2019-12-05 - Ice Queen

It's near last call, it's raining outside, and there are only a few people left at the bar. One of them is a tall man, one hand cradling his phone, thumb flicking over the screen. The other hand holds a half filled beer. The bartender gives him a sour look, shaking his head back and forth. "That's it for you Kyle, last drink, and you're out of here man."

Kyle digs a hand into his back pocket, draws out a twenty and sets it on the counter, surprisingly steady. "Sure about that?"

Bartender sighs, takes the bribe and rolls his eyes, moving further down the bar.

"Thought so." The man mutters smugly, raising the glass to down the remainder of the beer.

A few seats down, totally engrossed in social media, is Cassidy. She's been nursing a lemon drop cocktail for most the evening and keeping to herself. My how time flies. It may be unexpected and unusual, but she's been approached hardly at all this evening. This in spite of her youthful glow, perfect hair and well done make up. Something about her dress, though, and her demeanor must keep people at bay in and of itself. Or her total aloofness and engagement with her phone screen.

But the words 'last call' catch her attention. She looks up like she missed the crucial point of the plot and stuffs her phone away. She downs the rest of her cocktail and wiggles the glass toward the bartender. "Another lemon drop before closing, please?"

"The fuck is a lemon drop?" Kyle calls out, inebriated and by all indications angry at girly drinks. He squints down toward Cassidy, obviously seeing her through beer goggles, but after that drink order she's not as pretty anymore. Maybe he has reverse beer goggles. Who the fuck knows. He lurches to his feet, takes a few steps in her directions , pointing at the bottles up for display. "You should be drinking something dirty, like .. let me buy you a shot, eh?"

His hand raises, and he makes the come hither motion to the bartender who looks like he just wants to close and lock the door now. "Make her a Hot Mexican Hooker.." He turns to eye Cassidy, a smirk forming on his lips. "If you don't want it, I'll drink it, but yeah. It's not a bad shot."

Closing time? Seems like just the right time to stumble out of the bathroom and recover with a grin, still upright. Ellis straightens out his vest with a tug, but it's really just a thing to do with his hands as he haphazardly makes his way over to the bar, scoping everything out along the way.

Ellis ends up inserting himself between Cassidy and Kyle without so much as a hello and if wedging is necessary, wedging happens, crotch-side to Kyle with a big grin. "Oh are you getting something for me too? How nice of you," he says with a slap on Kyle's back.

Cassidy relinquishes the cocktail glass from her dainty hand, supported by elbow on the counter, to the bartender. Her eyes - lasers of indifference - sweep over Kyle. Her lips press together and then part as she takes an inhale. Eyes roll when Ellis sprinkles his own character over the already annoying scene. "Yeah, whatever. You can pay for my cocktail," the blonde says - as if that was the offer, and not the Mexican Hoobastank Whatsitcalled. She looks to the bartender to catch her drift about the drink order, and she better not see any dirty tequila shots come back her way.

"Get him something too." Kyle gestures toward Ellis, pulling another bill from his back pocket, slapping it down on the bar. The bartender caught the drift, but he wants to keep the change so he brings both, and a shot for Ellis as well. That done, he heads down to take care of a few people slumped over the bar.

"The fuck were you doing in the bathroom?" Is asked of Ellis, glancing in that direction. "Hopefully not puking, I have to go piss, and I don't want to step in vomit."

"Thanks man," Ellis says, looking quite pleased with himself when his behavior earns him a net positive...drink that is. He grins like a loon and seems impervious to Cassidy's eyeroll. "Oh I was refreshing myself," Ellis says with a minor flourish of his hands as he shrugs.

"The reaaal question is, what did I not do?" Ellis reaches for the shot brought to him and knocks the glass on the bar before kicking it back.

Cassidy carefully takes the cocktail glass and brings the sugar coated rim to her lips. She's quiet. Her eyes slide across the room and she silently measures the distance to the exit.

Kyle doesn't see anything wrong with how either person is acting, probably because he's drunk off his ass. It's a miracle he's managed to stay steadily upright during this conversation. He leans against the bar, and his last beer is delivered before closing. "All right, you two seem like a parcel of cheer, so I'm gonna drink my beer and get out of here." He gives Ellis a wary look, and smirks in Cassidy's direction. "You two anyone I should know when I'm sober?" He asks, taking a decent gulp from his glass before he sets it back down on the bar.

