Page 20 of Steve's Barmaid
“Maybe that’s my goal,” she laughed, grabbing a small end table and chucking it out the window.
CHAPTER TEN
BILLIE
Steve and I were still gleefully eulogizing chairs before pushing them to their inevitable death out the upper window when the rest of our group returned. I’d had a delightful morning getting to know Steve. It was dangerously fun to shamelessly flirt with him and see if I could make him blush. I also learned a lot more about his upbringing and his tribe. He had been unhappy for a long time. I hoped that however things landed here at Fýrifírar he found the future he was looking for.
“Oy, you up there!” Joey’s voice floated in through the open window. “What the fuck have you done to the front lawn?”
I poked my head out the window to see Joey and Steve’s buddies had returned, along with Osif and some other orkin I recognized from Osif’s workshop. They were all carrying building materials.
“Hello! We cleared out most of the attic!” I called down to them.
“That’s fairly obvious,” Joey called back up while gesturing at the yard full of broken furniture. It looked like a table and chair leg graveyard, with deep divots in the ground where pieces had landed.
“It was the most efficient way,” I replied airily. “We’ve cleared out most of the attic!”
“No way!” Joey called back. “I’d never have guessed! Can you just come down here?”
“Fine, fine. We’re going to need some help with the larger pieces anyway.”
I headed to the staircase to find Steve had been staring at me as I leaned out the window.
“You know, if you like what you see, all you have to do is ask,” I teased. Steve snorted, blushed, and then smiled in that endearing, embarrassed way he did.
I headed down the stairs and didn’t hear Steve move to join me on the rickety stairs. Perhaps I’d given him something to think about. I enjoyed flirting with Steve, and he seemed to enjoy my company. I was going to have to be careful with the flirting, though. I wasn’t sure where this could go yet. I rolled this over in my head as I walked out from behind the bar to the small crowd that had gathered on the front lawn. I approached Osif, as he would be in charge of the operation.
“We have managed to empty most of the living quarters, but we need help with the bed and the dining table,” I told him. “They wouldn’t fit out the window.”
“You chose quite a unique way of emptying the attic.” Osif nudged a splintered drawer with one foot. “This is impressively destroyed.”
“It seemed effective,” I said, unrepentant in what I still thought was an excellent plan.
“Well, excluding the dents you’ve made in your front lawn, it was effective.” One of his workers was circling a chair that seemed to have exploded on impact.
“What have you done with Steve? You didn’t chuck him out a window, too, did you?” Joey piped up.
“No, he’s still upstairs. I was actually surprised he didn’t come down to join me when you all arrived. Maybe he’s starting to chop up the bed.” I shrugged.
Joey gave me a quizzical look but said nothing.
“Alright, well, we should get all the pieces out and start on the roof if we want to get it reframed today.” Osif turned to his men and the Snaerfírar. “Head up and help Steve with the last of the furniture.” Then he turned to me. “Since you chose such anenthusiasticmethod of emptying the living space, we will need a pair of hestrs and a cart to carry off all this furniture. We can chop it up to serve as communal firewood. Why don’t you—” he pointed at Joey and me “—head over to Alvis and get us a cart?”
Joey linked her arm in mine as we walked.
“Where’s your head?” she asked, as if she could tell I was already a million miles away.
“I don’t know. Everywhere. Can I run a bar? Is flirting with Steve dangerous? Do I want to sleep above a bar? Do I wantsomethingwith Steve, or do I just want to fuck someone?” I sighed.
“Well, I can answer some of those for you quite easily,” Joey said.
“Oh really? You know methatwell?” I mocked.
“Yes, yes, I do. First. Yes, you want to run a bar. You hate being stuck in the back of the house and not interacting with everyone. Remember when you chatted up so many of the cooks that breakfast was half an hour late? You have so much personality it’s practically spilling out of you. And yes, you want something with Steve. You also want to fuck him, but I am prettysure you wantsomethingmore. The question is if you can keep your pants on long enough to establish a foundation.”
“Hey! Rude!” I elbowed her in the side as we walked.
“The only one I don’t know the answer to is if you want to sleep above a bar. Depends on how loud you are when you have sex. You strike me as a screamer.”
