The Lies you Tell

The Meeting Part 2

“I don’t have a concussion and there’s no way I’m owing you a favor.” Kyle rolled his eyes with a smirk on his lips as he pulled out his phone and started playing candy crush.

“Well don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Picking up the tray, I made my way to the back of the second floor, careful to avoid booth two for fear of another round of knock-Esme-down.

I arrived at booth seven and pulled back the curtain just enough to slip through before walking to the table. As I sat the drink down on the table, a deep voice echoed from the right side of the room. I turned my head and saw the blonde guy standing a few feet away from one of the dancers who was on the pole. His previous stone-cold expression was replaced by pure interest as he looked over my face and possibly other parts of my body without my knowledge.

“Thank you. I’m sorry but we didn’t seem to catch your name last time.” I inwardly groaned at the sudden small talk, wishing they were as ready to get rid of me as the first time I served them. 

“It’s Esme. Is there anything else I can get for you?” I asked with a tone that was a little too sharp. Before the blonde guy could speak the angelic-looking guy on the coach, who was now practically fully laying on the couch, spoke up.

“Did you change your shirt, Esme?” I looked down at my shirt in confusion, wondering how he noticed since it looked just the same as my last one. Did I put it on backward? Was the tag sticking out?

“Jasper, that’s a really weird question,” the blonde guy by the dancer retorted. 

“Just a question, Michael,” the guy, Jasper, replied with an eye roll and an annoyed tone. I looked from Jasper who was laying on the couch to Michael who was scowling at Jasper.

“Still…” Michael scowled before giving me a devilish grin. “Why don’t you sit and have a drink with us.” Michael moved to sit on the couch, grabbing a glass from the table and throwing one leg on the end of the table in front of him in a semi-relaxed position.

“I should actually get back to work,” I smiled, though it didn’t reach my eyes. I’m pretty sure sitting down and drinking on the job was grounds enough to get me fired. 

“You should stay,” Jasper said without looking at me, his tone coming out more as a command than as a question. Despite how hot these guys were, my headache was pushing me to just go back to the bar and grab some water to drink.

“I really just…” I started, but my voice seemed to leave me when I glanced at a movement to my left. I met the eyes of a tall man who I hadn’t noticed until now. Then again, I wasn’t trying to notice anything in this room.

He was leaning against the left wall in the room, his eyes on me in a way that made me involuntarily shiver. His demeanor was calm but there didn’t seem to be anything calm about his appearance. He wore what looked like a suit, though the jacket was wrinkled from a day's work and his tie just hung loosely around his neck. He was tall and his build stretched against the suit, making him appear as a very dominating figure, even if he was compared to someone cold-like Kyle. His dark hair was disheveled and intuition told me it was from a day’s work. His sharp jaw was stubbled with a day or two old unshaven beard. Even being across the room from him I could tell that he would tower over my five foot four figure. However, it was his eyes that drew me in the most… because even though I could barely see him, I knew that his eyes were focused on mine. 

“Do I know you?” I asked, rather suddenly. The guy across the room stepped away from the wall, the dark blue shadows from the lights slowly slipping from his face. He looked familiar, yet not like anyone I had seen before. Maybe I had seen someone that looked similar to this guy and that’s where I was getting this familiar feeling from. Or maybe he was famous.

“Do you?” he asked in a deep voice that made me shiver. He sounded and looked so familiar, as though a smell I had once been acquainted with yet had forgotten the name of. 

“I-I’m sorry. You just looked familiar,” I stuttered, still unable to pull my eyes away from him. My eyes raked over the dark stubble on his sharp jawline again before following the curvature until it disappeared under his hair that was cut closer on the sides than at the top. 

“Does he not anymore?” I tore my eyes away and met the eyes of a guy sitting in a chair behind the pole dancer on the right side of the room. I hadn’t noticed this guy until now but he matched the other three guys in charm. He stood and slowly walked to the center of the room, glancing at the angelic Jasper, Michael the blonde, and the mysterious guy. He took the far couch to the left and placed his empty glass on the table in front of him. 

