About Today

The hypnotizing beeping of the copying machine was enough to put Abigail to sleep. She yawned for what must’ve been the five hundredth time within her eight hour work shift. Since her boss left two hours earlier, she felt more freedom in doing so. Her boss, Evelyn, was a sweet heart; however, she could be a hardass if she saw you slacking off in any way. It was especially harder now that she had gotten a small promotion to one of the floor managers and junior editors. Never wanting to deal with the confrontation, Abigail would slink off into her cubicle and shut her eyes for at least a few seconds, or just avoid her completely. Working for the Pittsburgh Post wasn’t exactly a dream job, but it paid the bills, and it helped that the blonde was a gifted writer.

After she was finished making copies, she closed the door behind her, and started down the small hallway that led to the bigger room that held all of the cubicles. Before she made it, a voice interrupted her blank thoughts.

“Abigail!”

She looked up and saw Jennifer, the petite red head that was in the cubicle around the corner from her. She was waving with one hand while she leaned on the cubicle that had Abigail’s eye. She gave her a small smile back and returned the wave.

“Hey, Jen. What’s up?” Abigail asked as she plopped down on her spinning chair – one of the few perks.

“Not much. About to head out, but I wanted to run something by you” the young woman replied, which captured Abigail’s attention.

“I was wondering if you wanted to hang out Saturday night. I don’t know if you’re busy or not but I was thinking we could hit up the bars or something.”

Abigail smiled and immediately nodded. She had hung out with Jennifer in the past, such as shopping, beach trips, and movie nights and she always had fun with her, so “No” was definitely not an option. Plus, the red head was one of the few people she had met since she moved to Pittsburgh that she actually liked and considered a friend.

“That sounds awesome. Um, what bars were you thinking?” Abigail asked as she slipped the copies into a manila folder and shoved them in a delicate place in her filing cabinet.

Jennifer rambled about six unfamiliar bars in the area, all of which didn’t appeal to Abigail. Before she could suggest another, she interrupted.

“How about McHale’s? It’s a little closer to my house and it’s a great place. The bartender is a buddy of mine” Abigail smiled when she thought about Declan.

“Yeah, that’s great! I’ll see you tomorrow and we’ll get all of the details in” Jennifer said as she hiked her purse up her shoulder more and waved goodbye.

Abigail said goodbye and started packing up her own things. All she had in mind now was an ice cold beer and McHale’s jukebox. She could practically taste the bubbles as they sprouted from the bottle top.

After the ten minute ride, she finally pulled in to the rocky parking lot. When she walked in, she was immediately hit with the smell of wood polish and beer, and the sounds of Ben E. King from the jukebox in the distance. She noticed one of the younger workers, Peter, as he was serving a table of five in the corner and gave him a small wave when he noticed the bell above the door ringing.
Hopping on what was pretty much her stool, she waited for Declan’s presence to greet her and ask her the same questions he always asked.

When she shimmied her small jacket off of her shoulders, her breath caught in her throat. The young man from the night before was sitting diagonally from her on the other side of the small bar. He had three beer bottles in front of him and was working on number four. Their eyes caught, and Abigail felt the same sensation she felt last night – curiosity.

He looked the same; drained and pissed. She wondered how someone so young could feel like that all of the time, but the rude awakening of a glimpse into her own life and past made her shake her head at herself. She gave him a small, emotionless smile and he just looked down.

“Ay, there she is! How are ya, my love?”

Abigail smiled as Declan paced his way over to her and popped a bottle open for her.

“Hey, Dec. I’m alright, as usual. Work sucks and it’s been a long day. You know how it is, right? How are you tonight?” she replied and took a highly anticipated sip from her beer.

“Eh, same ol’, same ol’. You know how it is” the old man retorted making Abigail chuckle.

“That I do, my friend.”

Declan laughed back and told Abigail to holler if she needed anything. She tipped her bottle at him, a signal of acknowledgement that made him grin and salute her back.

The music from the jukebox switched to Buddy Holly, and Abigail felt nothing but bittersweet. She remembered coming home from school every day as a child and her mother had Buddy Holly blasting from her radio in the kitchen – it was her favorite. She could barely stand to listen to a Buddy Holly song anymore but she decided to just drink and try to forget.

She was more than halfway done with her beer when Declan made his way back behind the bar and started cleaning glasses. He approached the young man and handed him another, but Abigail watched as he talked quietly to the old man, whom nodded in return.

When he made his way over to Abigail, she was reaching into her purse for her wallet.

“Here, Dec” she said, handing him a ten to make for the two she was having.

Declan handed her another and shook his head.

“Nuh-uh, darlin’. Not tonight” he replied, slipping the money back to her.

“Come on. You’re not paying for my drinks two nights in a row” Abigail whined to the old man, who was just smiling at her.

