Hans has worked with Ava for almost a year now. In that year, he learned a lot about her, not all by choice. She had filled him in on the easiest way to get out of handcuffs, how to break a glass and sweep it up without anyone in the bar noticing, and the best way to mix rum and coke without having anyone say it was too weak. Overall, Hans liked working with her more than anyone else and when he saw they were on the schedule together he'd only think about calling in sick once or twice.
Ava was like the world’s most captivating TV program when it came to her love life. The characters were diverse, the plot had so many twists and turns, and the lore was so deep Hans thought about making a series bible and keeping it in the back room for the benefit of his other coworkers. First, there had been J.C. the flaky but thoughtful, and after him Michael who turned out gay, then a whole string of women Hans couldn’t remember. They all merged in his head under the name Jessica and then J.C. again. Now Ava was onto someone else and Hans was only half listening.
“No Hans, she’s like, the hottest woman on Earth,” Ava insisted as she forgot about wiping down the bar and focused instead on her coworker. Hans looked up from where he was checking the wine glasses for any sign of uncleanliness. Ava's eyes were wide, her smile like a widespread virus, already making Hans smile back.
“So what’s she doing with you?” Hans asked. Instead of Ava’s usual response which included her talking about how great she was, she walked closer, her expression becoming shocked.
“That’s the thing, I don’t know,” Ava said. “She’s a fucking biochemist, Hans! She, like, makes medicine or something. I drank a bottle of NyQuil on a dare and threw up for forty-seven hours.”
Hans laughed as the phone call to cover her shift came back to mind. “I don’t know how your liver survived that.”
“She’d know,” Ava said, crossing her arms. “She’d probably have some long, scientific explanation for it and then I would fall even more for her, and I don’t think that’s even physically possible.”
“Because you’re so short?” Hans teased even if the joke wasn’t that good. Ava slapped his arm.
“Shut the fuck up, like you can talk,” Ava huffed and looked down at the bar she was supposed to be cleaning. “I just, I like her, okay? I haven’t liked anybody like this in a while.”
“Then ask her out,” Hans shrugged. “What’s the worst that could happen?”
“She could laugh at me,” Ava argued. “Or she could be straight and then I’d just be some weird girl who has a crush on her, or she could disappear, and I’d never see her again. That would be like if all the art in the world disappeared.”
Hans snorted. “Overdramatic much?”
“You’d get it if you knew her,” Ava said. “She’s like…all private and shit but in a cute not creepy way.” Ava shook her head. “And she’s got these eyes, right?”
“People do have those.”
“I’m serious Hans, they’re….” Ava thought for a moment before picking a word. “Mesmerizing. You know that one rock, Tiger Eye? Those are her eyes, but soft.” Ava’s thoughts began to tumble over each other. “And she’s soft. I hugged her when she wasn’t looking-”
“How do you do that–”
“Shut up, it’s not important, but she’s soft,” Ava said. Ava was gesturing something Hans couldn’t make out with her hands. “And Jesus I never wanted to let go.”
Hans stopped what pointless task he was doing to fill the time to turn to face Ava. Of all the times Hans had heard her go on and on about her love life, he had never seen her look like this. Terrified came to mind but that wasn’t the right word. Nervous maybe, more on edge about the situation.
“I think you should just go for it,” Hans said. “It’s better to know where you stand, she could surprise you.”
“I want her to surprise me by eating me out,” Ava said half under her breath. It was of course at that moment a customer approached the bar and Hans had to try his hardest to not bust a vein laughing at the suddenness of Ava’s statement. The conversation about Ava’s crush died shortly after the transaction was over and Hans didn’t hear about it again until a few weeks later.
He had just walked into the bar to start his shift and was making his way to the back room. Hans had noticed Ava was already at the bar and waved at her with a polite smile before heading to the back room to put his stuff away. Ava followed, standing at the door and locking Hans into the small, glorified closet that the workers called their break room. She wasn’t saying anything, and Hans felt slightly unsettled.
“What?” he asked, nervously. His shoulders slumped. “Please tell me someone didn’t clog that goddamn men’s bathroom again.”
