Love Is a Losing Game

“Urgh, Stuie, my head hurts!” Angie moaned as she slouched into the stool, placing her head against the cold surface of the counter.

“I thought it might, here.” Stuart replied. Slowly she raised her head to find a mug of steaming hot coffee in front of her, along with a small glass of water and two Advil tablets.

“You are the best.” She muttered as she reached for the pain killers, swallowing them in one gulp and quickly drinking the rest of the water.

“Did we finish that bottle of Jack as well?” she asked as she returned her head to the counter.

“I think you helped, what’s his name, stupidly tall one?” Stuart replied. Angie slowly lifted her head back off the counter to stare at her best friend.

“Jimmy, that’s it. What? Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked

“The stupidly tall one?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Honey do you not remember standing back to back with the guy to see who was tallest? There was barely an inch between you.” she replied, earning only a shrug from Stuart.

“Anyway, are we heading over to the bar today?” she asked taking a cautious sip of her coffee. She always had a tendency to burn her mouth on coffee when she had a hangover.

“Yeah, remember we’ve got to meet Howard there at one.” Stuart replied.

“What’s the time now?” Angie replied, taking another sip of her coffee.

“Just gone half ten.” Stuart replied glancing behind him at the clock.

“Good, plenty of time to have this, for you to cook me breakfast before I go and get ready.” She replied. Stuart rolled his eyes as he turned.

“You know we need to go grocery shopping right, so the best I can do you is toast.” He replied taking the bread out of the bread bin.

“Fine by me honey, you know how I like it.” She replied cheerfully.

Once she’d eaten breakfast and finished her second mug of coffee, Angie headed to the bathroom to take a much needed shower. She always found that a nice, relaxing shower helped with a hangover as much as the coffee and Advil.

She took her time, only getting out when Stuart began to thump on the bathroom door, yelling something about needing a shower before the go as well. She shut off the water and wrapped herself in the purple fluffy towel that had been hanging on the rail.

“All yours honey!” she called as she stepped out into the hallway and headed towards her room, hearing Stuart mutter something as he headed into the bathroom and slammed the door.

She walked over to her bedroom window and pulled back the thin white drapes so that she could see the ocean. As she picked up her iPod, that she’d left in the windowsill from the previous evening, she spotted Brian in his back yard, pacing as he spoke to someone on the phone. She couldn’t help but notice how good looking he was, not that she hadn’t noticed the night before, in all honesty she’d noticed how all three guys were good looking and how they each had a beautiful girlfriend. This morning however, he was walking back and forth along the decking in only board shorts, giving her the chance to see his nicely toned stomach and his muscular, tattoo covered arms. She felt herself biting her lower lip and realised that she had been staring at him and looked away quickly. She picked up her ihome and placed it on top of her dresser, turning her iPod into shuffle before placing it into the docking station before pressing play. Paramore’s Crush Crush Crush began to play and Angie set about getting ready.

“Hey, whore bag, are you ready?” Stuart yelled as he walked into her bedroom.

“Give me a sec.” she replied as she looked over her appearance in her mirror, running her hands through her hair which had dried into loose waves.

“Ok, lets go.” She added grabbing her hat and sunglasses off the bed.

They walked out to her Escalade, Stuart turning on the radio as Angie slipped on her sunglasses before turning the key in the ignition and reversing out of the driveway.

The bar was busy with lunchtime trade when they got there. Three staff could be seen around the bar, all busily for filing orders. Judging by the amount of people wearing suits, this was a popular place for office workers to grab lunch. Angie and Stuart walked up to the end of the bar and waited to get the attention of one of the staff members.

“Hi, how can I help you today?” a cheerful male asked, smiling broadly at the both of them, although Angie couldn’t help but notice how his eyes lingered over Stuart.

“We’re here to see Howard.” Angie replied with a smile, drawing the bar tenders attention away from Stuart.

“Ok, Oh are you our new managers?” he asked excitedly.

“Yep, I’m Angie the bar manager and Stuart will be the restaurant manager.” She replied.

“Oh great, nice to meet you, I’m Neil, I’m one of the bar supervisors, follow me and I’ll show you to the office.” He said, walking around the side of the bar.

They followed Neil down through the bar, through a set of doors marked Private and down a corridor to a door marked Office. He knocked and there was an immediate response so Neil opened the door and stepped into the office.

“Howard, this is Stuart and Angie, they say they’re here to see you.” Neil said to the middle aged man who was sat in a large leather chair, behind a large oak desk, which could have been half the size considering it only held a laptop and an in and out tray.

