Ray

While it is a wonderful drink it does not last long. While Nadine would love to have a second, she knows that now there are many more important items to have her cards spent on. She places the cards she owes Ray on the bar. One more then the price listed, it is only proper to leave a tip when one receives good service. 

Still it is nice to have a heavy bag on his back and know that even with buying things he should be able to make his way to a table tonight. Where, hopefully, his good luck streak will keep up. Jesse takes the drink placed him front of him. It’s nice, cool, and refreshing. Gives him a nice warm trail from the moonshine in the back of his throat that he loves.

“Well you make a wonderful martini Ray. Much better then most.” Nadine looks around the bar. It is a smart business in this world. People still like to drink. Drinking helps forget everything and anything. She is slighly upset with herself for not thinking of this as a cover to have in Pittsburgh. Maybe Ray can be looking for help and one of her people can help him out. Must be a great place to listen to other talk.

Rum and Vodka

It wasn’t much but it had been to long since Jesse brought Ray back anything from his runs. To long. But Jesse knew Ray was doing well on his won and the other runners were bring in much more then he could imagine. They actually found a few places that Jesse had never thought to check. So while Jesse kept a look out for anything Ray could need, it wasn’t made as the main item to be found.

Luckily Aiden and Jesse found two bottles on their trip outside the wall. Jesse had actually almost forgot about them, only remembering when he was trying to get everything together to go try to see to Victor. But the market could wait. Jesse gathered everything, the bottles placed in the very top of the bag. It dug into his shoulders slightly and the zipper wasn’t fully closed due to everything in it, but hopefully it would be empty soon. Or emptier.

Like always the bar had a good amount of people in it. It seemed like every day was a good day besides Tuesday. Ray was busy pouring something out to a back table when Jesse wanted in. His brothers back is turned and Jesse hops over the bar quickly. He places his bag on the bar, eyes not leaving Ray’s back as he grabs the two bottles. The bottle of rum goes on the middle shelf and the vodka on the bottom. Jesse knows they are more then likely on the wrong shelf, but who cares. He hopes back over the bar hoping he will get away with in.

He sees Jesse come in, out of the corner of his eye, but his brother knows that when Ray’s busy, he’ll get to him when he gets to him. He’s too busy pouring out a mojito to someone who’s arguing about whether his mint is fresh or not. Ray’s about willing to knock him over the head with the potted plant. Of course, he keeps a light smile on his face, and when the woman pays him for the drink, Ray’s never been happier to see someone leave the bar before.

He hears shuffling, and when he looks over, Jesse’s got that fake innocent look on his face, Ray scans back behind of him, looking over at the well. He rolls his eyes at his brother’s lack of alcohol knowledge, considering they both grew up in a bar. Switching the bottles out, the vodka goes up to a spot on his middle shelf, and the rum sits down in the well.

Nadine use to refuse anything below top shelve. But she can see their isn’t a bottle of gin up there and luckily she knows the faded label sitting in the middle there. She looks away just to scan the bar but looks back with enough time to be able to watch him make the drink.

It is clear this is not the first martini that man has made and it forms a small smile on her face. “You did this before the outbreak?” While it is a questions, it does have the tone that Nadine is more stating then asking. She reaches for the stem of the glasses, impressed even more so by the olive that he put in it. She looks the drink over before taking a sip and when she does it is perfection. He has the proportions of gin to vermouth spot on and Nadine takes another drink.

“Bartendin’s been in my blood for centuries,” Ray answers with a smile, trying to keep his answers short and simple. The wealthy type generally don’t like it when the barkeep rambles out, and although Ray’s a friendly guy, he knows when to keep his mouth shut. Ray’s got a giant smile on his face when it’s very obvious she enjoys her drink. 

The past few weeks have moved quickly. Nadine moved through the QZ now with ease like she had been there since it opened up. It was something Nadine always liked about Pittsburgh, the fact that she knew the area before and moving through the zone was simple because of that. Now Nadine has that same skill with the Atlanta zone. While she might not have ever single turn memorized, Nadine was happy with her process here.

