The boy behind the bar

         I am drinking alone at the far end of the bar. It's the night before my birthday. I am comfortable here. The bartenders and owner are all my friends so I am never REALLY alone. There is a new worker behind the bar tonight. I watch him as he comes in and out from the back room. He is tall, skinny beautiful chocolate colored skin, dark hair with braids that goes almost to his shoulders and nice dark brown eyes. I smile every time he looks my way and he gives me a little smile back. I can't quite work up the nerve to say anything to him yet, which is very unlike me. But he hasn't said anything to me yet either. I have seen him in here before but never working, always with friends drinking.
         My friend strolls in with her boyfriend. I've been waiting for them to show up. She is a tiny girl with that red orange hair, very pale skin and glasses. Her boyfriend much taller then she is brown hair older then us and pretty much is a dork in my opinion. But I am always nice. They sit down next to me and order up some drinks from our friend who is tending the bar. The new guy comes out and puts some glasses away under the counter. We make eye contact and smile at each other again but still neither of us say anything. Kara catches this out of the corner of her eye. She leans over and whispers to me, “ he has a girlfriend, he's not happy with her though.”  I pretend I don't know why she is telling me this, but she knows me well enough to know I'm full of shit. 
         We are a couple of drinks in at this point when I notice someone walking through the door. It's a friend of mine, Kyle. He is tall, has an amazing smile and always wears a hat. I think he has black hair under it but I'm not even sure. I get up wander over to the door and greet him with a hug. It's been awhile since we have seen each other last. He comes over and orders a beer to drink with us. He greets the bartender and then also greets the new guy. Apparently they know each other. I catch his name, Raul, when he does this . But still I don't say anything to him. He smiles at me again before he walks away.
         I am now working on getting drunk so I decide its time for me to leave. I hug Kara goodbye and she says she will see me tomorrow night for birthday drinks. I say goodbye to her boyfriend Tom. And before I can say goodbye to Kyle he asks if I want to go back to his house and smoke some pot for my birthday.  It's right on the way to my house anyway so I accept. I say goodbye to my friend behind the bar and he makes sure I will be there the next night to celebrate. I smile one last time at Raul and we head out of the bar.
         I give him a ride up the road to where his car is parked drop him off and tell him I will meet him at his house.
         I get there before he does so I smoke my last cigarette while I wait.
         He arrives a few minutes later just as I'm putting my cigarette out. We go inside. Put a movie on talk and catch up while we smoke a whole lot of pot. Midnight comes and we smoke one last celebratory bowl and I tell him I have to go.
         I head home, it's snowing out now. My birthday present I think to myself. I sit in my driveway and smoke one more bowl alone before I head inside.
         I wake up to my daughter climbing on top of me. She can't wait any longer to wish me happy birthday. I peel myself out of bed. And head upstairs for coffee. My mom and daughter are waiting patiently till I get settled to give me my birthday presents. I open them while I drink my coffee. Hug my daughter and kiss my mom on the check and tell them thank you.
         I hope in the shower. My brother and his family will be over in a few hours for cake. We always celebrate birthdays together in our family.
         Its now around 1 in the afternoon. My brother, his wife, and his two sons arrive. I open my present from them and then we have cake. We all visit for awhile. They are killing time waiting to go to the movies. Everyone heads out accept my daughter and I. We are spending some quality time together before she gets picked up to go to her fathers house for the rest of the weekend. We watch a movie and cuddle on the couch. I feel one of my migraines coming on so I take a short nap while we lay there.
         I hear my phone in the other room go off. I wake myself up and go check to see who it is. My friend Kayla. She is trying to find out what time to be at my house this evening. She is my date for my birthday. I tell her around 5, knowing it will be closer to 6 when she actually shows up.
         The doorbell rings. It's my daughters other grandparents picking her up. I hug her goodbye tell her to behave and she is off.
         I walk back upstairs and turn my music on. It is time for me to start getting ready. I dance around my house slowly doing my short black hair. I notice that it is now after 5. about a half hour later I hear my friend pull in. She comes in hugs me and we help each other decide what to wear out. I choose a black dress with a purple lace half shirt to go over the tiny straps.  She puts on a pair of skinny jeans and a nice black sweater. She is the opposite of me pale skin, heavier set, about the same height , long blonde hair and big boobs. We do our make up and I tell her about the new guy working at the bar.
         Its about 7:15 on  Saturday night when we finally head out into the cold. She drives. We arrive at the bar and notice that everyone that is already there are wearing Christmas sweaters. Apparently it was an ugly Christmas sweater party and we didn't know about it. Doesn't bother me. We claim two stools at the bar next to one of my friends, Chris, that is already there having a beer. My buddy is bar tending. He greets us, tells me happy birthday day and then gets us our beers. I choose a chocolate something beer, its amazing. She gets a yuengling. We chat and drink and I notice the new guy is working again tonight. He is down at the other end of the bar doing something but he shoots me a real big smile. I return a big smile to him too. Kayla see's this and starts telling me how he is totally my type. She is amazed that I have not talked to him yet.
         We decide that after our beers we are going to go to the store. Cigarettes are needed and she wants to look at the store for a Santa hat because she feels out of place. Before we leave I make sure to claim the two stools we are sitting on. I leave my sweater draped over the back of mine and I grab my friends friends coat and hook it over the back of Kayla’s. I tell Chris to guard them with his life and we will be right back.
