"Can I see your tattoo?" you ask.\n\n She smiles. It almost looks genuine.\n\n "Sorry. I'm not trying to pry."\n\n She looks at you for a moment. Really looks, like there's something to find.\n\n "You're not in here often."\n\n "No."\n\n "I like that."\n\n "You get a lot of regulars?"\n\n "Yeah."\n\n She wipes a glass, casting an eye about for customers. We seem to be good.\n\n "I wouldn't be in business if I didn't. But you know how it is. Some people think they're here to drink you, not the whiskey."\n\n [[Imagine that]]!

Don't be [[difficult|Start]].

She's busy, of course. Place is hardly a hole in the wall.\n\nYou're not committed to this anyhow; too well-versed in the tribulations of food service too well to nonchalantly complain about a whiskey. Whiskey's whiskey.\n\nBut the barkeep comes over, and - earning her pay - notices your distress.\n\n"Everything alright?"\n\nYou swallow.\n\n[[Yes]]. \n[[No]].

You should be at [[work]] right now.

Fuckers.\n\nYou've been let go before, and heard all the excuses.\n\nThis was supposed to be the big one, though. The one you went to school for; the life raft come to drag you from a sea of freelance bullshit and unlivable wages. \n\nYou did everything right. 4.0s across the board: unpaid internships: "social media skills." All the systemic crap everyone knows is bullshit but buys into anyway. \n\nYou even had a fucking LinkedIn.\n\nThe whiskey disappears in one [[gulp]].

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Stress. Lot on the mind.\n\nNothing left in your glass. Must be time to get sappy.\n\nYou've got your share of regrets but they don't often come up for air.\n\n"Dry?" \n\nYou look up from your moping. The barkeep is smiling at you.\n\n"Yeah. Yeah, I'll get another."\n\n"Coming right up."\n\n"Wait - make it a Jameson."\n\nShe nods, gets to it. \n\nYou pick a nail. The TVs are blaring sports - you couldn't say which one. \n\nIt's [[7:45]].

That's better.\n\n<<if $score>>\nYour heart jumps a bit. \n\n[[What if...]]\n\n<<else>>\n\nYou get up, leaving five bucks on the counter.\n\nOutside it's cold but it feels good. Traffic lights burn red and green and the wind picks up whorls of snow here and there. Everything seems more than real; colors vivid like they're fresh off a paintbrush, smells sharp, sounds clear as a bell. \n\nSomehow, by some fucking miracle, you feel okay.\n\n<<endif>>

<<if $strikeout>>\nYou're really striking out here.\n<<endif>>\n\nThe band lopes along a shuffle, some would-be Siouxsie Sioux cooing into a mic, toeing the tempo like they're wavering on a tightrope.\n\nYou're only half-hearing it, busy soaking yourself in whiskey. You don't like Jack as a rule, and could swear this isn't the mature, small-batch scotch you ordered.\n* [[Complain to the barkeep.]]\n* [[Drink what's left.]]

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hastapura

mer

"Yeah, actually."\nShe's cute. Carries herself well, runs a classy bar. \n\nYou're suddenly wishing you weren't wearing a ratty Slayer top and too much cleavage.\n\nThere's the hint of a [[tattoo]] inching over her collarbone. \n\nIs this [[why]] you came here, though?

Whiskey is whiskey.\n\nOr drunk is drunk, at least.\n\nYou swig the rest and slap the glass onto the bar in triumph. Considering things [[lately]], this counts as some sort of victory.

"Hey," you say.\n"Hi. Need something?" \nThe barkeep swipes a glass clean, turns it over to dry.\nShe doesn't seem like she wants to talk. Nice icebreaker, killer.\n"Another one, please," and you [[shut up|Start]].\n\n<<set $strikeout = true>>\n

Screw it.\n\nYou slide your napkin under the glass.\n\nThe bartender looks up, a rag in one hand. You smile. She smiles back.\n\nHolding her eyes you tap the side of the glass.\n\nAnd then you turn, and leave, and you're still smiling.

"Some people," you decide on. She laughs to herself.\n \n Not too shabby. Maybe you've still got it.\n\n It's been tough, [[lately]].\n\n <<set $score = true>>