The Heart of Glass
New York – 2016
The bartender was exhausted. Students had rushed into the pub and ordered so many drinks that she had lost track of time. She was used to it though. Has been for quite a while actually. Four years in total.
But this time it was different. This time, the bartender had to face the crowd on her own. This time, she was all alone in this big city, in her very own pub that she could barely even afford.
As she was cleaning up the counter right before closing time, a tall brown-haired man approached her and simply said:
“Hi.”
Without even raising her head, the annoyed bartender replied:
“We’ll be closing in a few minutes and I’ve ran out of juice, sorry.”
“ ’s okay, I actually came here to apply for a job.”
The bartender noticed two things when the young man spoke to her. First, he was British. And second, he was definitely out of his mind.
“Are you out of your mind?” she asked.
“Well considering you’ve let quite a few blokes leaving your place without paying and that you have to clean this place all by yourself at 3 in the morning, I’d say you have a lot on your plate.”
“No shit Sherlock.”
“My name’s Owen.” he answered jokingly.
For the first time, the bartender lifted her head and after what seemed to be an eternity for the young man, she gave him a smile.
“Jamie.” she said while wiping a glass.
Owen was quite proud with himself. Always has had a way of making people feel at ease. He always knew just how to lighten the atmosphere by telling all sorts of jokes.
“Sorry mate” she said while walking towards the tap. “There’s no job to offer here. I can barely afford the essentials and the rent, there’s no way I’ll be able to pay a cocky Londoner.”
“Oi, I’m not from London!”
They both laughed.
“And besides, I’m not asking you to pay me.”
She was intrigued. She turned off the tap and frowned.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Simple: I’ll work for you for free. I’ll do whatever you want me to: clean the tables, wash the dishes, tap a beer…”
Now she was suspicious.
“What’s the catch?” she asked.
“The catch?”
“A fine young man comes into my cheap ol’ pub, asking me to work for me, forfree, with no further explanation. So, I’m asking you again: what’s the catch?”
He sighed and paused before answering:
“I need this job. Whether you want to pay me or not, I want to work for you.”
The following seconds felt like forever to Owen. Jamie stared at him for so long he thought time had stopped. But who could blame her? Jamie was used to watch out for strangers. But there was something about him that made her feel safe and at ease, and without understanding why, she gave him a mop and asked:
“D’you know how to use it?”
He laughed and nodded.
That was how the longstanding friendship between Owen and Jamie began: a fine young man was offered a job and a bartender was offered some help.
The next morning, Jamie woke up with a hangover. It has been months since she has not drunk that much. She poured herself a glass of tap water while trying to remember the end of her night.
“I swear Owen, if you don’t tell me why the hell do you want this job so bad, I’ll have to call the fucking police” Jamie said, chuckling.
“Alright then” Owen answered, downing one last tequila shot. “I met a girl. She’s just… perfectly splendid. She’s funny, she’s really clever and dreadfully sexy…”
“Oi mate! Gay!” Jamie said, pointing at herself. “Remember?”
“Yea” he chuckled. “Actually, Jamie darling, I wasn’t referring to you, but to a girl who’s been coming to this very pub every week since a month. Surely you’ve noticed her.”
“I never notice anyone. Haven’t even noticed you ol’ perv creeping at the back of the pub.” she joked.
“Her name’s Hannah.” He continued. “She uhm… Well, she basically confused me with a waiter when I first approached her, and I was so shy that I didn’t know what else to do, so I took her order, went to the bar, paid for the G and T she wanted, gave it to her and told her ‘it’s on the house’.”
“Oh yeah I remember you. I thought ‘what a sad drink’.”
“And she was just so pretty and happy to get a free drink from the waiter that I just pretended to be a waiter all night long.”
“Jesus…” Jamie said, lighting up a cigarette. “Funny all the things we’d do for women.”
“Yeah well… They’re worth it.”
“Bullshit.” Jamie scoffed. “We’re all full of shit.”
“Aren’t you just adorable?” joked Owen. “Why are you so pessimist about it?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Alright boss.”
At this moment, Owen knew this was a touchy subject he should never bring back on the table. Although he was genuinely interested in getting to know the bartender a bit better, he also knew the time would come when he eventually would be able to get those answers. And that is why, for the next hour they would spend together drinking and cleaning the rest of the tables, Owen would only talk about Hannah. The sweet and delicate Hannah Grose.
The bartender eventually gathered up enough strength to freshen up a bit and hop in the shower. It really has been ages since she had felt so hangovered in the morning. Or well, maybe it was actually early in the afternoon, she thought.
She usually did not drink at all, whether it was with friends or customers. Maybe it was because she did not have that many friends in the end. And as for customers, well, who wants to get to know the bartender after all?
Once again, Jamie was lost in her mind. She did not yet believe a guy has accepted to work for free in the “Moonflower”. But she has been struggling for months to make ends meet and she knew she had to accept his offer.
Later in the day, she remembered Owen telling her how wealthy he actually was. The young man had admitted to her that he had lost his mother a few months back and that the lady was actually “well loaded”. While he did not get along with her that much, he was her only family and he inherited from everything: an apartment in New York, a vintage car, a manor in England that he claimed to be haunted,…
Hence why Owen insisted on not being paid for this job. Not just because he was awfully clumsy, but because Jamie would actually do him a favour by helping him getting closer to the girl he referred to as “perfect Hannah”.
And to be perfectly honest, Jamie was glad to have someone by her side. Now that she was holding the pub all by herself for the past nine months, the bartender knew she could not keep on living this way. Not since the love of her life had left her. It has been quite a while she has not described her as such. Even after what she has done, Jamie was still very much in love with her.
Or was she?
