Deleted scene from The Brewer and the Bartender

Today was one of those random slow days where we’d barely had any customers for no discernible reason. Jesse had taken off hours ago to spend some time in his home studio, and Frank had the kitchen guys prepping ingredients for the party when they weren’t working on the few orders that trickled in. Wes and I had cleaned and organized every utensil, glass, and bottle behind the bar, and the wait staff had restocked the condiments on the tables and wrapped enough silverware to get us through Halloween.

Now we were all just hanging out at the bar chatting.

“Alright, guys.” Bernie spun back and forth in her barstool. “Strangest place you’ve ever had sex. Go!”

Juliette grinned. “Airplane bathroom.”

“Check,” I nodded.

“Ladies room at Busch Stadium,” Bernie said.

“Men’s room, but check.”

Wes laughed. “Ooh, I like this game. Let’s see if your strangest place is something Leo has never tried before.”

I tossed a bar towel at him. “Don’t make me regret telling you guys how I got fired from Nova.”

“Just trying to help you lighten up a bit.” Wes threw the towel back at me. “You’ve been down in the dumps lately. And let’s face it, you’re definitely the most adventurous out of anyone here.”

“Hey, I can’t help it if you people are so boring that the most adventurous you’ve ever gotten is venturing outside the bedroom into the bathroom.”

“Alright,” Wes laughed. “What about you?”

“Nope. That’s not how the game goes. You all go first and I try to match it, remember?”

“Alright.” Wes rolled his eyes toward the ceiling and shook his head. “Asha is gonna kill me for telling you guys this, but it was behind the waterfall in one of the pools at that resort we went to last summer in Jamaica. There was a whole crowd of people drinking at the bar on the other side so we had to be quiet. It was amazing.”

Bernie grimaced. “You know, you didn’t have to tell us the person, just the location.”

“Asha and I have been together since high school. Who else would I have gone to Jamaica with?”

“You could’ve just said ‘waterfall.’ See how Juliette and I didn’t give specifics, only general locations? That’s how you play this game.”

Wes laughed. “You can’t ask people to tell you about their sex lives and then claim TMI when they answer you.”

“I know, I know! I just… Asha and I work out together, and now every time I see her I’ll be picturing her…”

“With her ankles around Wes’s shoulders?” I supplied.

“Ugh.” Bernie groaned as everyone laughed. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“I’m not,” Juliette giggled. “I can’t wait to see if Leo can top that one. Ever done it behind a waterfall?”

“Not exactly. But I have done it underwater in a public area before.”

“Seriously? Details!” Bernie demanded.

“Nope. Not how the game is played, remember?” I grinned widely at her.

“Ugh, I hate you.” She wrinkled her nose at me.

Frank walked out of the kitchen, his bag slung over his shoulder. “Now, what’d the kid do this time?” 

“We’re talking about the strangest places we’ve ever had sex, and he’s being stingy on the juicy details,” she told him.

“You mean, you guys are being nosy and hassling the new kid?”

“Thank you, Frank.” I gestured at him. “See? He gets it.”

“Oh, I’ve gotten it way more than you have, kid.”

Juliette belly-laughed so hard she almost fell off her barstool. “Oh my god, Frank! I think you should win just for that comment!”

“No, come on!” Wes protested. “I told you guys about me and Asha. Frank can’t win unless he takes a turn.”

“Alright,” Frank said. “Her parents’ bedroom at Thanksgiving dinner.”

Bernie whistled. “Damn, Frank. You and Nadine are way kinkier than I thought.”

“Didn’t say it was Nadine,” Frank grinned. “Didn’t say it wasn’t, either.”

“Wow. So does this mean Frank wins?” Wes asked, turning to me. “Because, no offense, but there is no way you have ever met the parents. Am I right?”

It was on the tip of my tongue to protest, to tell them about Cole, but in light of what had just happened with Derek I really didn’t feel like talking about the other big breakup in my life. Plus they wouldn’t believe me anyway. “You got me. Frank wins.”

Juliette giggled. “I never thought Frank would be the wildest one here. I’m disappointed, Leo.”

Frank laughed, shaking his head. “I’m gonna bow out before this turns into a game of Never Have I Ever. Guys, I’m heading out. See you all tomorrow.”

We all waved goodbye to Frank and went back to… well, basically doing nothing.

Bernie continued to ask inane questions under the guise of keeping us entertained while things were slow, but I suspected it was more to get to know the new guy. I didn’t mind, really; I started working here three months ago, so I wasn’t exactly “new” anymore, but we rarely got time to just sit and talk to each other. I’ve enjoyed everyone’s company from day one, and it was nice having time to just hang out with them without any customers.

In fact, I couldn’t remember ever having this much fun with my coworkers at Nova. With the exception of Trent, I never really even talked to any of them outside of the kitchen. It was a high stress environment, and at the end of the day I was the only one who ever wanted to stay and hang out with Trent to have a beer and relax before heading home.

It all just drove home even more that I’d made a colossally huge mistake by getting involved with Derek. I’d known it would be a bad idea, but I justified ignoring the red flags by telling myself this was different. That Derek would keep his mouth shut and I would be extra careful not to let anything happen at work so as to not jeopardize my job. Now, despite all odds I actually liked working here, and had coworkers I could actually see myself hanging out with on our days off, and I was going to have to give it up.

Being an adult sucked sometimes, you know?