An evening behind the bar

Like many students, Kayla had taken part time bar work to help pay the bills during her studies. Whilst many of her peers had gravitated towards the trendy city centre bars she'd taken up work at the local pub. At one stage Kayla reckoned the Griffin Arms must have been a fairly trendy spot, but it must have been a good twenty years since its last make over. Still it had a kind of run down, rustic charm which kept the middle aged regulars happy. The fact that they tipped well was an added bonus, although deep down she knew it was through guilt of spending their evenings perving on a barmaid more than young enough to be their daughter.

But the main attraction was that being local Stuart could pop down and see her during her shifts, otherwise they'd end up having days where they'd barely see each other. Kayla thought it sweet that Stuart ditched his Playstation to spend his evening propping up the bar keeping her company, although she had noticed he came down more regularly and stayed longer after she'd joked about her tips level going up whenever she wore a low cut top.

And tonight was one of those evenings when Stuart popped in after he'd had his dinner, regaling Kayla with tales of his day when she wasn't pulling beers. She reciprocated with what she'd been upto, although may have left out details such as the last time she'd seen Stuart's little sister she was all over the man who had bullied him throughout high school.

It was looking like being a quiet evening when suddenly the door to the pub opened and Jason walked in. He waved at Kayla and she smiled back, and would have continued to do so if she hadn't been disturbed.

"Fuck, what's he doing here? Can you make him go away?" pleaded Stuart as the blood drained from his face in sheer panic. Even if Kayla had the powers to bar customers for no reason she wouldn't have used them.

"Well if it isn't my two favourite neighbours" Jason said as he put an arm round Stuart's shoulders - to the casual observer it looked like a friendly gesture but they' probably miss that he'd simultaneously dug his thumb under Stuart's shoulder blade. "Can I get a bottle of bud?"

Stuart flashed Kayla a look that he was uncomfortable and wanted her to get rid of him. She knew she should be loyal to her boyfriend and ask Jason to grab a table where she'd bring his drink over, but on the other hand she wouldn't mind having some extra company at the bar.