“I’m sorry?” I asked, realizing that he had said something to me. He, like the other three men in the room, was beyond typical cute guy standards. He too had a rather defined jawline and cheekbone structure, his black curly hair cut short and a faded beard covering his jaw and chin. His dark brown eyes looked over me and hesitated on my face before looking at the dancer across the room with a face that said ‘unimpressed’. I had never been so insulted without being insulted before.

“Does he not look familiar anymore?” What type of question was that?

“I guess not?” I replied though it came out as more of a question than an answer. When I glanced back at the guy, his eyes were focused on the drink on the table that he began to walk over for.

“Give it a rest with all of the deep questions, De’Angelo,” Michael muttered with an annoyed tone as he ran a hand through his blonde hair. The mysterious man who remained nameless to me grabbed a drink from the table and even though he was still five or so feet away, I could smell his cologne hitting my nose and sending me someplace warm. He sat down on the far left couch a cushion away from De’Angelo and kept his eyes on his drink as Michael spoke up again. “Well if you’re sure you don’t know this guy, you’re free to go,” Michael nodded, as though I was a servant. I took one last look at the handsome and yet so familiar guy in front of me before taking my que to turn and leave. After grabbing the tray and four empty glasses, I left the room. Back at the bar, I decided that I wanted to make drinks for the rest of the night and left it up to Kyle to serve them all-much to his content. 

The last two or so hours of my shift crawled by pretty slowly since I was constantly worried about seeing the guys from booth seven show up at the bar. However, they didn’t order another drink, and not long before the end of our shift, Kyle mentioned they left out the back-which was where most VIP members came and left from. Once everyone was starting to clear from the club for closing time, Kyle and I began to clean the bar down and restock the alcohol. We left The Tunnel at 3:10 and made our way to my 2008 Toyota that I had got for a pretty good deal two years back. 

“Your car smells nice,” Kyle commented after he buckled up. 

“Yeah and I’d like to keep it that way so put those away,” I rolled my eyes.

“Oh s**t, my bad. I forgot,” Kyle sheepishly smiled while putting his pack of camels back in his pocket. I drove him to his apartment complex, a building that looked like a converted motel, and received a curt thanks and a lot of pent-up s****l desires. I drove back to my apartment and parked in the closest spot I could find, which was a building down.

Once in my apartment, I immediately locked the door behind me, kicked off my shoes, and took off my white shirt that was a little too tight. After warming up some leftover pizza and watching an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S, I set my alarm and crashed into my bedroom. 

The next morning began with my usual weekend routine: wake up around noonish, head to the gym and workout for an hour, head home, take a shower, do some homework and studying, and get ready for work at seven. I left my apartment at seven-thirty, making sure to double-check my locks since the apartment down the hall was broken into last week. To be fair, I was pretty sure that girl dealt drugs, but still. 

When I got to work, Maribeth was waiting for me to tell me about how excited she was for the band playing tonight. She said it was a local band that was pretty good, especially because their lead singer was super hot. I nodded and feigned interest because Maribeth was nice and even if I wasn’t into the band, I couldn’t help but be happy that she was so excited. 

I set up at the main bar downstairs with Maribeth as always as we talked about our music tastes. I started down there with her at the beginning of the night, but after Meribeth took her lunch I switched spots with Marcus upstairs.

However; an hour into service Alexander, our manager, popped his head up at the bar to tell me to go ahead and switch with Marcus. He disappeared back into the crowd, offering no further explanation. 

“Why so early?” Meribeth asked with worry etched across her face. 

“Kyle probably made some lame excuse or something to get out of work for the rest of the night,” I rolled my eyes, remembering the last time he left me at the VIP bar alone with two birthday groups. 

“Sounds like him,” Meribeth giggled. “Too bad you’ll miss the show,” she frowned, looking up at the stage that was currently occupied by our DJ. 

“I’ll look out for them and try to get a good view when they’re on.” She nodded, accepting my answer before moving to serve a drink to a guy who was rudely waiving a twenty around. 

I made my way upstairs, passing both Tony and Marcus, before arriving at the bar that surprisingly was already occupied by Kyle. 

“Esme,” Kyle smirked, giving me the first once over for the night. “Are you wearing a black bra today?” I looked down at my chest, dumbfounded and a little embarrassed

“There is no way you can see what color my bra is.” I always did bra checks with my white shirts before I bought them. 