“No, thank god, but,” Ava said as she walked towards Hans. She tipped her head down like she was about to reveal important news. “Update on Operation Biochemist Dreamboat.”
“Oh god, is she married?” Hans asked. That had happened two loves of her life ago. One more time and it would become a motif.
“We kissed,” Ava said instead.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Shut up, she’s not married,” Ava said. “But we kissed right? And I’m like ‘Yes, great this is perfect’ because she’s good at it, the right amount of tongue, right amount of dominant, and she had her hands on me in the way I fucking love.”
“Are all these details necessary?” Hans said as he wrinkled his nose.
“Probably not but anyway so I’m thinking she’s going to take me home but then she stopped,” Ava paused for a moment to try and build the suspense of the story. Hans looked up at the clock near the door. He still needed to clock in. “And then she just left. It was like she suddenly realized something, and I don’t know what that is.”
“I’m sure she was just nervous or something,” Hans tried to reassure but it didn’t seem to help.
“What if she’s straight?” Ava asked as the two of them entered the bar area. Hans went to the iPad they had upfront they used to clock in with and began to type in his information. Ava was hovering around him still. “I thought she was gay, her friends told me that she was fruity, but what if she’s not?”
“Then she’s not the one,” Hans still didn’t know how to help. Ava had the ability to bounce back quickly after disappointing relationships but now not so much. She was quiet now, looking smaller than she ever had before.
“She hasn’t texted me anything,” Ava said. “I apologized and asked if she was okay, but she never got back to me.
“I’m sure it will work out,” Hans said as he finished clocking in. He turned to smile as confronting as he could at Ava. “Anyone would be lucky to be with you and if she can’t see it that's on her.”
“Yeah sure,” Ava mumbled. She went to get her shit together. “‘Is she married?’ That was one time and he didn’t even tell me until after we fucked.”
Hans laughed. The pressure on his chest was released. He hadn’t wanted to make Ava uncomfortable, and he had felt uncomfortable advising about something he had no information on. He ran with it, shifting the conversion to one that would make the shift easier.
“But it still happened,” Hans said. “Didn’t the wife send you death threats?”
“Like once, but we got that guy's ass in the end,” Ava said as she began to fill up the toothpicks and napkins behind the bar. While the conversation went into a more upbeat territory, Hans could still tell Ava was down. She was forgetting things and making more mistakes than usual. Hans ended up sending her home early since she was so lost in her head. He watched her go feeling as if he had just watched someone kick a puppy and all he could do was offer it a pat on the head.
The next time Hans saw Ava, she was in a slightly better mood and she had a woman next to her. This piqued Hans’s interest and he quickly forgot about doing inventory to watch the two of them. Ava said something and went to the back room, probably picking up something she forgot, and the woman approached the bar.
“Hey are you, the biochemist?” Hans asked the curly hair woman who had appeared with Ava in the bar. The woman looked confused.
“The what?” She asked back.
“The one Ava’s been talking about,” Hans asked. He pointed at the door. “I saw you guys walk in together.”
The woman’s face broke into a smile and Hans thought for a moment that he had been right. She was cute, didn’t look like the biochemist type but who’s Hans to argue? Ava appeared at that moment, skipping/hopping instead of walking.
“Did he hit on you?” Ava asked when she saw the conversation the two were having. Before Hans could defend himself, the woman turned to Ava and chuckled.
“He thinks we’re dating,” she said.
“Ugh, sadly, Camila and I are only friends and will only be just that,” Ava said, shaking her head. “But alas, we are head over heels for women who do not notice us.”
“But she does,” Camila turned to Ava, seeming to forget that Hans was there. She squeezed Ava’s hand and looked consoling. “She talks about you all the time.”
“She hasn’t talked to me in a while,” Ava sighed. Camila nodded.
“I’ll make her,” Camila said. “Because she’s been moping around.”
Ava tipped her head back and whined like a child who didn’t get the toy she wanted. “That sounds so cute.”
“Jesus Ava, you’re fallen hard,” Hans shook his head as he reached for a set of glasses. “How about a drink for the unhappy, not dating, couple?”
