Stories

One Night

I had been travelling for a while when I found myself in a dimly lit bar in a god forsaken town in the countryside. The rain had tainted my mood and the cold had gotten in my bones. Things that would not have changed if I would have stayed in the little hotel room I had gotten for the night. The radiator was broken and the blanket was not much thicker than a glossy page from a fancy magazine.  So I ended up in this bar. At least it was fairly  warm and the beer cheep enough. I had my phone out hoping that random things on the internet might cheer me up a bit. No success, the wifi in this place was shit and on top of that was my battery on it's last legs.  I resorted to my little notebook to write down my thoughts, writing usually helped even more to get my mind of things than random things on the internet anyways. I had written about half a page when I heard the door open. Two guys came in and took a seat on my left at the bar, two stools down. They where talking in hushed voices. The smaller guy of the two kept looking over his shoulder. They definitely gave of a very suspicious vibe. The cold that was still lingering in my toes made me not want to care and I redirected my thoughts back to my notebook. But there was something, I could not concentrate, their whispering voices  where impossible to ignore. It annoyed me.  It seemed like I could do nothing else but listen to what they were saying.
'...but what if you put the flower on top of the thing, wouldn't that work?'  Asked the shorter one.
'No no no, are you mental? That would only make it worse!' Answered the other one while shaking his head.
Their conversation didn't seem to need the urgent whisper and suspicion. I turned back to the lined pages of my notebook and mindlessly started to draw a flower.

As my thoughts started to drift away someone else came in the bar. I looked around and saw a young man walk in, completely soaked by the rain. His hair stuck to his forehead in wet strands, his blue jumper stained dark by the drops. He walked up to the bar with a worried look upon his face.
'What can I get you?' The bartender asked.
'Just a pint...' the guy answered, not even looking up.
I made eye contact with the bartender just as he rolled his eyes, silently communicating that he was  sick of rude people. I gave him a little smile.
The new guest stood between me and the whispering duo. He took of his jumper, probably to get rid of the wetness. As he lifted the jumper over his head his shirt rose with it. For a moment I was looking at his well toned abs. His skin was pale and a dark line of hair ran from just above his navel down behind his belt. I quickly looked away when his hand yanked his shirt back in place. He threw the jumper over a stool and sat on the one next to it, just beside me. Looking at the glass in front of him he sight deeply and balled up his fist.
The scent of his slightly wet body entered my nostrils, it was a very pleasant scent, manly but clean. I inhaled slightly deeper without realising.
Another sigh followed accompanied with a little shake of his head. I suppressed the urge to ask him what was wrong, because something clearly was not going well for him. Usually I don't hesitate at all to talk to people, especially in a bar but he made me feel a bit shy. Was it his scent or that little display of partial nudity? I had no idea. I took a sip from my beer and started turning the pages of my notebook for something to do with my hands. I was thoroughly taken aback from my reaction to this stranger. It was not in my nature to be slightly intimidated by people I didn't know. Maybe "intimidated" is not the right word for it. The time came to collect myself and I decided to put him out of my mind and took up my pen to write further. My sudden movement must have caught his eye because he turned his head towards me. I glanced back and our eyes met for a moment. His eyes where a bright blue, even in this dimly lit bar you could see how blue they where.
A little 'Hey.' escapes my mouth as I turned my eyes back to the beer in front of me.
'Hey.' he replied. A short silence followed, then another deep sigh.
'Are you okay?' I asked a little hesitant.
He blew some air through his lips and turned his head towards me.
'Not really... I did something very stupid...'
I look at him quizzically.
'I locked myself out of my apartment.' he finally admitted looking down at his shoes.
'That's not good.' I replied in lack of anything better to say.
After a few moments of silence he continued 'You see, I was taking out the rubbish and the door fell shut. Normally I always take my key and the door never shuts. The one time I forget the damned key of course shit goes down.'
He seemed frustrated.
'That's how it always goes, isn't it?' I replied. 'Murphy's law.'
He blew a little air though his nose in a smirk 'True...'
'Can't you ring the neighbours to let you in?'
'I tried, then I realiesed my downstairs neighbour in on holiday to the South of France for another two weeks.' He smiled a little with the irony of the situation. 'At least I remembered that I have to go and water his plants.... If I ever get back in.'
I smiled at him. 'No one else who can let you in?'
'No, we are the only two living there, it's a house split in two apartments. He is the only one with another key of the front door.'
I gave him a compassionate look.
'I tried to get in climbing the drain pipe but I just can't reach, I gave up when it started to poor'
The mental image of him climbing a drainpipe made me chuckle.
'What are you laughing at!?' He asked with a smile lingering on his own mouth.
'Well... Let me buy you another beer, it won't stop raining just yet.' I offered.