Page 54 of Hot and Bothered
“Yeah.”
I knew I was putting it off. I knew I’d have to confront him about it soon. But every time I opened my mouth, I thought of walking back into my parent’s house with my head hung low in shame.
I couldn’t do it. Not yet. After work, maybe. I’d ask him about it then. If everything went downhill, at least I’d get one more shift’s work of pay before leaving.
I was quiet on the ride to Sin and Tonic. Evan seemed distracted and didn’t notice. Was he distracted by those messages? He must have found his phone in the bathroom and read those texts eventually. Had he turned the girl down? Had he told her he was in a relationship now? That she couldn’t come over anymore?
Or was he making plans to see her without me finding out?
I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to keep jumping to conclusions, but my thoughts kept going around in the same circles.
There was probably an innocent explanation. But if there wasn’t, I’d have to leave. Could I bear taking that risk right now?
When we got to the bar, there was a line snaking down the block, fans waiting to be let in for the live show that evening.
“What band did Mason book?” Evan wondered aloud. “We’ve never had line ups like this.”
We cut through the line to get inside, ignoring the scowls, grumbles, and protests. There was a guy at the door letting people in one by one, but he waved us through right away.
“Hey Connor, you helping out tonight?” Evan asked, apparently knowing the guy. He was tall and handsome with hair as dark as onyx.
“I told Mason this band was pretty hot in the indie scene,” the guy, Connor, replied. “I volunteered to act as a bouncer.”
Evan clapped him on the shoulder.
“I think you’re going to end up being a lifesaver.” He jabbed his thumb at the crowd waiting not-so-patiently. “We got tons of death-glares by people thinking we were butting in line.” He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out. “Stop glaring at me, I’m the bartender, okay? You want to drink tonight or not?”
“Scary crowd,” I said.
“It can get a whole lot scarier than angry grumbling, let me tell you,” Connor said.
The whole scene distracted me from the devastating thoughts running through my mind. Now I was curious about the band that had caused such a commotion. Sin and Tonic had live music some nights, but I’d never seen it like this before.
Evan put an arm around my waist and guided me in.
“It’s going to be a hectic night,” he said.
My stomach turned queasy as his hand pressed into the small of my back. Normally his every touch sent my heart racing and my body tingling. Now all I felt was a vague sense of dread and unease.
I tried to shrug off his hand casually.
“I’m going to go see if Lizzy needs help,” I said.
I scurried away before he could respond.
The throng was thick and I could barely maneuver around the people Connor had already let inside. I had to wonder if all those people waiting in line would even be able to make it in to see the show. I made a note to look up the band as soon as I found out their name. They had to be good to draw a crowd like this.
I went to the back kitchen but I didn’t find Lizzy there. I grabbed the cleaning supplies and went back out to wipe down the tables by myself. Evan had taken his place behind the bar and was already busy serving customers.
The new girl bartender was there with him. She was highly visible, despite the crowd, due to her flaming red hair. The color was clearly from a bottle but I’d never seen someone pull off fire-engine red so well before. It very much suited her, with her pale skin and crystal green eyes. I realized I didn’t even know her name.
With both the band and the new girl here tonight, I had enough distractions to keep myself from thinking too hard on my Evan dilemma. I could worry about it after work when we went home.
I decided I had to go introduce myself before things got too crazy. I went up to the new girl’s side of the bar and gave her a smile as I set down a platter of empty glasses.
“Hi there,” I said. “I’m Alice. I don’t think we were ever introduced.”
“I’m Reagan,” she said with a crooked smile. “Is it always this busy here?”