“I didn’t until now,” Kyle smirked, causing my stomach to dip. 

“f**k you,” I rolled my eyes, a smirk playing at the corners of my lips. 

“Guess who’s back?” Kyle asked as I started to wash my hands.

“Who?”

“The drug dealers. Except there’s like four more dudes and it’s a d*******l this time.” I rolled my eyes before grabbing the iPad and noticing a large order for table seven. 

“Have you not started their order?” I asked, noticing that it was placed two minutes ago. 

“I wanted to wait to see if there was a shooting first,” Kyle grinned before slipping his phone into his back pocket. I rolled my eyes for the first time tonight and began working on the drinks with him, loading them onto a tray, and mentally preparing myself for the weird group behind curtain seven. “Go get ‘em, tiger,” Kyle winked before his attention fell back to his candy crush game.

I tried to ignore the distracting thoughts and scenarios with Kyle involved as I made my way back to booth seven. I drew the curtain back and slipped in as the soft conversation in the room abruptly ended. Kyle was right in the sense that the four guys I met yesterday were talking with two other guys and it seemed like some shady s**t was going down. I sat the tray on the table before sitting the drinks down onto napkins as quickly and professionally as I could. 

“Thank you,” the man sitting to my right spoke. I looked over and smiled at him, taking note that he seemed to be older than the four guys I had seen yesterday who I knew were also in the room. 

“Of course,” I smiled and continued to place drinks. 

“Yes thank you,” another man to my right said. 

“You’re welcome,” I smiled. 

“Do tell, what is your name,” the first man who had spoken said. He had greying hair and a very pruned beard that gave him an intelligent yet aged appearance. His eyes were blue and the way his eyes followed my movements gave me a chill. 

“Esme,” I answered as I placed the last drink down on the table and stood back up fully prepared to sprint away. 

“Esme. What a beautiful name,” the man spoke before taking a drink of his liquor while still keeping his eyes on mine.

“Thank you.”

“Are you French by any chance?” He asked, causing my eyebrows to draw together in confusion. 

“Uh… yeah. My grandmother is from France.” 

“It’s a very popular French name for girls.” I nodded and smiled, though I hadn’t known that. I wasn’t really in touch with my family, let alone my grandmother.

“If you need anything else, please let me know,” I smiled before turning to leave the booth. As I turned, my eyes briefly met those of the mysterious guy from yesterday who seemed to be angry with something or someone. Probably me from taking so long to get out of there. I left the booth as quickly as I could, the scowl of the mysterious man still in my mind and causing my breath to quicken.

Back at the booth Kyle was making another order of drinks and talking to a guy sitting at the bar. I wanted to ask Kyle if he knew why Alexander had switched Marcus and me so soon but I didn’t want to interrupt his conversation with the customer in front of him. I took the order to booth three and received a pretty good tip, which I pocketed half of since I delivered, and slipped the rest to Kyle when I got back. 

“Here’s another,” Kylie said before passing another beer to the guy sitting at the bar. He took it and began throwing it back, his eyes meeting and holding mine for a second as he did. I turned away and washed my hands, ignoring the cold shiver that went up to my spine for the second time that night. 

“Hey have I seen you around before?” The guy at the bar asked, drawing my attention back to him.

“I don’t think so,” I frowned, trying to make a connection. I took notice of his wrinkled button-up shirt and tie that hung around his neck. He looked to be a few years older than me but he also had a beard which always threw my guesses out the door.

“You really look so familiar,” he went on while looking me over. After another moment he smiled at me, alarming me with how charming his smile was. “Maybe I’m just imagining things,” he sheepishly shrugged.

“Maybe,” I smiled back, instantly feeling more comfortable with his nice smile.

“You have really pretty eyes, you know?”

“Oh, well thank you,” I gushed, my cheeks flushing. The guy reached up and ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair, his muscle catching my eyes for just a split second. However, that split second was long enough for him to catch my gaze and smirk. Luckily an order for booth five popped up and I started to work on it with Kyle before loading it on a tray and taking it to a group of giggling office workers who were making jokes about their boss. When I got back to the bar and handed Kyle the tray back, he had a look that I couldn’t quite place. The guy at the bar, Harvey, and I talked for a little while longer about the club until a new order for a new booth came through. Once Kyle and I finished the drinks he handed me the tray with the same look he had on earlier.