Just a few hours after she has woken up, the bartender found herself opening the pub. She felt like she was living in the movie “Groundhog Day”. She would experience the same day’s events repeatedly every day: she would wake, she would open the pub, she would close the pub and would go to sleep.
While she entered the key into the lock, Owen’s voice surprised her:
“Thought you might fancy a cup of coffee.”
“Jesus!”
“The name’s still Owen.” he joked.
“Have you turned American during the night?” she asked, gesturing towards the green and white coffee cups.
“I know, I wish I could have found a tea shop, but I was too smashed to try to find something else. And besides, I wanted to make a great impression for my first day at work.”
“Again Owen, you don’t have to work for me. Just come to pub and pretend you’re a waiter, it’s fine by me.”
“Nah, I don’t want to keep pretending with Hannah. I want things to be real.”
Jamie raised her eyes.
“Come inside then, Romeo. We’ve got plenty of work ahead.”
As per usual, people -or rather students- kept on showing up from 7pm. The bartender was relieved to be assisted by Owen during rush hour. Even if he was indeed a bit clumsy, he was an excellent waiter and an even better joker. Jamie was almost jealous of his confidence: without even knowing it, he made every girl in the pub utterly laugh.
And it was good for business, Jamie thought. Owen might have been the guardian angel she desperately needed at that time. Just when she thought she might have to close the pub by the end of the year, she could not refuse some extra-help. New York was such an expensive city to live in and she had no savings left to afford a closure.
As the evening wore on, Jamie was relieving the pressure. For once, she was exhausted but having fun. So much that she did not even acknowledge the gorgeous blonde at all.
“I’ll have two pints of beer, please” the woman asked, very nervously.
It was only then that Jamie lifted her head. As if time had stopped, the bartender froze. She was stunned by the breath-taking woman standing right in front of her. No words could describe the perfection of her features, the magnificent curls of her blond hair, her exquisite perfume, her lovely blue eyes and her stunning vivid smile.
The bartender was unsure if the lady was smiling to be polite or because Jamie has been staring at her for too long. Maybe a bit of both, because her shy smile slowly turned into a funny grin, almost mocking her. She was absolutely adorable though and could have mocked the bartender all night long if she wanted to. The girl was “perfectly splendid”, Jamie thought, quoting Owen.
“Sure, right away.” Jamie said, shaking her head.
The bartender took two glasses and started filling them with an IPA, while trying to compose herself.
“What the fuck Jamie, get a grip!” she muttered to herself.
She then gave the two pints to the blond girl, wondering to whom the second glass would belong.
“Here you go.”
As the girl was searching for some cash in her pockets, Jamie stopped her and said:
“It’s on the house.”
If it has worked for Owen, why wouldn’t she try that with the gorgeous blonde?
“You don’t have to-”
“I know, I insist.”
Right when Jamie looked into her deep blue eyes, hoping to chat a bit more with the gorgeous blonde, a tall man appeared beside her, putting a possessive hand around her waist.
“Alright love?” the guy asked, kissing her forehead.
Jamie felt very uncomfortable watching this scene. Not just because the girl she was fancying was taken, but also because this girl did not seem to be comfortable around her boyfriend. There was something odd about these two, something that Jamie could not yet explain.
“’It’s on the house’ is my pickup line!” Owen said, who apparently overheard the conversation.
“Oh, fuck off mate, it’s not a pickup line, it’s just a stupid way for bartenders to get laid.” she scoffed, while watching the mysterious girl disappearing in the crowd.
“Oh, so you’ve found your Hannah then.”
“Nah mate, she’s taken. AND she’s straight.”
“She didn’t seem that straight to me when she devoured you with her eyes.”
“What? No, she didn’t…”
Now she was unsure about what just happened. Was Owen joking or was the girl really staring at her the same way Jamie was?
After an hour spent thinking about the beautiful blonde and looking for her in the growing crowd, the bartender felt like she needed a break. She knew Owen was perfectly managing on his own and could trust him with the checkout. So, she went outside and lit up a cigarette. It has been nine whole months that she had not allow herself to have a break.
She could not. How could she? With no staff at all, she did not even have time to use the bathroom. Hence why she was savouring this cigarette. It felt like an actual relief, a dose of oxygen that she was lacking for so long.
“Hey.”
A sweet and gentle voice came from behind her. Unforgettable and easily recognizable, Jamie knew whom this voice belonged to: the perfectly splendid blond woman.
“Hi” the bartender said with a huge grin.
“I didn’t get the chance to thank you properly for the drinks.”
“It’s nothing, really.”
“Still, I wanted to thank you because it was a nice gesture.”
“And you’ve waited outside to tell me this?” Jamie teased.
“Well I- uh. I… No! I was with my friends and uh… Well I saw you and I- I- I thought I’d say hi.”
She was so cute when she was stuttering like that. Jamie looked above the girl’s shoulder to spot her friends, but only found her boyfriend’s cold gaze from afar. He was standing among five other people, who were roughly the same age. While every person in the group was talking to each other, Jamie felt like he was defying her with his glance.
“Anyway, I should get going.” she said, already walking away.
“Wait!” Jamie stopped her, grabbing the woman’s hand.
Her skin was soft like velvet and silk and Jamie instantly wanted more. Was craving for more. At that precise moment, Jamie wished to touch her face, her lips, her delicate cheeks and kiss her body everywhere she could.
But she could not. Instead, the bartender simply asked:
“What’s your name?”
“Dani.”
And just like that, the perfect woman now had a name.
As Jamie went back inside, she noticed that her playlist chose the perfect song to conclude this bizarre evening.
Once I had a love and it was divine,
Soon found out I was losing my mind.
It seemed like the real thing, but I was so blind,
Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind.
In between, what I find is pleasing and I'm feeling fine.
Love is so confusing, there's no peace of mind,
If I fear I'm losing you it's just no good,
You teasing like you do.