Scrubbing at the worn wooden bar, Selene scowled for what must’ve been the twentieth time that night. Only three hours into her shift, the all too familiar stickiness of spilt alcohol once again threatened to overwhelm her. She winced at the ache of her hand, the muscles throbbing with the effort. Dell’s Tavern was her personal variety hell, with the drunken idiots, broken glasses, long shifts, greasy food and especially that bloody trivia. It was blatantly obvious that she was too good for such a woeful minimum wage job.
The other day, the most horrifying incident had occurred. Glancing at herself in the mirror, Selene was aghast to discover a single pimple on her flawless skin. Never having to deal with that nasty side of adolescence, it had thrown Selene into shock. The hideous little job was killing her, slowly and slowly it would consume her until there was nothing left but endlessly pimply skin and a distinct lack of self worth. It all went back to that disgustingly oily kitchen with the greasiest food known to mankind. It was a wonder that the cook at Dell’s Tavern hadn’t bumped anyone off by now. Every day was an internal struggle to not succumb to the urge to set it all alight.
She leant her elbows on the table, resting her head in her hands, and stared blankly at the clock trying to will it to skip ahead to the end of her shift. Lost in a daze of mind numbing boredom and shock at the pathetic turn her life had taken, Selene didn’t notice the crowds of poor, pathetic individuals who had decided to come for the trivia until she caught the eye of her overbearing boss. He glared at her, gesturing wildly over to the groups.
“Oh, right. Last call for drinks until like 7:30,” she hollered over the noise of the customers. The whole concept of trivia seemed pitiful, honestly didn’t they have anything else to do? Selene rolled her eyes and slid over the top of the bar, determined to collect all of the dirty plates and glasses up quickly so she could rest for a few minutes. At the sight of Dave, possibly one of her most hated work buddies, drunkenly announcing the trivia questions; a look of disgust crossed her face. Honestly before every single trivia game, he’d scull back shots in order to regain some form of confidence to ensure that he made the game a whole heap of fun. Selene couldn’t have imagined anything more tragic.
As she clunked the plates and glasses deliberately to get under Dave’s nerves, she moved around the tavern. With a crash and a bang of the cutlery, Selene half listened to his monotonous drone. It was only when he mentioned witches that her ears pricked up. Her eyes scanned the room, curiously taking in every trivia participant’s responses. Though it was a familiar brunette eagerly writing down the answer caught her attention.
Placing the pile of greasy dishes down in the kitchen, Selene made certain to dart back into the room to listen to the next trivia question. ‘Which famous play included the stage directions “Exit, pursued by a bear”?’ A half smile lingered on her lips. Of course, she knew precisely which play that was from. She wasn’t an imbecile. Besides, she had pursued acting once for a millisecond and had actually starred in her high school performance of the play before turning up to the performance off her face. Anyway. The ending of her acting career didn’t matter. Her eyes rested on the brunette, curious to see her response to the question. The woman’s once bright smile had vanished, she didn’t know the answer.
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