Now, Nadine circled the black market. She had list after list of everything she had from Gregory and everything that she thought she needed or the hunters as a whole could use. While some tables were full and stocked like the one that belonged to the man Nadine had spoke to before, others where less then half empty with items so poorly made Nadine was slightly worried wrongly touching one of the so called nail bombs might destroy the market.

Nadine passed another table and watched a few men enter an open door off to the left. Nadine had heard of the bar in there from comments around the market. Taking a break from the looking Nadine walked into the bar. It was small, but the shelves behind the hand made bar were far more stocked then Nadine would have expected.

“What shelf do you drink from, darlin’?” Ray has to ask, although he’s sure she doesn’t drink from the well. The price goes up, of course, but most people don’t care. Once the woman gives him an answer, Ray’s working quickly to pour out the perfect martini. To coating the glass with a thin coat or vermouth, to stirring the gin, and not shaking it. He even garnishes it with an olive, a rare commodity that he managed to get his hands on, to prove craftmanship. She’s challenged him, and Ray never backs down from a challenge that pertains to alcohol. 

“It’ll take time, but it can be done with enough persistence, right?” It’ll be accomplished! Somehow, someway, if Baker brings it up he’s sure Charlie will find a way to swing it, even if her stacks of paperwork are doomed to grow. He still hasn’t really asked her too much of why, yet. “Sorry about being away for so long, I got a little busy.” Which is a total, blatant lie. He just hopes Ray can’t read him, because while Baker was busy before he always made time for stopping by to say ‘Hello’ even if just for a couple of minutes at a time.

“We all get a little busy every once in awhile,” Ray says with a nod, knowing the line that Doug just fed him was a complete lie. Douglas always manages to stop in and say hello when he’s busy, he always has. His absence is something else, something relating directly to their drunken make out, but since Baker hasn’t brought it up, Ray won’t either. It’s obviously something they’re just supposed to forget about and move past, and that is definitely something Ray can do.

“I coulda slept on the floor, though.” Or even shared. By that point he was so sad and tired that if they’d slept next to one another he knows he wouldn’t have done anything stupid again. Ray doesn’t seem to mind it, though, so he won’t press it further.

His brows arch at the suggestion, and Baker nods. “Yeah, they’ll come with.” And it sounds a little rushed when he adds that, he is clumsy with his words again, but he shrugs it off. “Miss Charlie was upset with me when I told her about it.” There’s the smile again, to let Ray know he’s mostly kidding about Charlie being down about it. She gave him the most serious disappointed look for the lack of invite, and really, how dare he? Team Double Trouble was split up for the night.

“Well, I’ll smooth it all over with some whisky then,” he jokes, knowing that Charlie can never turn down good whisky. Ray feels like Doug will feel more comfortable if they invite more people next time. There won’t be any weird pressure, or awkward tension, not with Captain Powell around. Ray’s sure they can make up some excuse worth drinking to, too. They honestly don’t talk about military matters with him, which is just fine, but he never really knows what’s going on in the barracks. Except for Charlie’s ridiculous prank wars.

He laughs again, loud and clear, and the way all the self-created tension starts to dissipate is such a relief. His light eyes are lit up happily as he remembers that part of the night, the part after the thought-consuming kissing and touching. “Hey, I didn’t want it. I don’t think I was as stubborn as Miss Charlie is, though.” Can’t be, couldn’t ever be. She did drink her water, though…

To think though that Ray held off on opening for that long meant he had to feel something, but it probably was nothing in comparison to Baker’s headache and how sunlight made him feel blinded and disoriented. Well, his bed was more of his own best friend that morning than ever. “It was fun, and you took care of me even if I was a stubborn pain.” He does let the memory of Ray holding him to his feet play in his own head, how he guided him to the back room and got him to bed which still doesn’t make sense because he could’ve slept on the floor and Ray should’ve taken the bed for having him over that night.

