Too Scared to Love Again

“Where’s my drink, L?” Blair demanded from over the counter, ignoring the scolding look her friend gave her, as Lynn had her hands filled.

“Shut it, or else I’ll seriously kick your ass!” Lynn barged back, meanwhile she filled two glasses of beer, and then sent them over to Rebecca from over the desk.

“That’s a special way to attend your customers!” Blair responded, placing some of her thick curls behind her earlobe.

“Oh, babe. You’re hardly a customer here.” Zack chuckled, driving his heavily tattooed arms around the woman’s waist and placing his chin on top of her head.

“Zee!” she squealed happily and spun around in order to greet her boyfriend.

“Guys, come on!” Lynn whined. “Not in front of my fucking salad!”

“There’s no wonder people don’t hook up in front of the counter.” Brian chuckled, as he had followed his friend into the bar, and was now observing Lynn in her natural habitant.

“And there’s no wonder why people don’t flirt with one of the bartender here as well.” Rebecca added, as she returned behind the counter with empty glasses.

“Is this the infamous annoy-Lynn-day?” the brunette sighed, placing her hands on her hips and looking at the group of people in front of her.

“Darling, that’s every day.” Blair smirked, before she went to steal a kiss from Zack’s lips.

“Can you get behind the scene now?” Lynn whined at her friend.

“Stop annoying my bartender, Blair!” Donna announced, as she had come to refill her glass.

“Thanks, Donna!” Lynn uttered.

“No problem, babe! Let me just get some gin here!” the older woman said, while she slipped passed the counter and grabbed a bottle.

“For Gloria?” Lynn suggested, knowing her boss all too well.

“You know it, girl!” Donna chuckled. “But seriously, Blair. Get your ass behind there! It’s about to start!” the woman told the stripper.

“Ay-ay!” Blair saluted, and grabbed Zack’s hand, who chased after her like a puppy.

“I guess that means I’ve been abandoned then.” Brian sighed, and took a seat in front of the counter.

“Does that mean that I’m stuck with you?” Lynn cocked her eyebrows, cleaning the counter from empty glasses and taking a swig from her water.

“Don’t give me that, Evans. I have dirt on you!” Brian pointed one tattooed finger at her.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Lynn half-snapped back.

“Oh, watch me, sweetheart.” he chuckled darkly.

“Shut up and take this.” Lynn groaned, shoving a glass of dark beer into his direction.

“How much?” Brian asked.

“It’s on the house.” Lynn shrugged, before she slipped passed the counter, no idea that the guitarist was watching her curiously.

Lynn had tied her hair into a heavy messy bun, strays of hair sticking out everywhere, meanwhile she was dressed in a rather colourful oversized jumper and wide jeans. The look suited her, which took him by surprise, as it looked like something she had grabbed from the bedroom floor in a rush. She somehow made it all work, which she often seemed to be doing, as Brian had gotten a nice view of her style during the little time he’d known her.

“Like what you see?” someone chuckled from behind her, as he spun around and saw a guy that looked like he was about the same age as Brian.

“Excuse me?” Brian cocked one eyebrow at the man, who had just taken a seat next to him.

“Lynn.” the man announced, and then took a swig from his drink.

“Do you know her?” the guitarist asked, even though he highly doubted that, considering Lynn didn’t seem to have a lot of males in her life.

“She was engaged to my cousin,” the man spoke. “So yeah, I’ve met her a couple of times. She’s a loose canon.”

“What?” Brian frowned at the man.

He knew Lynn had been engaged before, but that was it. He was under the impression that she didn’t want to speak about it, so Brian had decided to never dig into it. Now however, he was once again curious about what had happened between Lynn and the man she had almost married.

“What are you most surprised about? That Lynn of all people has been engaged or that she’s a loose canon?” the blonde man chuckled.

“Why isn’t she together with your cousin anymore?” the question all but rambled out of his lips.

The other man only chuckled, before he took a swig from his drink. “Why don’t you ask her yourself? Looks like you’re a little mesmerized by her.” he pointed out.

“What are you? Four years old?” Brian rolled his eyes. “I have a girlfriend.” he lied.

“Yeah, and I bet she’d love to see you in a fucking strip club glaring at some cheap ass bartender.”

Brian suddenly placed the drink on top of the counter and got to his feet, his eyebrows almost disappearing into his hairline, meanwhile he glared at the man.

“What the fuck did you just say?” he growled through greeted teeth.

“Gerard? What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” before Brian managed to do anything, Rebecca had slipped between the two of them, already pushing the man, who was about a head taller than her.

“Aren’t I allowed to have a drink?” the man called Gerard cocked his eyebrows at the pink-haired woman.

“Not in this fucking bar. Get out!” Rebecca frowned at him. “I’m not playing! Victor! Get this bastard out of the bar!” she called, almost immediately earning attention from the broad man who was guiding the door with a fellow man.

Brian watched as the guard grabbed a hold of the blonde man, and impatiently guided him towards the door, leaving a little less furious looking Rebecca.

“Fuck that man, ugh!” she groaned underneath her voice.

“What happened? Is he Lynn’s ex-fiancée’s cousin?” Brian asked over the counter, meanwhile Rebecca started pacing back and forth.

“Yes, and he’s a fucking jerk. So is the rest of that family.” Rebecca confessed, just as up-worked as earlier, before she closed her mouth.

“Are you okay? You look pissed.” Lynn commented, completely oblivious to the man who had been sitting next to Brian.

