“Oh, you’d soon get used to the heels I’m sure.” Isa grinned. “Personally, I think you’d make a gorgeous drag queen.” She teased, her grin becoming more of a little smirk instead.
“Somehow I doubt that I’ll get used to them,” Roman said, not sure if what she said was serious or just a tease. “But if you’re willing to provide lessons in heel-walking, sure. I might be able to tackle it.”
Roxanne sensed his tone and demeanour change the moment she asked that question, and was quiet for a second. “I wasn’t gonna judge you…” She absolutely was, and felt terrible about it now, “and I’m not actively trying to piss you off. I just care, that’s all.”
“Care a little bit less, honestly. I’m just a fuckin’ customer.”
“If you stop drinking like a fish then it’ll survive.” She nodded, then eyed the beer he hadn’t downed yet, before looking back at him. “Don’t you have any other hobbies? Ones that are less damaging.” Roxanne asked out of genuine interest.
“No.” All hobbies left with Aliisa on the Departure. All of them left when she was diagnosed with cancer. He had no will to be anything but her caretaker out of guilt and no will to be anything but filled with guilt once she Departed. “And I don’t want to hear judgment for that.”
Roxanne sighed dramatically, resting her hands on the bar. “Drinking as much as you do is gonna cripple your liver before you turn forty. That’s something to talk about, and liver damage ain’t fun.” She was cursing herself for being so easily embarrassed, and that was one of the reasons she bit back with such a blunt observation. “You’re right, I don’t wanna talk about my kinks. They’re completely irrelevant.”
“If my liver hasn’t failed yet, then I’m sure it’ll survive until I’m forty.”
“No, it’s not.” She repeated, her cheeks going a deeper shade of red as she rolled her eyes at his comments. “My kinks have got nothing to do with this situation, regardless of what they are. You’re just deflecting away from what’s important because you don’t wanna talk about it.”
He smirked when he saw her cheeks go redder. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it. What’s there to not talk about? I love drinking, honestly. You’re trying to deflect this right back because you don’t want to talk about it.”
Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink at his question and she shook her head fervently. “What? No.” Still shaking her head, she made herself busy clearing away some glasses that needed to go in the dishwasher. “I see the same people in this place pretty much every day. It’s not exactly nice to watch them fall into a drunken stupor, almost start a fight with the drunk next to them, and then stumble out after nearly faceplanting the floor.”
Roman noticed the shade of pink that her face turned, figuring he could cause her to be a little flustered — if possible — as some revenge. “I think it may be a kink. You like a little control over the situations, I take it? Like to be in charge?”
“Yeah, you could. But you know I’m here most days and yet you still come here.” Roxanne raised her eyebrows. “Look, I don’t wanna drive you away from the bar, and I can’t stop you from doing whatever you wanna do, and drinking whatever you wanna drink.” She finally grabbed him the beer that he’d originally asked for and set it in front of him. “Doesn’t mean I’m gonna shut up about it though.”
Roman took the beer she finally set in front of him, not downing it immediately to make some sort of point. What point? He didn’t know. “And why exactly aren’t you going to shut up? Honestly. This some big kink for you?”
“Because, like I said, I’m a good person. What’s so bad about someone caring about you anyway?” She was about to ask if he would rather she did the opposite of care, but then she knew what his answer would be. “You enjoy remembering nothing about your night? Sounds like a real hoot.”
Roman always hated it when people had a point. There really wasn’t much fun about waking up without knowing what happened the night before, without knowing who exactly he was waking up next to. But he wasn’t going to give anyone the luxury of being right in a situation. “Look, I can easily go to another bar.”
Thinking she needed a drink was the story of her life. Ever since 2014, things had been so different and she needed, too often, a little something to get through the night. Smiling at the man beside her, Alara nodded. “Care to join me for one?”
“I have no issue at all with that,” Roman said, ordering a beer from the bartender. Beer wasn’t his normal choice of drinks — as he preferred anything stronger than that — but he was going to actually ease into it that night.
“I knew it! You loved Lorelai and Rory! Milo Ventimiglia is a treat, isn’t he? I used to have such a hardcore crush on him. Jared Padalecki is pretty easy on the eyes too but now he does that Supernatural crap I can’t get on board with.” Lara squealed, deliberately ignoring his outrageous insults. As if Sex and the City wasn’t the best invention ever shown in TV history. Pfffft.
“Yeah, she better … or else.” Lara said, reaching for the pint of ice cream before snuggling into him once more while opening the lid and digging in her spoon. She was sure the stress of the movie would have her finish this in no time.
Listening to Lara squeal, Roman was stuck between admiring how cute she was and being annoyed at her being like this. There was honestly no way to go about winning this.
Roman pulled her in closer, watching the slow movie. Suspenseful music. A missing baby. Seemed easy enough for her so far, in his mind. “Feel free to cling onto me when it gets too bad.”
“Rough week, huh?” Yaël commented as she looked at Roman, eyebrow raised. “No matter how much I’d love to, I can’t. Tomorrow is my free day, so where would be the fun in that? But don’t worry, I can still drink you under the table even without trying or actually having to get drunk.” she added before taking a sip from her glass of whiskey as if to make her point.
“Rough week, definitely,” Roman said, trying to ignore how the brunette said she wasn’t going to get shit-faced with him. He didn’t doubt that she could drink him under the table but always tried to keep up with her.
“I’ll have you know, I can serve water here, still or sparkling, and it’s not free. Well… it’s free if you ask for tap water, but that’s completely besides the point.” She waved her hand carelessly and shook her head. “Point is, I’m just trying to be a good person and make sure you can actually stand upright when you leave here tonight.”
“And what does it matter to you if I do that or not?” Roman scoffed, shaking his head. “I enjoy stumbling out of the bar. It means I did my job.”
“Well, that’s a ridiculous idea if I ever heard one.” She knew that he never appreciated her quips or her not-very-smart smartass wit, but she was always ready with something. “What did regular water ever do to you?”
"Regular water kept me sober, an absolute waste of my time. Look, what kind of business do you want to have? A water business? Or a bartending business?”
Kaz turned to the man he had just run into a bit perturbed by his remark but shaking it off as if it were nothing “Sorry I just have a lot on my mind today”. Kaz looked up at the man “I’m Dr. Nowa- you can call me Kaz”.
“Roman. You can call me Roman,” he said, not acknowledging the other man’s name.