“Now you’re speaking my language,” Ava said as she slid into one of the bar stools and Camila sat beside her. Hans gave them their first round on the house before going back to doing inventory. He caught snippets of the conversation about him, names thrown around he couldn’t decipher. He tried to not eavesdrop as he counted the liquor bottles under the counter and the conversation faded into the background.
It was a few weeks later that Hans heard about the woman again. Hans and Ava had both been put on the same shift and were celebrating its end with a smoke outside the bar’s back door. They had been sitting in silence for a few minutes now, listening to the crickets in the grass and enjoying the cold on their faces when Ava spoke up.
“I had sex with her,” Ava said. Hans choked on his cigarette smoke in disbelief. “Her” had taken on a whole new terminology in their language. Tears pricked the edge of his eyes as he turned to Ava for confirmation that he had heard her correctly.
“Didn’t you just kiss her?” Hans asked. Ava nodded furiously.
“Yeah,”
“And then she ghosted you after, right?” Ava smoked even more.
“Yeah,”
“And you’ve been barely talking.”
“Yeah.”
“So how did that-”
“I don’t know!” Ava turned to face Hans, bewilderment on her face. “I was texting her and then gave up for the night. I’m in the middle of watching Hulu and there’s this knock on my door? And it’s her and she’s telling me that she’s sorry and I’m like why did you ghost me and she starts getting into her shit. Next thing I know, she’s got three fingers in me and I’m begging her not to stop.”
Hans grimaced, his face wrinkling. “I didn’t need to hear that last part.”
“But that’s the best part of the story,” Ava complained. She looked off in the distance as the memory came back to her. “It was the best part.”
“So are you guys good now?” Hans asked.
“Maybe?” Ava shrugged. “I mean, she’s not leaving me on read anymore.” Ava waited for a moment before a sly grin passed her face. “And I am not leaving her bed.” Hans laughed before he remembered the phone call he had gotten last night from Ava. She had been sick, she said, unable to get out of bed, she said. He dropped his arm and stared at her in shock as he put the pieces together.
“You did not call in last night for pussy!” Hans said, suddenly offended. Ava didn’t have the decency to be ashamed.
“But it’s really good pussy!”
“You said you were sick!” Hans said.
“She infected me!” Ava put a hand over her heart dramatically and her other one over her forehead. “I have a deadly disease and there is no cure. The only treatment is her fucking the daylights out of me.”
“Oh my God,” Hans shook his head as he went back to smoking. “You’re hopeless.”
Ava grinned sheepishly before going back to looking forward at the city in front of them. The night was dark, the only lights in windows that winked at the two of them. They descended into another peaceful quiet as their cigarette smoke filled the air.
“I think she’s the one,” Ava admitted after five minutes. Hans turned to look at her. She looked deep in thought. “Like we have these super good conversations all the time and she’s so funny.” Ava looked down at her shoes before back forward. “She’s special, I know it.”
“Hey, to your love then,” Hans said as he waved his hand in the air. Ava grinned and leaned back against the railing.
“And to the sex,” Ava added. “The extremely fulfilling sex.”
Hans shook his head. “I’m going to need a few drinks in me before you get into any details.”
Ava laughed loudly, putting her cigarette out in the ashtray and gesturing toward the inside of the bar. Hans shook his head and followed suit, preparing himself for the days ahead.
Mystery Woman became Ava’s longest relationship after they ticked the six-month mark. Ava had begged Hans to cover her shift the day of her anniversary and Hans reluctantly agreed but only if she promised she wouldn't talk about her sex life at all during their next shift together. Hans was admittedly surprised that the relationship had lasted as long as it had since Ava had trouble tying someone down and the mystery girl ditched after the first kiss.
A year after the conversation about sex, Ava skipped into the bar the day before her weekend off. Hans, who had been dreading working with his lackluster, dull, coworker Lydia, had been relieved to see Ava even if it wasn’t her shift.
“Hey, hey! Look who’s here!” Hans grinned when he saw Ava walk into the bar.
“Yeah, I forgot my water bottle,” Ava said as she leaned against the bar counter. “I think it’s below the bar.”
