“Yo Slick!”
“This is Beverly, the new bartender.”
“She’s gonna be here six nights a week.”
“Doesn’t she have nice skin?”
He asked
Rubbing his fingertips
Up and down her pale arm.
“What do you want to drink?”
“Beverly sweetie...I’m buying Slick’s drinks.”
“Wotcha gonna have?”
She asked me.
The lighting was terrible in this dive.
Yellowish.
“What kind of vodka do you have?”
I was met with a blank stare.
“You have Grey Goose?”
She looked at me.
She went to check the bottles.
“No.”
She said coming back.
“Just gimme what you got.”
“Hey! You have olives or a twist?”
Again with the hollow stare.
“I’ll just take it straight up.”
She poured a small glass
Of watered down vodka.
I looked at G
Clinking glasses.
“What a dump!”
I tapped my glass against his.
There were about 3 or 4 girls in bikinis
Taking turns on the pole
Unenthusiastically.
There wasn’t enough of a crowd
To really get them dancing.
Instead they hovered
Around the bar
And got groped for tips.
I felt an ass or two.
I finished my drink.
Since the vodka
Was so disappointing
I asked Beverly
What kind of whiskey she had.
Again
“What kind do you want?”
Again
“What kind do you have?”
She went and looked.
She slurred through them
With me
And I told her
I would do the Black Label.
She was already onto something else.
“Let’s go out and smoke.”
G said.
“I got some dynamite.”
“Let’s go then.”
“Hey gorgeous!”
I said loudly across the bar
On my way out.
“No ice in my drink! I’m stepping outside for a smoke with G and I’ll look for it on the bar
when I get back.”
I winked at her.
We walked past the pool table
And through the entrance
Out into the cold night.
G immediately lit up a bowl.
Cars passed on the highway
To our right.
Ironically
There was a Friends Of Bill
Right next door.
We proceeded to get lifted.
We went back inside
And sat down.
Still no drink.
A few more tits.
A few more asses.
Beverly comes up
And asks me
If I want a drink.
I roll my eyes at G.
“Are you shitting me?”
“Black Label. No ice!”
She then disappeared
For at least five minutes.
She came back
And proceeded to make some drinks
And put them down in front of us.
“We didn’t order those.”
I told her.
“Omg! Omg! Omg! Don’t say anything!”
“I forgot who ordered these!”
She looked around the bar.
There was only like
15-20 of us sitting there.
She finally found them.
At this point the owner
Is behind the bar
Watching her
Out of the corner
Of his eye.
She bounces back
And asks what she can get me.
G’s still got a half of a glass.
“Really?”
I ask her.
I have no idea what she is on.
“Black Label. No ice.”
She sways and grabs the bottle.
She puts down two shot glasses.
She spills into the first
And starts on the second.
“I only wanted one!”
I exclaimed.
“C’mon!”
G said.
“A chaser!”
“G. I’m only drinking one.”
“Fine.”
I was about to pick my shot up
When Beverly slurred
“Wait!”
She spilled Black Label
Into the second shot glass
With an unsteady hand.
She capped the bottle
And put it down.
She then raised the glass
Looking me in the eye
And smiled.
We both swallowed.
“Here’s to your first night!”
I toasted.
I looked at G laughing.
I started laughing.
Beverly stumbled away.
“Holy shit!”
I said
Looking at him.
We were both laughing hard now.
“G.”
I said.
“She might have nice skin, but she’s never going to make it six nights.”
