Chapter Text
"Johnny! Where is that case of triple sec that you said came in?...Johnny!"
A sigh escaped the man's lips who opened the swinging door into the kitchen from the bar, "It's in the back storage closet, Alexa. Where it always is."
"Don't gotta drop the sassafras on me, Johnny-poo." She replied as she strutted past him, patting his shoulder. Her auburn hair whisked over her mostly bare shoulders, shown off by her low cut Ruby's Bar and Lounge tank top.
"Someone's dropping the sassafras?" A small brunette chirped as she practically bounced through the swinging door into the kitchen. Her crossbody purse still strung across her chest.
"Oh, Johnny as always," Alexa chuckled, "Where've you been, Rylee?"
Rylee pulled off her purse and set it in a cabinet behind them, "God, some guy was trying to sell shit in the subway and wouldn't leave me alone. Then asked if I'd give him a blowjob behind the security office for $20."
"So, is that why you're late? $20?" Alexa tried to ask seriously, but ended up laughing.
"Yes, Alexa. I'm late because I gave a random stranger, trying to sell puka shell necklaces on the 8th street terminal, a blowie for 20 bucks." Rylee replied with so much sarcasm it almost hurt.
"Should've just said so," Alexa shrugged nonchalantly.
Rylee turned around and flicked Alexa's bare arm, pulling a surprised yip from the red head.
"Can you help me with the back of this? I can't get it to cooperate." Alexa asked Rylee, gesturing towards her shorts.
Rylee was donning the same apparel as Alexa, but it was interesting how unique their outfits were compared to one another.
Alexa made sure to wear a push-up bra underneath her, what she liked to call "customized" tank top. She had cut some slits into the neckline to give her cleavage even more of a boost than it already had.
She always made sure to hem up her shorts enough so that the pockets stuck out the bottom and her ass was just covered, rolling them up a bit. Her legs seemed to go for miles, leading down to the 6 inch heels she wore every night behind the bar.
Alexa always said, if you got it, you sure as hell better flaunt it. And she made sure to live by that.
Rylee, who just walked in, wore her style completely different, much more comfortable. She wore the uniform tank top, and even the push up "money maker bras" as she liked to call them. But her shorts weren't quite as short, and you could always catch her wearing a pair of converse.
Without question, Rylee dropped down into a squat, just a few inches from Alexa's butt, helping her roll the hem up the tiniest bit more, her ass cheeks so close to out tonight she might as well just be wearing underwear.
When Rylee got them to where she wanted them, she stood back up and slapped Alexa's ass, "Lookin' good, bitch."
"Well, thank you very much."
"That guy from O'Henry's is coming in tonight...isn't he?" Rylee asked coyly.
Alexa shrugged over her shoulder with a smirk, pushing her hair out of the way, "Maybe."
"More power to you girl," Rylee replied simply as she looked Alexa over one more time to make sure her best friend was flawless.
"Come on, let's get this shit started!" Alexa said as she got some pep in her step, threw on a smile, and headed for the swinging door that led to the bar, pulling Rylee along behind her.
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Ruby's Bar and Lounge was one of the hotspots along Brighton Beach, especially now in the New York summertime heat.
It boasted a dance floor, full length bar, and pool tables for days. The perfect place to come relax on a weekday evening for dinner, or to turn up on a Friday and Saturday night.
And on this current Saturday night, it was just as rowdy and crowded as ever. College students back for the summer. Tourists. Regulars. Bachelorette parties. Everyone seemed to be at Ruby's tonight.
"Ryles! Pass me the Captain, would ya?" Alexa yelled down the bar, as she started pouring some drinks.
Without another thought, Rylee grabbed the bottle blindly and slid it down the bar for Alexa to catch smoothly. She twisted off the cap and poured out the rum into the glasses evenly.
They worked their way through the evening, watching the crowd lose it's sobriety one drink at a time until eventually, Alexa stood up on the bar and rang a bell on the wall. "Ay! It's 3:00 AM y'all! Last call before you've gotta get your shit and get out!"
There was a mix of groans and hollers from the rather large crowd that was still around, even with the late hour.
Alexa closed out all her customers tabs, and grabbed her tip jar from behind the bar, seemingly filled to the brim with cash.
Alexa would consider herself a feminist, but if wearing cut off shorts and low cut shirts two nights a week paid the rent, then so be it.
As the patrons started stumbling out into the street, Alexa took her jar to the kitchen and pushed herself up onto the counter, sitting on one of her legs as she dumped it out in front of her.
She started stacking all the different bills together before she counted it all. $462. Not bad for a Saturday night.
Rylee came through the swinging door just as Alexa was finishing stacking all her money together, "Nice stack."
"4 and some."
"Get away from me," Rylee joked, dumping out her jar on the same table now. Rylee started counting it as Alexa asked, "Did you see that guy in the Ed Hardy t-shirt? He was like a hundred of this. Swear to god." Alexa waved the stack of cash she had clipped together tightly.
Rylee laughed and looked up, "The dude with the soul patch?
"The very same," Alexa laughed.
"Oh god, patches are the worst." Rylee chuckled. "At least you got some change out of it."
Just then Rylee finished counting and started stacking her share, "367."
"Girl if you'd just let that smokin hot ass hang just a little...I bet you'd tack on another hundred."
Rylee laughed, "I don't like a breeze in my business like some people."