Hans already pulled it out. “You want me to top it off with anything?”
Ava pretended to think about it before saying, “Vodka.”
“How about I fill it with water,” Hans offered as he took off the lid.
“Can you do special drink?” Ava asked.
“I don’t know if we have enough orange juice,” Hans said as he began to look under the counter.
“Please, my girlfriend has never tried it and I have to bring her into the light,” Ava pleaded.
“Well, who am I to deny the will of your allusive girlfriend?” Hans asked as he pulled out a carton of orange juice and began to fill Ava’s water bottle with Sprite and cranberry juice as well.
“I’m not hiding her on purpose,” Ava said. She crossed her arms on the bar as she leaned against it. “I’d show her off to the entire world if she was cool with that and didn’t work so much.”
“Ah, she busy?” Hans asked as he began to mix the ingredients of Ava’s special drink together.
“She’s married to her work,” Ava complained. “It took me two months to convince her to take this weekend off.” Hans handed Ava her refreshed water bottle.
“Where are you two going?”
“The Alps, or closer to the Alps,” Ava grinned. “I’m going to make her stay up late for the nightlife and she’s going to wake me up early to go on hikes.”
Hans smiled. “Sounds fun.”
“Should be,” Ava said as she grabbed her water bottle. “I gotta go, this is supposed to be a quick stop.”
“Yes don’t let me keep you,” Hans said as he went back to what he was doing before. Ava grinned as she waved behind.
“Have fun at workkkk,”
“Yeah yeah.”
Ava came back with the threat of showing Hans every single photo she took only to be distracted by another one of their coworkers. Usually, Hans would passively listen and glance at whatever Ava was showing him but this time he was interested. He hadn’t seen a single glance of Ava’s girlfriend yet and since this one was sticking, Hans was more than willing to get a look. Of course, though, the world had other plans and a sudden rush killed any opportunity for photo sharing. Ava’s shift ended right after the impromptu rush and she disappeared back into the mysterious arms of a woman Hans knew almost nothing about.
“She’s coming today,” Ava said smugly one afternoon a month later. Hans looked over for clarification. Ava had one hand on the bar and her head tipped to the side. “My lady.”
“Your lady?” Hans asked, raising an eyebrow. Ava had talked so much about this “girlfriend” that Hans was beginning to believe she didn’t exist. He loved Ava and would never say he didn’t but even he didn’t know how she could land the hottest woman/biochemist in the world who was also a gym fiend and well-read. That had to be impossible.
“Yup,” Ava popped the P and smiled wider as she leaned on the counter. “She had some convention last week and she got back this afternoon.” Hans let out an ooh as he remembered Ava’s mopping about the past couple of shifts. “So she said she’d come around before my shift closed and hang out with me after.” Ava looked a little prideful, grinning. “Because she missed me.”
“If you keep reminding me of how terribly lonely I am, I will make you clean the bathrooms,” Hans threatened with no real bite behind it. Ava grimaced but it hardly deterred her smile.
“Okay okay,” Ava held her hands in the air as she began to make her way to the back door. “Just let me know when a jaw-droppingly hot woman comes in cause that’ll be her.”
“Take the recycling out while you’re headed back there!” Hans called after Ava and turned away from her shenanigans to finish his work.
“Aye, aye captain,” Ava agreed with a salute of her hand before grabbing the plastic bin and turning away. The bottles and cans clinked together as Hans shook his head.
Ava had “The Lucky Bastard” shift, a rarity in their job. The start of her shift fell just shy of having to deal with opening and ended well before any cleaning for the night could take place. It also ended at the prime time to actually enjoy your night and Hans was extremely jealous of the fact. If Hans hadn’t been promised to see the woman, the myth, the legend, he would have bitched more about his luck. The bar was busy as it always was on Friday nights. Hans kept an eye out for attractive women but for every one he pointed out Ava gave him a skeptical look.
“I said jaw-droppingly hot,” Ava reminded as she poured a draft beer from the tap.
“Could you perhaps share more than one, generic, objective characteristic?” Hans asked. “Or her name?”
