Sydney our city and we've been club hopping a bit tonight after a really really great work out. Look." Yui steps back and twirls, showing off her amazing physique. It is, in fact amazing, not sure if I can see the difference one work out made but she pulls up her dress even higher to try and show me how her thigh muscles are bigger. She is proper drunk.

"Piya is busy packing or else it would have been a really fun girls night" Yui says with a pout but excitedly recap dancing and drinking with Becky, spot to spot. "I swear going out with her makes me feel like I'm a real model." Yui says as she recounts the attention she has been getting all night.

"But I really really missed you! I'm so glad we got here." I can feel her rubbing tighter and tighter against me, the more she talks the more Yui seems to be getting revved up.

Suddenly my drunk Thai girlfriend yells "Becky! Becky! I found him!" Yui says, waving over the the striking vision of Becky across the now mostly empty dance floor.

Becky starts sauntering over to us, looking like a model in a revealing asymmetrical bandage dress that clings to her toned muscular body. Her breasts pressed together by the grey fabric of her dress, one thigh seemingly almost completely exposed while the fabric dances on the side of the opposite knee with a cut out showing her rib and upper abs. Her buzzed head somehow makes it all look so much more feminine and mind-blowing as she walks over to me and Yui giving us both hugs and kisses on the cheek.

"This is your place huh? I really like it, wish we could of got here sooner but we got carried away and lost track of time." The buzzed haired beauty says, causing Yui to smirk and bury her face in my chest as we talk.

"Yeah, we're just wrapping up the night now but this is it." I say before giving a brief tour of The Loft as I sweep through and make sure everything is handled in the closing of the front of house.

"Are you hiring?" Becky asks casually as we finish the tour.

"Always looking for talented good workers. Are you thinking about moving out here?" I ask noncommittally.

"Thinking about it." Becky answers equally as noncommittally.

"Baby, can I have a drink?" Yui asks me, sliding her hand into mine and swinging our arms.

"The bar is closed but if you two want to join the after party on the roof we can definitely do that and there is more than enough for you both."

Yui seems excited at the idea, Becky seems intrigued.

"Great I just have to finish up with Jess in the office and I'll meet you up there."

"OHH! Becky should meet Jess! Becky, let me go introduce you to Jess. She's the best!" Yui says, slipping her hand from mine and grabbing Becky by the wrist and marching them towards the back office, knocking on the door once and barging in.

By the time I get a good look at whats going on in the office I see my drunk little school teacher and her gorgeous work out friend both dressed to the nines standing next to Jess in her grey sweats. Jess's face is about as red as her hair and she is something I've never seen Jess be, flustered.

Her eyes wont leave Becky as she adjusts the frames of her glasses on the bridge of her nose and stumbles and struggles to find the words for a basic introduction. "I-- uh--its nice to meet you. I don't normally---yeah, um. I just came back in to help close the bar, MY BAR."

Becky for her part is her normal warm and effortless self, complimenting the bar, complimenting Jess's hair.

Jess reaches up, runs a her hand over her bright red hair, "Thanks, I think I'm going to miss this colour but I'm glad you like it."

Yui pipes in, "Jess, ROO has invited us up to the roof but says you need him for a little bit before I can have my man."

Jess finally takes her eyes off of Becky and looks over to Yui, almost seeming like she can finally breathe, "yeah, if you can spare him it won't be much longer."

"You know I like sharing with you!" Yui says, "You're going to come up and have a drink with us, right?"

Jess looks to me, then Becky, then back to Yui. "Sure. We'll meet you up there."

And with that Yui escorts her guest out of the office and up to the roof, leaving Jess and I to finish our work.

Once we are alone, I begin teasing Jess. "A little thunderstruck huh? I've never seen you like that, what would Holly say?"

She throws a pen at me, "Shut up. Let's finish."

We move into a focused silence as we handle what we need to handle. The silence only breaks when I casually bring up that we really should hire another manager, someone else who can close. "What about Dawn?" I ask.

"Dawn is great as a bartender." Jess answers, "I just think she is still too young, too easily distracted to be a manager. She's coming along, but I'm not sure. Why? Did she ask you?"

"No, no." I answer, "I was just thinking."

Towards the end of the most mind numbing bits of the most monotonous parts of inventory Jess excuses herself, leaving me to finish. She returns right when I'm finished wearing a very tight Staff shirt, stealing a page from Dawn's playbook, there is definitely no bra. Jess has rolled up the waist of her sweatpants and taken her hair ouf of her pony tail.

"We all set? Want to head up, make an appearance on roof?" Jess asks me casually, her hand on the door frame.

"Sure," I answer, getting up from the desk and stretching. "Did you put on make up?"

"Shut up!" Jess says with out answering my question.