"I mean, I don't think I've seen either of you at the the airport before, at least." A shit-eating grin appears on his lips. "Right, I'm gonna guess." He points at Cassidy. "You're a secretary who just stopped here for a tipple, because your tight ass boss got on your nerves today." He eyes Ellis, a slight narrowing before he proclaims. "You look like a drug dealer, honestly, or you deliver pizza. One of the two."

"I refuse to do business with the TSA," Ellis declares as he sets his empty shot glass back down. "You are dead wrong. I'm a well respected janitor at many fine establishments." He's so magnanimous and full of shit it might be unclear whether he's actually full of shit. "I'm /excellent/ at my job...and smoking a joint here and there." He shrugs. He turns to consider Cassidy. "Do you think I'm a drug dealer, a pizza man, or a janitor?...You aren't a secretary." He's obviously less drunk than Kyle. He conveniently doesn't clue Kyle into whether he should know Ellis once he's sober. Whoops!

"Got me dead to rights," Cassidy says with all the engagement and friendliness of one exhibiting a mere tolerance hanging by a thread. She lifts one shoulder up toward her ear and shrugs. Then she takes another sip. She looks over Ellis and nods her head. "You could be either of those things, honestly. Sure."

Kass shuffles into the bar, immediately glancing towards the bartender to see if its the crotchety old man that always glares at her. Seeing someone else manning the taps, she lets out a small breath and starts making her way towards the bar. Wearing a worn woman's flannel shirt and dark wash skinny jeans tucked into a pair of Chuck Taylors high tops decorated with green apples, hints of brightly colored airbrushing streaks across the back of her hands, up the sides of her neck. And her ponytail seems to have turkey feathers in it. She offers a quick nod towards the trio chatting before shifting up onto a stool and quietly ordering a tap beer, whatever's cheap.

"Shit, you're cold." Kyle comments, his blue eyes settled on Cassidy's face, reading her indifference despite the amount of alcohol coursing through his veins. "Well, should you decide that you want to thaw out a little, shoot me a call. I'll take you up in my helicopter. Sober as a judge, promise." He tosses the card in Cassidy's direction, fully expecting her to tear it into pieces. It reads:

Kyle Addington
Helicopter Pilot
(Phone number)

He smirks over at Ellis, and slaps him companionably on the back. "Yeah, I was wrong. I'm gonna go take a piss, if he'll serve you another drink.." He nods toward the bartender, gesturing to the change that was left on the bar. He makes his way toward the bathroom, his steps only slightly unsteady. On his way across the bar he spots Kass, giving her a once over before he slaps the bathroom door open with a palm. A few moments later the sound of singing drifts out from the bathroom.

"Fair enough," Ellis shrugs. He doesn't notice Kass at first, someone surrounded by the other two.

Ellis doesn't look as excited to be slapped on the back as he was to slap Kyle on the back, especially after Kyle tosses his card at the woman and he sort of has to pull his head back to get out of the way of it. "Yeah. I think that's a good idea man," he says emphatically when Kyle discusses taking his leave. He watches as the man makes his exit.

"Jesus Christ." Ellis smirks. "I don't have a card, so I'll save you the trouble of ripping it up." He steps away from the woman now that Kyle has made his exit and tries to give the bartender some doe eyes as Kass gets served.

An eyebrow raised as the card spins in her direction, courses to the right, and lands on the counter. She gives it a look to read it and then settles her glass on it as if it were a coaster. She seems at least humored by that, and the man departing to the loo.

"No business card? Definitely a janitor, then." Cassidy determines of Ellis.

Kass flicks a glance back across as one of the trio peels off, quickly moving her gaze back to the glass she was handed. Staring down into the beer as if it might start to talk to her. Instead, she takes a drink, setting the glass back down onto the bar. She tugs at the sleeves of her shirt and tries to pop the collar up, though that fails, the fabric simply too softened from washes to stay upright. She stays quiet, right up to the end, then adds quietly, "I don't have a card. I'm not a janitor. Correlation does not imply causation." She ducks her head back down and takes another quick gulp of her beer.

Kyle pushes his way out of the bathroom, did he wash his hands? Hard to tell from this point. He leaves the change on the bar as he makes his way out, spotting the card he left with Cassidy beneath her drink. There is a brief chuckle, a shake of his head as he grabs his jacket, pulling it on with a grunt. "You both were a barrel of laughs, but I'm going the fuck home to pass out. Early day in the air." He gives the trio a casual salute, a cocky grin and after a few steps, shoulders the door open to step out into the night.