“You don’t wanna take it?” I asked, wondering why he was giving me his favorite task. 

“You get better tips for us than I do,” he sheepishly smiled. I took the tray with a confused look and made my way to booth two, wondering what he was talking about since we both knew he usually got the better tips. The process continued for another hour or so where I chatted with Harvey, made drinks with Kyle, and then delivered the drinks to the various booths. When it hit eleven-thirty Kyle went on lunch, his mood still a little bizarre. 

“So are you guys usually this busy on Saturdays?” Harvey asked as he passed me his empty beer bottle. I took it and cracked open another one for him, thinking for a moment about his question.

“Yeah usually. There’s a live band playing tonight so it’s way busier on the first floor.”

“Oh. So I guess that’s where you wish you were,” Harvey smiled before glancing back at the small view of the first floor we had. 

“I’m pretty okay here,” I smiled softly, focusing my attention on filling a cup with some water for my dry mouth. Just as Harvey was about to say something, another person appeared at the bar, his large hand resting on top of the counter and his creepy blue eyes finding my own. 

“Have a wonderful night, Esme. I do hope we see each other again,” the older man smiled. Out in the regular light of the second floor, I could see how light his hair was and tell that two of the three men with him looked more like bodyguards than his friends. 

“I’ll be waiting here,” I smiled back flirtatiously, a second nature with my job. 

“Then I’ll surely be back.” The man tapped the glass countertop softly and turned back to leave the club through the back exit. I smiled to myself and turned to start cleaning some of the cups Kyle had just left in the sink. When I finished and turned back to talk to Harvey more, he was gone and his bear was empty. By the time that Kyle got back from his lunch, Harvey was still gone and I assumed that he was in the bathroom probably taking a s**t. 

I made my way through the crowded first floor and slipped into the breakroom to eat my turkey sandwich and watch a quick episode of The Office. Once my timer went off on my phone, I clocked back in and made my way through the sea of people back towards the stairs. I nodded at Tony and made my back upstairs to the bar where Kyle was finishing up an order for a new booth.

“Hey do you know why Alex-”

“Stay away from that dude,” Kyle mumbled under his breath as he put a few drinks on a tray.

“What dude?” I asked. Before he could respond Harvey sat back down at the bar and requested another drink. I cracked open a beer for him and put it on the counter, receiving a smile from Harvey.

“Here, booth seven likes you a lot more than they like me,” Kyle said with a small smile while handing me a tray. I took note of Kyle’s changed attitude as I left the bar and made my way towards the back of the second floor where booth seven was. I mulled over what Kyle had said and guessed that he was talking about Harvey. After all, Harvey was the only “dude” around while Kyle was around. As I entered the curtained booth I realized what must have been going on. 

Kyle. Was. Jealous. 

He was jealous of Harvey and me flirting and telling me to stay away from him was his weird way of showing emotions. Realizing that Kyle was jealous caused me to smirk to myself as I went about my business sitting the drinks on the table and picking up the empty ones.

“What are you smiling about, Esme?” The guy I knew as Jasper asked, drawing my name out as if to test how it tasted. I looked up and found him on the couch in front of me, his hair was a little messier than the day before, and his demeanor a little less relaxed. The other three guys were also sitting down and also seemed tenser than before. It was as if the room was filled with a thick tense fog that you could cut through. 

“Uh, nothing. Let me know if there’s anything else I can get for you,” I smiled, unable to stop smiling about Kyle’s reaction.

“Surely you’re smiling about something fond,” Jasper continued. 

“I think…” Michael interjected with a cold look angled at Jasper, “what Jasper is failing to communicate is that you have a beautiful smile, Esme.” As my cheeks warmed I couldn’t think of anything else to say aside from a curt thank you. I turned and left the booth, thankful that I could get out of there so fast. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something about those guys that made me a little nervous.

