mykonos

catching his balance with the radio held away from the looming edge of the open water, wide-eyes locking onto the other — realizing his mistake and feeling a wave of relief wash over him when he sees mykonos is all right. he recognizes her immediately. cracking a grin, chagrin visible by the bloom of crimson in his countenance. “hey, i’m sorry! i didn’t do that on purpose, i swear.” he insists, confused for a moment by her commentary and worried she got the wrong idea. “forget it, you don’t have to apologize. i should look where i’m walkin’,” he adds, holstering the radio in his tool belt.

she couldn’t help smiling back at his smile, glad that he was ready to apologize no matter what she’d said. it wasn’t necessarily about the apology itself -- just about the principle of the whole thing. “no, you’re fine. not everyone can be as graceful as i am.” she teased, laughing a little before leaning in. “tell you what, i’ll pour you a free drink at the bar, on me.”

“you have one of those customers who wanted to be a smartass, but you can’t do anything? i know how you feel,” he chuckled and took a sip of the drink in front of him. “free? what’s free. i have never got a free drink in my life,” he chuckled as he handed her a ten dollar bill.”

“well, i was offering you one. but since the bar’s closed, this tenner is going straight to my pocket, i hope you’re happy with that.” she pushed into her back pocket with a smile, pouring herself a drink and taking a long sip.

“it sounds like something out of a movie, doesn’t it?” avignon laughed and shook her head. “god, i don’t know what i’d do. charge his hotel for a whole day’s worth of spa and bar, for starters. he was such a tool, he would deserve it.” she nodded and slid easily into the stool opposite the other woman. “it’s a trip. but hey, beats working at a theme park. i bet those people have some stories to tell.” she considered it and grinned. “i will if you will. we can toast the end of a very long day.”

“you know, we should do that anyway. the spa thing. sounds fun.” she moved behind the bar, trying to decide what drinks to make them. “theme park stories? what would they be besides getting puked on? that would be fucking awful. and they probably get paid, like... dirt.”

“hey, you make it sound like i said it as a bad thing. i totally meant as you had a hard day and you need to unwind,” he said with a grin on his face and pulled the glass over to him. “i like anything that i can drink and get have a little fun with. how much do i owe you though?”

“right, of course. of course.” she laughed a little, watching as he grabbed the drink and shaking her head. “nothing, don’t worry about it. bar’s closed, so... this drink never happened. and if anyone asks, you definitely didn’t get a free drink from me.”

“hey i like to make an entrance,” he smiled as he jumped off and sat down on one of the stools. “one drink and one drink only. have one on me as well. you look and kind of sound like you really need one right now.”

“you know, telling a woman that she looks like she needs a drink? not a good move.” she chuckled, finding a bottle that wasn’t completely empty before pouring out some rum for him and mixing it with some coke from the soda gun. “hope you like rum.”

“you have a point,” jules nodded with a laugh. “and don’t worry, i get it. after a shift at the front desk, sometimes it’s tempting to yell back at people. today, some guy broke up with his girlfriend and she needed to be moved into another room so that his new hookup could stay with him. which is just…. a crazy thing to do while on vacation. but rich people are like that sometimes. which is a super long way to say that i’m not judging you if you need a drink.”

“oh, wow... that’s actually pretty funny when you’re not involved. if that was me, i’d fuckin’... i don’t know, start a riot or something over that. imagine being in that situation, that’s so messy.” she laughed, shrugging. “i figured you wouldn’t really judge me, working here is... something, for sure.” tibby smiled, glad that talking to this girl didn’t make her want to make up some reason to escape the conversation. “i could make you one, if you’d like.”

“Then…”   he has to pause to think, gesturing without purpose,   “I can wash the - glass. I’m a good dish washer.”   A small, almost imperceptible smile is aimed her way.   Krefeld didn’t have a lot planned for the next twenty minutes, he legitimately could do just this.   “Can one be a poor washer of dishes? I hope not. It is very simple. You can trust me.”