Ava laughed. “Oh, come on Hans, you know her name.” Before Hans could set the record straight, that Ava had only called her girlfriend, her lady, or sexy biochemist, Ava bounced away. Hans sighed, not knowing what he did to end up in this situation.
It was around seven when a tan woman wearing a black button-up and khakis pants came up to the bar. Hans noticed her the second she walked in. If he glanced in the direction of the window behind the bar to check his hair, that was his own fucking business. She had a book tucked under her arm and glasses perched on her nose with deep brown eyes behind those. Hans may have begun paying a little more attention, stopping his desire to find how many olives he could skewer on a toothpick to look more professional.
“Hey,” he said, trying to look at least somewhat presentable. “What can I get you?”
The woman smiled. “White wine, if you have it.” Hans nodded and turned around.
“We do indeed,” he said as he took down a wine glass and set it on a napkin. The woman didn’t make much small talk after that and Hans, the bartender he was, continued to talk. “What are you reading there?”
“Oh, it’s All of Us,” the woman shifted so she could hold out the book. The picture of an old farm was on the front of the book. “It’s poetry.”
“Ah, is it good?”
“Yes, I think so at least,” the woman said as Hans finished topping off the wine.
“I’ll have to try it,” he said. “Do you want me to start a tap?”
“That would be lovely,” the woman agreed as she took the wine. She smiled, restrained but well-meaning. “Thank you, Hans.”
Hans didn’t question how this woman knew his name. Maybe part of him was happy to pretend that she had been as into him as he was in her. He set up a tab under the name Beatrice and she went off into a more secluded corner of the bar. Five minutes later, Ava came back from her smoke break.
“Did my girl come in yet?” Ava asked as she came back in from break. Hans had just finished helping another woman shortly after Beatrice sat down whose name had been Eve. Eve felt familiar, Hans was sure that Ava had mentioned the name before and pointed Ava in her direction.
“That her?” Hans asked. Ava and him watched Eve dance with a group of her friends. Ava laughed and patted Hans on the shoulder.
“Good joke Hans,” Ava said, walking past him to help a group pay their tab. Hans didn’t know why the joke was so funny but he wasn’t able to say anything as more customers ended the bar and their work picked up. Hans forgot about the woman in the corner of the bar, paging through a book of poetry and drinking wine, and focused on the people who were ordering drinks.
Things went quickly that next hour. Every time someone approached the door, Ava would turn around like a puppy waiting for its owner to come home. When the customer turned out to be a stranger, Ava would deflate and go back to watch the door like an eagle. When the rush finally died down and they could breathe, Ava slumped against the bar.
“You good?” Hans checked in as he wiped a stain on the counter that had been annoying him for the past fifteen minutes.
“Yeah, I just,” Ava sighed. “Beatrice is never late for anything and now I’m worried something happened to her.” Hans paused for a moment. That name was familiar, but he couldn’t say how. Beatrice, Beatrice.
It slapped him upside the head when he remembered. His face burned from embarrassment.
“Oh fuck,” Hans said suddenly.
Ava paused. “What?”
“Yeah, she came in when you were on break,” Hans said, a little sheepish as his mistake came to light. “I forgot to mention because we got busy.”
“Wait are you sure this is Beatrice and not some rando girl who you think I’d hook up with?” Ava asked, sounding cautious. Hans went over to the register where they had the tabs, gesturing at the one with wine.
“She said her name was Beatrice,” Hans said. “She just didn’t seem like your type. She bought wine, she didn’t talk much, she’s reading weird American poetry.”
“HANS!” Ava said. “That’s her!”
“You never told me her name!” Hans argued as his face started to get even hotter. Ava was already walking around the bar to where Beatrice was sitting. Hans followed from behind the bar, wanting to get a good look at the two of them after hearing about it for so long.
“Beatrice!” Ava exclaimed, voice dripping with joy. Hans saw Beatrice smile and closed her book over her hand to save the spot.
“Hello darling,” Beatrice replied. Ava grinned and quickly went to sit beside her. Her arm went behind Beatrice’s back as she leaned over to kiss her. It was short enough, and Ava pulled away to grin at Beatrice like Hans had never seen her smile before.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were here?” Ava asked. Beatrice brushed a stray piece of hair away from Ava’s face.