When I had returned to the bar, Kyle took the empty glasses from me and began washing them. As soon as I heard the water I realized that I had forgotten to use the bathroom on my lunch break and promptly excused myself, making my way to the girls’ restroom at the back of the second floor and quickly finding an empty stall. As I locked the stall door I heard another girl leave her stall and wash her hands quickly before leaving the bathroom. As I was finishing up, another entered the bathroom, her stall opening and closing with a loud thud. I left the stall and made my way to the sinks across from me and washed my hands thoroughly while again thinking about Kyle. It was crazy to think that Kyle was getting a little jealous after all of this time working together but I was excited. If he got jealous maybe that meant he like me. Hopefully, it wasn’t anything serious. With that thought in mind, I felt myself frowning. I didn’t need any complications like that in my life at the moment. To put it very frankly I just wanted a one-night stand. Or maybe a few nights. 

As if on cue my pocket buzzed and I had a feeling it was Sophie, my best friend. She was always up late doing god knows what and she was always reeling to hear anything relating to Kyle. It was like she lived vicariously through me-not that I minded.

I heard the sound of a stall unlock and with a glance in the mirror I saw Harvey, the guy from the bar, walk out. Even though he still looked charming like he had at the bar, there was something about being in a closed room with a guy I didn’t know that made me a little nervous.

“Harvey,” I almost laughed in awestruck, “this is the girls’ room. The guys’ restroom is across the way,” I shook my head, turning to grab a paper towel and dry my hands while pushing the uneasiness down. With the number of beers this guy had, I could understand how he had gotten the bathrooms mixed up. 

“Oh s**t, really?” He looked dumbfounded and even a little embarrassed. I glanced at him, noting that he looked a lot less charming in the bright bathroom lighting. 

“Yeah,” I shook my head before turning back to the mirror to examine my mascara and making sure it hadn’t smeared. “Don’t worry, it happens a lot more than you’d think,” I smiled. “It actually happened last week…” my words seemed to stop on their own accord at the sound of another lock. I looked over and expected to see another girl going into a stall, but instead found Harvey at the door with his hand on the lock. “Oh, you just locked us in here,” I shook my head smiling even as my stomach started to drop. “You have to turn it the other way to let us out,” I explained, moving towards him. 

“Why would I want to do that?” Harvey asked as I came to a stop two or three feet in front of him. From this close, I could smell the faint odor of beer from his mouth. He turned to look at me, his expression making my heart beat faster on its own accord. Harvey was no longer smiling a drunk smile but rather an almost comically evil smirk. His eyes, I noticed from being so close to him, were bloodshot red, and when he talked, his beer breath fanned over me. I had to resist the urge to visibly shudder. He would have looked angry if he wasn’t smirking. 

“Harvey, stop playing around,” I demanded in a hard tone I had learned to use on occasion from working here. I reached for the lock on the door and found myself stumbling backward from Harvey pushing me. “What the hell?” I demanded even as my heart began racing faster.

“Shut up,” Harvey seethed in a quiet voice, taking a step closer to me. 

“Don’t tell me what to do,” I scowled, holding my ground even as he neared. “There are people on the other side of that door-”

“It’s a solid door,” Harvey smirked, stopping a foot or so in front of me, allowing me to smell the wretched beer breath he carried. “Those curtains out there are made for keeping noises out. And if I’m correct,” Harvey stopped for a moment as if to listen to the rumble from downstairs, “the band just started their next number.” I felt my breath quicken on its own accord but I still managed to keep a scowl on. Did he plan this? Was it by chance? Why was he doing this? 

“Get the f**k away from me,” I ground out as he took a step closer. Suddenly everything moved fast as he stepped forward and grabbed my wrist tightly and I swear I heard my wrist pop from the action. I moved quickly and swung at his face, landing a punch that distracted him long enough for me to unlock the door and try to open it. But his hand was on my wrist again and he yanked me back before blocking the exit again. 

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he ground out with a murderous expression that I’ve only ever seen in the movies. His hand tightened around my wrist to the point of me letting out a cry. 

Suddenly the bathroom door opened and I wondered what girl had walked in and possibly saved me, but it wasn't a girl. It was a guy. A very hot guy. 

Jasper.