You Can Be My Romeo

“So how was your first weekend?” Bridget asked as we locket up the Tavern on Saturday night, I was completely exhausted and totally smelled like alcohol.

“Tiring,” I laughed and Bridget smiled, “But I like it- I knew you guys said you get busy- But damn I didn’t expect it to be that busy.”

“Oh, and it’s summer, so it’s just getting started,” Barb said, her final day at the bar, “So have fun with that.”

“Thanks,” I laughed and watched as she left.

“So how much and tips did you make?” Bridget asked and I laughed, we were both sitting on the bar.

I pulled the wad of money out of my pocket and counted everything, “Tonight alone I got three hundred and thirteen dollars- Yesterday and the day before it was about the same-“

“But that was splitting with Barb, next week you’ll get all of the tips to yourself,” Bridget said and my eyes widened, “So in one night, you could pay your rent- One night.”

“And I can lease a car too,” I said and Bridget nodded her head, “Thank you so much for this Bridge-“

“Just wait until all the sports boys come back,” she said and I looked at her and looked down, “You know, I talked to Mikey,” she said and I looked at her, “James will be back on Monday.”

“I figured,” I said and then sighed, “I’m bound to see him sooner or later, especially if I came back to our hometown.”

James Neal and I have known each other our whole lives, we were best friend, and it surprised no one when we started to date when we were fifteen. We were always together it was crazy, when James got drafted into the NHL, I left my home, everything that I was comfortable with and followed him. However, it was my fault that we were together; I lasted about a year in Dallas, but couldn’t take it and ran away. I felt ashamed of my actions, I loved James, I do still love him but I was just too much of a cowered to stay with him.

“So you happy to have tomorrow off?” Bridget asked and I nodded my head, “You all right?”

“Yeah,” I breathed.

“You’re thinking about him- Aren’t you?” she asked and I nodded my head, “It’ll be all right, Jewels- When he comes back try to do something with him.”

“He probably hates me.”

“I don’t think he does,” she said and I looked at her.

“I can’t go with him, I mean his schedule-“

“He’s not in Dallas anymore, Jewels- He’s in Pittsburgh, maybe it’s a better city- Maybe you won’t feel so alone there,” Bridget said and I looked at her and sighed, “Promise me when he comes home you’ll try something with him.”

“I’m not promising anything, we don’t even know if we’ll run into each other,” I said and I knew that was a lie, I knew that he would be here, if his brother came to this bar, he would too.

“Whatever you say, Jewels,” Bridget said and I sighed and watched her hop off of the counter, “You’d better head home and get some sleep.”

“All right, thanks, Bridge,” I said and she nodded her head and I left, getting into my mom’s car and driving back to their home.

I pulled in just after four, went to my room, took a shower and then threw my pajamas on. I walked back into my room, over towards my dresser, pulled my clothes forward in the one drawer and pulled out a tin box. I opened it to reveal all of the money that I made from tips this week. I pulled all of it out and started to count it all, in tips alone for one week, I made over a thousand dollars.

I wasn’t surprised that I made it in general, because when I was bartending in Florida, I could make that during Spring Break and during the summer, but to make it here, in Canada, it surprised me a little. I placed all of my money in the tin box and threw it into the back of my drawer; on Monday I would go to the bank to put it away.



“So how much did you make during your first week?” Anna asked as I saw on the back porch of the house that I was going to rent.

“Over a thousand and that was splitting with Barb too,” I said and Anna smiled and nodded her head.

“So, are ya gunna take my home?”

“Yes,” I said and laughed a little and then dug into my pocket for the check. It was Monday, I did nothing but relaxed yesterday and then this morning I woke up to get something’s done and even shop a little for the home I was about to move into, “Just let me know when I can move in,” I said as Anna took the check and smiled.

“Today if you want,” she said and we laughed, “You saw I’m all cleaned out.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean if you want, I could help you,” she said and I smiled brightly and nodded my head.

We got into both of our cars; she followed me back to my parents’ house. Mom was there, but dad was at work. I had started to pack little things yesterday, but it wasn’t like I had much anyways. My parents were being nice and going to give me my bed and then their guest room bed, they were planning on moving to a smaller home within the year anyways, so I was really grateful for this.

I took a small loan from my parents as well to buy furniture; I knew that I would be able to pay them back with my tips next week anyways. Mom was going to let me use her car to get to and from work until I find a car to lease, she was going to borrow her neighbor’s car since they were good friends.



“So how’s everything coming along?” Anna asked, it was Thursday and I had just come in for my shift, spending the whole day at the house, painting and decorating.

“It’s coming really well, I’m really loving it,” I said and Anna smiled brightly and nodded her head, “I can’t thank you enough!”

“It’s no problem, but, my shift is up and Bridge could probably use some help down there, some boys are back in town and they’re devouring wings and booze down there,” Anna said and my eyes widened and I froze.

‘…No…’ I breathed and stared down the steps, ‘…Please don’t be him…’

It took me a few tries, but I walked down the stairs, slowly made it to the bar without looking at anyone in general, if he was here, I didn’t want to see him. I saw Bridget making someone’s drink behind the bar and laughing at something the person had said.

I walked up to her and smiled, “Hey!”

“Hey girl, you ready?”

“No,” I laughed and she smiled brightly, “Where do I start?”

“College kids over there, one’s attached to the baseball game,” she said, nudging her head to the corner of the bar and I saw four boys with empty beer glasses.

“Can I get you a refill?” I asked and the boys looked at me and smiled.

“Yeah, thanks.”

“Cool, what are ya drinkin’?” I asked and then grabbed their glasses and gave them a fresh glass of the beer they were drinking.

The night was going by smoothly, it was after midnight, the kitchen was closed and the people that were here for wing night had gone home, it was going to start to slow down now. I still had four more hours in my shift.

“Jewels,” I heard and turned around to see Bridget, “I’m gunna head home, it should be pretty steady now, just remember to lock up.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said and felt Bridget slide the keys into my hand.

My shift continued on a steady pace, I called last call; the regulars hurried up and placed their orders in and then finished up and went home. The bar closed at two thirty, and then I had an hour and half to clean and calculate how much alcohol I used tonight.

Just as I was closing the door, letting the last person out, I locked the door and turned around to start cleaning when there was a knock on the door. I let out a laugh, “Ernie, I’m not gunna let you have one more drink!” I laughed, talking about one of the regulars that likes to stay until closing and drink, “Ya hear me, Ernie-“

“Not Ernie,” the person said, his head down and a baseball hat on his head, a hat with a clear as day Pittsburgh Penguins logo on the front, he picked up his head and looked at me.

My eyes widened and I gulped, happy that I was leaning against the door because I was sure that I was going to fall over if I wasn’t, “Ro.”

“Hey Juliet.”