@willapotter
The Absinthe Minded was, apparently, supposed to be a secret. Despite that, it hadn’t taken Wells a long time to learn about it. He’d only been in town a few weeks when a customer asked him about it, and from there, it wasn’t long before they told him the password. Evidently Foxcroft wasn’t very good at keeping its secrets. That fit what Wells had learned in other small towns though — people got bored, they got restless, and for some, gossip was a way to pass the time. Wells wasn’t one of those people, but perhaps that was because he never stayed long enough to get caught up in that cycle. When he got too restless, Wells just picked up and left. No matter how agitated a place might make him, he always knew it wasn’t permanent. He’d be back out there soon.
But for someone who idealized solitude so much, Wells found himself in the town’s speakeasy often enough. He preferred to watch the people around him more than anything else, taking in the noise and chaos of the bar without engaging in it himself. It was a facsimile of socializing, in a way — he could be around people, but he didn’t have to interact with them. Every now and then though, Wells found himself stepping forward, usually when someone was clearly in need of help.
He didn’t consider himself to be much of a Good Samaritan, but there were a few things that could easily press his buttons. Drunk people were reckless people, and all too often, they got hurt. Or they got someone else hurt. He’d fallen into the habit of calling cabs or offering rides a few years after Whitney’s death, when some kid in a Nowheresville, Montana had been clearly about to get behind the wheel wasted. Wells had taken his keys and called a cab instead. He’d always wished that someone would have done the same the night that car had slammed into his sister.
It was late already though, and most patrons had already found their way home. It seemed like it was almost time for Wells to do the same, and he gathered his things, looking out over the bar one last time as he did so.