No hurry

This is my second post and it’s already a drunk post. This is promising.

Tonight, I went over to Scarlett’s for dinner. Her boyrfriend was working so she invited me over before we went out. We had some “deluxe” hot dogs, with actual sausages, sauerkraut and dijon. We also made fries, just the perfect way: cooked in two steps. A few minutes at low temperature to cook the inside, and a few minutes at high temperature to get them gold an crispy.

We then headed off downtown to go to this über trendy cocktail lounge. I had been there a few other times in a past life, a time when it felt totally right to blow over 200$ in drinks at the bar. She had never been.

At 11 when we went in, the place was pretty much empty. The barmaid recognized us both from the newspaper which NEVER happens.

She tells me: “ Hey didn’t you work at The Drinkery as well ? I think you served me there.”

In those situations, I always answer: “I hope I wasn’t too harsh with you.“

She plays along: “yeah, I almost called the manager on you”.

“Good thing you didn’t, I was the manager back then”

She introduces herself. Gabrielle.

The girl is GORGEOUS. Not barmaid hot, classy hot! But I don’t remember her, at least not from the The Drinkery. Her face and her name do sound familiar, though.

That’s it! I got it.

“Wait, didn’t you worked at Bootleg, on the opening night? I was there with a couple of our friends, we showed you tricks to do with your shaker and with matches?”

“… ALEX! Of course it’s you! How’ve you been?”

The first two rounds are on her.

People start coming in.

Two guys come to see us at the bar, they too recognized us from the newspaper. This is unheard of. They want to buy us drinks. We tell them the barmaid beat them to the punch. On of them is a progolfer, just back from some northern africain country. The other one is actually on local TV but I had never seem him before.

Scarlett leaves to the bathroom for a minute.

Two Girls take her spot next to me at the bar to place an order. I recognize Mary and Annick, two old friends who I haven’t seen in quite a while. Annick was actually my roomate some 5 years ago. It turned out sour, real sour, but we grew up and she actually said last night : I was crazy back then. I would have never said so myself, but it’s good to know the whole incident is over and forgotten.

After the mandatory vodka shot with the beautiful Gabrielle, we head off to The Drinkery to grab a last drink.

I’ll have many more occasions to tell you about The Drinkery, as it’s my favourite place in town and the crazyest of the crazy nights usually start there. It’s this restaurant / cocktail bar where I used to work. That’s quite an understatement. For a little over two years, The Drinkery was my life. I quit three years ago, but this place still feels like family. I still have my employee discount.

We grab a drink, I go say hi to everyone. Scarlett and I keep chatting a bit. When she leaves, there’s still a sip left in her drink. I finish it.

A girl I know is celebrating her birthday tonight. She used to come often back when I was working here and we even kissed one night, when we were both passed drunk at 5am, at some warehouse party a block away from The Drinkery. She was just as drunk last night.

She’s MUCH more pretty than I remembered her, I thing it’s the bangs she wears so well. I would love to take her home in some other situation, but you don’t come into clubs at 2am to go hit on the hammered girls. That’s just creepy.

There’s this new waitress at The Drinkery, I say new but she might have been working there for over 4 months as far as I know. She’s really, really pretty but she looks cold and distant. We were never introduced and never bothered to do it ourselves. She saw me a few times though and she knows that I’m good friends with all of her coworkers and her bosses.

At ten to 3, we all go outside for a cigarette and the manager locks us out, while he’s counting his cash. I just want to grab my stuff and leave so I knock in the window to get his attention. This new busboy who doesn’t know me tells me to stop it. I’m like : it’s cool bro, I just want them to come open the door.

him: no stop it.
me: no you stop it
new waitress, on a very bitch tone: He told you to stop, that’s not so hard to understand.

I stare at her with a Are you fucking kidding me? look on my face and I ask : I’m sorry what?

She realizes how bitchy that was and that I won’t have any of it. She says: I’m sorry, I’m really tired tonight.

I say “Don’t worry about it” withouth looking at her as they finally come to open the door.

At this point I’m hating her a bit. She’s not only cold, she’s the kind of girl who gets bitchy with total strangers… Imagine when you know her.

We leave, 3 boys and me to go to Louis’ house for a last beer and a joint. Much later, somewhere around 5am, two other guys join us and they brought along the new waitress.

She’s really cute and she knows it. My whole “I don’t really care about you but I’m a nice guy” attitude was paying off. She was engaging conversation, touching my arm or my leg when she spoke. I’m not saying she was necessarly flirty or anything; it was now 6am and none of us were in the best shape or life. But I had managed to go from the guy she barely knew to this intriguing guy she feels quite confortable with and who made her laugh a great deal.

Oh and she’s a fun, laidback and smart girl too.

She’s gonna be a tough catch if she’s ever gonna be one. She knows she’s hot and as the only girl working at The Drinkery, she puts up a good “you can’t have me” kind of shield. I’ve seen her use it on Louis last night.

It’s long-term work but I’m in no hurry.