It’s time for me to tell you a story. A story I didn’t really want to tell but I’m going to tell anyway. My friends and I frequently go to this pub, a divey little place nearby our work, to have dinner and a drink. So this one time I went with my group, and while we were sitting at the table, I got sent a drink.
I’m eighteen. Not old enough to (legally) drink. To be fair, I don’t look eighteen, especially when I come from work, but anyway. I got sent this drink from this guy who was sitting at a bar. It was pretty obvious that he was about thirty or so, and when I looked up at him he waved. I felt slightly disconcerted, but reasoned that he probably didn’t realize that I was so young. So I made the mistake of going to the bar.
“Hi there,” I said. “I appreciate the compliment, but I’m actually only eighteen.”
And that was when he grinned and said “Wow I really did luck out”
“I’m sorry, I’m really not interested.”
He gave me that look– you know the one, the one where there’s the flash of anger that suddenly disappears behind a predatory smile. “It’s rude to not accept a gift.”
Unsettled, I went and sat back down. He continued to stare at me for the rest of the evening but thankfully because I was with my friends I figured he wouldn’t bother me.
I went to the bathroom (it’s just a single room, not a group of stalls), and I hear someone knock on the door. I say, “Just a minute.” and then the doorknob jiggles. “Hang on a second,” I say. I finish my business, open the door, and then I get shoved back into the bathroom by the guy from the bar. I didn’t wait, I didn’t hold on, I didn’t pause– I just let loose a full-pelt scream. Almost immediately, the bartender, a young woman about twenty-five, throws open the door and just fucking bodychecks the bar guy, grabs my hand, and hauls me out of the bathroom.
He didn’t get the chance to lay a hand on me, but it’s pretty obvious what he was looking to do. And if it hadn’t been for the fact that the bartender had been keeping an eye on him from the moment he sent me a drink that night, seen him go to the bathroom after I did, and been on high alert– well I’m not sure what would’ve happened. I’d rather not think about it.
Girls protecting girls is the most important thing