Alexa laughed throwing her head back, "Hey, sometimes you've gotta suffer for the art."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night girl," Rylee chuckled as she clipped her money together and hopped off the counter to grab her purse.
By the time Rylee, Alexa, and the other bar tenders cleaned up and counted out their tills, it was around 4:00 AM when they hit the street and locked the doors.
Alexa and Rylee walked together, saying their goodbyes to the others as they headed for the subway platform. The cool, night air nipped at their ankles as the breeze from the beach's waves blew up into the city streets.
As soon as they took the steps down into the subway, the air changed, feeling damp, but a bit warmer with the ground above them trapping the rising heat from the train cars and bustling crowds throughout the day.
Alexa and Rylee both hopped on the train at the Brighton beach terminal and sat down in the relatively empty car.
"Are you still working next Friday?" Rylee asked Alexa in passing.
"Yeah I think so, I know I was going to take off since my cousin's wedding is the next day, but I could use the money." Alexa shrugged, leaning her head against the cool steel of the subway car.
"Well, good. Cause who the hell else am I going to talk to for like eight straight hours." Rylee joked.
"It's almost like you'd have to make more friends or something...so crazy." Alexa retorted with a laugh, receiving a slap to her arm from Rylee in the mean time.
"Girl we've been here for like five years. If I haven't met anyone new now, I'm doomed." Rylee replied, looking over towards Alexa. She was joking, but Alexa could see the hint of sadness in her eyes.
They've been best friends since they were six. Alexa knew everything about Rylee, and Rylee the same about Alexa.
So Alexa knew she had to joke to brush it off, or it would turn into a night of drinking and she had to be up at 10 tomorrow. She can't handle a binger tonight.
"Well, then lucky for you, I am indeed working Friday." Alexa said as she patted Rylee's leg, sticking out her tongue at her.
The train slowed to an abrupt stop and Rylee stood up, "Alright, text me when you get home. Love you!"
"Love you too, Ryles! See yah!" Alexa replied as she watched Rylee step through the open doors and onto the train platform where she strutted away towards the stairs leading for the street.
Just as Rylee disappeared out of view, the doors of the car shut again and the train continued on. Alexa slumped back into her seat and put in her head phones to turn on her Spotify.
For the next block or so, she listened to Sunflower by Post Malone before she got off at her stop. Alexa walked out onto the relatively quiet train platform and headed for the steep stairs that led to 9th street.
The streetlights shined brightly above as she continued the short trek down the next block to her apartment. The air was a bit warmer now that she was further into the city. The breeze unable to weave its way through the buildings to reach her apartment.
In one fluid motion, she pulled out her key and unlocked the front door before she clicked down the long hallway toward the elevators in her heels. She only lived on the second floor but she wasn't feeling taking the stairs today, so she decided to wait for a ride up.
As the doors opened, she was surprised to see a man, who towered over her 5' 7" frame, with short blond hair, blue eyes you could swim in, and a smile that could stop anyone in their tracks.
Did she mention he was happily married to a man named Tom?
"Hey Derek, how're you?" Alexa asked as she stepped in and he stepped out.
"Hey! I'm good. How've you been?"
"Oh, same old, same old."
"I hear yah, well, have a good night...morning whatever this is." Derek said as he waved his hand around.
"What're you doing up anyway?" Rylee asked, putting her hand in the doorway so it didn't shut yet.
"I'm on call this week," Derek replied nonchalantly. Oh yeah, did Alexa mention he's a surgeon too?
"Ah, well, good luck with that! Alexa said as she moved her hand and started to let the door close.
"Thanks, see yah Alexa." Derek said before he headed for the lobby.
And just like that, Alexa was alone again. Not that she hated it, but the thought definitely stuck with her sometimes.
It had only taken a moment for the elevator to go up a floor, and soon, Alexa was in her small, one bedroom apartment. She tossed her purse and keys onto the small table beside the front door and toed off her heels on the fake tile. She picked them up and walked onto the hardwood floor of the living room, squeaking quietly under her feet and towards the bedroom in the back corner of the space.
As soon as she walked through the doorway she turned around and plopped back onto the bed, legs still dangling off the side. She held her phone above her face and swiped up across the small spider webbed crack in the corner of the screen.
The glittery gold case did nothing to protect the fragile glass on the front, but she didn't mind it. The small cracks weren't really in the way of doing anything important. So she ignored them.
As she swiped across her phone, she thought about the short conversation that her and Rylee had on the way home about making friends and meeting people. She had joked that Rylee needed to make more friends, but outside of Rylee and a couple of girls at work, Alexa didn't talk to many people either, and god forbid she try to focus on her dating life.
The occasional one night stand sufficed but Alexa was starting to get tired of the repetition of it all.
Swipe through tinder. Meet up with a guy. Fuck. Get ghosted. It always seemed to end the same.
It was a strange change of pace when her and Rylee had moved to New York together five years ago. She hasn't dated seriously since then. Rylee had gotten out of a really bad relationship, and Alexa and her boyfriend at the time had just broken up a few weeks before the move.
Before they left Pittsburgh, Alexa wanted to focus more on maintaining serious relationships over one night stands, but it seemed that the New York life didn't seem to equate to that lifestyle.
So, Alexa scrolled a few pages over on her home screen and opened her Tinder app and started swiping.