Fall Away

For the next two days, I worked Bella from 7:30 until it closed. I kept waiting for Soren to walk through the door, and secretly hoping that his brother would instead. As the days passed, I gradually lost hope. Soren used to come every night, and now he had been gone three in a row.

My mind wandered even more than usual those nights. Where were they? Had they left town? Maybe they were just visiting. Did mystery boy tell Soren to stay away from me? Had I acted like that much of an idiot?

The fact that the weekend rush was over did nothing to stop my thoughts. By Monday night, I was sick of making drinks, sick of socializing with total strangers. I was ready for a night off. Unfortunately, that was still three days away.

By Tuesday, I had declared myself sole drink maker, leaving Trevor to take all the orders. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it allowed me to do as little socializing as possible.

“Ellie, can you please grab that guy’s order?”

Maybe I spoke too soon. I opened my mouth to say no, but Trevor looked completely overwhelmed. I sighed and grabbed my small order pad. I gave the man a friendly smile, going through the motions as I figured out what he wanted to drink. He was somewhat of a regular, and it was easy for me to fall back into the routine.

I got the glass of beer that he had requested, then looked around to find Trevor at the other end of the bar. Sighing again, I went around to a few more customers with empty glasses, checking to see what I could get for refills.

That seemed to be how the nights went. Either no one seemed to need anything, and Trevor and I stood around and looked busy, or everyone was asking for a refill, a different drink, simple conversation.

I had to admit, once I was working it didn’t seem as bad. It was familiar, a routine. I didn’t have to think – about anything.

Finally, the rush slowed down and I could go back to my non-socializing. Trevor was the opposite – full of energy, he loved to talk to anyone who would listen, and occasionally respond with their own thoughts. We worked well together, balancing each other out.

I allowed myself to sit back and relaxed slightly, watching Trevor flit around the room. He was somewhat the stereotypical bartender – young, attractive, and a total flirt. He always managed to find the best-looking girls in the place and make them laugh.

It was fun for me to watch, but I never joined in. I watched from a distance, keeping an eye on the customers Trev wasn’t flirting with.

I was working on auto-pilot, filing a few drinks for the waitresses and watching Trevor interact with people, when I saw a familiar figure walking into the room.

At first, I couldn’t tell which one of the twins it was. But when he stopped to talk to a group of girls, meeting them with friendly hugs and kisses on the cheek, I knew it must be Soren.

I watched him make the rounds, stopping to talk to people here and there. He seemed to know everyone in the place, as if he’d been here forever. It was obvious that people liked him – he only moved a few feet before someone else drew him into conversation.

I sat at the bar and watched as he gradually worked his way towards me – well, towards his typical seat, which happened to be right in front of me. I couldn’t tell what the people would say, or what he would reply with, but everyone seemed to be smiling when they finished their conversation.

Finally, he collapsed in the seat in front of me. “Hey Ellie.”

“Hey,” I replied. “What can I get you?”

“The usual.” The familiar smirk was back, and I instinctively knew he had talked to his brother.

I choose not to acknowledge the fact, and instead turned to fill up the mug with alcohol. I let the liquid settle before setting it in front of him.

“Thanks.” He took a sip before he spoke again. “Did Kirian like this kind as much as I did?”

I blushed. “I didn’t get a chance to ask him.”

Kirian. The name ran through my mind. For some reason, it fit him. Unusual, unique.

“Yeah, he’s not much for socializing, my brother.” Soren took another swig of beer before continuing. “It’s nothing personal. Just how he is.”

“It’s not at all how you are,” I remarked dryly.

Soren laughed. “People are entertaining. That’s all. The more you know, the more entertaining they are.”

I shook my head. “I can entertain myself, thanks.”

“That’s the wrong attitude,” he chastised lightly. “See, if you knew the secrets some people were hiding, you’d be dying to hear their stories.”

“Let me guess. You’ve been spending all weekend listening to them?”

“No.” He laughed, as if my words were completely ridiculous. “I was out of town. But come on, Ellie. Everyone has secrets. You have them, don’t you?”

I met his gaze for a moment, and his blue eyes seemed to be looking right through me. I had to look away. “Yeah,” I mumbled.

“You have secrets. I have secrets. Everyone in this room has them. The more you talk to people, the more likely they are to confess in you.”

Like I did. The words ran through my head as I realized how many times I’d let things slip around Soren, or caught myself right before I did. Maybe he had a point.

“I can barely handle my own life,” I finally replied. “I don’t need to hear about everyone else’s.”

Soren nodded, a thoughtful look on his face. “There’s a good and a bad side to everything, Ellie. Just make sure you know which is which.”