         We get outside light a cigarette and walk up to where her van is parked. She decides not to go all the way to Wal-mart because that will take us almost an hour to get out there walk around the store and then back. So instead we go just up the road to Rite Aide and look around. There is nothing she likes . So we leave. Stop at the gas station on the way back and grab some cigarettes. While she is in the store I pack a bowl to smoke on the way. We drive the thirty seconds down the road while we smoke, re-park the car. Smoke another bowl. And then head back down to the bar.
         We walk in and I notice two girls are standing in my spot. They have not taken the chairs but they are trying to take my space. So I walk over nicely ask them to move because they are in my way and the one closest to me gives me a nasty look and continues to stand there and talk to her friend. Now its on, I pull my stool out and bump her with it and say you need to move I am sitting here. Just when she is about to say something back to me James the bar owner comes out from the back room and notices me standing there. He comes up wishes me a happy birthday and hugs me over the bar. This makes the girl move real fast.
         Kayla looks at me and just starts laughing. And then tells me its time to do birthday shots. I half listen to her because I notice the cute new guy walking towards our end of the bar. Again we smile at each other but still don't say anything. She orders two shots of tequila for herself and tells James to make me something for my birthday. He won't tell me what it is but I don't care anyways. Kayla, James and I cheers and then take my first birthday shot. James tells us the shots are on him and then he wanders into the back room. Kayla and I are about to do our second shot when I feel  a tap on my shoulder. It is Kara and her boyfriend. We chat for a second while they are waiting to order drinks. And when I finally wave James down for them we take our second shot.
         It is getting very crowded in the bar now. Its one of the busiest Saturday nights I’ve seen there since summer ended.
         James comes down and whispers to me the Raul wants to buy my next drink. I smile. Lean over and tell Kayla. I finish up the beer that I am drinking just as Kara's boyfriend orders us a round of shots. We all cheers and down they go. I wave James down again and ask him if Raul is the new guy guy. Trying to pretend like I didn't know. He tells me yes and I ask him if that means he thinks I am cute. He smiles at me and just walks away to the back room again. But this time I can see him in there talking with Raul and he is staring right at me, I know they are talking about me. I wave James down, ask him if he was just talking about me, he laughs tells me it was all good stuff. So I order my next drink. Vodka please I tell him. He brings me my drink just as Raul is coming out of the back room. I smile from across the bar and mouth thank you to him. He smiles. Kara gives me a little nudge under the bar and we both start laughing.
         Raul comes all the way down to my end of the bar this time. Smiles at me and says hi. I can barely get hi out. I am nervous, so not like me. I grab Kara and make her go to the bathroom with me. Kayla stays to guard the stuff, so she says. We weave through the people to get to the bathroom at the other end of the bar. I tell her Raul bought my drink and that I am pretty sure he is making eyes at me. She laughs and tells me he would be stupid not to be. We head back out into the crowd. Make our way back to our seats. Kayla leans over and whispers to me, so I asked him if he is making eyes at you.... He says he is. I smile because that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.
         I wave James over again and ask for a pen. I grab a napkin, write down my number and call James back over. I hand him the pen and then he asks for the napkin and says, for Raul? I laugh like a little school girl and say yes.
         More of my friends have arrived at this point. It is turning into a very good time. I still have not gotten up the nerve to have a conversation with Raul yet though.
         Kara asks me to go to the bathroom with her, so we wander through the crowd again. She is reminding me that Raul has a girlfriend. I ignore her because I don’t care. We come out of the door and there are people everywhere its hard to get through them all. In the middle of the crowd I pass Raul, he stops and so do I. He smiles at me and wishes me a happy birthday. I smile back and tell him thank you. Then Kara shoves me from behind and away into the crowd we go. I get back to my spot and check my phone, I have a new message, open it up and its Raul saying hello. I text him back, nothing special, just say hello.
         I nudge Kayla and ask if she wants to go out and smoke a cigarette. We put on our coats and head outside. I smile a huge smile and she instantly knows something is up with me. I casually tell her that Raul messaged me and she starts laughing. She asks me if I am going to do anything or just keep smiling at him. I haven't decided yet so I just shoot her a sly smile. We smoke our cigarette as fast as possible because it is freezing out and head back inside.
         I head back over to my stool take my coat off and just before I sit down Raul is giving me a come here gesture with his head. I slip away from the bar and my friends, make my way to the back of the bar where the entrance to the back room is and there is Raul waiting for me. It is very loud in the bar so we are very close trying to hear what the other one is saying. I have no idea most of what it is though but I do make out when he says he has a girlfriend. Damn I think to myself. But he's still looking at me with his beautiful dark eyes and I have had quite a lot to drink at this point. So without hesitation I lean up and kiss him. He doesn't push me away as I expected, instead he pulls me in and slips his arm in the small of my back keeping me tight to him. It's a great kiss. We pull away from each other and I notice the other bartender is watching us. Not in a creepy way, just amazed at what he is seeing. I lean up kiss him one more time real fast and walk back to my friends.
         All eyes are on me when I get back to my stool. They know where I have been, they noticed Raul was missing also. It was not sneaky at all. It was very obvious. But I wasn't trying to be slick, I didn't care. I laugh and tell them exactly what happened. I order another drink and go on with my partying. I meet Raul one more time in the entrance to the back room and kiss him we talk for a second but again it is to loud for me to really hear what he is saying to me. I do know that I really like the way he kisses me. It feels great.
         Its getting late now and its time to head home from the bar. All my other friends are gone except Kara. We call our friend for a ride, knowing he is still up at this early hour. Chris comes and saves us. Drives my drunk ass home and with one last birthday wish from Chris and Kara I bounce out of the car and head inside.
         My birthday celebration is over, it was a night to remember.