"Pizza men don't have business cards either and street level drug pushers usually don't either," Ellis points out as if Cassidy were losing a game, unable to resist speaking up. He shrugs innocently and offers her a smile one only usually sees on little shithead kids who tattle on everyone. Utterly charming and horrible. "All you know is I'm not a drunk douche with a helicopter...but yeah, guess I could be a drunk douche with a mop." He rubs his chin for a moment and then the bartender passes him over to serve a woman who came after him. She's nicer to look at.

"I believe, she's speaking of me. What do you think? What do I look like to you? Janitor, pizza man, drug dealer?" Ellis directs to Kass before he watches Kyle take his journey from the bathroom to the great beyond.

Cassidy is not about to have a debate about business cards, apparently. She pinches the very top of her nose where it meets her eye sockets for a brief moment as the invitations to discuss the subject present themselves. She then turns slightly to dig into her bag and retrieve her phone, pushing her hair from her eyes with the other hand as she does. She locks her eyes on the screen and starts casually scrolling on some app or another. Her free hand eventually finds her glass (after missing it a few times since she's not really looking) and swirls the cocktail lights as she scrolls.

Kass darts a glance sidelong again when Kyle swaggers on through, following to the exit before shifting her gaze back. Taking another quick drink, she flicks a look towards Ellis and mutters, "None of the above." She takes another quick swallow then adds, "You look like my neighbor. And someone who was a year ahead of me in high school. One of the Duchannes group." Flicking another glance his way, she dances her gaze over to Cassidy, "I don't know you, though." Her gaze quickly drops back to the glass and stares into the beer once more, hunching forward a little more.

Ellis manages to order a stout and pulls the drink closer to take a sip. "Mmm, liquid bread," he murmurs to himself in contentment. As Cassidy seems distracted by her phone, Ellis turns and blinks, leaving behind his drink, "Oh perfect! I forgot my phone so this will be easier," he says as he tries to snatch Cassidy's phone up so he can start entering in his contact information under 'Janitor' with the nickname of crazy-face-looking-emoji. He looks back to Kass as his hits Save. "Oookay. Well I am a Duchannes, but..." If he doesn't look like any of those, then what does he look like?! Distracted, that's what.

"Ack! What the actual fuck?!?" Cassidy squawks out in perhaps the most haughty, irritated, fashion. She frowns, squinting her eyes. Looks to her drink. Picks it up. She Sends its contents flying into Ellis' face and snatches her phone back. "Fucking creep..." she murmurs as her thumbs start flying over the screen.

When the drink goes flying, Kass cringes and jumps to her feet. Reaching into a pocket, she tugs a couple crumpled up bills from her pocket and throws them at the bar without even looking. She mumbles something unintelligible and turns, quickly heading off as fast as her Chuck Taylors can carry her. The trailer park seems the better option right now.

Ellis gets hit square in the face with ice and lemony goodness. He blinks, the phone easily snatched from his fingers. "A simple no thank you would have done it but this is much tastier," he says with a smirk, unfazed by her assessment of him. Then he looks to where Kass was sitting. "Oh...well shit." When he gets a stink eye from the bartender, Ellis tilts his head, "Where's your mop?"

"No. Don't steal my phone. Thank you." Cassidy says in mock, deadpan, protest. She has been texting this whole time and then looks up, agitated, at the empty cocktail glass. She peeeeers at the bartender, then shifts eyes back to the glass, then to the bartender. "Didn't you see what happened? I need another one." She looks back to her phone. "The janitor here is going to pay for it."

Ellis isn't even there to protest or agree. It's put on his tab because apparently, the bartender agrees, albeit silently.

Ellis has ducked away into the back room to grab a mop and bucket. He has to ask one or two people to move to let him by and then he actually starts mopping up the slippery part. "It was only three fourths full. Don't give her any more than that," Ellis insists emphatically to the bartender.

"You have to make a full drink anyway and you'll dump the other fourth if you don't give it to me." Cassidy rebuts, instinctively, without looking up from her phone. "So might as well give it to me so I can appreciate it." She looks up and smiles to the bartender. Her payment for that extra 1/4 of the cocktail. Worth every drop.

Ellis makes quick work of the floor. He really does seem to know how to handle a mop, not that it takes all that much training. Though he's still a bit of a mess. He takes the mop and bucket back. That floor got some /professional/ attention...and someone is totally going to slip on it. Ellis comes back out with one of his smiles and ends up having his money taken out of his hands before he can order. "Well, I think that plus some stickiness is my cue. So long, ice queen." He lifts a hand and nods once to Cassidy reverently on his way out.