The bar was bustling, mostly filled with college kids starting their weekend. Many were also celebrating the end of finals and the beginning of their summer vacation. Buffy was struggling to keep drink orders straight while avoiding being groped by over-jubilant fraternity guys. She had actually kept her mistakes to a minimum thus far, and no one had gotten too angry over their wandering hands being swatted away. All three bartenders were working and Buffy was there to assist. She had long since figured out that bartender’s assistant was a euphemism for waitress, but she chose to ignore that. After dumping a whole tray filled with burgers, fries, and milkshakes on an unsuspecting gentleman at her high school diner job, she had sworn that she would never waitress again.
After delivering six beers and a shot of Wild Turkey to a group of suspiciously young looking girls in the back of the bar, Buffy leaned against the wall for a short breather. She observed the bartenders at work. Faith, at one end of the bar, was not even watching her hands as she mixed drinks and flirted with the crowd. She had her long, dark hair curled and was wearing her signature ruby red lipstick. Never one to follow the rules, instead of her t-shirt with the bar logo, she was wearing what appeared to be a red bandana around her breasts. She was lucky that she was extremely proficient at her job, otherwise Lindsey McDonald (the bar owner) would be throwing a massive fit. Towards the middle of the bar was Xander Harris. He had floppy brown hair and a crooked smile. He was good at his job, but his slight social awkwardness had turned off more than a few girls. Buffy suspected he had a crush on her, but since he didn’t press the issue, she pretended to be unaware. Finally, at the other end of the bar was Harmony. How Harmony managed to be in a higher position than Buffy, she would never know. She seemed just as clumsy as Buffy and served her fair share of mystery concoctions. Buffy figured Harmony’s job placement had something to do with the fact that she frequently went home with customers and was also known to spend more than a night or two at Lindsey’s apartment above the bar.
Buffy pushed off the wall and headed back to the bar. Time to get cracking.
“Yo, B! Can you hand me that bottle of bourbon? The crowd’s thirsty tonight!” Buffy grabbed the bottle off the wall and set it within arm’s reach of Faith. She didn’t want to get in the way while Faith was flipping bottles in the air and catching them behind her back. Always a showman…showwoman…showperson?
After checking on Xander and Harmony, Buffy was getting ready to hit the floor again when she noticed Angel approaching the bar.
“Is this place always so crazy?” Angel asked, taking in the lively atmosphere.
“Nah, only on the weekends. Do you want me to get you something to drink?”
“Sure. Can I get a beer? Anything’s good.” Buffy grabbed a pint glass and walked over to the taps. Beer she could handle. So what if hers had a little extra foam on top.
“So…,” Buffy started as she sat the beer in front of Angel.
“Hey, B!” Faith cut in. “Could you bring these beers to the two guys in the back by the pool table?”
“Yeah, sure! Sorry, Angel, I’ll be back in a jiffy!”
“No problem. I don’t expect you to stop working on my account.”
“Thanks!” Buffy called as she began weaving her way back through the crowd.
Oz sat back down at the table. “I put our order in. Someone should be here with our beer shortly. I didn’t feel like waiting around getting squashed at the bar.”
“Can’t say that I blame you,” Spike said as he looked around the room. “Why’d you choose this place, mate? It’s crawling with college kids.”
“That’s because Irish pubs are super trendy at the moment. This place has a great beer selection. We’ve been drinking too much crap lately.” Oz took in Spike’s black eyeliner, tight black t-shirt, and black leather pants. “You afraid you’ll run into some of your students?”
“No, I’m sure I’ll run into some of my students.”
“You worried that they’ll lose respect for you if they see your punk alter-ego?”
Spike glowered at Oz. “Noooo, most of them are already well aware of what my appearance is like outside of work. And I’ll have you know, the punk movement was very politically and artistically influential! These kids would benefit by replacing their Justin Timberlake with Ramones or Sex Pistols.”
“Those are valid points,” Oz paused, lips twitching, “And, uh, nice nail polish…Sally”
“Oh, put a bloody sock in it!”
As Buffy headed towards the table, she could see a man with red hair talking and laughing. The crowd blocked her view of his companion. She continued her slow, careful journey to the table, clutching the two full pint glasses.
“Could service possibly be any bloody slower, mate? I’m gonna hit the pisser. Maybe by the time I get back, we’ll actually have something to drink.” Spike started to stand.
Finally! Buffy just had to get around one last group of students that were packed closely to the table waiting for their turn at pool. As she slid around the group, she prided herself on her skill at moving through the crowd. Ha! I didn’t even lose one drop!
A moment after that thought, Buffy found herself wet and on the floor.
“Oh, bugger!”
Buffy looked up to see what she had crashed into.
Oh, crap.