“I didn’t want to distract you from work,” Beatrice answered. Her voice was soft enough that Hans almost couldn’t hear it. Ava grinned.
“Fuck work,” she said. Her free hand squeezed Beatrice’s forearm. “I missed you.”
Beatrice pulled her hand out of her book to brush the back of her hand against Ava’s cheek. When the motion ended, Beatrice went to rub Ava’s cheek with the pad of her thumb. Hans couldn’t see Beatrice’s expression, but he could see Ava’s. Her eyes shined and her smile was wide. She looked so alive in a way Hans couldn’t describe.
“I missed you too,” Beatrice said.
“I’ve missed how sexy you look in those glasses,” Ava said, taking the moment. “Did you wear them for me?”
“I need them to see, Ava,” Beatrice said. Ava didn’t seem to care.
“And you brought a book to a bar! You’re such a nerd, Bea,” Ava teased.
“Yes, well I needed something to do while you were working,” Beatrice said. She glanced at the bar and Hans immediately went to look like he hadn’t been watching them the entire time. He looked back after a few seconds to see Ava mesmerized still.
“I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” Beatrice said before pecking Ava on the cheek. “Now go back to work. Don’t let me distract you.”
“Uh, too fucking late,” Ava turned to lock eyes with Hans, and the next part she mostly said to him. “I’m going to be a treat behind there.” Hans exaggerated the shake of his head before going back to running a customer’s credit card.
“When are you not?” He called. Ava laughed and kissed Beatrice’s cheek loudly before bouncing back to the bar with a newfound spark in her eyes. The two of them didn’t say anything to each other at first. Hans felt like it was awkward, after all, he had subtly hit on Ava’s girlfriend, but Ava wasn’t paying attention to him. She was too busy catching glances over her shoulder to look at Beatrice, turning away and smiling down at the glasses that lined the bar. Hans marveled at it for a moment, of having someone you loved so much they had you smiling just by proxy.
“She seems nice,” Hans said after a few minutes of silence. They bumped shoulders. “Though she doesn’t seem like your type.”
“She’s perfect,” Ava said quickly. It wasn’t in an attempt to correct or to state but because of something else. To Hans, it seemed like she was saying it for herself more than trying to prove a thing to anyone around her. “I’m going to marry her, make her Dr. Silva.” Hans turned and smiled at Ava quickly before looking away.
“That’s wonderful, Ava,” Hans said as he printed off the receipt and slid it to a man nearby.
Ava’s shift ended soon and thank God for that. She spent the majority of the rest of her time catcalling her girlfriend from the bar, sneaking over to where Beatrice sat, and overall being less than helpful. Hans didn’t mind too much because every time Ava came back to the bar, she’d look like someone told her she had just won a million dollars. The second Ava took off her apron, she was already bounding over to Beatrice and dragging her the way she came.
“Hans!” she said as she pulled Beatrice over. Beatrice looked hesitant. “Line up the shots!”
Hans laughed before pulling two shot glasses out from under the counter. “And what will you ladies be having tonight?”
“Lemon drops,” Ava said as she slung her arm around Beatrice to bring her closer. “For me and my girl.”
“Ah, good choice,” Hans said as he brought out two shot glasses. Beatrice eyed them nervously before turning back to Ava.
“Ava, I hardly drink at all. Are shots the best idea?” Beatrice asked.
“Nope, no excuses,” Ava said, shaking her head. “You said you’d drink with me when you got back and a promise is a promise.” Hans finished pouring the drinks and Ava quickly picked them up, turning to hand one to Beatrice. “Bottoms up, babe.”
Beatrice seemed skeptical but followed Ava's lead and knocked back the shot. She said something about it not tasting bad and Ava nodded her head eagerly. Hans had turned away by the time Ava was taking off her sweater.
“Ava,”
“What? Are you saying you didn’t miss my tits?” Hans paused and turned to catch Beatrice’s reaction. Her cheeks were red and her mouth was half open with something to say but nothing came out.