“I’m not. He is.”

Abigail followed Declan’s finger as it pointed to the man that she had plagued her curiosity for two days now. She watched as he tipped his beer at her, mimicking what she did to Declan a few moments earlier. She gave him another emotionless smile and looked at Declan as he leaned closer to her.

“Don’t worry, he’s a nice kid.”

Abigail nodded and looked back at the man when the old man left to start cleaning the tables. McHale’s didn’t close until one or two, but week nights were prone to close up around midnight. She took a sip from her new beer and for some reason felt odd. She didn’t know the stranger and he didn’t know her. Why would he buy her a beer and what was he expecting in return? It wasn’t like Abigail to think like that, but she couldn’t help it. Not for nothing, she wasn’t a local and was only aware of the neighborhood in which she lived and wasn’t really interested in meeting new people. However, with the exception of looking exhausted and bent out of shape, he was extremely good looking.

Abigail was a little disappointed when the bar started to close and the man hadn’t said a word to her, nor her to him. She had never been in that situation before, and felt stupid for not doing anything about it. She packed up her stuff, said goodbye to Declan and the few bar flies that she had come to know and whom had the same daily/nightly ritual as her, and headed for the door. When she got to the car, she saw the man that had bought all of her drinks exit the bar and shove his black beanie on his head. He looked around for a few moments and zipped his jacket up. The woman was a little dumbfounded, seeing as there were no other cars around beside Declan’s dark red Lincoln and one other car she knew was Peter’s.

“Need a ride?”

Abigail had no idea why she had asked the stranger, but she felt obligated to at least take him home after he bought both his and her drinks for three hours.

“You don’t have to” was all he said.

His Pittsburgh accent was thick and his voice could cut through butter. It was gravelly but not because of age. He was way too young.

“I know. It’s the least I can do. Come on” she insisted as she opened her car door. The man looked around again, and started for her car. He walked with his back hunched and dragged his feet.

Something rattled in his pocket and it sounded like there was a lot of whatever it was. His hands were dug in there, as well, trying to quiet the noise down.

He got into the passenger side of the car, and all Abigail smelled was beer and really nice cologne. It was slightly intoxicating, actually. He smelled how a man should smell, and it was the first time she had ever got to experience it.

“Thanks.”

Abigail nodded at him and started the car up, immediately switching the heat on. It was early October and it was surprising to not see any frost on the windows that time of night. He slipped his hat off and laid it delicately on his lap. The awkwardness set in almost immediately and Abigail’s mind struggled to find at least something to say.

“I’m Abigail.”

He looked over at her and nodded.

“I know.”

She tilted her head at him a bit and he let out a small chuckle.

“The old man in there got a big mouth, you know” he said, meaning Declan and his large greetings for her whenever she walked into the bar. Abigail let out a small chuckle back and ran a hand through her hair.

“I’m Tommy.”

He looked like a Tommy. He had dark brown hair, dark blue-ish green eyes, light olive skin, and muscles that could be qualified as a Greek god. No wonder he hunched.

“Thanks for the drinks tonight, Tommy. You didn’t have to do that” Abigail added as she hopped onto one of the main highways that cut through the neighborhood.

“We both had a rough day. It was the least I could do” he replied.

She smiled to herself. She couldn’t get over his voice and how smooth it was but rough at the same time. He would clear his throat from time to time or just sniffle from the cold and fidget in his seat.

“Which street is yours?”

Tommy’s head moved to her and held his hand up to answer her.

“I’m the fifth house down after you make a left on Vine” he said as his eyes went to the windshield.

“You’re a block away from me” she said more to herself than him, and mentally scolded herself.

First of all, why would he care? And second of all, why did she care about what he thought of her?
All of this thinking that occurred in a matter of seconds just made Abigail blush in embarrassment, but Tommy didn’t seem to notice since he just nodded at her information.

“You just move here?”

Abigail nodded as she made the left he was talking about.

“About three years ago. I grew up here, but not around here. I lived in Washington for the most part.”

Tommy nodded again as clicked his seat belt off as she parked in front of the house.

“Thanks for the drinks again, Tommy” she said before he opened the door.

He gave her a small smile, the first time she had ever seen it, and nodded.

“Thanks for the ride, Abigail.”

She smiled back at him and said “anytime” as he stepped out of the car.

“So, I’ll see you later than” he added before he shut the door. Abigail nodded and they said goodnight to each other. She watched as he walked up the similar walkway that was placed in front of her mother’s house and watched him enter the dark home.

After the two minute drive to her house, she couldn’t wait to get into bed. It was a long and strange day, but for once, something good came out of it. Before she got too ahead of herself, she reminded her brain that she had literally just met him and he bought her a few drinks.

However, if there was anything to be slightly happy about, she had made a new friend. A very good looking friend at that.