It was a dark and stormy January night. The Christmas/New Years business had died down and been replaced by a cold, stormy winter. So, I was drinking in a downtown pub, just a few blocks from my office. It had been a rough day full of nasty comments on a controversial story that I had written and I needed a drink, so I ventured out into the icy sleet. Most people were smarter than to brave the weather, or they had a life full of better things to do on a Wednesday night, so the pub was nearly empty.
I liked pubs the most when they were angry and sat at the bar and drank scotch and soda. Vodka had been my drink for the last few years since I turned 21, but I had discovered scotch a month before during a short tryst with an older man I had met online. Nathan and I had quickly gone our separate ways and I deleted my account, but I kept scotch in my life.
"Excuse me, miss?" the bartender snapped me out of my reverie. "The gentleman sitting at that table over there would like to buy you a drink."
I smiled, accepted the bartender's offer, then turned to look at the man who had bought me the drink. He was sitting down at a table behind me and to my right and he raised a glass and smiled when I turned. A dark complexion, intense looking eyes, a great smile and his jet black hair was going quite grey. He was good looking and I smiled at him, but didn't really feel like talking, so I turned around right away and focused on finishing my drink before the bartender bought me the fresh one.
About ten minutes later, I was deep into the fresh drink and thoughts about my shitty job and the two biggest bitches I worked with, when I heard a man clear his throat behind me and then say, "Pardon me?"
I turned and unfortunately, the man who bought me the drink had come up to chat. When the bartender offered, I knew that I should have turned him down. But either way, this conversation was the price of accepting the charity. But, I smiled graciously as I turned to greet him. He was quite tall and close up, I could tell that his eyes were green. But, I still didn't feel like talking, so I replied with a simple, "Yes?"
He smiled, pointed to the chair beside me and asked if he could sit down. It had been a really bad day and I didn't want to be a bitch, but I really didn't feel like talking, so I was truthful and replied, "Actually, I've had a really shitty day so I won't be very good company."
Rather than walk away, he laughed and said, "The rain is turning to ice and the city is turning into a big, frozen skating rink, but a few of us are in here drinking the night away. You aren't the only one in here having a shitty day. I don't really want to sit in this bar alone and repeat the same negative thoughts over and over again to myself, and you're very pretty. Would you like some company?"
His words about repeating the same negative thoughts over and over struck a chord and I couldn't help myself, so I smiled and pointed at the seat.
"I am David," he introduced and offered his hand.
I shook it and introduced myself, then turned back to my drink.
"Oh David, my day was just horrible and I want to talk about it. My father, the king, arranged for me to marry an evil prince from a neighboring kingdom and so I had to escape the tower where I was confined and come out here amongst the mortals," he mocked with a playful tone to his voice.
I couldn't help myself and had a bit of a laugh then turned to him, "I had a bad day at work. It was nothing."
He shrugged his shoulders, "Same here. What do you do?"
"Journalist. Sort of. How about you?"
"I started a company five years ago but recently stepped out of the CEO office, officially to 'dedicate myself to the product', but unofficially because I pissed off a few investors. Now, I keep an office and a few ceremonial duties, but mainly invest and help out in companies that are just getting started. What kind of journalism do you do?"
"I'm fairly new out of college, so I mainly fill in the blanks in a political magazine."
