I chuckled when she winked, and my heart groaned because she had felt so fucking good in my arms that I’d immediately felt her loss when she separated from me.
Dancing with Daisy wasn’t the last time I made an ass of myself that evening. A further four women insisted I did the same with them before my boss interjected and dragged me off, scolding me that I wasn’t there to enjoy myself. I was enjoying all the same.
It was funny to see the jealous side of Daisy considering I’d only just met her that evening.
Once she’d made it clear I was off limits and had a job to do, the offers for dances were politely declined and I definitely earned my keep by washing hundreds of short, tall, and pint-sized glasses throughout the evening.
Gradually, the customer’s drinking slowed, and I seized the opportunity to hit the John. I’d been bursting for about an hour, but every time I’d gone there, someone else was inside. Why venues that hold hundreds of people only ever have one or two cubicles and one urinal beats me.
Once I relieved myself, I washed my hands and pulled on the restroom door to leave, but when I heard my name mentioned I stayed where I was. I couldn’t help my nosy side. Leaning my head on the tiled wall with the door ajar I listened in on the conversation Daisy and someone else were having about me.
“Well you were wrong. It fecking is him. I tell you.”
“No… he just looks a lot like him.”
“Are you telling me I don’t recognize a face I’ve been staring at every morning on my calendar? The one I get off to—”
“Jesus, Daisy. Too much information.” When the other woman snapped like that and cut Daisy off I recognized who it was—Maria from the hotel.
“How else am I gonna get you to believe me?”
“Alright, I believe you. So, you should be thanking me. If it wasn’t for me he wouldn’t be here, and you’d never have met him.”
“I am thankful, but I’m not. You wouldn’t believe the way I’ve been acting around him. He probably thinks I’m a slut.”
“You are,” Maria said and giggled.
“Not funny, Maria. Three guys in three years doesn’t make me a slut.”
“No. You’re right. I’m sorry, but why would you let him think you’re easy?”
“He’s a fecking rock star, Maria,” She hissed. “If I acted like Daisy, the boring-as-a-party-political-broadcast barmaid he’d have walked to Belfast by nightfall. It's definitely my lucky day he landed on my doorstep, but I’m more than a wee bit out of my depth,” Daisy admitted. The defeat in her tone tightened my chest.
My heart sunk that any woman would feel they had to pretend they were easy to keep my company. Sure, given the chance I’d be the first to admit I had been the ultimate playboy, but that sweet hardworking girl had opened her door to me in a time of need and she still felt it necessary to play a part to keep my attention.
Little did she know she would have had it anyway. The way she looked at me when she first set eyes on me was a turn on. The way she grabbed and kissed me. That first taste of her… little did she know she had already reeled me in. Then I thought of the normal conversations, brief as they were. She would still have had my attention.
First impressions? I had thought exactly what Daisy portrayed herself to be, but once I knew what the deal was, it was an awful feeling to know she thought I’d only be interested in her if she put out. I’d watched how hard she worked during the evening and there was no doubt in my mind her friendly and sweet persona gave her the respect of her patrons, and she deserved the same from me.
It was nice to meet someone as down-to-earth and normal as her, and I felt humbled by the efforts she’d made with some of the drunks, dealing with them in a confident, and friendly but firm manner. Most of all, I felt dreadful she’d shifted her beliefs because she’d offered me a bed for the night.
The thought of her thinking I would have had any expectations of her made my blood boil. There and then I knew I had to modify my own behavior to give her a way to show me who she really was behind the act she’d put on.
I washed my hands again as I thought of how to make things right with her and once I knew the coast was clear, I made my way back to the bar.
“Did anyone miss me when I was gone?” I asked Daisy, Terry and the two hired help barmen as they stood behind the bar.
“You were gone?” she replied pretending she hadn’t noticed.
“Aww my heart is breaking here that you didn’t miss me.”
“I thought you were up the far end,” she replied gesturing with her head toward the back of the room as she leaned her elbow on the bar.
Leaning toward her I bent my knees to look her in the eyes, “The far end? Is that a euphemism for some Irish sexual activity?”
“It can mean whatever you want it to mean,” she replied, but she blushed as soon as she said it. I smiled and glanced sideward to one of the barmen who raised an eyebrow and winked at me as if to say, 'you’re in, buddy'.
“If it meant being in a quiet corner holding you in my arms as we danced slowly, I’d take it.”
Daisy stopped to look at me with her hand poised on the beer pump she’d been about to pour from. Most of my flirting had been in response to something she’d said, but this time I was the instigator. I wanted her to know she was desirable without having to try.
“I think I’d like that,” she replied in a dreamy voice. Her accent drove me to distraction—it was so sexy and melodic.
“I thought you two were just pen-friends?” The other barman piped up.
“We’re only yanking each other’s chain,” Daisy replied, recovering quickly. “Stop your flirting, Barney, and get some fecking work done.”
I turned to leave the bar counter, the honest intimate moment between us broken, and looked back to see the forlorn look on Daisy’s face, and I knew she regretted she couldn’t react like one of my fans would have. When I turned to get back to work, I hadn’t gotten far because her friend, Lianne from earlier, grabbed me by my arm.
“The band finish at midnight and I’m holding you to the deal we struck about you singing a DistRoyed tune. Daisy wants a song called ‘From Across the Room’. Do you know it?
Of course I knew it. I wrote it. The lyrics were about a guy who saw a girl from across the room. The girl was with a guy he grew up with who had it all, including the girl he’d been in love with since he’d been sixteen. It was a song about something unattainable and full of melancholy for what could have been in another life.
My eyes flitted to Daisy who was oblivious watching us. I looked back to Lianne and shook my head.
“Nah, I don’t know that one, but I know 'The First Taste'. I’ll sing that to Daisy, it’ll be fun to embarrass her,” I replied.
A wide grin spread on Lianne’s face and she looked kind of deranged with delight at the thought I was pulling a stunt on her friend.
“You’re on, this is going to be hysterical,” she replied, excited that I was game for something like that. She turned and walked away muttering something about a speaker amplifier app I had no idea about, so I quickly gathered up a pile of glasses, determined to earn my keep.