“I need some air.” Rebecca shrugged, and then took off, knowing that if she didn’t get away she would probably spill details Lynn didn’t need to hear.

“Sweet, are you all right? You can’t just leave me all on my own here!” the brunette sighed.

“Brian will help you!” Rebecca voiced, and then disappeared towards Donna.

“What?” Lynn half-groaned.

“Do you need help?” Brian offered, circling his fingers around his empty glass of beer.

“No offense, but you have no idea what this involves.” Lynn told him, which obviously hit his ego a little, as he cocked his eyebrows at her.

“Evans, I’ve been to enough bars to know what to do. Besides, I’ve watched Coyote Ugly two times!”
The last part made Lynn chuckle, her lips spreading into an adorable smile that made his stomach tickle inside.

“I’m gonna pretend as though I’m not very offended by your comment.” Lynn revealed, still unable to clean off the smile.

“Come on! You wanna see me in action, admit it!” Brian told her, and then grabbed his glass and went behind the counter.

“I assume you know how to fill a glass of beer?” she cocked her eyebrows, soon being nudged gently by the man, who was now beyond offended.

“Dude, seriously!” Brian whined.

“Okay, I’ll let you do the easy work!” Lynn drove her hands up in surrender, watching as the guitarist rolled his eyes at her and then did as she told him to do.

The brunette was rather impressed at the effort Brian made, as he held on for a good hour without breaking anything. Lynn made the more technical drinks, and allowed Brian to refill glasses meanwhile Rebecca was gone, which was a long time. As the lights turned off, Lynn finally sat down on a chair behind the counter, feeling how overworked her legs had become after the stressful shift.

“Man, how the fuck do you do all of this?” Brian sighed, taking a large gulp from his water.

“Oh, this is nothing,” Lynn chuckled, and watched as her friend stepped unto the stage, Zack sitting on front row. “But God, what happened to Rebecca? She’s been gone for a long time now.”

“She’s okay, don’t worry.” Brian reassured her, placing a careful hand at her shoulder.

“I hope she is,” Lynn sighed. “Thank you for the help, by the way. Considering you’re in a world famous band, I guess you don’t need to get paid for tonight.”

“Ey! I don’t really see much of that money!” Brian admitted to her, to which Lynn only rolled her eyes at.

“You live in a fucking mansion!” she pointed out. “And you were expensive clothes!” Lynn added, poking his designer t-shirt with her finger.

“Still!” Brian pouted.

“What are you trying to tell me? If you want a reward you can have two more beers!” Lynn shook her head at him.

“That was very generous.” Brian dropped dryly, and watched as the brunette rolled her eyes at him, before she dug her fingers into the fabric of her jumper and pulled it over her head. Meanwhile in the process, Brian got a quick glimpse of her bare side as the end of the t-shirt chased after the end of her jumper. The guitarist watched rather closely as he saw a small bouquet of flowers tattooed on her side.

“Why the hell do you have that goofy look on your face?” Lynn cocked her eyebrows at him, as she had just abandoned her sweater close to the sink.

“You have ink!” Brian smirked, genuinely surprised.

“Stop staring, you perv!” she scolded at him, nudging him a little, as he chuckled and grabbed two glasses of beer.

“Here.” Brian said, offering one glass to her, which she greeted. Their fingers touched in a brief second, sending a veil of warm sensation through his entire body, as he had to shake his head a little in order to snap back to reality.

“That was awfully kind of you.” Lynn grinned, before she took a large slurp from her drink.

“I thrive to be surprising.” he dropped playfully.

“Yeah, I can see that.” she smirked.

“What are you doing after your shift?” Brian asked, his eyes not even looking at the stage, despite how gracious Blair was.

“Not you, obviously.” Lynn let out, not able to resist the comment, as Brian rolled his eyes at her.

“Wow, that was really fucking original, Evans.”

“Thanks, you know me,” Lynn chuckled. “After work I’m gonna close the whole thing. Rebecca did it last time, so it’s my turn now.”

“Shit, that sounds awful.” Brian admitted.

“It’s okay. I get to sober up before I drive home, and right now I really fucking hope Blair is sleeping over at Zack’s place, because I’m not walking home again.”

“You’ve walked home from here?” Brian let out, his eyes wide.

“Lots of times.” Lynn shrugged.

“That’s fucking dangerous, Lynn!” he said in all seriousness.

“Everything in life is dangerous, but what other choices do I have? I can’t take a cab every time and we only have one car.”

“Well, next time, call a friend!” Brian told her.

“People aren’t awake to drive me home five o’clock in the morning. If they’re awake, they’re certainly not able to drive!”

“Call me next time,” Brian suddenly said. “Seriously. I’ll be awake.”

“What?” Lynn glanced up at him.

“I’m serious. You can’t be walking home all by yourself. That could be really fucking dangerous.”

“I’ve done this multiple of times before. Despite how nauseously kind that is, I can’t accept that offer.” Lynn stated.

“The fuck you can! I’m not giving in like that!” Brian protested.

“Yes, you are. I don’t want you to drive me home.” Lynn told him.

“Okay, you can drive, I’ll be in the passenger seat.”

“God, you’re a real pain in the ass sometimes!” Lynn groaned, nudging him, as Brian chuckled back.

“But just sometimes! Most of the time I’m hysterically funny, right?” he wiggled his eyebrows.

“God, no. You’re awful!” Lynn shook her head.