Some friction.

My classmates left the bar about an hour later. It was late and though Eric only had two drinks, even he was fairly tipsy. I was a little surprised to see Luna offering to drive everyone home, but maybe that wasn’t fair of me. I grew to respect her more from that.

Things became quieter the further into the night we got. Less people coming in, and the ones that did order one or two drinks that they made last for a long while. No other incidents, either. The guy from before didn’t cause any trouble at the restaurant, so that was also a relief. Eventually, things calmed down enough that we could close the bar for a moment to have our dinner.

Diana and I ate in silence. Not exactly an awkward silence, but more like we didn’t know what to say. Maybe it was because I wanted to forget that previous stuff ever happened while Diana wanted to bring it up again yet understood how I felt. So after a while…

“I don’t want to devalue what you did back there, because it was excellent, but…”

“We should just call security from now on?” I finished for her.

She nodded.

I sighed. “I had to. There was no time.”

“You felt something?”

I nodded. “Things were going to get ugly.”

“...”

“If anything, I should be able to spot stuff like that before they happen,” I said. “I didn’t notice the animosity between them until it boiled over. With my abilities, I should’ve been able to.”

“You were busy, distracted,” Diana said. “It’s a valuable skill to have here, yes, but it’s also not your responsibility. It’s mine. This is my failure.”

“You know I hate tooting my own horn, so believe me when I say that if I didn’t notice it, you were far less likely to.”

“...” Diana had to accept it. I didn’t mean it as in ‘ I’m better than you at this,’ but rather as in ‘that’s the sort of situation this was.’

“I’ll do better next time, I promise,” I told her.

“...” Diana sighed. “You already do enough as it is.”

I could sense the feelings of inadequacy growing inside her. The idea that she, as both the boss and the older of us two, should be the one relied on. And though I didn’t say it, I still thought it was stupid because I do rely on her all the time. She’s my role model for professionalism, work ethic and etiquette. I push myself as much as I do because she’s the last person I want to disappoint. I think she understood that, too, because she sighed and shook her head with a small smile.

Not much to say about work after that. We had more time to spare, so we used it to continue my bartender training in between serving customers. I was tempted to try my hand at adding magic to the drinks, but better not do it here. Maybe Sunday night.

The latter half of the night went slowly, but eventually we were done. We cleaned everything up, left more ice to freeze for tomorrow, closed the bar and made our way to the underground parking lot.

I couldn’t help but let out a yawn as we approached the car, prompting Diana to ask me, “Tired?”

“A bit,” I said. “I woke up early and had that… meeting in the afternoon that drained me a bit more, but our… talk before work helped me recharge, so I’m good.” Having to skirt around the subject was awkward, but it was better not to explicitly say stuff in public, even if there was nobody around. You never know.

“Good to know that helped.”

“Are we picking up Red, then?”

“Yeah, one of the girls who works here offered to take care of him for a while.”

“And will she be awake at this hour?” It was 2:00 am, after all.

“She says she usually goes to sleep late, so yeah.”

We got in her car, with her in the driver’s seat. “Here’s hoping she’ll only have to take care of him this week,” I teased.

“...” Diana frowned and pouted. “You know, even if I do move in with you, our schedules are completely flipped. You realize that, right?”

Oh, right. Diana works from 5:00 pm to 2:00 am, while we go to university from around 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. She’s free on Sundays and Mondays, the same days as us, but every other day we’d just miss each other. Asking Diana to move in with us would basically mean asking her to be alone in a far bigger house from Tuesday to Saturday.

“I… hadn’t thought of that,” I admitted with a groan. “I’m sorry.”

“I do want to live with all of you, but as things are now… it’s complicated.” And considering Diana’s goal was to have her own bar, this wasn’t a thing that was likely to change.

“...”

“...”

We’d always known that our relationship would have obstacles, more than with the girls who are my age. So far we’d overcome the emotional side of things, but… the practical side was looking a lot more complicated.

“Sorry,” Diana said, shaking her head. “I keep throwing things at you today. Let’s save the rest for tomorrow, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.” I sighed.

Things did get a bit awkward between us for a moment. It left us with a sense of discomfort, wanting the same thing yet knowing we’d have to make some compromises to get it.

I remained quiet, racking my brain, trying to think of some way for Diana to live comfortably with us. Should I ask Luke to change our shifts? No, that was out of the question. A bar HAS to function at night, after all.

“Dear?” Diana spoke.

“Yeah?”

“Everything I said before we started our shift? I meant it, okay? We’ll figure something out.”

I sighed and smiled at her. “Okay.”

That cleared the air and I decided to stop beating myself up over it. I didn’t want to cause Diana problems, but relationships go both ways. We’d figure it out together.

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