“That--that’s not what I–” Beatrice fumbled her words and Hans watched Ava’s smile go wide.
“You haven’t seen them in a while,” Ava continued like she wasn’t hearing what Beatrice was saying. “I thought you’d appreciate the view.”
“It’s not that I don’t,” Beatrice continued stuttering and Ava kept chasing her.
“Because I can totally put the sweater back on,” Ava said as she reached for it. Beatrice’s eyes went wide for a moment.
“No, no you don’t have to,” Beatrice said. “If you don’t want to. Do whatever you want to.”
Ava grinned and leaned over to kiss Beatrice on the cheek. “I’m messing with you.” She hopped off the chair and pulled Beatrice to the dance floor. “Come on! Dance with me!”
Ava pulled poor Beatrice into the thongs of people and Hans lost them after that. He saw them occasionally when Ava came back to the bar for more shots. Beatrice followed Ava without complaint, more than happy to be pulled around by her. It was fifteen minutes before Han's shift ended that the two stayed at the bar for more than the time it took to drink a shot. Pleasantly tipsy, almost drunk Ava and Beatrice hunkered down near the back of it where not many people were. Hans could catch glimpses of their conversation from where he was helping other folks with their tabs.
“And then Brenda-” Beatrice said.
“Wait wait wait, is this Brenda the one who makes cookies and complains about her husband, or Brenda?” Ava asked. Beatrice tipped her head forward.
“Brenda,” she confirmed. Ava slapped the counter of the bar.
“That bitch!”
“She tried to take my research and pass it off as her own,” Beatrice shook her head. “Saying how she noticed the protein's irregular patterns in response to the treatment.”
“Do you want me to fuck her up for you babe?” Ava asked. Beatrice laughed and Hans watched as she leaned forward. Her and Ava’s noses were touching. Hans swore they forgot there were other people in the bar.
“You’re funny,” Beatrice said. Ava grinned wide at the compliment and continued.
“Because I will,” Ava said as she bumped their foreheads together. “Just say the word.”
They were so ridiculously in love it made Hans hate them just a little bit. Their faces said it all. Beatrice’s reserved, shy smile and Ava’s bright shining eyes as she stared at Beatrice like she hung the stars in the sky at night and woke up the sun in the morning. The comfortableness and ease, the sharing of the other’s personal space, it was something out of fiction.
Hans got why Ava talked so much about Beatrice now. If he had someone who loved him the way Beatrice loved Ava and if he loved someone the way Ava loved Beatrice, he’d never shut up either. He’d ramble on about them; he’d let the world know; he’d be smug about it because it was so clear that Ava found her place. Hans smiled and looked away. He was happy for her, she had spent enough time lost.
Ava was sober enough to share a cigarette with Hans after his shift ended. Beatrice and her were going to leave after. Beatrice was somewhere in the bar leaving Ava and Hans alone.
“I was wrong,” Hans said as he leaned against the back door. Ava looked over at him. “About her not being your type. You guys are engineered for each other.”
Ava grinned. “Told you she’s the one.”
“And here I was thinking you were just being useless and gay last year,” Hans shook his head, coughing as he choked on the smoke.
“I accept your apology,” Ava said with a finality that made Hans chuckle.
“You’re still fucking useless,” Hans retorted. “Can hardly make a good Bloody Mary.”
“Ava.” The two turned to where Beatrice was standing in the doorway. She had her jacket. “Are you ready to go, love?”
Ava nodded as she stole Hans' cigarette real quick before handing it back to go to Beatrice’s side. “Bye Hans!”
“Have a good night,” Hans nodded. “It was nice to meet you, Beatrice.”
Beatrice smiled politely. “You too, Hans.”
Ava slipped her arms in between Beatrice’s to hold her like that. They were both still tipsy, their walking was uneven, and they kept bumping their shoulders together over and over again. Hans could hear Ava laughing even as she walked out the door. He smiled, shook his head. Love wasn’t something you could describe but you knew it when you saw it. Hans saw it when Ava squeezed Beatrice’s arm and made her laugh from her stomach. It was beautiful, it was them, it was love and Hans could hardly believe his crackhead of a coworker had found it.