#highlandsopen

Joel liked his job --- as much as he could like a job, anyway. It was fun to mix drinks, make conversation with wasted people and see how many tips he was able to weasel out of said people. Tonight was rough, though. It wasn’t very busy, and no one seemed interested in giving him a challenge, which was the whole fun of the job. For the last two hours he’d found himself wishing he was at home drawing pictures with his daughter. Noticing another customer walking up to the bar, he leaned against the counter, offering them a tired smile. “What’ll it be, love? I’m warnin’ you, if it’s only a bottle of beer you want, I might just cry.”

Cross legged on the sidewalk Ellie sat, weaving petals together, a half eaten pb&j on the paper plate beside of her. The garden was her favorite place, it reminded her the most of home. She spent most of her free time there, just taking in the beauty of all the plants. Startled by the sound of someone approaching, she was quick to explain, irrationally worried about the consequence of making flower crowns with property that didn’t belong to her, “I wasn’t picking them! They’d already fell off.”

“You look like you’ve had a day and then some.” Rose mused, a crooked grin on her lips as she approached the newest person arriving to the bar. It was a relatively quiet night, which was both boring as hell and good news. It meant she could sneak of on breaks more often than not. Wiping down the counter top in front of the person, she smiled and leaned forward, resting her arms against the top. “What are you drinking? It’s on the house.” It was a tactic that often worked. Give someone a free drink, they buy another and then usually give her a good ass tip at the end. It worked most of the time and when it was slow like tonight, Rose loved to use it.