“Ah yes, of course, I’ve been expecting you.” he replied, gesturing for them both to sit down.

“Thank you Neil.” He added with a smile as Neil backed out of the office, closing the door behind him. “Right, now then where shall I start? I’ll go over the basics, the finer details then I’ll give you a proper tour of the place, introduce you to your new staff.” He said. Stuart and Angie both nodded with a smile and listened intently to Howard as he ran over the basic running of the bar.

“Right, before I show you around, Angie, here’s a set of keys to the place, I’ll run through which one’s are which with you later.” He said passing her a large set of keys.

“Thanks.” She replied simply, quietly trying to count the keys. She didn’t get to count them all, but there were at least ten keys on the bunch.

“Ok, follow me, I’ll show you where everything is.” Howard replied standing up and walking around the desk to open the office door. Angie and Stuart followed him, waiting as he locked the door.

“Let’s start here. The kitchens.” He said leading them towards a set of double doors where the clattering of pots and dishes could be heard and they could smell the grill.

After the kitchen, Howard showed them the rest of the bar and the restaurant. He introduced them to the staff who were working and began to show them simple stuff like the cash register, the night safe and order books.

“Ok, so I think that’s all there is, I haven’t put you down on the rota until tomorrow but you’re more than welcome to hang around. Katrina, my other manager should be in soon, she’s been looking forward to meeting you.” Howard said with a smile.

“Yeah, I was hoping to hang around for a while, get a good feel for the place, meet the regulars and stuff.” She replied with a smile.

“Well, if you’re doing that, I’m going to head to the grocery store. I’ll drop the stuff home and bring the car back later. I’ll spend some time here this evening then, check out the evening restaurant trade.” Stuart replied.

“Ok, sure, and don’t go crazy, get stuff we actually need not just stuff you like.” Angie warned taking the keys to the escalade out of her pocket. “And be careful with the car.” She added as she placed the keys into his waiting palm.

“I always do don’t I?” he said with a smirk, before blowing her a kiss as he turned to leave. She shook her head with a smile and turned back to Howard.

“Mind if I just get on with things?” she asked.

“By all means. I’ll be in the office if you need me.” he replied before turning to leave in the direction of the office.

Angie clipped the key ring with her cash register key fob to the waist band of her jeans and walked down the bar to serve a waiting customer.

“Hey Neil, the boss about?” a vaguely familiar male voice called across the bar catching Angie’s attention.

She looked up the length of the bar to see Brian stood there, a tall, muscular man stood next to him.

“What can I do for you Brian?” she asked with a smile as she walked towards them.

“How do you know his name?” Neil questioned as she walked past him.

“Now that would be telling.” Brian replied with a wink. Angie smiled as she rolled her eyes. She was about to turn and tell Neil the truth when she saw Brian gently and briefly shake his head, signalling for her not to.

“Wasn’t expecting you here at this time. Do they usually have security in the afternoon?” Angie asked quirking an eyebrow.

“No, I just stopped by to inform Howard about a change in security. I’ve had to swap some of the guys around. This is Matt by the way.” He explained, gesturing towards the man to his left.

“Nice to meet you.” Angie said with a smile, extending her hand out between them.

“Likewise.” Matt replied taking hold of her hand to shake it.

“He’s going to be working here from now on, along with Johnny and myself.” Brian replied.

“Great, I’ll let Howard know. Can I get you a drink?” Angie asked.

“Two beers please.” Brian replied with a smile.

Angie got them their drinks and carried on serving the other customers. She talked to the staff, finding out about the regular customers, and the usual happening throughout the week. She took the opportunity to introduce herself to some of the customers. She was introduced to Katrina or just Kat when she came in to start her shift. Kat explained that she hadn’t long been made manager of the bar and was looking forward to working with her. She was having fun, serving her new customers when Stuart walked back into the bar a few hours later.

“Hey Hun, how’s it going?” he asked smiling broadly, passing her back the car keys.

“Pretty good actually, I’m going to head home now though and take a nice hot bath.” She replied.

“Ok, actually I picked up some of that herbal mint bubble bath stuff you like earlier.” He replied.

“Oh, Stuie, you’re the greatest.” Angie sighed with a smile.

“Yeah I know.” He said with a wink as she walked around the bar and gave him a hug.

“I’ll see you later. Bye guys.” She said, waving at the bar staff and then at Matt and Brian before walking out of the bar, towards her Escalade.