A best friend though, someone he could just enjoy a comfortable silence around and share personal, private things with? He’s never really had a person like that in his life, and now he has two, with Baker and Charlie. He’s making more friends in this world, real friends that he can rely on, than he did in the old one, and Ray thinks it’s a damn shame it took the end of the world to get him to fully commit people. What’s done is done, though, and all he can really do is move on.

“I didn’t bring any cards with me,” he tries to politely decline the offer, but somehow he thinks it won’t matter. So, Baker fidgets and then takes a seat on the stool closest to him and eyes that stupid flask that made him come back so soon. It was rewarding to see the relief on Ray’s face, most definitely, so it’s not all that bad. If he can just over himself himself Baker’s sure he won’t feel so off for too much longer.

But, man, is he lucky. He feels all sorts of awkward and strange, yet here is Ray, his best friend, no different than the last day he saw him. “I really don’t remember how I left with that, when I found it I felt awful.” He has the glass of whiskey there in between his hands but he’s not feeling too much on drinking right now. There’s no fear of losing himself or anything, it’s just one glass, but the smell and taste is all too familiar. Still, he’s gotta stop dwelling!

Slowly but surely, Douglas is relaxing, and it makes it easier for Ray to put up the unaffected front. The whisky helps a little with that, and Ray’s fingers play with the engraving as they speak. He’s ridiculously happy for finding it, and it’ll be mentioned in his prayers that night. Ray remained faithful, and the flask showed up. It’s all he can ask for, really.

He presses in through the entrance, and well, fuck, he wants to turn around and run. No! If he acts awkward then it will be awkward, and he’ll just not breathe a word of what happened. It’s fine. They’re best buddies. Baker will get over it the moment Ray starts talking to him, and he doubts he even cares much. He’s good like that.

Baker doesn’t see Ray behind the bar right away, but he cautiously walks up and glances around the bar to see if he’s cleaning anything up outside of it. He could be in the backroom too, but he’s not about to wander back there. Sure, he slept there that one night, but this is still an establishment. It’s rude to walk around just because you’re friends with the owner. Luckily though, Baker doesn’t have to search much because Ray stands back up, and instantly he smiles as if he didn’t have a worry. He stands there and hesitates, doesn’t take a seat either, but still is smiling like normal. 

Ray’s eyes go big and bright at the flask. The tension drops right out of his shoulders when Baker sets it on the counter. He’s being all awkward and fidgety, and Ray does his best to just ignore the jitters. They’ll get right back to where they were before.

“Thank the stars, Doug. I was beginnin’ to think that I had throw it away or something equally terrible. Thank you.” Ray could just lean over and kiss him - that’s an expression of course, he wouldn’t actually lean over and kiss him again - at how happy and giddy he feels at having the flask back in his hand. He reaches for a tumbler, filling it up with some ice, before emptying most of what’s left in the flask into it. That gets slide over to Baker, and Ray puts his lip’s to the flask’s opening, taking the last shot in a straight gulp. It burns pleasantly on the way down, and he gingerly sets the flask back behind the bar, somewhere he can see at almost all times.

“You could say that,” Parker says, her smile widening a little bit. “Maybe I’ll tell you about it. Get me a drink first and we’ll see.” She nudges his arm to show she’s joking. 

When she pushes through the doors and sees Ray on his hands and knees, Parker notes that perhaps things haven’t improved. He looks like he’s looking for something - his flask, she’d guess, if he hasn’t found it yet. She makes her way right to him, figuring she may as well say hello before she sits down. He must hear her coming, and as he stands up, Parker can’t help but smile a little.

She drinks more of her beer, realizing she’s almost finished the bottle. She doesn’t plan on having another one. It’s taken the edge off her anger but it does nothing for the confusion or upset that she still feels. She stares down at the bit of liquid still sloshing around in the bottom of the bottle as Ray speaks again, and then her head lifts.

She breaks out into a smile at the word friends. Last time they spoke, Ray mentioned that they weren’t “technically friends”, but now, apparently, he’s changed his mind. Parker thinks it’s about time, considering how much they’ve spoken now. They speak easy around one another and Parker thinks that is a good enough basis for a friendship nowadays.