Though he has no qualms over doing some dirty work for her, he isn’t about to do so without her permission — this is her station, after all — so he stays on this side of the bar and only keeps her company.   “Drinking out of the bottle… no, that is not so good.   Could give the wrong impression. People will think you’ve been stealing sips from their drinks.”

“I believe you. You could be a great dishwasher. I’ve only seen one or two bad ones in my day... and, yes, you can be a bad dishwasher. If you leave, uh... residue. That’s what bad dishwashers do.” She explained, raising an eyebrow when he suggested that drinking straight out of the bottle would give off a bad impression. “Excuse my French, but... frankly, I don’t give a shit. What’s a sip from the bottle between friends after hours?”

“no fucking way! poor santa” she laughed as she gave herself the first sip of vodka of the night. antonia allowed herself to feel ther insides burn with the taste of harsh alchool, she needed something to forget all the shit from the last hour. “i’m sure christmas drunk stories are funnier tho? did any of them told you about having the fantasy of dressing as santa for sex?”

her eyes widened slightly and she shook her head, laughing a little bit. “if they had, i would’ve cut them off. i’m all for roleplaying in the bedroom, but... i draw the line at ‘tell me what you want for christmas, baby’ or whatever the lame santa line would be.”

“it’s the most expensive thing i own,” she said with a small laugh. when she said she’d seen it, sicily’s ears perked and smiled with excitement when the other held her purse up. “yes! that’s it, oh my gosh. i thought i lost it forever.”

“you won’t even know i’m here”, wiggling her eyebrows, rio made her best to be quick - not that pouring two shots od vodka and all the ice a glass could have would take long, but in two minutes later she was on the other side of the counter. “so, how was your day? are christams drunk different than regular drunk?”

“i think it’s the same drunk, to be honest.” she told her as she kept cleaning up. “wait, no, actually... people definitely get more drunk during the holidays. like, they use santa as an excuse.” mykonos turned to her, laughing a little before speaking again. “you should hear how many times someone says ‘one for santa!’ shit like that.”

“In that case I ought to pour you one instead, it seems you’re in need of it.”   Gentle demeanor is in no way thwarted by her tone. He’d only come down to the bar for some solitude and quiet, hoping there would be no one left and the entrance unlocked;   a room is its most comfortable for him after the night has come to claim it.   “I’m sorry to bother you. I see someone has left you a mess to cut your sneakers on.   Dreadful.”

towels in hand, avignon was on her way to restock the supply closet for the night staff when she heard the shattering of glass. she pirouetted on the spot and headed in the direction of the bar to make sure that nobody was hurt. it was empty- makes sense, as last call would have already gone by. more than likely, a cup had just fallen off the bartop. but still, avignon was relieved to hear the nonchalant tone of the bartender. “don’t worry,” she laughed. “i’m not expecting a drink. although it sounds like you could use one. long day?”

“always a long day.” she explained, continuing to clean up. “you know, i’m starting to sound like i complain a lot, but it kind of rubs off on you. people come here to drink and complain about their shitty days or their relationships or what have you, so... i think that energy’s pretty contagious, don’t you? sorry, that was a longer answer than you probably wanted. short answer, yes.”

she could’ve smacked herself when she realized she left her entire freaking purse behind. how do you leave your purse when it has everything that valuable to you in it? so, she had to turn back around, go all the way back to the bar and hope to god it was still there. “i’m not here to make you lose your mind,” she said with a smile. “i left my purse earlier and it has my entire life in it. it’s velvet, a royal blue, kind of a cushion design with diamonds in the intersections. please tell me you’ve seen it.”

mason was done tonight and after today he just needed to sleep and have a drink or two before he went back to his room and just watched whatever was on tv. “bars closed? i mean what if i pour my own drink and let you finish doing what you are doing,” he smirked as he sat on top of the bar and turned around to look at her.

“yeah, absolutely not.” she looked over at him as he sat on the bar, eyebrows furrowing. “why are you sitting up there like this is your living room, dude?” mykonos crossed her arms over her chest, sighing before moving back behind the bar. “one drink. one.”